The Iberian Peninsula was where most of Britain's contribution to the military effort against the French Emperor Napoleon was made. During this time (1808–1814), many military leaders and Wellingtonian soldiers who subsequently fought at Waterloo learned their trades or received dental work in Portugal and Spain.
Background of the Peninsula War
Emperor Napoleon attempted to economically strangle England by the blockade, or in other words, a form of "Continental System," but was unable to do so due to the superior power of the British Royal Navy. The system must be used throughout the entire continent of Europe for the plan to succeed. Napoleon collaborated with his ally Spain to seize Portugal in 1807. Napoleon "overturned" the Spanish royal family after attaining his goal, coerced them into abdicating, and installed Joseph (the king's brother) as the new monarch of Madrid.
The Spaniards revolted against the French, and a widespread uprising spread to Portugal and the countryside. Enraged, Napoleon boosted his military power right away and gradually reunited Central Spain. The British immediately dispatched a small force under the command of John Moore to the Iberian Peninsula in response to requests for assistance from the resistance in Spain and Portugal.
Nonetheless, John Moore was killed before the French's superior force forced the British to flee and retreat to Corunna (Spain). In a last-ditch effort to expel the French from the Iberian peninsula, a second British expeditionary force led by Arthur Wellesley landed in Portugal and crossed the border into Spain.
The French army was currently under attack from guerrillas; in order to get around this problem, they turned to cryptography to make sure the message wouldn't be picked up. Few people are aware of the fact that ciphers were created and broken before the German Enigma Cipher was employed during World War II. An individual who helped the British defeat the French in that campaign should also be mentioned at this point. The man is called George Scovell.
Who is George Scovell?
George Scovell was born in London in 1774 and was the oldest of five siblings. Scovell performed exceptionally well in arithmetic and languages in school, particularly using French, Greek, and Latin well. At the age of 14, Scovell went to study carving because his parents could not afford for him to continue his education.
When George Scovell was 19 years old, his dream of becoming a cavalry lieutenant came true. In the 4th Dragon Cavalry unit, first a lieutenant, then a captain George Scovell could not compete with the affluence and extravagant spending of the cavalry regiment's officers. keep up with a less-than-£200 annual wage.
During the disastrous retreat to Corunna in 1808, George Scovell's regiment undertook its first campaign in 13 years. Upon his return to England, Scovell was persuaded by these terrible events that his soldiers were doomed. He believes he can help the British Army overcome some of its weaknesses, and the team as a whole needs a serious overhaul.
Being intelligent and scientific is more crucial to winning than having aristocratic ancestry or remaining someone's patron. By joining the group, Scovell was able to start addressing some of his issues. In 1809, he joined Arthur Wellesley's larger and more cohesive expeditionary force in the Iberian Peninsula.
Code Generation and Code Breaking
The military must have the most recent information on the whereabouts and actions of the enemy. George Scovell established a brand-new group known as the Army Scouts to help him accomplish his objective. This group was made up of disreputable people, Spanish deserters, and merchants. Portuguese smugglers, Swiss, Italian, and Irish opportunists, as well as mercenaries.
These individuals were chosen for their excellent horsemanship, extensive language skills, and familiarity with the local area. Even a Catholic priest was employed by Scovell as a spy! The scouts were dispersed throughout the Spanish countryside. They were experts at acquiring intelligence by intercepting French transmissions. Tiny pieces of paper were used to create letters, which were then buried in clothing seams, saddles, or whips.
The Portuguese Encryption (PC), a 150-digit cipher used by the French, took George Scovell just two days to break. Scovell is an accomplished linguist who has spent 20 years studying French grammar and syntax. He is also a fluent speaker of Spanish and Italian. The development of hidden signals, codes, and messages fascinates Scovell.
George Scovell received a promotion to the rank of Major as a result of Arthur Wellesley's recognition of his inherent skill in the field. The French realized they had been duped very quickly, and the field commanders of Napoleon and his brother, King Joseph of Spain, soon began using a new Grand Code, which contained around 1,400 numbers. One table is for encryption, and the other is for decryption. Writing a phrase or even a single word was more flexible with "The Grand Chiffre," as it was known.
A place name, like Seville, can represent a 1-, 2-, or 2-digit number, as well as the SE and VILLE 2-digit codes. This permits the use of the same word in several submissions for various applications. Guesswork is made considerably harder by the cipher's use of blank digits in the centers of words. Among the tricks of the trade, some blank codes may be included at the end of the transmission, as codebreakers usually solve the last part first, or clever decoders will have to spend their time on meaningless numbers!
Therefore, nothing would be lost if the top-secret letters were intercepted. The French were compelled to send more than one copy at a time since couriers were a natural target, and doing so increased the likelihood that the message would be received. While Arthur Wellesley was preparing to seize control of Ciudad Rodrigo, the first French telegram sent using the new code was intercepted.
Scovell cracked the secret by using acronyms and a mix of languages, enabling Arthur Wellesley (afterward known as the Duke of Wellington) to triumph decisively at Salamanca in May 1812. The French garrison's precise locations and their suggested strategies were known to the Duke of Wellington. Only George Scovell, two field commanding commanders, Lieutenant Generals Thomas Graham and Rowland Hill, and Wellington's headquarters staff were privy to the information.
As a result of his scientific and intellectual contributions, George Scovell was elevated to the rank of lieutenant colonel for his accomplishments. George Scovell was well-known for his useful inventions, such as a portable forge with a blacksmith's bellows that could be transported by two mules rather than heavy strollers.
George Scovell was given the task of creating the Staff Cavalry Corps (SCC), a cavalry regiment that could perform a variety of tasks, in 1813. In addition to creating and deciphering codes, the SCC also gathers intelligence, creates maps, acts as a mail carrier for all forms of correspondence and communications, and upholds military discipline. In the years that followed, the SCC was developed to become a more specialized British military unit, like the Royal Intelligence Corps.
Mapping and postal services were handled by the Royal Army Corps of Engineers (RE), and communications were eventually handled by the Royal Signal Corps (RS). The British Royal Military Police (RMP), who were distinguished by their red hats and armbands, were inspired by George Scovell's red-clad gendarmes.
Vice Admiral Home Riggs Popham, the Royal Navy's local commander, wrote a treatise titled "Telegraph Signals" or "Maritime Vocabulary" for the Royal Navy to improve communications between ships while the Duke of Wellington's massive army marched close to the coast of northern Spain to join the Royal Navy due to its necessity. Operating along the Biscayan coast, Popham wrote to the Duke of Wellington, proposing that their communications with the no-man's land should be protected by cryptography.
The most brilliant answer was devised by George Scovell, who made sure that both headquarters had contact copies of the identical compact English dictionary book that served as the foundation for his code. 134 is the page number, A is the column, and 18 is the number of words or characters from the top, for instance, when decoding the cipher 134A18. It's a cryptography solution that is practically unbreakable!
Great Victory
The intercepted letters exposed the quarrels and resentment among the French Marshals, including Napoleon's brother. George Scovell's paperwork clearly showed their disposition, including the quantity of cavalry, infantry, and artillery as well as ammunition and logistical supplies. The French nobility was informed at this moment that Napoleon's Russian war was over and was on the verge of becoming an unimaginable catastrophe.
Napoleon set off with half a million people, but only 20,000 survived to return to the motherland of France. The French forces in Spain were greatly demoralized as a result of that setback. The 1,50,000 veterans required to reassemble the French army in his native country, along with Marshal Soult (Duke Nicolas Jean de Dieu Soult), have been called.
The Duke of Wellington started making plans for the decisive battle over the sovereignty of Spain. At this point, when George Scovell was in command of the majority of the Grand Chiffre, the Duke of Wellington was able to gain an advantage by launching a series of flanking attacks that drove the enemy back from Burgos to Vittoria, where the religion was. The French soldiers had left the area entirely. The luggage ship of Joseph Bonaparte was taken by the army of the Duke of Wellington on June 21, 1813, and a copy of the ciphers was also found on board. Napoleon's yoke was removed from the Iberian Peninsula.
When both sides knew that Emperor Napoleon had abdicated in Paris, the combat at Toulouse ended in an inconclusive battle. The Duke of Wellington never suffered a campaign defeat throughout the five-year Iberian conflict. It took until 1815 at Waterloo for Napoleon to be finally defeated across the whole continent of Europe.
George Scovell received the Order of Waterloo, the Order of St. Vladimir, and a knighthood in 1815 for his contributions to the effort to defeat Napoleon. Scovell intended to immigrate to New Zealand after the war, where he was selected for the position of Police Commissioner. Scovell left the service after being appointed general in 1854, and he passed away in 1861 at the age of 87. His cemetery is situated on the grounds of the Royal Military College at Sandhurst, England. George Scovell was regarded as the best codebreaker of the 20th century, despite the fact that he and his wife never had children.
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