History of the war in the Peninsula and in the south of France from the year 1807 to the year 1814, vol. 2

In Short

William Francis Patrick Napier’s second volume presents an unvarnished history of the Peninsular War through 1808 and 1809. As Napoleon attempts to secure Spain and Portugal, the narrative tracks French thrusts across the Tagus, the grinding siege of Zaragoza, and British operations under Cradock and Wellesley. Driven by an insider’s operational precision and a veteran’s skepticism toward official political mythologies, Napier records the terrifying reality of early nineteenth-century warfare: line battles, partisan violence, urban assault, and catastrophic supply failures. The volume has endured because Napier avoids easy patriotic bombast, presenting instead a balanced, rigorous, and visually cinematic critique of military command, political mismanagement, and human endurance.

The Story

The volume opens in the shadow of Napoleon’s attempt to consolidate his hold over the Iberian Peninsula following the departure of early British forces. Joseph Bonaparte enters Madrid as nominal king, backed by imperial armies deployed across the region. However, Spanish resistance remains fierce, if chaotic. Marshal Victor strikes a devastating blow against Spanish forces at Ucles, routing their ranks and driving them into panic-stricken flight. Meanwhile, in Aragon, the French lay a desperate siege to Zaragoza. Rather than surrendering when their outer defenses fall, the defenders transform the city into a death trap, fighting room by room, house by house, and street by street through mining, counter-mining, and hand-to-hand combat until forced to yield.

Concurrently, French forces attempt to pacify Catalonia and secure the strategic corridors into Portugal. St. Cyr wins a decisive victory at Valls, crushing regular Spanish resistance in the field and leaving the province fractured. In Portugal, British commander Sir John Cradock struggles to hold Lisbon amidst institutional paralysis, financial depreciation, and conflicting directives from London. Amid this instability, French Marshal Soult pushes south into Gallicia and northern Portugal, aiming for Oporto. His advance is marked by bloody skirmishes with local militias and regular forces, culminating in the capture of Oporto.

The strategic equation shifts dramatically with the arrival of Sir Arthur Wellesley to assume command of British and Portuguese forces. Wellesley first moves north to dislodge Soult from Oporto. Navigating military conspiracies within the French ranks and treacherous mountainous terrain, Wellesley catches Soult's rear-guard at Salamonde and drives the French army into a disastrous, forced retreat through the mountain passes of Gallicia, where cold, starvation, and vengeful peasantry decimate the fleeing columns.

Turning his attention eastward, Wellesley attempts to strike a fatal blow against Marshal Victor’s army by advancing along the Tagus toward Madrid in co-operation with Cuesta’s Spanish army. The campaign, however, is poisoned from the outset by administrative paralysis and broken logistical promises. The Spanish Central Junta fails to supply the promised rations, leaving British troops on half-allowances. Despite absolute starvation and administrative friction, the allied armies collide with the French under Victor, Sebastiani, and King Joseph at the bloody Battle of Talavera. Over two grueling days, desperate infantry charges and devastating artillery barrages end in a tactical victory for Wellesley, though at terrible human cost.

The triumph at Talavera quickly turns into a precarious position. Soult, Ney, and Mortier mass overwhelming forces in the Salamanca country, threatening to cut Wellesley’s line of retreat to Portugal. Realizing his Spanish allies cannot maintain discipline or secure his flank, Wellesley abandons his advance and withdraws his army across the Tagus toward Badajos. The volume closes with British forces safely positioned along the Portuguese frontier, while diplomatic dispatches lay bare the complete breakdown of trust between the British command and the Spanish government, leaving the ultimate liberation of the Peninsula an unresolved, bloody prospect.

How It Unfolds

The rout at Ucles Marshal Victor launches a sudden, aggressive movement against Spanish forces under General Venegas in early 1809. The unexpected meeting ends in total panic as Spanish columns flee directly into French cavalry and artillery. Thousands surrender on the spot, shattering Spanish hopes of defending the lines approaching Madrid.

The siege of Zaragoza French engineers and infantry batter through the outer walls of Zaragoza, converting the siege into an agonizing subterranean war. The defenders fight furiously from inside ruined convents and private homes, triggering counter-mines and bloody room-by-room bayonet charges. Sickness and sheer exhaustion finally force the ruined city's capitulation.

St. Cyr’s Catalan campaign Marshal St. Cyr turns the dangerous mountain passes of Catalonia to relieve Barcelona and crush Spanish field armies. His victory at Valls destroys formal military resistance in the province, leaving the remaining population to fracture into autonomous, partisan resistance groups.

Soult’s invasion of Portugal Marshal Soult leads the French second corps across the Minho, pushing through armed crowds of Portuguese peasants and militia. Skirmishing continuously against poorly equipped forces armed mostly with pikes, Soult takes Oporto, establishing a tenuous French footprint in northern Portugal.

The expulsion from Oporto Sir Arthur Wellesley takes command, crosses the Douro, and relentlessly pushes Soult’s army out of Portugal. Retreating through rugged passes, the French columns suffer brutal losses from British pursuit and peasant ambushes, leaving their baggage and equipment scattered across the mountains.

The ordeal at Talavera Wellesley moves into Spain to attack Marshal Victor, but his troops are crippled by severe hunger due to total supply failures by the Spanish authorities. The two armies meet in a horrific, full-scale battle where thousands fall in fierce hill-top assaults before the French withdraw.

The retreat to the frontier Facing three French marshals marching on his rear communications, Wellesley refuses to push deeper into Spain. He withdraws his starving army back across the Tagus, establishing defensive positions near Badajos and severing joint offensive operations with the Spanish authorities.

The People

• Sir Arthur Wellesley (Lord Wellington): The pragmatic, uncompromising British commander who seeks to defeat the French through strict discipline, careful calculation, and decisive battlefield action. Thwarted by broken supply promises, administrative negligence, and multi-front French threats, he maintains a cold, realistic view of his resources, preferring retreat to the senseless destruction of his army.
• Marshal Soult (Duke of Dalmatia): A brilliant, ambitious French military leader who conducts aggressive, large-scale operations across Gallicia and Portugal. He manages complex mountain maneuvers under extreme hardship, but his plans are repeatedly undercut by insubordination among his fellow marshals and political intrigue within his own officer corps.
• Marshal Victor (Duke of Belluno): An aggressive, impatient French commander whose tactical eagerness drives major engagements at Ucles and Talavera. His insistence on attacking established positions often yields heavy French casualties and missed strategic opportunities.
• General Cuesta: The stubborn, aging leader of the primary Spanish field army whose pride and traditionalist approach make effective co-operation with the British nearly impossible. He routinely ignores supply realities, misjudges French strength, and retreats only when forced by imminent disaster.
• Sir John Cradock: The cautious British predecessor in Portugal who faces an impossible task: defending Lisbon with scattered, ill-equipped troops while navigating currency collapse, administrative panic, and uncertain directives from London.
• The Partidas (Guerilla Chiefs): A diverse collection of former smugglers, monks, escaped prisoners, and ambitious patriots—such as Mina and El Empecinado—who rise up across Spain. Operating outside formal military discipline, they harass French lines, murder stragglers, and maintain an unforgiving, local warfare.

In Its Own Voice

"The breach in Saint Augustin, also, became practicable, and the attention of the besieged being drawn to that side, the French sprung a mine which they had carried under the wall from the side of Saint Monica and immediately entered by the opening."

Context: Napier detailing the grueling, subterranean siege tactics used during the bloody, house-to-house assault on Zaragoza.

"This was the last calamity inflicted by the sword upon the French army in this retreat; a retreat attended by many horrid as well as glorious events; for the peasants in their fury, with an atrocious cruelty, tortured and mutilated every sick man and straggler that fell into their power..."

Context: Describing the desperate French retreat from Portugal through the mountain passes of Salamonde under fire from Wellesley's forces and local insurgents.

"Spain has proved untrue to our alliance, because she is not true to herself."

Context: Lord Wellesley’s harsh diplomatic assessment written from Seville regarding the complete collapse of Spanish civil administration and military logistical support.

What It's Really About

Beneath its detailed coverage of marches and tactical engagements, Napier’s work is an unsparing analysis of institutional failure and the grim mechanics of empire. The book systematically dismantles romantic myths about war. It demonstrates that brave soldiers on every side are routinely betrayed by political incompetence, systemic corruption, and personal jealousy among high-ranking commanders.

Napier investigates how war devolves when formal military structures fracture into partisan hatred. He places equal weight on administrative logistics—currency values, bread rations, forage, and transport wagons—showing that victories are rarely decided by bravery alone, but rather by the unglamorous, brutal logistics of supply. Ultimately, the work asks whether an foreign military alliance can ever succeed when built upon political distrust, administrative decay, and conflicting national ambitions.

Why Read It Today

Napier’s history remains an extraordinary reading experience because it was written by a veteran who personally knew the physical reality of the Peninsular battlefield. He writes with sharp prose, bringing structural clarity to chaotic, sprawling campaigns across difficult terrain. Readers who appreciate rigorous military history, strategic analysis, and clear-eyed historical writing will find this volume deeply satisfying.

The book does demand effort from a modern reader. It assumes a basic familiarity with Napoleonic geography and nineteenth-century military nomenclature, while its detailed tracking of specific troop divisions, casualty tables, and official correspondence requires patience. Furthermore, the prose reflects nineteenth-century perspectives regarding nationality, culture, and social class.

Yet, these difficulties are far outweighed by the author's intellectual honesty and vivid observational power. Napier does not indulge in easy moralizing or nationalistic vanity; he gives full credit to French operational skill, scolds British political shortsightedness, and depicts the suffering of local populations without sanitizing the horrors of conflict. What stays with the reader is an abiding, unvarnished portrait of human resilience and military ambition set against a landscape transformed by war.