Wellington S Peninsular Victories

First published in 1963, this book concentrates on four great military victories of the Peninsular War (1807-1814): the Battle of Busaco of September 27, 1810; the Battle of Salamanca of July 22, 1812; the Battle of Vitoria of June 21, 1913; and the Battle of Nivelle of November 10, 1913. Richly illustrates throughout with photos, maps and plans. “You have sent me...the staff of a French Marshal, and I send you in return that of England.”—HRH The Prince Regent to Viscount Wellington after Vitoria “A lucid and absorbing account of the five years of arduous campaigning that brought the Allies to Toulouse in April, 1814...quotes freely from many fascinating eyewitness descriptions”—The Soldier “Concentrates attention on four of Wellington’s greatest triumphs—Busaco, Salamanca, Vitoria, and the Nivelle...which routed the finest soldiery in Europe and sent four of its most famous Marshals cringing back to Napoleon in disgrace”—The Daily Telegraph “Michael Glover’s book is a brilliant success, like the campaign which inspired it”—The Times Literary Supplement

Wellington's Peninsular War provides a concise and comprehensive account that can be enjoyed by both professional and amateur historians and which includes details of the battlefields as they are today and how to find and explore them. The Peninsular War (1808-1841) was part of the twenty year struggle against Napoleon Bonaparte that involved campaigns in Europe, the Middle East, Russia, the West Indies, South America and South Africa and until 1914 was known as 'The Great War'. The author has presented a balanced picture of the whole campaign and gives due credit to the Spanish and Portuguese efforts without which victory would not have been possible. Arranged in sections, the author starts with a review of the whole war and the background to it and follows with a complete chronological account of the war year by year. Finally a chapter on each of the major battles includes maps and photographs of the battlefields, orders of battle and instructions on how to find the battlefield today and what to see there. The maps show the ground as it was at the time but also include modern features to identify where the fighting took place enabling the reader to stand where Wellington would have stood when surveying the battlefield.

1812 was the year in which the Peninsular War swung in the favor of the combined forces of the British, the Spanish and the Portuguese. The Battle of Salamanca, on 22 July, saw some 50,000 French troops arrayed against a similar number of allies. This was the result of a series of victories over the French gained by the allied armies under Wellingt

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.

Wellington's campaign against Marshal Soult The content of this concise book concentrates on the final phase of the Peninsular War from the Battle of the Nivelle to the close of hostilities following the battles at Toulouse and Bayonne. Maguire's work on the subject was originally published in the United Services Institute Magazine. He wrote widely on military history, including a highly regarded work, 'Outlines of Military Geography', which explores the issue of terrain from a tactical perspective giving several different campaigns as examples. This present book follows the last months of the campaign in the South of France and includes erudite insights into Wellington's capabilities as a military commander, as well as a synopsis of the war by Charles Oman and maps and illustrations. Leonaur editions are newly typeset and are not facsimiles; each title is available in softcover and hardback with dustjacket.

In this compelling book, Richard Holmes tells the exhilarating story of the Duke of Wellington, Britain's greatest ever soldier.

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."