Jose de Palafox y Melci. José Rebolledo de Palafox y Melzi, 1st Duke of Saragossa was a Spanish general who fought in the Peninsular War.
He was born in Zaragoza, Aragon, into an old Aragonese family. Brought up at the Spanish court, he entered the guards at an early age, and in 1808 as a sub-lieutenant accompanied King Ferdinand VII of Spain to Bayonne; but after vainly attempting, in company with others, to secure Ferdinand's escape, he fled to Spain, and after a short period of retirement placed himself at the head of the patriot movement in Aragon.
He was proclaimed by the populace governor of Zaragoza and captain-general of Aragon at the beginning of the Peninsular War. Despite the want of money and of regular troops, he lost no time in declaring war against the French, who had already overrun the neighboring provinces of Catalonia and Navarre.
In Zaragoza, Palafox built a gunpowder and small arms factory, created a corps of sappers and brought 30,000 men under arms. Soon afterward the attack he had provoked began under French general Lefebvre.
Zaragoza as a fortress was both antiquated in design and scantily provided with munitions and supplies, and the defenses resisted but a short time. But it was at that point that the real resistance began. A week's street fighting made the assailants masters of half the town, but Palafox's brother Luis Rebolledo de Palafox y Melci, 1st marqués de Lazán succe
He was born in Zaragoza, Aragon, into an old Aragonese family. Brought up at the Spanish court, he entered the guards at an early age, and in 1808 as a sub-lieutenant accompanied King Ferdinand VII of Spain to Bayonne; but after vainly attempting, in company with others, to secure Ferdinand's escape, he fled to Spain, and after a short period of retirement placed himself at the head of the patriot movement in Aragon.
He was proclaimed by the populace governor of Zaragoza and captain-general of Aragon at the beginning of the Peninsular War. Despite the want of money and of regular troops, he lost no time in declaring war against the French, who had already overrun the neighboring provinces of Catalonia and Navarre.
In Zaragoza, Palafox built a gunpowder and small arms factory, created a corps of sappers and brought 30,000 men under arms. Soon afterward the attack he had provoked began under French general Lefebvre.
Zaragoza as a fortress was both antiquated in design and scantily provided with munitions and supplies, and the defenses resisted but a short time. But it was at that point that the real resistance began. A week's street fighting made the assailants masters of half the town, but Palafox's brother Luis Rebolledo de Palafox y Melci, 1st marqués de Lazán succe
Wikipedia ...