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Francisco de Goya, The Second of May
Having occupied Spain in 1808, Napoleon took advantage of political instability there to depose King Fernando VII (who had just assumed the throne from his father Carlos IV) and place both father and son under house arrest. As the French prepared to evacuate the remaining members of the Spanish royal family from Madrid on May 2, Spanish civilians (assisted by several units of Spanish soldiers) began to resist and a violent riot broke out. Some 200 Spaniards were killed and the French suffered around 140 casualties. Much of Spanish public opinion was infuriated and disorder began to spread throughout the country. This painting by Goya depicts the fighting in Madrid.
Francisco de Goya, The Third of May
In the course of fighting on May 2, the French captured around 300 Spanish rioters. On the night of May 2-May 3, the French executed all of them. In this painting, Goya depicted the execution of the insurgents.
Francisco de Goya, The Disasters of War
Goya's Disasters of War has become one of the most famous depictions of the brutality associated with a popular guerrilla war. Produced during the French occupation of Spain, it shows the escalating cycle of violence that took place between the French and their collaborators on the one hand, and Spanish guerrillas (who often doubled as bandits) on the other.
Executions
"Barbarians!": French soldiers execute a Spaniard tied to a tree.
"For a knife": A Spaniard has undergone traditional execution by garrotting (strangulation) for the possession of a knife.
"Nothing can be done": French soldiers execute more Spaniards.
Atrocities
"Rightly or Wrongly": Spaniards armed with knives and axes ambush French soldiers.
"This is bad": French soldiers stab a priest.
"This is how it happened": Their arms full of loot from a church, French soldiers leave after having killed a priest.
"They are like beasts": Women participate in the attack on a French column.
"Great deeds! Against the dead!": Dismembered bodies tied to a tree.
"The ravages of war": Raped and murdered by French soldiers, the bodies of several Spanish women lie in a destroyed home.
"They don't want to": A French soldier attempts to rape a young lady as an older woman approaches from behind with a knife.
"What more can one do?": French soldiers castrate a Spaniard in an attempt to obtain information.
"Why?": French soldiers strangle a Spaniard in the quest for information.
Fear and the Decline of Morals
"I saw this": Spanish civilians flee across the countryside as a French column approaches.
"The worst is to beg": The war and bad harvests drove a number of country people to Madrid where they starved.
"They make use": Soldiers disrobe the dead to recycle clothing.
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Copyrighted by Hugh Dubrulle, 2003.