Battle of Vitoria At the Battle of Vitoria ( 21 June 1813 ) a British , Portuguese and Spanish army under General the Marquess of Wellington broke the French army under Joseph Bonaparte and Marshal Jean - Baptiste Jourdan near Vitoria in Spain , eventually leading to victory in the Peninsular War . Background . In July 1812 , after the Battle of Salamanca , the French had evacuated Madrid , which Wellington ' s army entered on 12 August 1812 . Deploying three divisions to guard its southern approaches , Wellington marched north with the rest of his army to lay siege to the fortress of Burgos , away , but he had underestimated the enemy ' s strength and on 21 October he had to abandon the Siege of Burgos and retreat . By 31 October he had abandoned Madrid too , and retreated first to Salamanca then to Ciudad Rodrigo , near the Portuguese frontier , to avoid encirclement by French armies from the north - east and south - east . Wellington spent the winter reorganising and strengthening his forces . By contrast , Napoleon withdrew many soldiers to rebuild his main army after his disastrous invasion of Russia . By 20 May 1813 Wellington marched 121 , 000 troops ( 53 , 749 British , 39 , 608 Spanish and 27 , 569 Portuguese ) from northern Portugal across the mountains of northern Spain and the Esla River to outflank Marshal Jourdan ' s army of 68 , 000 , strung out between the Douro and the Tagus . The French retreated to Burgos , with Wellington ' s forces marching hard to cut them off from the road to France . Wellington himself commanded the small central force in a strategic feint , while Sir Thomas Graham conducted the bulk of the army around the French right flank over landscape considered impassable . Wellington launched his attack at Vitoria on 21 June , in four columns . After hard fighting , Thomas Picton ' s 3rd Division broke the enemy ' s centre and soon the French defence crumbled . About 5 , 000 French soldiers were killed or wounded and 3 , 000 were taken prisoner , while Wellington suffered about 5 , 000 killed or wounded . 152 cannons were captured , but Bonaparte narrowly escaped . The battle led to the collapse of Napoleon ic rule in Spain . Terrain . The battlefield centres on the Zadorra River , which runs from east to west . As the Zadorra runs west , it loops into a hairpin bend , finally swinging generally to the southwest . On the south of the battlefield are the Heights of La Puebla . To the northwest is the mass of Monte Arrato . Vitoria stands to the east , two miles ( 3 km ) south of the Zadorra . Five roads radiate from Vitoria , north to Bilbao , northeast to Salinas and Bayonne , east to Salvatierra , south to Logroño and west to Burgos on the south side of the Zadorra . Plans . Jourdan was ill with a fever all day on 20 June . Because of this , few orders were issued and the French forces stood idle . An enormous wagon train of booty clogged the streets of Vitoria . A convoy left during the night , but it had to leave siege artillery behind because there were not enough draft animals to pull the cannons . Gazan ' s divisions guarded the narrow western end of the Zadorra valley , deployed south of the river . Maransin ' s brigade was posted in advance , at the village of Subijana . The divisions were disposed with Leval on the right , Daricau in the centre , Conroux on the left and Villate in reserve . Only a picket guarded the western extremity of the Heights of La Puebla . Further back , D ' Erlon ' s force stood in a second line , also south of the river . D ' Armagnac ' s division deployed on the right and Cassagne ' s on the left . D ' Erlon failed to destroy three bridges near the river ' s hairpin bend and posted Avy ' s weak cavalry division to guard them . Reille ' s men originally formed a third line , but Sarrut ' s division was sent north of the river to guard the Bilbao road while Lamartinière ' s division and the Spanish Royal Guard units held the river bank . Wellington directed Hill ' s 20 , 000 - man Right Column to drive the French from the Zadorra defile on the south side of the river . While the French were preoccupied with Hill , Wellington ' s Right Centre column moved along the north bank of the river and crossed it near the hairpin bend behind the French right flank . Graham ' s 20 , 000 - man Left Column was sent around the north side of Monte Arrato . It drove down the Bilbao road , cutting off the bulk of the French army . Dalhousie ' s Left Centre column cut across Monte Arrato and struck the river east of the hairpin , providing a link between Graham and Wellington . Battle . Coming up the Burgos road , Hill sent Morillo ' s Division to the right on a climb up the Heights of La Puebla . Stewart ' s 2nd Division began deploying to the left in the narrow plain just south of the river . Seeing these moves , Gazan sent Maransin forward to drive Morillo off the heights . Hill moved Col . Henry Cadogan ' s brigade of the 2nd Division to assist Morillo . Gazan responded by committing Villatte ' s reserve division to the battle on the heights . About this time , Gazan first spotted Wellington ' s column moving north of the Zadorra to turn his right flank . He asked Jourdan , now recovered from his fever , for reinforcements . Having become obsessed with the safety of his left flank , the marshal refused to help Gazan , instead ordering some of D ' Erlon ' s troops to guard the Logroño road . Wellington thrust James Kempt ' s brigade of the Light Division across the Zadorra at the hairpin . At the same time , Stewart took Subijana and was counterattacked by two of Gazan ' s divisions . On the heights , Cadogan was killed , but the Anglo - Spanish force managed to hang on to its foothold . Wellington suspended his attacks to allow Graham ' s column time to make an impression and a lull descended on the battlefield . At noon , Graham ' s column appeared on the Bilbao road . Jourdan immediately realised he was in danger of envelopment and ordered Gazan to pull back toward Vitoria . Graham drove Sarrut ' s division back across the river , but could not force his way across the Zadorra despite bitter fighting . Further east , Longa ' s Spanish troops defeated the Spanish Royal Guards and cut the road to Bayonne . With some help from Kempt ' s brigade , Picton ' s 3rd Division from Dalhousie ' s column crossed to the south side of the river . According to Picton , the enemy responded by pummelling the 3rd with 40 to 50 cannon and a counter - attack on their right flank , still open because they had captured the bridge so quickly , causing the 3rd to lose 1 , 800 men ( over one third of all Allied losses at the battle ) as they held their ground . Cole ' s 4th Division crossed further west . With Gazan on the left and D ' Erlon on the right , the French attempted a stand at the village of Arinez . Formed in a menacing line , the 4th , Light , 3rd and 7th Divisions soon captured this position . The French fell back to the Zuazo ridge , covered by their well - handled and numerous field artillery . This position fell to Wellington ' s attack when Gazan refused to cooperate with his colleague D ' Erlon . French morale collapsed and the soldiers of Gazan and D ' Erlon ran for it . Artillerists left their guns behind as they fled on the trace horses . Soon the road was jammed with a mass of wagons and carriages . The efforts of Reille ' s two divisions , holding off Graham , allowed tens of thousands of French troops to escape by the Salvatierra road . Aftermath . The Allied army lost about 5 , 000 men , with 3 , 675 British , 921 Portuguese and 562 Spanish casualties . French losses totalled at least 5 , 200 killed and wounded , plus 2 , 800 men and 151 cannon captured . By army , the losses were South 4 , 300 , Centre 2 , 100 and Portugal 1 , 600 . There were no casualty returns from the Royal Guard or the artillery . French losses were not higher for several reasons . First , the Allied army had already marched that morning and was in no condition to pursue . Second , Reille ' s men valiantly held off Graham ' s column . Third , the valley by which the French retreated was narrow and well - covered by the 3rd Hussar and the 15th Dragoon Regiments acting as rearguard . Last , the French left their booty behind . Many British soldiers turned aside to plunder the abandoned French wagons , containing " the loot of a kingdom " . It is estimated that over one million pounds of booty ( perhaps £100 million in modern equivalent ) was seized , but the gross abandonment of discipline caused an enraged Wellington to write in a dispatch to Earl Bathurst , " We have in the service the scum of the earth as common soldiers " . The British general also vented his fury on a new cavalry regiment , writing , " The 18th Hussars are a disgrace to the name of soldier , in action as well as elsewhere ; and I propose to draft their horses from them and send the men to England if I cannot get the better of them in any other manner . " ( On 8 April 1814 , the 18th redeemed their reputation in a gallant charge at Croix d ' Orade , shortly before the Battle of Toulouse . ) Order was soon restored , and by December , after detachments had seized San Sebastián and Pamplona , Wellington ' s army was encamped in France . The battle was the inspiration for Beethoven ' s Opus 91 , often called the " Battle Symphony " or " Wellington ' s Victory " , which portrays the battle as musical drama . The climax of the movie " The Firefly " , starring Jeanette MacDonald , occurs with Wellington ' s attack on the French centre . ( The film used music from an opera of the same name by Rudolf Friml , but with a totally different plot . ) Reenactment of the Battle of Vitoria , staged on Armentia fields , Vitoria - Gasteiz , 22 June 2013 , Bicentenary of the Battle