page_title: Campaign in south-west France (1814)
section_title: Battle of Toulouse, April 1814
hierarchical_section_title: Campaign in south-west France (1814) / Invasion of France / Battle of Toulouse, April 1814
caption_attribution_description: Français&#160;: Fait partie d'un volume de gravures sur cuivre par T. Sutherland et D. Havell réhaussées à l'aquarelle. Titre gravé illustré en n. et b. Chaque gravure est suivie d'un texte explicatif. + in fine&#160;: "Contents", and "Names of Subscribers to the Martial Achievements of Great Britain and her allies". Ancely, René (1876 - 1966). Possesseur
context_page_description: The campaign in south-west France in late 1813 and early 1814 was the final campaign of the Peninsular War. An allied army of British, Portuguese and Spanish soldiers under the command of Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington fought a string of battles against French forces under the command of Marshal Jean de Dieu Soult, from the Iberian Peninsula across the Pyrenees and into south-west France ending with the capture of Toulouse and the besieging of Bayonne.
  The campaign ended when—on receiving word of the abdication of Napoleon Bonaparte as Emperor of France, and the ratification of a general armistice —the opposing commanders signed a local armistice on 17 April 1814.
context_section_description: When Beresford, who had now rejoined Wellington, had passed over, the bridge was swept away, which left him isolated on the right bank. But Soult did not attack, and the bridge as restored on 8 April, Wellington crossed the Garonne and the Hers-Mort, and attacked Soult on 10 April. In the battle of Toulouse the French numbered about 40,000 (exclusive of the local National Guards) with 80 guns; the Allies under 52,000 with 64 guns. Soult's position to the north and east of the city was exceedingly strong, consisting of the Canal du Midi, some fortified suburbs, and (to the extreme east) the commanding ridge of Mont Rave (Heights of Calvinet), which crowned the redoubts and earthworks. Wellington's columns, under Beresford, were now called upon to make a flank march of some two miles, under artillery, and occasionally musketry, fire, being threatened also by cavalry, and then, while the Spanish troops assaulted the north of the ridge, to wheel up, mount the eastern slope, and carry the works. The Spaniards were repulsed, but Beresford's forces took Mont Rave and Soult fell back behind the canal.
  On 12 April Wellington advanced to invade Toulouse from the south, but Soult on the night of 11 April had retreated towards Villefranque, and Wellington then entered the city. The allied loss was about 5,000, the French 3,000. Thus, in the last great battle of the war, the courage and resolution of the soldiers of the Peninsular army were conspicuously illustrated.
  On 13 April 1814 officers arrived with the announcement to both armies of the capture of Paris, the abdication of Napoleon, and the practical conclusion of peace; and on 18 April a convention, which included Suchet's force, was entered into between Wellington and Soult.
  Unfortunately, after Toulouse had fallen, the Allies and French, in a sortie from Bayonne on 14 April, each lost about 1,000 men, so that some 10,000 men fell after peace had virtually been made. The Peace of Paris was formally signed on 30 May 1814.
caption: The sortie from the besieged city of Bayonne, on 14 April 1814
exif: {"Image Make": "i2s Digibook Scanner", "Image Model": "Suprascan 6002 RGB", "Image Orientation": "Horizontal (normal)", "Image XResolution": "150", "Image YResolution": "150", "Image ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Image Software": "Adobe Photoshop 7.0", "Image DateTime": "2009:10:08 14:28:16", "Image ExifOffset": "218", "Thumbnail Compression": "JPEG (old-style)", "Thumbnail XResolution": "72", "Thumbnail YResolution": "72", "Thumbnail ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormat": "358", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormatLength": "10539", "EXIF ColorSpace": "Uncalibrated", "EXIF ExifImageWidth": "1322", "EXIF ExifImageLength": "912"}