A history of the Peninsular War, Vol. 3, Sep. 1809-Dec. 1810

In Short

This volume delivers a rigorous, authoritative history of the Peninsular War between September 1809 and December 1810, documenting the high-water mark of French imperial expansion in Spain and Portugal. It traces the catastrophic Spanish defeat at Ocaña, the French sweep through Andalusia, the bloody siege of Gerona, and Marshal Masséna’s invasion of Portugal. The narrative culminates in Wellington’s tactical stand at the mountain ridge of Bussaco and his retreat behind the formidable Lines of Torres Vedras, where the French invasion grinds to a halt. Charles Oman weaves strategic analysis, troop movements, and institutional critiques into a cohesive chronicle of grand strategy and tactical combat. The work retains its enduring authority through its exhaustive use of official dispatches, archival casualty returns, and firsthand memoirs, offering an unsparing look at how geography, supply logistics, national sentiment, and military command decisions shaped the Napoleonic Wars.

The Story

The chronicle opens in the autumn of 1809 as the Spanish Supreme Central Junta attempts to coordinate a grand, multi-pronged offensive toward Madrid. Disregarding the cautious counsel of Viscount Wellington, who refuses to commit British troops to an uncoordinated push into the plains of Castile, the Spanish authorities assemble a massive force of over 50,000 men under General Areizaga. This ambitious enterprise ends in total disaster on the open plains of Ocaña in November 1809. The French army, utilizing superior cavalry and disciplined tactical maneuvers, shatters the Spanish lines, inflicting massive casualties and capturing tens of thousands of prisoners.

The catastrophic defeat at Ocaña strips southern Spain of its primary defensive shield, clearing the path for King Joseph Bonaparte and Marshal Soult to launch the conquest of Andalusia in early 1810. French columns force the passes of the Sierra Morena with minimal resistance, sweeping through Cordova and Seville. The Central Junta collapses amidst popular outrage, but the strategic port of Cadiz is saved from immediate capture by the rapid retreat of the Duke of Albuquerque’s division. Protected by British naval power and narrow salt-marsh approaches, Cadiz becomes the seat of a new Regency and the national Cortes, enduring a prolonged French siege while remaining an unsubdued center of Spanish resistance.

Simultaneously, in the eastern theaters, French commanders struggle against stubborn regional defense and guerrilla warfare. In Catalonia, the siege of Gerona becomes a brutal test of endurance. For months, the Spanish garrison under Alvarez de Castro resists relentless bombardments and infantry assaults by General Verdier and Marshal Augereau. Though Gerona eventually starves into capitulation in December 1809, the siege exhausts the French Army of Catalonia, consuming an entire campaign season and immobilizing thousands of imperial troops. In Aragon, General Suchet secures the plains and fortifies key outposts, yet he finds his lines of communication perpetually threatened by irregular partisans under leaders like Villacampa and Francisco Espoz y Mina. These guerrillero bands refuse pitched battles, opting instead to intercept couriers, ambush isolated detachments, and force the French to tie down large garrisons across the mountains.

The central campaign of 1810 shifts to the Portuguese frontier, where Napoleon massed the Army of Portugal under Marshal Masséna with explicit orders to expel the British army from the Peninsula. Wellington prepares for the onslaught by instituting a systematic defensive strategy: he orders the evacuation and devastation of the Portuguese countryside to deny the enemy sustenance, while secretly constructing a vast network of field fortifications north of Lisbon—the Lines of Torres Vedras.

Masséna begins his advance by besieging the border fortresses protecting the northern corridor. Spanish-held Ciudad Rodrigo offers a heroic resistance under General Herrasti before surrendering in July 1810. The Portuguese fortress of Almeida falls shortly after in August when an accidental spark ignites its main powder magazine, devastating the town and forcing an immediate capitulation. With the frontier barriers breached, Masséna pushes his army deep into the mountainous Beira province.

As the French columns advance through abandoned villages along appalling mountain roads, Wellington draws up his Anglo-Portuguese army on the formidable, nine-mile ridge of Bussaco in September 1810. Masséna, underestimating the quality of the newly reorganized Portuguese units and expecting a continued British retreat, orders direct frontal assaults up the steep slopes. The corps of Marshal Ney and General Reynier are repeatedly repulsed by concentrated artillery and decisive counter-charges, suffering over 4,500 casualties. Although Bussaco is a clear defensive victory that boosts the morale of the Allied troops, Wellington orders a resumed retreat the following day when French light troops discover a mountain pass turning his left flank.

The Allied army conducts an orderly withdrawal toward Lisbon, followed closely by Masséna’s troops, who pause to plunder Coimbra. In October 1810, the advancing French vanguard unexpectedly arrives before the Lines of Torres Vedras. Masséna finds himself confronted by two impassable, deeply fortified belts of redoubts, escarpments, abattis, and enfilading artillery, garrisoned by over 50,000 Allied regulars and militia. Realizing the impossibility of storming these works, and with his army starving in a devastated landscape encircled by Portuguese irregulars, Masséna halts. The volume concludes in late 1810 with the French army forced to retreat to a defensive position at Santarem, its offensive energy broken against Wellington’s fortified lines.

How It Unfolds

The Disaster at Ocaña The Central Junta orders a direct advance on Madrid, but General Areizaga’s army is outflanked and destroyed on the open plains by French cavalry and artillery.

The Sweep Through Andalusia King Joseph and Marshal Soult cross the Sierra Morena passes, capturing Cordova and Seville while scattering Spanish forces across the south.

The Stand at Cadiz Albuquerque marches his army into the Isle of Leon, securing the strategic port of Cadiz before Victor’s 1st Corps can arrive to claim it.

The Fall of Gerona After months of heavy bombardment and repeated repulses, the starving garrison of Gerona capitulates, having tied down an entire French army corps for most of 1809.

Reorganizing the Portuguese Army Marshal Beresford and British officers train, drill, and restructure native Portuguese regiments, transforming them into reliable line infantry and light caçadores.

The Siege of Ciudad Rodrigo General Herrasti defends the Spanish border fortress with great bravery, surrendering only after a broad breach is made and his ammunition is depleted.

The Catastrophe at Almeida A chance explosion in the primary magazine demolishes the interior of Almeida’s castle, compelling General Cox to surrender the key Portuguese fortress within days.

The Clash on the Ridge of Bussaco Wellington positions his army along a steep mountain ridge, where his infantry and artillery repulse frontal assaults by Reynier and Ney with heavy French casualties.

The Flanking Movement at Boialvo Masséna discovers a mountain pass around the Allied left, forcing Wellington to abandon the Bussaco ridge and resume his planned withdrawal south.

Arrival at the Lines of Torres Vedras The French vanguard encounters an unmapped, double line of permanent redoubts and engineered obstacles stretching from the Tagus River to the Atlantic Ocean.

The Stagnation at Santarem Unable to breach the defensive works and facing starvation due to scorched-earth tactics, Masséna pulls his army back to Santarem to endure a grim winter.

The People

• Viscount Wellington (Arthur Wellesley): The commander of the British and Portuguese forces, whose overarching strategy relies on defensive discipline, careful logistics, and political independence. He seeks to preserve his army at all costs, flatly refusing to risk his troops in reckless Spanish offensives while meticulously preparing the defense of Portugal. His foresight in constructing the Lines of Torres Vedras and implementing scorched-earth tactics ultimately paralyzes the French invasion force.
• Marshal André Masséna (Duke of Rivoli, Prince of Essling): The veteran French commander appointed by Napoleon to lead the Army of Portugal and drive the British into the sea. Bold yet increasingly weary, he suffers from flawed intelligence, stubborn subordinates, and poor logistics. What he expects to be a swift pursuit ends in frustration when he encounters Wellington’s prepared defenses.
• General Areizaga: An energetic but inexperienced Spanish officer chosen by the Central Junta to command the Army of La Mancha. Eager to achieve a decisive victory, he leads his troops onto flat terrain at Ocaña, where his flawed tactical dispositions leave his flanks exposed to annihilation by French cavalry.
• Marshal Soult (Duke of Dalmatia): Napoleon’s chief of staff in Spain and major-general to King Joseph, who orchestrates the conquest of Andalusia. Capable and ambitious, he prioritizes the occupation of southern cities and rich provinces over the immediate capture of Cadiz, a strategic distraction that leaves the French campaign vulnerable.
• General Alvarez de Castro: The uncompromising Spanish governor of Gerona, whose absolute refusal to surrender transforms the defense of his city into a legendary siege. His leadership holds off multiple French divisions for months, inflicting heavy losses and delaying French operational plans across eastern Spain.
• Marshal William Carr Beresford: The British officer tasked with reorganizing the Portuguese regular army. By introducing British drills, embedding English captains, and enforcing strict discipline, he turns native regiments into an effective fighting force capable of standing alongside British regulars.
• General Robert Craufurd: The fiery, highly educated commander of the British Light Division. Operating on the Agueda frontier, his aggressive outposts and tactical daring keep Masséna’s army at bay, though his fiery temper occasionally leads him to take dangerous risks.
• Francisco Espoz y Mina: A Spanish guerrilla leader in Navarre who assumes command of his late nephew’s partisan band. Through swift movements, intelligence networks, and summary executions of competitors and traitors, he ties down thousands of French imperial troops in the Pyrenean foothills.

In Its Own Voice

"The mistake of Verdier had been that he attacked before the garrison was demoralized--the same error made by the English at Badajoz in 1811 and at San Sebastian in 1813."

This reflection highlights how eager commanders across all armies repeatedly miscalculated the defensive resolve of fortified garrisons, incurring devastating losses by launching assaults prematurely before a breach was properly prepared.

"A single mistake in the timing of operations, the chance that one Spanish army might outmarch another, or that one of the three might fail to detain any hostile force in its front... was bound to be ruinous."

The author emphasizes the inherent structural flaws in the Central Junta's strategic planning, where widely separated armies attempted simultaneous convergences against a centralized, highly mobile enemy.

"There are yet among the field officers, captains, and older subalterns a number of incorrigible officers of the old school, who are a dead weight upon their respective regiments, and mischievous in the way of example."

This passage from William Carr Beresford’s military correspondence details the systemic organizational decay within the traditional Portuguese officer corps that required sweeping reforms before the national army could become effective.

What It's Really About

Beneath the tactical movements and battlefield accounts, the book centers on the operational limits of nineteenth-century imperial power when confronted by national resistance and geography. Napoleon’s strategic doctrine relied on rapid advances, decisive field battles, and forcing conquered territories to feed his troops. In the Iberian Peninsula, this doctrine breaks down. The vast, mountainous terrain, poor roads, and agrarian poverty turn supply procurement into a daily crisis for French commanders, who must disperse large forces simply to collect food.

The work highlights the friction between conventional military strategy and asymmetric warfare. While French army corps easily defeat Spanish armies in open battle—as at Ocaña—they remain unable to pacify the countryside. The emergence of the guerrilleros, combined with the intervention of a disciplined British field army supported by sea power, forces the French to fight two distinct types of warfare simultaneously. Every mountain pass, courier route, and garrison requires permanent troops, diluting French numerical superiority and preventing effective concentration against Wellington.

Finally, the text exposes the flaw of divided command. Imperial marshals, driven by personal rivalries and reporting directly to distant authorities in Paris, frequently fail to support one another, whereas Wellington maintains singular, centralized operational control over the defense of Portugal.

Why Read It Today

This volume serves as a masterpiece of military historiography, offering readers a clear, unvarnished look at how strategy, topography, and human error shape major historical conflicts. Oman rejects romanticized storytelling, grounding his operational narrative in archival records, order-of-battle states, and terrain analyses. Readers interested in Napoleonic history, military logistics, or operational command will find the book exceptionally rewarding for its precision and analytical depth.

The narrative style is clear, assertive, and detailed. The author moves smoothly between high-level diplomatic friction—such as Wellington’s endless squabbles with the Portuguese Regency—and granular descriptions of tactical engagements down to individual battalion charges. Readers experience the grinding reality of campaign life: the choking dust of the Castilian plains, the endless rain and mud of Beira, the terrible noise of siege bombardments, and the grim sights of sacked villages abandoned by their inhabitants.

The work does require patience. The author assumes a reader’s comfort with dense geographical detail, technical military terminology, and extensive order-of-battle lists. The sheer length of the operational accounts, along with period spellings and minute tactical breakdowns, can prove challenging for casual readers seeking a light narrative summary. Yet for those who engage with its details, the book delivers a profound understanding of how war was planned, fought, and endured in the early nineteenth century. What stays with the reader is the stark contrast between grand strategic ambitions hatched in imperial cabinets and the harsh realities faced by soldiers on the ground.