The Liberation of Madrid (early June 1811) was a siege of the Peninsular War that occurred when an Allied army of 614 troops under William Carr Beresford and Spanish guerrilla leaders Ramon Noriega Garcia and Miguel Quero laid siege to the occupied Spanish capital of Madrid, defended by 840 French troops under Raoul Bussy. The Allied forces allowed for the French militia to surrender, as Beresford did not want to waste lives. The capital was liberated by the British, who turned the capital over to the Spanish forces. This was a major blow to the French regime of Jose I of Spain, and the Spanish gained a foothold from which they could strike at the French.
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