War Classics – Wellington in the Peninsula

The Peninsular War, which raged in Portugal, Spain, and eventually southern France from 1808 to 1814, could be seen as a sideshow given the small size of the British army involved and the remote location of much of the action compared with the big battles of the Napoleonic Wars. But it graced almost every historic British regiment with its battle honours, and, more importantly, made the reputation of one of Britain’s greatest ever commanders: Arthur Wellesley, later the Duke of Wellington. If you want the definitive history, Jac Weller’s dedication to Sir Charles Oman ‘In humble acknowledgement of debt’ is a clear pointer, but Oman’s A History of the Peninsular War spans some 4,