The 22nd April Wellesley landed at Lisabon to command a force of 20.000 British troops. 3.000 members of the Kings German legion and an estimated 16.000 Portuguese. He faced a daunting task. Ranged against him were three French armies at Oporto to the North, Ciudad Rodrigo to the North East and Badajoz to the East each of witch was capable of matching the numbers under his command. Altogether the French had nearly 200,000 troop in the Iberian Peninsula. Wellesley could only aim to defeat each enemy army in turn, Retreating into Portugal whenever he felt threatened by overwhelming numbers. It was this factor that made the Peninsular campaign, conducted between 1809 and 1814, such a see saw affair of advance an withdrawal, but it was a measure of the brilliance of Wellesley that he was prepared to fight in such way. In process, his army gained the experience and expertise to achieve some memorable victories.