Dimensions
165 x 235 x 10mm
When Napoleon ordered General Andoche Junot to cross the Pyrenees and march on Lisbon in October 1807 in order to enforce his continental blockade of Britain, he had little idea that it was to result in a war that would last until 1814 and be a major factor in his downfall and exile in April of that year. In The Peninsular War: An Illustrated History Ian Fletcher tells the story of the war, and in particular follows the rise of one of the greatest soldiers in history, Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington. It will be lavishly illustrated with images representing almost 30 years of research by Ian Fletcher. The battles are some of the most famous in British military history; Talavera, Albuera, Badajoz, Salamanca, and Vitoria. The war raged from the Pyrenees to the Mediterranean and tied down almost a third of a million French soldiers who might otherwise have been used elsewhere in Europe. Little wonder, then, that Napoleon called it The Spanish Ulcer.
