Written almost a century after the events they describe, Lewis Butler's two volumes on Wellington's Peninsula War campaigns have rightly been judged a classic of military history. The story of how the Iron Duke turned disaster into triumph, and defeat into a final victory, has surely never been told with more authority. Butler's first volume begins with the Spanish popular revolt against the imposition of Napoleon's brother Joseph as their king and their appeal to Britain for aid. Early British disasters culminate in Sir John Moore's retreat and death at Corunna. Wellington fought back at the battles of Talavera and Busaco, but was compelled by Marshal Massena to retreat once more into Portugal, and only his foresight in constructing the impregnable lines of Torres Vedras, and denuding the country before them, saved the day. The first volume concludes with Wellington taking the offensive again at the battle of Fuentes d'Onoro and Albuera. Both volumes are liberally illustrated with maps and sketches of the battles and other operations. What Napoleon called his 'Spanish ulcer' has never been more minutely described and dissected, with the author paying a military man's due attention to the sinews of war as well as to the action.

Written almost a century after the events they describe, Lewis Butler's two volumes on Wellington's Peninsula War campaigns have rightly been judged a classic of military history. The story of how the Iron Duke turned disaster into triumph, and defeat into a final victory, has surely never been told with more authority. Volume Two begins with Wellington besieging and storming Badajoz and Ciudad Roderigo. These successes are followed by the difficult but decisive campaign culminating in Wellington's victory over Marshal Marmont at Salamanca and his entry into Madrid. After a difficult winter, Wellington once again resumes the offensive, defeats Marshal Soult at Vitoria and chases him over the Pyrenees and out of Spain. But Soult's stubborn resistance continues at the battles of Nivelle, the Nive, and Orthez as the fighting moves towards Toulouse where Wellington fights his final, victoriuous battle of the war as news of Napoleon's abdication arrives. Both volumes are liberally illustrated with maps and sketches of the battles and other operations. What Napoleon called his 'Spanish ulcer' has never been more minutely described and dissected, with the author paying a military man's due attention to the sinews of war as well as to the action.

This classic account of Wellington s tactics and strategy in the Peninsular War is one of the best single-volume works ever written on the epic campaign. Jac Weller covers all the battles with the French in which Wellington was involved. Talavera, Busaco, Salamanca and Vitoria are among the famous battles that he brings to life once more, with the aid of meticulous research, extensive visits to and photographs of the battlefields themselves, and an unwavering ability to cut a clear path through tangled military events. Wellington in the Peninsula brilliantly demonstrates how a great commander finally achieved victory after six years of battle against Napoleon s army.

An historic account of the Peninsula War written by the man leading forces against the French, Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington. Though pressed many times to write about his battles and campaigns, the Duke of Wellington always replied that people should refer to his published dispatches. Yet Wellington did, in effect, write a history of the Peninsular War in the form of four lengthy memoranda, summarizing the conduct of the war in 1809, 1810, and 1811 respectively. These lengthy accounts demonstrate Wellington’s unmatched appreciation of the nature of the war in Spain and Portugal, and relate to the operations of the French and Spanish forces as well as the Anglo-Portuguese army under his command. Unlike personal diaries or journals written by individual soldiers, with their inevitably limited knowledge, Wellington was in an unparalleled position to provide a comprehensive overview of the war. Equally, the memoranda were written as the war unfolded, not tainted with the knowledge of hindsight, providing a unique contemporaneous commentary. Brought together by renowned historian Stuart Reid with reports and key dispatches from the other years of the campaign, the result is the story of the Peninsular War told through the writings of the man who knew and understood the conflict in Iberia better than any other. These memoranda and dispatches have never been published before in a single connected narrative. Therefore, Wellington’s History of the Peninsular War 1808-1814 offers a uniquely accessible perspective on the conflict in the own words of Britain’s greatest general.

Sir Arthur Wellesley's 1808–1814 campaigns against Napoleon's forces in the Iberian Peninsula have drawn the attention of scholars and soldiers for two centuries. Yet, until now, no study has focused on the problems that Wellesley, later known as the Duke of Wellington, encountered on the home front before his eventual triumph beyond the Pyrenees. In Wellington's Two-Front War, Joshua Moon not only surveys Wellington's command of British forces against the French but also describes the battles Wellington fought in England—with an archaic military command structure, bureaucracy, and fickle public opinion. In this detailed and accessible account, Moon traces Wellington's command of British forces during the six years of warfare against the French. Almost immediately upon landing in Portugal in 1808, Wellington was hampered by his government's struggle to plan a strategy for victory. From that point on, Moon argues, the military's outdated promotion system, political maneuvering, and bureaucratic inertia—all subject to public opinion and a hostile press—thwarted Wellington's efforts, almost costing him the victory. Drawing on archival sources in the United Kingdom and at the United States Military Academy, Moon goes well beyond detailing military operations to delve into the larger effects of domestic policies, bureaucracy, and coalition building on strategy. Ultimately, Moon shows, the second front of Wellington's "two-front war" was as difficult as the better-known struggle against Napoleon's troops and harsh conditions abroad. As this book demonstrates, it was only through strategic vision and relentless determination that Wellington attained the hard-fought victory. Moon's multifaceted examination of the commander and his frustrations offers valuable insight into the complexities of fighting faraway battles under the scrutiny at home of government agencies and the press—issues still relevant today.

This volume provides a fascinating insight into what it was like to march and fight, to eat and be wounded, to command and be commanded at the start of the 19th century. Stress is laid on the technological limitations of warfare at that time.

This book describes plans to defend Lisbon from invaders during the Peninsular War 1807-1814. Three different nations considered this challenge. First the French after their invasion of 1807. Second, the Portuguese after the French were ejected in 1808 and third, the British after the French were ejected in 1809.