Why did Napoleon an have trouble in the peninsular war?

Answer 1

The main reason that Napoleon lost the campaign in the Peninsula was because he was trying to wage a war on too many fronts.

If he had been able to concentrate on Spain and Portugal and forget about the rest of Europe, then he may have been successful.

Austria, Russia and, at times, Prussia were always moving against him, subsidised by British money.

He never had enough troops in the Peninsula, as soon as his men moved to control one area his forces were denuded in another area, so he lost control in each area they left due to guerrilla warfare.

When the Duke of Wellington moved his army around Portugal and northwestern Spain the French units were forced to move against it. When the French moved, the Spanish guerillas just filled the vacuum behind them.

Answer 2

1) Because of bushfighting's warfare adopted by the Spaniards, which compelled the French to detach garrisons in order to protect their long and exposed lines of communications, weakening files and ranks of the fighting units.

2) The French Army could but hardly apply the system of supplies requisition in the areas concerned as they are used to in the other European territories because

the Spanish countries were generally poor of resources. Thus the units had to be supplied by means of storage's chain which in turn had to be replenished mainly from France.

The miserable conditions and inadequacy of the Spanish road network added to enduring guerrilla actions magnified more and more the logistical situation, endangering the combat units' effectiveness.

Answer 3

The Spanish Army was driven from the major battlefields and began insurgency fighting against the French Army which pinned them to garrison positions.