(1808-1814) a
reference to the Spanish "
War of Independence," that was part of the
Napoleonic wars fought in the Iberian Peninsula (a peninsula in
SW Europe, comprising Spain and Portugal) where the
French were opposed by British, Spanish and Portuguese forces. In 1808,
French Emperor
Napoleon I (1769-1821), appointed his
brother Joseph to rule Frenchoccupied Spain. This
marked the start of a violent uprising by the Spanish populace to reestablish their independence.
Napoleon I, after his armies were crushed in
Leipzig,
Germany (1813), realized he could no longer
hold onto Spain and freed former
king,
Ferdinand VII (1784-1833) from his detainment in
France to reassume the throne. Spanish artist Francisco
de Goya (1746- 1828) captured the brutality of these years in several
graphic masterpieces.