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At the beginning of the Napoleonic period, the British Army's record left something to be desired. During the Peninsular War (1808-1814), however, Wellington led and trained an army that never knew a major defeat on the field. Even Wellington himself described his army as "able to go anywhere or do anything." This book examines the formidable British Army which played an integral part in stalling Napoleon's advance, focusing on the staff, infantry, cavalry, artillery and sieges and sappers. Numerous illustrations, including eight color plates, vividly depict the weaponry and uniforms of Wellington's Peninsular Army.
Constant Spanish guerrilla activity so drained the resources and diverted the attention of the French military that Wellington was able to advance against and overcome a numerically superior enemy. So many French soldiers were being used to counter the guerrillas and the threat that they posed that less than a third of the French army could be tasked with confronting Wellington. This book brings to life, for the first time, the formation, tactics and experiences of the Spanish guerrilla forces that fought Napoleon's army. Using much previously unpublished material, it offers a vivid description of the guerrilla and his lifestyle.
The Spanish Army was transformed during the 18th century by an influx of progressive officers who modernised and expanded it. It was closely modelled on the French armies of Louis XIV and Louis XV in tactical doctrine, organisation, armament and uniforms. In battle, they were often brave to the point of carelessness, and were thus sometimes difficult to control. The army also had several Swiss and Walloon regiments, less given to all-out attacks, but renowned for their steadiness under fire. In this first of three volumes, Réne Chartrand examines the organisation and uniforms of the Spanish Army of the Napoleonic Wars (1799-1815).
This is a ground-breaking study from the renowned author Digby Smith, highlighting a part of the Peninsular War that has received scant attention - the German units who fought in Napoleon's army. The book is a detailed study of their campaign service, fascinating because it concentrates on small engagements and skirmishes.
This highly detailed study provides a clear account of how the British Army was organised, who commanded it, and how it functioned in the field during the Peninsular War. Focusing principally on infantry, cavalry and artillery, including foreign units in British pay, it provides a detailed and comprehensive order of battle. Doctrine, training, tactics and equipment are discussed in depth, and medical services and engineers are also covered. Concise biographical details of key commanders, over 60 unit tree diagrams, organisational tables, plus numerous illustrations make this an essential reference work for students of this period.
The British troops who fought so successfully under the Duke of Wellington during his Peninsular Campaign against Napoleon have long been branded by the duke’s own words—“scum of the earth”—and assumed to have been society’s ne’er-do-wells or criminals who enlisted to escape justice. Now Edward J. Coss shows to the contrary that most of these redcoats were respectable laborers and tradesmen and that it was mainly their working-class status that prompted the duke’s derision. Driven into the army by unemployment in the wake of Britain’s industrial revolution, they confronted wartime hardship with ethical values and became formidable soldiers in the bargain These men depended on the king’s shilling for survival, yet pay was erratic and provisions were scant. Fed worse even than sixteenth-century Spanish galley slaves, they often marched for days without adequate food; and if during the campaign they did steal from Portuguese and Spanish civilians, the theft was attributable not to any criminal leanings but to hunger and the paltry rations provided by the army. Coss draws on a comprehensive database on British soldiers as well as first-person accounts of Peninsular War participants to offer a better understanding of their backgrounds and daily lives. He describes how these neglected and abused soldiers came to rely increasingly on the emotional and physical support of comrades and developed their own moral and behavioral code. Their cohesiveness, Coss argues, was a major factor in their legendary triumphs over Napoleon’s battle-hardened troops. The first work to closely examine the social composition of Wellington’s rank and file through the lens of military psychology, All for the King’s Shilling transcends the Napoleonic battlefield to help explain the motivation and behavior of all soldiers under the stress of combat.
Salamanca was the most decisive battle of the entire Peninsular War. This detailed, illustrated volume recounts its progression, alongside full-colour maps and illustrations. Wellington smashed Marmont's French Army and his pursuit of its shattered remnants led to the famous cavalry charge of the King's German Legion at Garcia Hernandez. There would be two more years of sieges and hard fighting before the Iron Duke crossed the Pyrenees into France but from Salamanca the British and their Portuguese and Spanish allies always had the upper hand. Ian Fletcher examines this important battle in detail and also discusses the campaign which led up to it.
Between 1845 and 1872, various groups of Maori were involved in a series of wars of resistance against British settlers. The Maori had a fierce and long-established warrior tradition and subduing them took a lengthy British Army commitment, only surpassed in the Victorian period by that on the North-West Frontier of India. Warfare had been endemic in pre-colonial New Zealand and Maori groups maintained fortified villages or pas. The small early British coastal settlements were tolerated, and in the 1820s a chief named Hongi Hika travelled to Britain with a missionary and returned laden with gifts. He promptly exchanged these for muskets, and began an aggressive 15-year expansion. By the 1860s many Maori had acquired firearms and had perfected their bush-warfare tactics. In the last phase of the wars a religious movement, Pai Maarire ('Hau Hau'), inspired remarkable guerrilla leaders such as Te Kooti Arikirangi to renewed resistance. This final phase saw a reduction in British Army forces. European victory was not total, but led to a negotiated peace that preserved some of the Maori people's territories and freedoms.
In the bitter winter of 1808, a small British force found itself outnumbered and outmanouevered by a French army led by none other than the emperor Napoleon. Faced with crushing defeat, the British, commanded by Sir John Moore, turned and began a legendary march through the snow and ice of northern Spain to freedom and escape. Napoleon, swearing that he would drive the British leopard into the sea, pursued and an epic was born.