In contrast to previous depictions of war, with heroic soldiers clothed in Roman or Greek uniforms, Goya graphically exposes the real barbarity of war with images of bombed out houses, destroyed villages, garroted Spaniards, famine, poverty and suffering. There are no grand battle scenes or gallant soldiers, only violence and savagery against soldiers and civilians, men and women, and old and young, alike. In one etching, Nor in this case , a French soldier contemplates a Spaniard hanging by his own belt from a tree. The victim is highlighted by an invisible light source. In the gloomy semi-darkness one begins to notice that he is not the only one.
Countless men hang from trees that disappear into the horizon.
Napoleon's invasion and the regime of his appointee, Joseph Bonaparte, eventually failed and the Spanish monarchy was reestablished with Ferdinand VII returned to the throne. Ferdinand responded by brutally suppressing supporters of the French Revolution and Enlightenment ideals. Society in Spain took a step backward. While Goya survived this political upheaval, the intensified censorship and oppression drove many of his friends into exile. Goya's public works gradually decreased and after 1815 he began to withdraw from public life.