The Battle of Cardedeu on 16 December 1808 saw an Imperial French corps led by Laurent Gouvion Saint-Cyr assault a Spanish force commanded by Juan Miguel de Vives y Feliu and Theodor von Reding. Saint-Cyr won the engagement by forming most of his troops into gigantic attack columns and smashing through the Spanish lines. Cardedeu is located 17 kilometres (11 mi) northeast of Barcelona, Spain. The action occurred during the Peninsular War, part of the Napoleonic Wars.

By the fall of 1808, a French corps under Guillaume Philibert Duhesme was besieged in Barcelona by a 24,000-man Spanish army led by Vives. With 23,000 Franco-Italian soldiers, Gouvion Saint-Cyr marched from France to relieve Duhesme's troops. First Saint-Cyr undertook the successful Siege of Roses. Confronted by the fortress of Girona, which had resisted two earlier attacks, the French general resorted to a risky strategy. Leaving his artillery and most of his supplies behind, he avoided Girona by marching 16,500 men though the mountains and headed for Barcelona. Saint-Cyr completely outgeneraled Vives, who was only able to marshal 9,000 troops to block his opponent. Vives drew up his outnumbered troops on high ground, but Saint-Cyr's huge columns proved unstoppable. The Spanish withdrew after suffering heavy losses and Barcelona was soon relieved.

The Dos de Mayo Uprising had put Iberia in revolt against French rule. The Spanish conventional warfare had started with the Battles of El Bruch. The British intervention had started with the Battle of Roliça. Napoleon's invasion of Spain had ended successfully with the French occupation of Madrid. The Corunna campaign started with the Battle of Cardedeu.

As part of Emperor Napoleon's plan to seize the Kingdom of Spain in a military coup, several key points, including Barcelona were captured in February 1808. Among other strong places, the French also seized San Sebastián, Pamplona and Figueras by trickery. On 2 May 1808, the Spanish people revolted against the Imperial French occupation in the Dos de Mayo Uprising.

In the early summer of 1808, a 12,710-man French corps commanded by General of Division Guillaume Philibert Duhesme was stationed at Barcelona. General of Division Joseph Chabran's 1st Division had 6,050 soldiers in eight battalions, while General of Division Giuseppe Lechi's 2nd Division consisted of 4,600 men in six battalions. The 1,700 cavalry were organized in nine squadrons under Generals of Brigade Bertrand Bessières and François Xavier de Schwarz. The force included 360 artillerists. This modest-sized corps was instructed to put down the insurrection in Catalonia, to send assistance to Marshal Bon-Adrien Jeannot de Moncey in his attempt to capture Valencia, and to hold Barcelona. Considering the intensity of the rebellion, these orders were unrealistic.

Chabran and Schwarz were defeated at the Battles of the Bruch in mid-June and Duhesme was repulsed in the Battle of Gerona on 20–21 June. After securing the assistance of an improvised division commanded by General of Division Honoré Charles Reille, Duhesme initiated the Siege of Gerona. This unsuccessful operation lasted from 24 July to 16 August before Duhesme retreated to Barcelona and Reille withdrew to Figueres. News of the French disaster at the Battle of Bailen on 22 July 1808 buoyed Spanish morale and depressed the Imperial troops. Duhesme's troops had to fight their way back through the hills and abandon their field artillery in order to make it back to Barcelona, where they arrived on 20 August.

Meanwhile, Marquis del Palacio's division of regular Spanish troops arrived from the Balearic Islands. Supported by thousands of miquelets (Catalan militia) the Spaniards blockaded Barcelona at the beginning of August. On 31 July, they captured the castle of Mougat and its garrison of 150 Neapolitans with the help of Captain Thomas Cochrane and a British frigate. Though Duhesme's 10,000 surviving troops were in a tight spot, Del Palacio did not press them very hard. The French commander was able to send strong columns through the loose blockade in order to gather food and other supplies. On 12 October, an Italian column was roughly handled at Sant Cugat del Vallès with 300 casualties and the expeditions stopped. Because Del Palacio remained almost inert during his tenure of command, the Catalan Junta replaced him as Captain General with Juan Miguel de Vives y Feliu on 28 October. This veteran of the War of the Pyrenees had capably led the Spanish right wing at the Battle of the Black Mountain in 1794 and covered the retreat at the Battle of Boulou. Vives skirmished with the French outpost line on 8 November, but then went into hibernation until reinforcements arrived under General Theodor von Reding. On 26 November, Vives pushed the French within the walls of Barcelona, inflicting about 100 casualties.

According to a 5 November report, the Army of Catalonia under Vives had 20,033 soldiers available in five divisions and a small reserve. Brigadier General Mariano Álvarez de Castro led 5,600 soldiers of the Vanguard Division. The Vanguard included 100 cavalry in the volunteer San Narciso Hussars, the regular foot regiments of Ultonia (300), Borbon (500), 2nd Barcelona (1,000), and 1st Wimpfen Swiss (400), and the volunteer tercios 1st Gerona (900), 2nd Gerona (400), Igualada (400), Cervera (400), 1st Tarragona (800), and Figueras (400). General Conde de Caldagues commanded the 4,998-strong 1st Division which consisted of six artillery pieces manned by 70 gunners, 50 sappers, the cavalry regiments Españoles Hussars (220) and Catalonia Cazadores (180), the regular infantry regiments the 2nd Walloon Guards (314), Soria (780), Borbon (151), 2nd Savoia (1,734), and 2nd Swiss (270), and the volunteer tercios Tortosa (984) and elements of Igualada and Cervera (245). General Laguna led the 2,360-man 2nd Division with seven guns manned by 84 artillerists, 30 sappers, Españoles Hussars (200), two battalions each of provincial grenadier militia of Old Castile (972) and New Castile (924), and the Zaragoza Volunteers (150).