Bayonne Abdications
May 5, 1808
At the French border town of Bayonne, Napoleon persuaded the Spanish Bourbons - Charles IV and his son Ferdinand VII - to renounce the throne and accept a comfortable gilded retirement. He then installed his brother Joseph in Madrid. The scheme looked clever and was disastrous: all Spain rose, and the Peninsular War began.
In context
Also in 1808 (3 other events on record)
- Dos de Mayo Uprising · Europe · War
- Wellesley Lands in Portugal · Europe · War
- Goya's Third of May · Europe · Culture
Before and after in Europe
Before and after in Politics
Era
Industrial Age (1801–1900), one of 513 events from that era on Saeculum.