The Peninsular War: The Spanish Perspective

This book is an attempt to rebalance our understanding of the Peninsular War in Iberia, written by a Spanish historian and translated into English for the first time. It explores the Spanish viewpoint of the conflict, highlighting the logistical and political difficulties faced by the Spaniards and the fierce resistance they put up against Napoleon's armies. The book also emphasizes the significant contribution of the Spanish armies to the defeat of Napoleon, despite their catastrophic defeats.

Format: Hardback
Length: 344 pages
Publication date: 30 November 2023
Publisher: Pen & Sword Books Ltd

For decades, even centuries, British historians have delved deeply into the Peninsular War, but the Spanish contribution to the conflict, which was critical to Napoleon's armies' defeat, has often been relegated to a minor role. This book aims to rebalance our understanding of the campaign in Iberia, written by a Spanish historian and translated into English for the first time. The book does not attempt to minimize the problems the Spanish experienced or the catastrophic defeats suffered by the Spanish Army, but the reasons for these setbacks are viewed and analyzed from the Spanish viewpoint. With the finest elements of the Spanish Army serving with the French forces in Denmark, Spain was virtually undefended when Napoleon's armies marched into the Iberian Peninsula. New armies had to be raised virtually from scratch to fight the invader in a country where, as the Duke of Wellington remarked, small armies were beaten and large armies starved. The logistical and political difficulties faced by the Spaniards are fully explored and explained. It is the big battles, nevertheless, which receive the most attention; both the great battles such as Tudela and Oca a and the surprising victory at Bail n, and the smaller, lesser-known combats which took place across the Peninsula. The defeats, even destruction, of their armies, did not deter the Spaniards; in fact, quite the contrary. Their cities, most notably Zaragoza, defied Napoleon's legions for months in some of the most savage fighting of any conflict as their streets were turned to rubble. Across the country, the ordinary citizens took up arms, attacking isolated French outposts and capturing enemy messengers and patrols - and the term guerrilla warfare came into being. Napoleon's marshals had never encountered such warfare before.

Dimension: 234 x 156 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9781399047852