Parc Suharriaga : stèle commémorative des guerres napoléoniennes

1813-1814. The Basque people devastated by Napoleonic troops. Routed by Wellington at Gazteiz-Vitoria on June 21, 1813, Napoleonic troops from Portugal and Spain crossed the passes between Les Aldudes and Hendaye. 2 armies clashed, 112,000 coalition soldiers (British, Spanish, Wellington's Portuguese) and 68,000 Napoleonic soldiers under Marshal Soult in this small territory (11,000 dead). Villages were pillaged and forests burned. It took the villages 30 years to recover from this war. The Basque country coped very well with the presence of the disciplined troops Wellington left behind until the armistice. This monument bears witness to the suffering of the Basque people.