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Maps| The Situation in May 1809 The Allies Advance The Talavera
Campaign of June-August 1809 marked a number of important
“firsts” in the Peninsular War. It was the first time that Sir
Arthur Wellesley campaigned in Spain; it saw the first great
Anglo-Spain victory of the war and the first really large French
defeat in Spain since Baylen, and ended with the first of
Wellesley’s retreats back towards Portugal. The Situation in May
1809 Wellesley’s first campaign after his arrival at Lisbon on
22 April 1809 had been directed against Marshal Soult, whose
invasion of Portugal had stalled at Oporto. Wellesley had
liberated Oporto on 12 May, and then chased Soult north, but had
just failed to trap his army in the mountain passes between
Portugal and Galicia. By late May 1809 the French armies were
scattered across most of Spain. St. Cyr’s 7th Corps was in
Catalonia in the far eastern corner. Suchet’s 3rd Corps was in
Aragon. Mortier’s 5th Corps had mov