Dos de Mayo Uprising The Dos de Mayo of 1808 , was a rebellion by the people of Madrid against the occupation of the city by French troops , provoking a brutal repression by the French Imperial forces and triggering the Peninsular War . Background . The city had been under the occupation of Napoleon ' s army since 23 March of the same year . King Charles IV had been forced to abdicate in favour of his son Ferdinand VII , and at the time of the uprising both were in the French city of Bayonne at the insistence of Napoleon . An attempt by the French general Joachim Murat to move the daughter and youngest son of Charles IV to Bayonne led to a popular rebellion that was harshly suppressed by French troops after hours of fierce street fighting . The uprising in Madrid , together with the subsequent proclamation as king of Napoleon ' s brother Joseph , provoked resistance across Spain to French rule . Beginning of the uprising . The spark that provoked the rebellion was the move by the French Marshal in command of Madrid , Joachim Murat , to send the daughter of Charles IV and the Infante Francisco de Paula to the French city of Bayonne . Murat was the brother - in - law of Napoleon , and would later become king of Naples . Initially the governing council of the city refused the request from Murat , but eventually gave way after receiving a message from Ferdinand VII who was also in Bayonne at this time . On 2 May a crowd began to gather in front of the Royal Palace in Madrid . Those gathered entered the palace grounds in an attempt to prevent the removal of Francisco de Paula . Marshal Murat sent a battalion of grenadiers from the Imperial Guard to the palace along with artillery detachments . The latter opened fire on the assembled crowd , and the rebellion began to spread to other parts of the city . What followed was street fighting in different areas of Madrid as the poorly armed population confronted the French troops . Murat had quickly moved the majority of his troops into the city and there was heavy fighting around the Puerta del Sol and the Puerta de Toledo . Marshal Murat imposed martial law in the city and assumed full control of the administration . Little by little the French regained control of the city , and many hundreds of people died in the fighting . The painting by the Spanish artist Goya , " The Charge of the Mamelukes " , portrays the street fighting that took place . There were Spanish troops stationed in the city , but they remained confined to barracks . The only Spanish troops to disobey orders were from the artillery units at the barracks of Monteleón , who joined the uprising . Two officers of these troops , Luis Daoíz de Torres and Pedro Velarde y Santillán are still commemorated as heroes of the rebellion . Both died during the French assault of the barracks , as the rebels were reduced by vastly superior numbers . Impact of the uprising . The repression following the crushing of the initial rebellion was harsh . Murat created a military commission on the evening of 2 May to be presided over by General Grouchy . This commission issued death sentences to all of those captured who were bearing weapons of any kind . In a statement issued that day Murat said : " The population of Madrid , led astray , has given itself to revolt and murder . French blood has flowed . It demands vengeance . All those arrested in the uprising , arms in hand , will be shot . " All public meetings were prohibited and an order was issued requiring all weapons to be handed in to the authorities . Hundreds of prisoners were executed the following day , a scene captured in a famous painting by Goya , The Third of May 1808 . On the same 2 May , in the nearby town of Móstoles , the arrival of the news of the repression prompted Juan Pérez Villamil , who was secretary of the Admiralty and prosecutor of the Supreme War Council , to encourage the mayors of the town , Andrés Torrejón and Simón Hernández , to sign a declaration of war calling all the Spaniards against the invaders . The name of this declaration was " Bando de los alcaldes de Móstoles " or " bando de la Independencia " which translates to " Declaration of Independence " . While the French occupiers hoped that their rapid suppression of the uprising would demonstrate their control of Spain , the rebellion actually gave considerable impetus to the resistance . In the weeks that followed there were further rebellions in different parts of the country . The 2nd of May is now a public holiday in the Community of Madrid . The place where the artillery barracks of Monteleón was located is now a square called the Plaza Dos de Mayo , and the district surrounding the square is known as Malasaña in memory of one of the heroines of the revolt , the teenager Manuela Malasaña , who was executed by French troops in the aftermath of the revolt . Several memorials to the heroes of 2 May are located over the city , including the Monumento a los Caidos por España ( Monument to the fallen of Spain ) .