Dos de Mayo uprising in Madrid and the Príncipe Pío executions

Background. Under the guise of reinforcing Spanish armies and marching on Lisbon to capture the House of Braganza, 23,000 French troops entered Spain unopposed in November 1807. After Napoleon convinced Ferdinand to return Spanish rule to Charles IV, Charles abdicated on 19 March 1808 in favor of Joseph Bonaparte. Provoked by news of the planned removal of the last members of the Spanish royal family to France, the people of Madrid prepared to rebel.

The Uprising. On 2 May 1808, civilians in Madrid, supported by isolated military actions, rose against French troops. The rebellion was violently repressed by French Imperial forces. Marshal Murat issued a proclamation stating that the population had given itself to revolt and murder, ordering that all those arrested with arms in hand would be shot. The fighting included fierce combat in the Puerta del Sol square.

Executions. Hundreds of prisoners captured during the uprising were executed on 3 May 1808. This scene was later captured in Goya's painting The Third of May 1808, which depicts a firing squad and captives held at gunpoint. The painting's Spanish title references the mountain of Príncipe Pío, the site traditionally associated with the executions. These actions contributed to the outbreak of the Peninsular War and ended the Franco-Spanish alliance.

Commemoration. Goya's paintings The Second of May 1808 and The Third of May 1808 were completed in 1814. They were commissioned by the provisional government of Spain after the expulsion of the French army. Goya suggested the commission to perpetuate the heroic actions of the insurrection. A monument to the fallen was also commissioned in 1814 but was stopped by Ferdinand VII.