WHAT ALL HAPPENED APRIL TO SEPTEMBER 1808
Find out what all happened April to September 1808

Joseph Bonaparte approves the Bayonne Statute, a royal charter intended as the basis for his rule as king of Spain. (8. July 1808)

Joseph Bonaparte becomes King of Spain. (15. June 1808)

Napoleon's brother, Joseph Bonaparte, is crowned King of Spain. (6. June 1808)

John Jacob Astor incorporates the American Fur Company, that would eventually make him America's first millionaire. (6. April 1808)

The Roman Catholic Diocese of Baltimore is promoted to an archdiocese, with the founding of the dioceses of New York, Philadelphia, Boston, and Bardstown (now Louisville) by Pope Pius VII. (8. April 1808)

Napoleon I of France orders the annexation of the Papal States to the French Empire. (17. May 1808)

Outbreak of the Peninsular War: The people of Madrid rise up in rebellion against French occupation. Francisco de Goya later memorializes this event in his painting The Second of May 1808. (2. May 1808)

Finnish War: Russians defeat the Swedes in the bloody Battle of Oravais. (14. September 1808)

Battle of Vimeiro: British and Portuguese forces led by General Arthur Wellesley defeat French force under Major-General Jean-Andoche Junot near the village of Vimeiro, Portugal, the first Anglo-Portuguese victory of the Peninsular War. (21. August 1808)

Finnish War: In the Battle of Jutas, Swedish forces under Lieutenant General Georg Carl von Döbeln beat the Russians, making von Döbeln a Swedish war hero. (13. September 1808)