"Within a year it will be the British, despite all their efforts, who will be expelled from the Peninsula, and the imperial eagle will flutter above Lisbon's fortresses... There can be nothing better for France than to see the British involved in land wars; instead of beating Britain by sea, we shall beat them on the continent […].”

After two invasions, the country is impoverished and in Mafra they have been collecting voluntary donations since the beginning of 1809 on behalf of the "restoration of the Homeland and Freedom". But the miserable state Portugal was in was not resolved (nor could it be resolved) just by these donations and in June 1809 a first Extraordinary Defence Contribution is decided (repeated twice more and that would last long after the end of the Invasions). Once the 2nd Invasion was over and anticipating another onslaught by the French army, Arthur Wellesley, Viscount of Wellington, prepared a plan he hoped would be decisive and definitive! And all the money would be little to prepare and implement this idea.

He had to close the Lisbon Peninsula to the enemy's advances and save the capital of the kingdom. He also had to prepare a safe boarding point for the allied army in case of a defeat (leaving the Portuguese to fend for themselves...) and he chose São Julião da Barra in Oeiras. Armed with detailed (and now we know indispensable) studies of the lay of the land, made by Charles-Humbert-Marie Vincent (French military engineer) and José Maria das Neves Costa (Portuguese military engineer) a brilliant plan was drawn up - the so-called Lines of Torres Vedras – that stretch from the River Tagus to the Atlantic crossing gorges, roads, rivers, town and villages.

Four great defensive lines are built under Wellington's orders, hundreds of fortifications (all equipped with heavy artillery - powerful, destructive cannons). New roads were built and a long-distance communications plan was created to transit orders clearly and quickly... but none of this would be enough without a devastating measure for the locals - the burnt earth policy.

It was essential to deprive the enemy of their basic needs and the peasants were ordered to abandon their homes (to huddle behind the Lines) but not before destroying their crops (except for what they could take with them), and put mills, bridges and homes out of commission. They poisoned the wells and burnt what was left… It was not just the people who suffered from this war and the political measures that were imposed. Portugal, once again, suffers physically... new roads rip up its fields, preparing them for the passage of the enemy and others will be consumed by fire. Nothing escapes... the windmills that were not destroyed are transformed into "stores" for weapons, the hills are transformed into defensive "castles" and thousands of trees are cut down. Men, women and children suffer these sacrifices in the hope of a final victory!

It is not long before the French army returns and they arrive on 24 July 1810, now under the command of Andrea Massena, also called the "Dear Child of Victory" because of his extraordinary history of winning battles. He surrounds and conquers Almeida, but was defeated at Buçaco by part of the Anglo-Portuguese army. He advances slowly but the sight of the Lines of Torres Vedras defensive system just 30 kilometres from Lisbon leaves him paralysed. The long, hard, painful months of building the forts (which were still under construction) now bear fruit. They cannot break through this defence and all around them the lands have been transformed into a terrifying desert.

On the night of 14 November 1810, under the cover of darkness and thick fog, leaving scarecrows in their places, the French abandon their posts, it would not be long before the final retreat…

“Massena with an army of 100,000 warriors enters Portugal in July 1810. Everyone knows what he was called - Son of Victory - because of all the battles he won and he said that he had reserved the conquest of Portugal for himself. This man, having tried [to win] until 5 March 1811, faces famine and the most horrible starvation and, in war, adverse fortune quickly slips away, leaving behind bags, carts, cannons and even the sick and rabid. He attacks the villages he passes through and commits all kinds of excesses and, apart from the casualties that are reported, he leaves more than 50,000 soldiers, dead or prisoners, in the hands of the British, Spanish and Portuguese victors."