On October 27, 1807, Carlos IV and Napoleon signed the Treaty of Fontainebleau, which allowed French troops passing through Spanish territory to join Spanish troops and invade Portugal, which had refused to obey the order to block international against England. In February 1808, Napoleon, with the excuse that the embargo against England is not respected in Portuguese ports, sends a powerful army under his brother, General Murat. Outside the treaty, French troops entered in Catalonia, taking the places in their path. Thus, during February and March 1808, cities such as Barcelona and Pamplona remained under French rule.
While all this was happening, there is the Mutiny of Aranjuez (March 17, 1808), by which the crown prince, Ferdinand VII, his father away from the throne and takes his place. However, when Ferdinand VII returned to Madrid, the city is already occupied by Murat, as both the king and his father are virtually prisoners of the French army. Napoleon, taking advantage of the weakness of the Spanish Bourbons, forcing both, first the father then the son, to meet him at Bayonne, where it arrives Fernando VII on 20 April.
In the absence of kings, the situation becomes more and more tense in the capital. On May 2, the crowd began to concentrate at the Royal Palace. The crowd watched as the French soldiers taken out of the palace to the royal family members who were still in the palace. On seeing the infant struggling Francisco de Paula with her captor, the crowd launched the assault of carriages, shouting to take it away!. The French soldiers fired on the crowd. The fight lasted hours and were spread all over Madrid. Meanwhile, the Spanish military, victims of institutional confusion reigning, still quartered and liabilities. Only park located in the Palace Artillery Monteleón finally rises in arms against the French, led by Luis Daoíz Capitant and Santillán Torres and Pedro Velarde. After repelling an initial French offensive under General Lefranc, both die fighting heroically to the reinforcements sent by Murat. Gradually, pockets of resistance are falling. Hundreds of Spanish men and women, and French soldiers were killed in the fray. The Goya painting The Charge of the Mamelukes reflects the street fighting that took place that day.
The cruel repression. In the Salon del Prado and in the fields of La Moncloa shoots hundreds of patriots taking the side of Murat Spanish against all carrying arms. Paintings such as The Third of May 1808 in Madrid: the executions on Principe Pio mountain, Goya, reflecting the repression that ended the uprising of the Dos de Mayo.
Meanwhile, in Bayonne, Napoleon, after holding isolated members of the Royal Family, on May 6, 1808 ensures that, after death threat, Fernando VII returned the crown to his father, who had already previously assigned to Napoleon, who in turn had given to his older brother, Joseph Bonaparte, who becomes José I, King of Spain. Are abdications of Bayonne. July 7 is crowned and takes an oath to the court meeting in Bayonne, heading then to Madrid, where he arrived on the 20th. Just ten days after leaving the city after the French defeat at the Battle of Bailen. However, after the Spanish defeat at the Battle of Somosierra (November 30, 1808), French troops re-enter Madrid.
José I Bonaparte (1808-1813) seeks to implement a reform program with the help of so-called French style. As part of that program, ordered the demolition of monasteries, churches and congested areas of Madrid to transform them into public squares and thoroughfares, which would better be dubbed by the people of Madrid as King Squares. That's how come the streets of Santa Ana, Cortes, Mostenses, San Martin and Branches, occupying the sites of demolished monasteries. However, the most ambitious project was the creation of a large square near the eastern facade of the Palacio Real, at the cost of the demolition of many houses and the occasional unique building (Treasure House and Convent of San Gil). It is what we now know as the Plaza de Oriente. Joseph Bonaparte will not, however, the end of this project, which would continue in 1817 under the reign of Fernando VII. The creation of the first cemeteries on the outskirts of the city (killing the burials in churches and convents) is also due to Joseph Bonaparte (General Cemetery North and South).
The liberation of the city is settled with the destruction of valuable compounds, such as the Palacio del Buen Retiro. The ancient palace left standing only the Hall of Realms (now the Museum of the Army) and the Ballroom (now the Cason del Buen Retiro).