How a mountain of stolen treasure cost the French their grip on Spain
The Battle of Vitoria in 1813 was a tactical masterpiece that shattered French power in the Peninsular War. Yet, the victory is remembered as much for the massive, discipline-breaking plunder left behind by the retreating French army, which famously drove the Duke of Wellington to label his own soldiers the scum of the earth.
By June 1813, the tide of the Peninsular War had turned. Following Napoleon's disastrous invasion of Russia, French forces were depleted, allowing the Marquess of Wellington to launch a massive offensive with 121,000 British, Portuguese, and Spanish troops. He marched from Portugal across northern Spain, executing a strategic feint while Sir Thomas Graham led a column over terrain deemed impassable to outflank the French army commanded by King Joseph Bonaparte and Marshal Jean-Baptiste Jourdan.
The battle commenced on 21 June 1813 near Vitoria. The French position, centered on the Zadorra River, was strong but hampered by internal discord and a massive, immobile wagon train of booty that clogged the city streets. Wellington split his army into four columns, attacking from multiple directions to envelop the French. Despite bitter fighting at the Zadorra bridges and the Heights of La Puebla, the French lines eventually collapsed. As the French fled toward Pamplona, they were forced to abandon 151 cannons and vast quantities of loot.
The aftermath was chaotic. Allied soldiers, distracted by the immense wealth abandoned by the French—estimated at over £1 million at the time—largely ignored their duties to plunder the wagons. Wellington was incensed by this breakdown in discipline, famously venting his frustration in a dispatch to Earl Bathurst. While the victory secured control of the Basque provinces and forced the French back into France, the event left a complicated legacy, immortalized in everything from Beethoven’s 'Battle Symphony' to popular historical fiction.
Source: Battle of Vitoria
