Siege of Ciudad Rodrigo (1812) | |||||||
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Part of the Peninsular War | |||||||
![]() British infantry storm the fortress at Ciudad Rodrigo during Wellington’s campaign in Spain | |||||||
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Belligerents | |||||||
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Commanders and leaders | |||||||
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Strength | |||||||
1,800[1]–2,000 153 guns |
10,700–40,000[1] 36 guns | ||||||
Casualties and losses | |||||||
529–800[1] killed or wounded 1,000[1]–1,471 captured |
250[1]–318 killed 1,100[1]–1,378 wounded |
The siege of Ciudad Rodrigo, (7–20 January 1812) had the Viscount Wellington's Anglo-Portuguese Army besiege the city's French garrison under General of Brigade Jean Léonard Barrié. After two breaches were blasted in the walls by British heavy artillery, the fortress was successfully stormed on the evening of 19 January 1812. After breaking into the city, British troops went on a rampage for several hours before order was restored. Wellington's army suffered casualties of about 1,700 men, including two generals killed. Strategically, the fall of the fortress opened the northern gateway into French-dominated Spain from British-held Portugal. An earlier siege of the city occurred in 1810 in which the French captured it from Spanish forces.