The Peninsular War
A New History
Widely welcomed as the definitive new history of the war
For centuries Spain had been the most feared and predatory power in Europe - it had the largest empire and one of the world's great navies to defend it. Nothing could have prepared the Spanish for the devastating implosion of 1805-14. Trafalgar destroyed its navy and the country degenerated into a brutalized shambles with French and British armies marching across it at will. The result was a war which killed over a million Spaniards and ended its empire.
This book is the first in a generation to come to terms with this spectacular and terrible conflict, immortalised by Goya and the arena in which Wellington and his redcoats carved out one of the greatest episodes in British military history.
About the author
Charles Esdaile is Senior Lecturer in History at the University of Liverpool. He is the author of The Wars of Napoleon, The French Wars, 1792-1815, The Spanish Army in the Peninsular War, The Duke of Wellington and the Command of the Spanish Army, 1812-14 and Spain in the Liberal Age, 1808-1939. Married with four young children, he lives near Formby.
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