Battle of Badajoz - Peninsular War

Battle of Badajoz - Peninsular War Battle of Badajoz - Conflict: The Battle of Badajoz was fought from March 16 to April 6, 1812 as part of the Peninsular War, which was in turn part of the Napoleonic Wars (1803-1815). Armies Commanders: British Earl of Wellington25,000 men French Major General Armand Philippon4,742 men Battle of Badajoz - Background: Following his victories at Almeida and Ciudad Rodrigo, the Earl of Wellington moved south towards Badajoz with the goal of securing the Spanish-Portuguese frontier and improving his lines of communication with his base at Lisbon. Arriving at the city on March 16, 1812, Wellington found it held by 5,000 French troops under the command of Major General Armand Philippon. Long aware of Wellingtons approach, Philippon had significantly improved the Badajozs defenses and had laid in large supplies of provisions. Battle of Badajoz - The Siege Begins: Outnumbering the French nearly 5-to-1, Wellington invested the city and began construction of siege trenches. As his troops pushed their earthworks towards Badajozs walls, Wellington brought up his heavy guns and howitzers. Knowing that it was only a matter of time until the British reached and breached the citys walls, Philippons men launched several sorties in an attempt to destroy the siege trenches. These were repeatedly beaten back by British riflemen and infantry. On March 25, General Thomas Pictons 3rd Division stormed and captured an outer bastion know as the Picurina. The capture of the Picurina allowed Wellingtons men to expand their siege works as his guns pounded away at the walls. By March 30, breaching batteries were in place and over the next week three openings were made in the citys defenses. On March 6, rumors began to arrive in the British camp that Marshal Jean-de-Dieu Soult was marching to relieve the beleaguered garrison. Wishing to take the city before reinforcements could arrive, Wellington ordered the assault to commence at 10:00 PM that night. Moving into position near the breaches, the British waited for the signal to attack. Battle of Badajoz - The British Assault: Wellingtons plan called for the main assault to be made by the 4th Division and Craufurds Light Division, with supporting attacks from the Portuguese and British soldiers of the 3rd and 5th Divisions. As the 3rd Division moved into place, it was spotted by a French sentry who raised the alarm. With the British moving to attack, the French rushed to the walls and unleashed a barrage of musket and cannon fire into the breaches inflicting heavy casualties. As the gaps in the walls filled with British dead and wounded, they became increasingly impassable. Despite this, the British kept swarming forward pressing the attack. In the first two hours of fighting, they suffered around 2,000 casualties at the main breach alone. Elsewhere, the secondary attacks were meeting a similar fate. With his forces halted, Wellington debated calling off the assault and ordering his men to fall back. Before the decision could be made, news reached his headquarters that Pictons 3rd Division had secured a foothold on the city walls. Connecting with the 5th Division which had also managed to scale the walls, Pictons men began pushing into the city. With his defenses broken, Philippon realized that it was only a matter of time before British numbers destroyed his garrison. As the redcoats poured into Badajoz, the French conducted a fighting retreat and took refuge in Fort San Christoval just north of the city. Understanding that his situation was hopeless, Philippon surrendered the following morning. In the city, British troops went wild looting and committed a wide array of atrocities. It took nearly 72 hours for order to be completely restored. Battle of Badajoz - Aftermath: The Battle of Badajoz cost Wellington 4,800 killed and wounded, 3,500 of which were incurred during the assault. Philippon lost 1,500 dead and wounded as well as the remainder of his command as prisoners. Upon seeing the piles of British dead in the trenches and breaches, Wellington wept for the loss of his men. The victory at Badajoz secured the border between Portugal and Spain and allowed Wellington to begin advancing against the forces of Marshal Auguste Marmont in Salamanca.

The top 5 benefits of recruitment marketing for HR professionals

The top 5 benefits of recruitment marketing for HR professionals After a decade of economic uncertainty and high unemployment, job seekers are finding themselves in a favorable job market. As such, recruiting top talent is going to be much harder than it was in 2008. Recruitment and talent acquisition will become a lot more competitive, so positioning your employer brand and recruitment marketing strategy will be key to attracting the best and the brightest.According to a recent survey conducted by HR.com, only 32% of HR professionals understand recruitment marketing to a high degree and only 20% do a good job. Given this information, in order to truly reap the benefits of recruitment marketing, you must first understand what it is.According to PandoLogic, recruitment marketing is the suite of strategies and tools you  use to build and maintain your employer brand, connect with potential hires, and manage outward messaging about your company. It’s not quite the same thing as standard marketing- you’re not selling your product or se rvice, but rather your company. It’s also not quite the same as talent acquisition.  Recruitment marketing consists of the various activities an organization uses to find, attract, engage, and nurture talented prospects before, during, and after they apply for a job. With that being said, here are the potential benefits.Better marketing and word of mouthYour employer brand is only as good as its reputation. Targeting sites like Glassdoor and making sure you have a positive image can do wonders for how your brand is perceived. Think about it: if a job seeker wants an honest review of what it’s like working at your company, where will they go? Chances are, they will take to Glassdoor. If they see a plethora of negative reviews, they will most likely pass on working at your company.Reduced time to hireBut there is more to recruitment marketing than just your employer brand. The software you use will determine how efficient you are at filling your open positions. Having a clear recruitment marketing strategy will keep you up-to-date on the latest technological innovations in recruitment. For example, innovations such as AI-enabled recruitment software can save you time and money on manual tasks that can easily be automated.hbspt.cta.load(2785852, '9e52c197-5b5b-45e6-af34-d56403f973c5', {});Better quality of hireAnother aspect of recruitment marketing that can’t be underestimated is the power of big data.  Data is ultimately the foundation for any AI-enabled technology, especially in recruitment. Big data can help you target people who meet a certain standard and help ensure that you’ll get better candidates.Better ROI for your budgetWhat proper business doesn’t want a return on their investment? Recruitment marketing is no different. As a recruiter, you’re investing resources in order to obtain employees who then help your company thrive. Part of the recruitment marketing strategy is analyzing your job advertising spen d and figuring out where your money is most effectively spent, what’s not working, and reallocating resources as necessary.Overall, developing and maintaining an effective recruitment marketing strategy is essential if you want to experience all of the aforementioned benefits.  By embracing best practices now, you’re helping to ensure better, smoother hiring in the future and an improved candidate  experience. Of course, this is just a high-level overview. It doesn’t actually touch on how to achieve these benefits in great detail. If you’d a more in-depth analysis, please visit PandoLogic  to read their multi-layered blog post.