Rebels, combatants and guerrilleros

This article analyses the common features - principally rebellion - and other motives that drove the principal «ringleaders» or guerrilla chiefs to take up arms and fight the French in the occupied zones. Juan Martín «El Empecinado», Espoz y Mina, el Cura Merino and Julián Sánchez quickly became touchstones for all those joining in the resistance and the war. Traditional historiography and romantic literature raised them to the status of heroes by idealising their deeds, as the ultimate expression of patriotism and as symbols of the resistance against Napoleon. © Casa de Velázquez.