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Thread: The Peninsular War and Napoleon

  1. #1
    Lord Oda Nobunaga's Avatar 大信皇帝
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    Default The Peninsular War and Napoleon

    During the Peninsular war how did the British manage to defeat the Grand Armee, I believe that the Spanish, British and Portuguese greatly outnumbered the French.
    What were the qualities of all the armies?
    Also can anyone show me pictures of Napoleon's Spanish troops.
    Napoleon only went to Spain once and Sieged Burgos, defeated the Spanish at Somosierra and successfully sieged Madrid until it surrendered what other battles did Napoleon command in Spain. Here is something that always troubled me: facing the difficult situation in Spain why didn't Napoleon just himself command the army in Spain, say like in 1810 and ended the conflict once and for all instead of sending his generals or at least he should have sent Davout?
    Last edited by Lord Oda Nobunaga; July 17, 2011 at 11:55 PM.

  2. #2
    Border Patrol's Avatar Protector Domesticus
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    Default Re: The Peninsular War and Napoleon

    Numerous French atrocities stirring the hornet's nest caused Napoleon's downfall. It wasn't so much that the British did anything right, Napoleon just did everything wrong. There's a reason US generals try not to step on anyone's toes in Afghanistan, and it's probably because they read up on the Penininsular War for everything an occupying force ought not to do. In fact, some have even argued that the Peninsular War to be the first total war in history, which requires active participation from the entire population in the war effort. One does indeed wonder how you up so catastrophically given everything the French had going for them, which included money and manpower that nations like Spain could only dream of.
    Celebrating massacres like the one at Saragossa certainly didn't help in any case. As to why Napoleon didn't just take his ball and go home? Because he was an arrogant, sociopathic dictator the likes of which the world wouldn't see again for another hundred years. It was unthinkable to him that he could be defeated by a handful of peasants taking potshots at his mighty army, but not to the other powers; and the rest is history.
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