Murat on "Dos de Mayo"
After listening to the podcast episodes about Murat and the origins of the Peninsular War I keep wondering about the same question, so I thought I'd just ask it before it gives me headaches. Both episodes blamed to a high degree Murat personally for the beginning of the Spanish uprising, or at least for the unrest in Madrid that would later become such an important date for the Spanish and their nation.
What precisely is the reason for that? How should he have acted instead, was he too harsh (which he of course was from today's perspective) or was he not harsh enough (as he did not manage to completely suppress the unrest, as far as that was even possible at all (which I doubt). And in how far was this Murat's responsibility? Did Murat not do exactly what Napoleon wanted him to do? Napoleon's letters seem to indicate that Murat rather wanted to listen to public opinion, and that Napoleon put an end to that. Also, Napoleon seems to have been quite happy with Murat's initial reaction in general, he merely criticised that Murat had not occupied some strategic points in the city? In this case, isn't the blame on Napoleon rather than on Murat?
Have you read my thoughts about the study? I feel like I have very good reasons to indeed dismiss this study out of hand, without even going into details (but we can do that as well, if you wish. The more I check and cross-check, the more furious I get - not furious with the diagnosis as such, but furious with this extremely sloppy piece of work). Maybe we should discuss this further in the other thread. This has nothing to do with poor Murat any more.