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mpted to take Badajoz, which had a French garrison of about 5,000 men. Siege operations commenced on 16 March; by early April, there were three practicable breaches in the walls. These were assaulted by two British divisions on 6 April, reputed to be "Wellington's bloodiest siege", with a loss of some 5,000 British soldiers out of 15,000, after a five-hour onslaught the storming of the breaches failed. The French also lost some 1,200 of their 5,000 soldiers in the battle. Despite the failure at the breaches, the castle and another section of undamaged wall had been attacked and the town was successfully taken by the British. Many of the victorious troops got out of control. It took three days before the men were brought back into order. When order was restored some 200–300 civilians had likely been killed or injured. Wellington wrote to Lord Liverpool, "The capture of Badajos affords as strong an instance of the gallantry of our troops as has ever been displayed, but I anxiously hope that I shall never again be the instrument of putting them to such a test as that to which they were put last night." However, Wellington's storming of San Sebastián in 1813 was much like that of Badajoz. Pedro Caro, 3rd Marquis of la Romana, died at Badajoz on 23 January 1811 in a fit of apoplexy, seized at the moment when he was leaving his house to concert a plan of military operations with Lord Wellington. In the Siege of Badajoz, a detachment of the 45th Regiment of Foot (later amalgamated with the 95th to form the Sherwood Foresters Regiment) succeeded in getting into the castle first and the red coatee of Lt. James MacPherson of the 45th regiment was hoisted in place of the French flag to indicate the fall of the castle. This feat is commemorated on 6 April each year, when red jackets are flown on regimental flag staffs and at Nottingham Castle. Volume 23 of the Museum of Foreign Literature, Science and Art, published in 1833, described Badajoz as "one of the richest and most beautiful towns in the south of Spain, whose inhabitants had witnessed its siege in silent terror for one and twenty days, and who had been shocked by the frightful massacre." On 5 August 1883 there was an attempted revolt by the armed forces when a climate of confusion and chaos prevailed. Spanish Civil War Main articles: Battle of Badajoz (1936) and Massacre of Badajoz The Spanish Civil War in Badajoz in the 1930s was a gruesome affair. During the war, Badajoz was taken by the Nationalists in the Battle of Badajoz. Infamously, several thousand of the town's inhabitants, both men and women, were taken to the town's bullring after the battle and after machine guns were set up on the barriers around the ring, an indiscriminate slaughter began. On 14 August 1936, hundreds of Republicans were shot at the Plaza de Toros. In the course of the night, another 1,200 were brought in. Overall it is estimated that over 4,000 people were murdered by the Nationalists after the battle. Even those who tried to cross the Portuguese border were captured and sent back to Badajoz. The troops who committed the killings at Badajoz were under the command of general Juan Yagüe, who, after the civil war, was appointed Minister of Aviation by Franco. For the actions of his troops at Badajoz, Yagüe was popularly known as the "Butcher of Badajoz". A city planning map of Badajoz in 1873 (Spanish edition) Modern history After the war, the town continued to grow, although since 1960 it has suffered significant migrations to other Spanish regions and other European countries. During the following decades, the predominant economic activity of the city increasingly fell within the tertiary sector, and today Badajoz is a major commercial centre in southwestern Spain and an important bridge between Spain and Portugal for trade and cultural relations. On 6 November 1997, a heavy flood devastated several neighb
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