Francisco Espoz y Mina (17 June 1761-24 December 1836) was a general of Spain.
Biography[]
Francisco Espoz y Mina was born in Idocin in Navarra, northern Spain, in 1761. He joined his nephew Francisco Javier Mina's regiment during the Peninsular War and aided the Duke of Wellington after early January 1812, when Wellington liberated Pamplona from France. During the campaigns of 1812 he immobilized 26,000 French troops that could have joined Marshal Auguste Marmont at the Battle of Salamanca, and in 1813-1814 he served under Wellington in the campaign in northern Spain.
Espoz y Mina fought in the Trienio Liberal revolt on the side of the liberals against King Fernando VII of Spain and his absolutists, and fled to England in 1823 after the revolt was crushed. In 1830 he took part in a failed uprising against King Fernando, but he fought for the government against the Carlists during the First Carlist War. In 1835 he commanded in Catalonia but ill health forced him to resign a year later. He died in December.