The province that has won two decisive battles in the history of Spain

The territory has an important historical heritage

Currently, thinking about the province of Jaén refers to landscapes full of olive trees (no wonder, considering that it is the territory with the highest density of olive groves in the world). However, Jaén has, above all, a lot of past behind it, as reflected by two historical circumstances of enormous magnitude: it is the province with the most castles in our country and it is the province in which two of the most decisive battles have taken place for the history of Spain.

More than 600 years passed between both battles, but both were equally decisive in expelling the invader:

The battle of Navas de Tolosa is considered the largest military conflict of the Reconquista due to everything that surrounded it: the enormous mobilization of human resources on both sides (more than 100,000 people on each side) and the impact it had on the future of our country. country. Developed in the summer of 1212 in the current Jaén municipality of Santa Elena (more than 700 meters above sea level), the Muslim side had a priori with greater military capabilities than the Christian kingdoms to win, but the alliance led by Castile with King Alfonso VIII in front along with the rest of the peninsular territories and France (the French later backed down) allowed the Arabs to be defeated.

That victory marked the end of Islamic expansionism, which had gained new momentum throughout the 12th century at the hands of the Almohads. They would remain for 300 more years, until the fall of Granada in 1492, but at no time were they able to recover all the ground lost to the peninsular Christian kingdoms and they limited themselves to choosing to be on the defensive.

Bailen (1808): Like the battle of Las Navas de Tolosa, the battle of Bailén also took place in the middle of July with harsh heat that decimated the French troops. The conflict took place a few months after Napoleon began his invasion of Spain and was a severe setback for the French emperor, who had achieved great dominance in Europe. In our country he came face to face with a Numantine resistance that, in the end, would end up becoming the beginning of his decline and final defeat.

Spain began an uprising that had its starting point on May 2 in Madrid in 1808, a movement that spread throughout the entire country. This forced France to make a move and transfer General Pierre Dupont, of great prestige and battle-hardened, to Andalusia to provide protection to a French squadron that was in the bay of Cádiz under Spanish threat. Dupont left on March 23 from Toledo with the aim of reaching Cádiz, but he did not succeed because along the way he saw how the Spanish were organizing themselves on the territory to expel the French (among other things, the Supreme Junta of Spain was created in Seville on March 27 to fill the power vacuum and declared war on France on June 6).

Faced with so much threat, General Dupont decided to turn back on his way to Seville and Cádiz and returned from Córdoba to the province of Jaén: first he arrived in Andújar and, later, he ended up trapped in Bailén by the Spanish troops. There, Dupont had to surrender on July 22, overwhelmed by the Spanish army. The balance was very clear: the French had 10 times more deaths than the Spanish (more than 2,000 deaths) and a week later they began their withdrawal towards the northern part of Spain. With that defeat, Napoleon had lost his aura of invincible.