Voices from the Peninsula: Eyewitness Accounts by Soldiers of Wellington's Army, 1808–1814Ian Fletcher The Peninsular War was one of the most successful campaigns ever fought by the British Army. Between 1808, when British troops landed in Portugal, and 1814, when Wellington's Army advanced into the south of France, British soldiers were involved in countless battles and sieges against Napoleon's vaunted French veterans. Drawing on rare letters, diaries and memoirs, Ian Fletcher presents a superb insight into the daily lives of British soldiers in this momentous period and evokes such key battles and sieges as Vimiero, Talavera, Badajoz, Salamanca, Vittoria and San Sebastian. Ian Fletcher's skillful compilation of accounts, placed in context by important background detail, make this the story of the Peninsular War in the words of the men who marched, fought and triumphed with Wellington. Although there have been many accounts of soldiering in Wellington's army, Voices from the Peninsula throws new light on the experience of Napoleonic warfare and brings to life what Wellington called 'the finest military machine in existence'. |
Contents
Oporto and Talavera | |
The Coa Agueda and Almeida 5 Busaco and the Retreat to Torres Vedras | |
Massenas Retreat Sabugal and Fuentes de Oñoro | |
Ciudad Rodrigo and Badajoz | |
Salamanca | |
Burgos and Retreat | |
The Decisive Campaign | |
The Battle of the Pyrenees | |
The Invasion of France | |
The Nivelle and the Nive | |
Orthes and Toulouse | |
The Sortie From Bayonne | |
Bibliography | |
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Voices from the Peninsula: Eyewitness Accounts by Soldiers of Wellington's ... Ian Fletcher No preview available - 2016 |
Common terms and phrases
20th Light Dragoons 3rd Division 5th Division action advance Albuera arms arrived artillery attack Badajoz ball battalion battery battle Battle of Toulouse Battle of Vimeiro bayonet Bayonne Bidassoa breach bridge brigade British Burgos cannon Captain cavalry centre charge Ciudad Rodrigo close Colonel column commanded Corunna crossed dead distance ditch Dragoons enemy enemy’s fell field fighting fire flank followed force formed forward fought French army French troops front Fuentes de Oñoro gallant ground guns halted heights hill horse hundred killed Lieutenant Light Division Light Infantry Lord Wellington Marshal Soult miles morning mountain moved musket musketry night o’clock occupied officers ordered passed Peninsula Peninsular War piquet Portugal Portuguese position prisoners rear redoubt regiment retired retreat river road round shot Salamanca sergeant shot side siege skirmishers soldiers soon Soult Spaniards Spanish took Toulouse town village Vittoria whilst wounded yards