The Peninsular War: A New History

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Summary: Detailed Account of the Peninsular Campaign
Review: Charles Esdaile's new book on the Peninsular War offers readers a comprehensive and in-depth study of this savage conflict that raged across Spain and Portugal between 1808 and 1814. In over 510 pages of text the author takes us through the reasons why this war started, the battles and campaigns as it progressed over the years and the many interesting facets behind the characters involved. Not only does the author cover the military aspects in detail but also he does not neglect those other important factors such as the politics of the Spanish Junta, Guerilla warfare and the effects on the civilian population.

All the major battles and campaigns are covered and I found the author to be refreshingly non-biased in his writing, offering laurels to those armies, soldiers and commanders that deserved praise, regardless of origin. The maps supplied, 22 in number, were detailed enough to follow the narrative but they could have been of a higher quality. The illustrations, 28 in number, were excellent. The choice of pictures and their quality (all colour prints) was outstanding and made the book that little bit more special.

I must confess that at times the narrative appeared to bog down, mainly when covering the politics of the war. That's not the author's fault but mine, I tend to appreciate the military aspects of a story more. These areas covered by the author in this regard where quite important to the story but I was always itching to get back to the battlefield and to follow the movement of the French and British armies as they maneuvered for another pitched battle.

Overall this is a great book covering this most important Napoleonic campaign. The author utilises numerous first-hand accounts from participants, both military and civilian and they blend in perfectly with the narrative. Its one of the better one-volume accounts and I would rank it along side another one of my personal favorites, `The Spanish Ulcer' by David Gates. I am sure that anyone who appreciates military history will enjoy this new title by Charles Esdaile.

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Summary: A highly critical history of the Peninsular War
Review: Esdaile criticizes the mythological role of the partisans in the Peninsular War and the contention tht these irregular fighters had popular support. Esdaile believes the partisans were nothing more than draft dogers and bandits, who hindered rather than helped the Spanish cause. According to Esdaile the use of these guerrillas hampered the Spanish war effort because they took away valuable men from the army and committed numerous crimes against the civilian population. Esdaile states in this book that the guerrillas were motivated by personal profit and not by any sense of nationalism. In the concluding chapters of the book, Esdaile believes it was Napoleon blunders by asking his subordinates to launch offensives in eastern Spain which led to the western part of the country vulnerable to Welligton's offenisves that ultimately ended the war. I would reccomend this book to anyone who wants a new view of the Peninsular War.

Rating:
Summary: A highly critical history of the Peninsular War
Review: Esdaile criticizes the mythological role of the partisans in the Peninsular War and the contention tht these irregular fighters had popular support. Esdaile believes the partisans were nothing more than draft dogers and bandits, who hindered rather than helped the Spanish cause. According to Esdaile the use of these guerrillas hampered the Spanish war effort because they took away valuable men from the army and committed numerous crimes against the civilian population. Esdaile states in this book that the guerrillas were motivated by personal profit and not by any sense of nationalism. In the concluding chapters of the book, Esdaile believes it was Napoleon blunders by asking his subordinates to launch offensives in eastern Spain which led to the western part of the country vulnerable to Welligton's offenisves that ultimately ended the war. I would reccomend this book to anyone who wants a new view of the Peninsular War.

Rating:
Summary: Best overall view
Review: Esdaile's book is simply the best overall description of thePeninsular War. He realizes that war and battles do not exist in a vacuum from politics as well as the reverse, that war involves fighting. He thus spends much time on the intricacies of Cadiz government to show the limitations of the Spanish forces. His theses on the regular army and the guerillas are expanded from his early works as is the realtion of Wellington to the Spaniards. The Duke is not mythologised, but he is shown to be the outstanding personality of the war. Although his descriptions of battles are limited in scope and scale (see D. Gates "The Spanish Ulcer" for a better strictly military history), Esdaile places the war within the structure of the other conflicts at the time. This book is the definitive description of the entire war.

Rating:
Summary: Rather unbalanced
Review: The author makes a worthy attempt to say something new about the war, but the start of the book is turgid to say the least. He tries to provide a full socio-economic context for the events in the Peninsula, but goes around and around in circles over spain. Undoubtedly it is good to use the underutilised Spanish sources, which are indeed interesting, but the fact is that the war begins in Portugal, yet is is scaracely given more than a few pages of background. The maps are useful, but there is little meat in a lot of what he says. As a beginner's book, this would leave a lot of confusion. As a definitive work, there is little new apart from the Spanish sources. Perhaps a more clear organization of the book, with appropriate chapter headings and a better index would help. By the time he gets to the Pyrenees, he, like so many other narrators, has long since run out of steam, yet it is in some senses the crux or end of the story, even if it did not take place in Spain. I wish authors dealing with this period would get over the annoying habit of mentioning what will happen later, and then giving only partial information, for example Zaragossa. Perhaps a detailed list of all the battles/main locations with key dates/events might, but as it is it makes everything seem very patchy and badly thought out.
Perhaps if he had confined himself to Spain in the Peninsular war he would have done a great deal better. Likewise, a volume on Portugal, and on the Pyrenees would make much more sense than what he has ended up with. Since he has used so many Spanish sources, some of the basic ones British ones are badly neglected.

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Summary: A spanish reader (Madrid,Spain)
Review: This is a serious and balanced book based on multiple reliable sources in the different languages that people that fought and has written about that war used; not just english: language and people. Specially interesting is the use of french sources and the analysis of civil population suffering inflicted by the french with retribution and counter retribution by spanish, portuguese ,french and so on. No doubt it is a clasic already,along Gate`s Spanish Ulcer and Lovett`s Napoleon and the Birth of Modern Spain in english; for the social aspects of the conflict Artola`s Afrancesados is still unmatched but not translated into english.