Esdaile which further aided to growth of a popular movement across Spain. An early example of this French hostility to civilians and ‘bad behavoir’ would be Murat’s statement from the earliest resistance to French oppression, he stated “French blood has been spilled, it demands revenge” which in turn lead to the killing of innocent civilians as due to the guerrilla nature of the war the French could not distinguish between guerrillas and civilians. This in turn saw the Peninsular war transformed into a holy war as “the Spanish clergy rallied the people to oppose the ‘Devil’s servants.’ Some friars took up arms and raised bands of guerrillas” according to Conelley. There is much validity to this argument as the contemporary artist Goya records the murder of one revolutionary priest in his painting “The third of May 1808.” This helps to illustrate the independent, zealous spirit of the Spaniards. French officer de Rocca of the French hussars later noted that “It was neither armies nor fortresses that were to be conquered in Spain, but that one, yet multiplied sentiment which filled the whole people. It was the inmost soul of each and every one that resisted the blow – which neither ball nor bayonet could reach.” This is seemingly accurate as we know that it was this spirit of resistance that helped the Spanish to raise a standing army of 300,000 men with relative ease. Moreover, Spanish retaliation in France grew significantly over the period 1808 to 1814 and it was further fuelled by Anglo-Spanish victories. This saw the French morale in Spain plummet, the situation was further accentuated in combination with the constant threat of attack from guerrillas, French ambassador Pradt summed up the situation when he stated that “The lion in the fable tormented to death by a gnat gives a true picture of the French army in Spain.” This illustrates the constant drain on men, time and resources that the >