WI: Napoleon uses the Russian invasion force in Spain?

Dorozhand

Banned
What if Napoleon decided to use the forces that he would have used against Russia in a personally led campaign against the British in Spain? Could this have been enough to turn the tide in the Peninsular War?
 
Could such a large army be supplied in Spain? And even if it's theoretically possible to do that, would it actually work in practice with guerrillas raiding supply lines constantly? Before that big question is answered, the additional troops mean very little.
 
I'm guessing they would be easier to supply in Spain than in Russia, with the roads from France and the Mediterranean ports. With the manpower to spare, food could move in heavily guarded convoys. The army would stomp Wellington flat and could effectively sit on Spain as long as the French treasury could meet its exorbitant cost and maintain internal discipline.

What on earth would be the point, though?
 
For that to happen Napoleon would have to start sending supplies from France in the first place. He didn't that. His armies lived off the land they occupied. That's what started the surge in Spain in the first place.

Then you have to consider that a large number of the troops he used in Russia did not come from France but from puppet/allied states in Germany, Poland, Austria... that are unlikely to send as many men for a campaignin Spain. If at all.
 
Napoleon did invade Spain, in 1808–09. More troops would have been good to keep the peace and fight the guerrillero. But there really is no need for the entire army that otl was used in Russian to be used in Spain. More troops would be very good, for the French, and its not like the British has that many more troops to feed into the theatre.
 
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