William Beresford, 1st Viscount Beresford

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William Carr Beresford, 1st Viscount Beresford, Portrait by Richard Rothwell (1831)
William Carr Beresford

William Carr Beresford, 1st Viscount Beresford , (born October 2, 1768 , † January 8, 1854 in Bedgebury , Kent ) was a British general and Portuguese marshal during the Napoleonic Wars . From 1811 to 1821 he was the British military commander in Portugal and the actual ruler of this country. He made a name for himself mainly by restructuring the Portuguese army and by persecuting the Portuguese liberals.

Life

Beresford was the illegitimate son of George Beresford, 1st Marquess of Waterford . He joined the British Army in 1785. During his stay in Nova Scotia , he lost his left eye in a shooting accident the following year. He distinguished himself at Toulon in 1793 and two years later was given command of the famous 88th Connaught Rangers , who later also went by the infamous nickname "The Devil's Own". In the following years Beresford went with his regiment under Baird to India and Egypt , where he led the first brigade on their march through the desert. On his return he was made a colonel and accompanied Baird to South Africa in 1805 , where he was involved in the conquest of Cape Town and the capitulation of the Cape Colony. From South Africa he was commanded to South America and conquered Buenos Aires with a few regiments , which he could not hold because of the insufficient number of troops.

Beresford was captured but was able to escape six months later and reached Great Britain in 1807. At the end of the year he was sent to Madeira as governor and commander-in-chief to occupy the island on behalf of the Portuguese king . Here he got to know the language and the mentality of the Portuguese.

Napoleon had occupied Portugal in 1808 because that country refused to join the continental blockade against Great Britain. The Portuguese Queen Maria I († 1816), Prince Regent Johann and the rest of the royal Portuguese family then fled Portugal to Brazil . Rio de Janeiro became their new residential city.

The French tried three times to establish themselves in Portugal (1808, 1809 and 1810), three times the British expeditionary armies led by Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington , and William Carr Beresford succeeded in defeating the French and driving them out of the country . After their defeat in the Battle of Sabugal (April 3, 1811), the French had to withdraw from Portugal for good. Wellington then left the country to continue the fight against Napoleon's troops in Spain, Beresford remained in the country as the highest British military.

In the absence of the Portuguese king, who was still in Brazil and initially made no move to return to his country, Beresford, as commander of the British troops in Portugal, became the actual ruler of the country, which he to a certain extent served as a military dictator on behalf of John VI. ruled. He was characterized by a conservative, reactionary policy.

In the ranks of the Portuguese armed forces, calls for the end of the British occupation, the return of the king and, above all, a liberal constitution grew louder. Portugal did not have a constitution at the time, so it was still governed in an absolutist way . Beresford suppressed these demands with great severity. In 1817 he had a number of conspirators executed, including the liberal Portuguese general Gomes Freire de Andrade .

In 1820, while Beresford was in Brazil, the liberal revolution took place in Portugal , which began with a revolt of Portuguese officers in Porto . The British officers were removed from the Portuguese army. Beresford returned from Brazil but could not turn the tide. He was refused entry into the city of Lisbon . This ended the rule of Beresford in Portugal.

The insurgents called a constituent assembly, passed the first constitution in Portuguese history and were able to persuade the king to return to Portugal in 1821.

Beresford went back to Britain and turned to politics. In the House of Lords he became one of the strongest advocates of Wellington's politics. In 1823 he was promoted to Viscount Beresford and took over the post of Master General of the Ordnance in the first Wellington Cabinet . In 1830 he retired from politics and spent the last few years on his estate in Bedgebury, Kent, where he died in 1854 at the age of 85. His marriage to Louisa Beresford, daughter of William Beresford, 1st Baron Decies, and Elizabeth FitzGibbon, entered into in 1832, remained childless and his titles were no longer valid.

meaning

William Carr Beresford was not a great war tactician or strategist, which was also clearly shown when he briefly took over the leadership of Hills Corps in the Battle of La Albuera in 1811 . He was a talented and energetic military organizer who - because he had experience in leading independent units and, unusually for a British officer, spoke fluent Portuguese - was entrusted with the reconstruction and reorganization of the Portuguese army. He mastered this task in a way that far exceeded all expectations. Beresford enforced discipline and order with great severity, replaced incompetent officers with younger soldiers, took care of training, clothing, food and, above all, wages and thus created within a few years a powerful, disciplined Portuguese army that was in no way inferior to the British. His army command through integrated staffs - if the commander was a British, the deputy was a Portuguese and vice versa - are exemplary to this day.

This tremendous achievement was recognized by the British and Portuguese alike. Beresford, who was always overshadowed by Wellington in Great Britain because of his illegitimate origin, from which he suffered throughout his life, became an idol in Portugal and received many honors and awards. He was made Baron Beresford , of Albuera and of Dungarvan by the British King , and Count of Trancoso, Margrave of Campo Maior and Duke of Elvas by the King of Portugal.

Even the Duke of Wellington had no illusions about Beresford's talent as an army leader, but recognized his brilliant skills as an organizer and even went so far as to recommend him as his successor on the peninsula if he should find his own death.

literature

Web links

Commons : William Beresford, 1st Viscount Beresford  - Collection of Pictures, Videos and Audio Files

Footnotes

  1. ^ Joel Serrão: Da "Regeneração" à República. Livros Horizonte, Lisbon 1990, ISBN 972-24-0765-1 , pp. 49-55.
  2. ↑ António Henrique de Oliveira Marques: Histoire du Portugal et de son empire colonial. Éditions Karthala, Paris 1998, ISBN 2-86537-844-6 , p. 388.
predecessor Office successor
New title created Conde de Trancoso
1811-1854 		Title expired
New title created Marquês de Campo Maior
1812–1854 		Title expired
New title created Baron Beresford
1814-1854 		Title expired
New title created Viscount Beresford
1823-1854 		Title expired
personal data
SURNAME Beresford, William, 1st Viscount Beresford
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Beresford, William Carr, 1st Viscount Beresford
BRIEF DESCRIPTION British general, Portuguese marshal, British military commander in Portugal
DATE OF BIRTH October 2, 1768
DATE OF DEATH January 8, 1854
Place of death Bedgebury , Kent