. "Siege of Chaves"@en . "3500"^^ . . "50"^^ . "Marshal Soult"@en . "No casualties"@en . "Portugal"@en . "12"^^ . . . . "300"^^ . "Major Messeger"@en . "French Empire"@en . . "50"^^ . "the Peninsular War"@en . "First siege:"@en . "More than 1,000 rifles captured"@en . "--03-25"^^ . "French victory"@en . "Portuguese victory"@en . "4"^^ . "--03-12"^^ . "3500"^^ . . . . "6000"^^ . "Francisco Silveira"@en . "Second siege:"@en . "23000"^^ . "12"^^ . . . "Second siege:"@en . "First siege:"@en . . "1500"^^ . "1800"^^ . "Portugal suffered three invasions by French forces during the turbulent period of the Peninsular War. The northern region of Tr\u00E1s-os-Montes, as all the country, had succumbed to the Napoleonic regency of Junot. As soon as news came of the disembarkation of the British in Portuguese Estremadura, the rebellion broke out. Bragan\u00E7a, and soon after Chaves, proclaimed liberation. The militias were formed to fight the invader."@en . "Francisco Pizarro"@en . "Portugal suffered three invasions by French forces during the turbulent period of the Peninsular War. The northern region of Tr\u00E1s-os-Montes, as all the country, had succumbed to the Napoleonic regency of Junot. As soon as news came of the disembarkation of the British in Portuguese Estremadura, the rebellion broke out. Bragan\u00E7a, and soon after Chaves, proclaimed liberation. The militias were formed to fight the invader. Napoleon, worried about what was happening in Spain and upset with the failure of the expedition of his forces, decided to come personally to the Peninsula in whose submission he had invested 300,000 men. The British, who had disembarked in 1807 in Galicia under the command of general John Moore, did not surpass 30,000 in number. With his customary mobility Napoleon multiplied himself, divided and destroyed the British and the Spanish in quick and precise blows. He ordered Soult to pursue the British in Galicia. Moore's army was defeated and hounded across the mountains of Lugo; the British general himself was killed during the final combats carried out around the bay of Coru\u00F1a, where the remnants of his forces re-embarked. Some months later the same Soult received orders to invade Portugal from the North and expel the British from Portuguese soil. The carrying out of the order was, however, strongly impeded by the winter, which had made the Minho River almost impassable, and by the resistance of Portuguese forces located between Cerveira and Valen\u00E7a. Then general Soult decided to go around the mountainous border of the Upper Minho and make his penetration across the dry border of Tr\u00E1s-os-Montes. His forces numbered around 23,000 men (among them 4,000 on horse) and 50 pieces of artillery. Some of these troops were experienced since they had participated in the battles of Friedland and Austerlitz. The border was crossed on 7 March 1809."@en . "Second siege:"@en . "First siege:"@en . . . "Siege of Chaves"@en .