Historica Wiki
Advertisement
Tres de Mayo

A French Army firing squad executing rebels

Tres de Mayo is the Spanish name for the events of 3 May 1808, during which the French Army under Marshal Joachim Murat declared martial law in Madrid, Spain and executed 113 people. Murat created a commission led by Emmanuel de Grouchy to try all Spanish citizens who had been captured in the Dos de Mayo uprising with guns in hand; Murat declared that the French would seek vengeance for the bloodshed, and that all captured armed rebels would be executed by firing squad. 113 prisoners were executed by French firing squads, and painter Francisco Goya created a famous painting depicting the massacre in 1814, called The Third of May 1808.

Advertisement