num_pages: 586
description: For centuries Spain had been the most feared and predatory power in Europe - it had the largest empire and one of the world's great navies to defend it. Nothing could have prepared the Spanish for the devastating implosion of 1805-14. Trafalgar destroyed its navy and the country degenerated into a brutalized shambles with French and British armies marching across it at will. The result was a war which killed over a million Spaniards and ended its empire.This book is the first in a generation to come to terms with this spectacular and terrible conflict, immortalised by Goya and the arena in which Wellington and his redcoats carved out one of the greatest episodes in British military history.
language: English
title: The Peninsular War: A New History
titlecomplete: The Peninsular War: A New History
characters: Charles IV of Spain, Joseph Bonaparte, George Canning, Francisco Espoz y Mina, Manuel Godoy, Ferdinand VII of Spain, Joaquín Blake, Francisco Javier Castaños, 1st Duke of Bailén, Francisco Ballesteros, William Beresford, 1st Viscount Beresford
genres: Spanish History, France, History, European History, War, Regency, Spain, Military History, Nonfiction, Military Fiction
ratings_count: 140
places: Iberia
publisher: Penguin Books