Volume 2 of 2. Eye-witness accounts and memoirs of the Peninsula War by ordinary soldiers who took part in the campaign have deservedly acquired a high reputation for the vivid picture they give us of life in Wellington's army and their insights into a brutal and merciless war. These two volumes of ‘Peninsular Sketches' are the cream of the genre. Collected by William Hamilton Maxwell, a colourful and well-regarded Anglo-Irish military historian and writer who may well have served in the Peninsular himself, they are now published in a modern revised edition. Volume One of this smart and conveniently sized re-print includes a lengthy and learned introduction by the modern military historian Stanley Monick, which comprises a biography of Maxwell himself, an outline of the course of the war, as well as well-informed notes and a commentary on the sketches themselves. Both volumes also have full indexes compiled by Dr Monick. Volume Two follows the course of the war from the capture of Madrid, Wellington’s victory at Vittoria and the British army’s passage over the Pyrenees and its final triumphal march to Toulouse. Long out of print, and a rare collector’s item in the antiquarian book market; these fascinating volumes are now within the price range of every enthusiast of the Peninsular War and Napoleonic warfare generally. For the serious student of the subject these are not to be missed.

Volume 1 of 2. Eye-witness accounts and memoirs of the Peninsula War by ordinary soldiers who took part in the campaign have deservedly acquired a high reputation for the vivid picture they give us of life in Wellington's army and their insights into a brutal and merciless war. These two volumes of ‘Peninsular Sketches' are the cream of the genre. Collected by William Hamilton Maxwell, a colourful and well-regarded Anglo-Irish military historian and writer who may well have served in the Peninsular himself, they are now published in a modern revised edition. Volume One of this smart and conveniently sized re-print includes a lengthy and learned introduction by the modern military historian Stanley Monick, which comprises a biography of Maxwell himself, an outline of the course of the war, as well as well-informed notes and a commentary on the sketches themselves. Both volumes also have full indexes compiled by Dr Monick. Volume One of the sketches give us raw material from such events as the storming of the fortress of Ciudad Roderigo and the sack of Badajoz as well as the great victory at Salamanca. Long out of print, and a rare collector’s item in the antiquarian book market; these fascinating volumes are now within the price range of every enthusiast of the Peninsular War and Napoleonic warfare generally. For the serious student of the subject these are not to be missed.

I never saw any regiment in such order, said Wellington before the Battle of Waterloo, it was the most complete and handsome military body I ever looked at. The object of the Duke's admiration was the 23rd Regiment of Foot the famous Royal Welch Fusiliers and this is their story during the tumultuous and bloody period of the wars with France between 1793 and 1815. Based on rare personal memoirs and correspondence and new research, this compelling book offers fresh insight into the evolution of the British Army. Scorned by even its own countrymen in 1793, it was transformed within a generation into a professional force that triumphed over the greatest general and army of the time. The men of the Royal Welch Fusiliers come alive as Graves tracks them across three continents, joining them in major battles and minor skirmishes, surviving shipwrecks and disease. We come to know such fighting men as the intrepid Drummer Richard Bentinck, the eccentric Major Jack Hill, and their beloved commander, Lt-Col. Harvey Ellis, who led his Fusiliers in some of the most famous actions only to fall at the greatest of them all Waterloo. This is a book that will appeal to all those interested in the Napoleonic wars, contemporary tactics and the meaning and the cost of courage.

Originally published in 1929, this volume discusses the early effects of the industrial revolution – the condition of the cotton spinners, the hardships for labouring children, the overcrowded prisons and other brutal punishments. At this time the principle branch of local government was the Poor Law and this book discusses how, in the monumental task of providing workhouses for the destitute, the England of the eighteenth century had completely failed. As well as social history, the book also covers military and political history.

On 16 May 1811, the small town of Albuera was the setting for one of the Peninsular War’s most bloody and desperate battles. A combined Spanish, British and Portuguese force of more than 30,000 men, under the command of Lord Beresford, stubbornly blocked the march of the French field marshal Soult, who was trying to reach the fortress of Badajoz, twelve miles to the north. However, after suffering losses of up to 7,000 men during the fighting, Wellington declared that, ‘Another such battle will ruin us’. One British regiment, the 57th Foot, suffered casualties of more than 50 per cent. Similarly, the French fought with enormous tenacity, and sustained almost equally heavy losses. The stories from those who fought in the battle on both sides make for both chilling and inspiring reading. These contemporaneous accounts include letters, diaries, official correspondence, army records, maps, newspaper reports and memoirs totaling over 100 contemporary accounts of the battle. They range from the comprehensive after-action reports of the British, Portuguese, Spanish and French commanders to casualty and prisoner lists and to recollections of individual soldiers from all the combatant armies. The purpose of this book is to tell the story of the battle exclusively by way of these primary sources, with English translations for foreign language sources, along with, in each case, a commentary identifying the source and its context. The heart of the work will be a vast number of first-hand accounts providing astonishing details of the intense fighting including the heroism of the Spanish troops, the massacre of Colborne’s brigade by Polish lancers, Beresford’s near-fatal indecisiveness, and the heroic charge of the Fusilier brigade. This presentation allows readers avid for detailed historical information to draw their own conclusions about how the events of the battle unfolded.

In separate commentary sections he evaluates the sources and indicates the inevitable contradictions and gaps in evidence that have emerged during his research. Complete with maps, battleground plans, line drawings and photographs, this compelling book provides acute analysis of a single day in Salamanca that changed European history."--Jacket.