Customer Reviews

Wellington In The Peninsula 1808-1814 (Greenhill Military Paperbacks)

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Weller's book is a genuine classic of military history, describing a long war in a clear, incisive narrative. The battles are described concisely while pointing out options, mistakes, and tactical aspects. But it is a book of more than just battle accounts. Weller also intelligently explores the strategic problems and opportunities faced by both sides during the Peninuslar War. Certainly Wellington is Weller's hero in this narrative, but he me makes a compelling case for why the man who would become known as the Iron Duke deserves his sterling reputation.

As the title indicates, this is essentially a book about Wellington's engagements in the Peninsular War, not the Peninsular War as a whole. Keeping that in perspective, this is an excellent book which covers each of Wellington's battles and sieges, as well as his logistical and strategic decisions, in great detail. Weller uses abundant footnotes to document his sources and indicates any conflicting accounts in the source material. So while this is a view of the British involvement in the Peninsular War, it is an unbiased one. It is also light enough in scope that one can get a good feel for this conflict without having to read all seven volumes of Oman.

This was the first serious book on land combat in the Napoleonic age that was available in my small boring home town. I actually read it covertly in my high school classes. Some of my friends claim I share some of the Iron Duke's annoying personality traits -- if so this book is the reason!

30 years later I would still rate it as the best general 1-vol study of Wellington's campaigns, and the single book I would carry if I were visiting the battlefields. But there are some problems with it that need to be recognised:

1) Weller was writing about Wellington, so other armies and generals fighting in Spain at the time tend to get ignored. Of course they were mostly getting whipped by the French, but David Gates in THE SPANISH ULCER managed to make them interesting in spite of this handicap. Also, the whole savage partisan war that made Wellington's operations possible is mostly ignored.

2) The book ignores or downplays some of Wellington's bad points. The man was clearly a genius, but that led him to be very unforgiving of the failures of normal people.

3) Weller followed Sir Charles Oman on the tactical details of Wellington's battles. Later research by Paddy Griffith in original documents has proven that Oman's ideas on line vs. column and British fire superiority were mostly wrong. The prolonged exchanges of musket volleys described by Weller mostly didn't take place; the redcoats usually won with ambush tactics on the defense and classic bayonet charges on the offense.

These were the words of Robert Crauford, the maverick commander of the British Light Division as he brought his line to smash the French columns at Busaco in 1810. This single volume history of the Peninsular War has many such memorable quotes. I first came across this book many years ago and was pleased to see that it had finally been re-printed. While decidedly pro-British and heavy on the adulation of the Iron Duke, this study provides a lot of fascinating information in a relatively short space of time. Working more or less in the Oman/Fortescue tradition, Weller seldom faults Wellington for anything, and considers him one of the superlative commanders of history.

Weller provides some very deatiled desriptions of battles. His line vs column debate continues to intrigue historians of the Napoleanic wars today. Did the French really always fight in single and double columns all the time? Some more recent historians claim they did not, and the earlier studies of Oman/Fortescue often mistook the L'order Mixed formamtion which was a combination of line and column that the French often employed. Whatever formations the French used, Wellington often ensured the tactical advantage by concealing his men on the reverse slope. British fire discipline usually took care of the rest!

The book is greatly enhanced by the author's personal photographs of the locales described. These provide valauble insight to many of the battles discussed. The maps, while crude by modern standards, are also functional and helpful. Some may be annoyed by the love of Wellington expressed therein, and any admirers of Napolean and his marshals will certainly see their favorites not coming off well. Why was it the French could never win a battle against the British here? A classic work of a generation ago, worth the while of any serious students of the Peninsular War, and for all Sharpe series fans as well!

For those looking for a single volume account of the Duke of Wellington's Army in the Peninsular War of 1808-1814, it is hard to beat Jac Weller's "Wellington in the Peninsula" for entertainment value. Weller's writing style is that of an accomplished storyteller. Weller traveled extensively over the battlefields of that long war, and his understanding of the terrain closely informs a series of excellent battle narratives. Weller is especially strong in his descriptions of Napoleonic tactics and of the limitations of weaponry. Be warned: Weller was an unabashed fan of the Duke, who receives very little criticism in this book. It is fair to note that Weller doesn't spend a lot of time on the operational or strategic context of the battles. Weller also has very little to say about events happening away from the Anglo-British Army. Readers looking for a more comprehenisive history of the Peninsular War should check out David Gates' single volume history "The Spanish Ulcer" or Charles Oman's definitive seven volume "History of the Peninsular War." This is an entertaining historical read for the serious student and perhaps for the casual reader as well.

I bought this book in preparation for a "Sharpe's Battlefield Tour" of Spain and couldn't put it down. Weller maybe very pro-Wellington, but it is hard not to be when he never lost a battle! Whether this was due to him being a military genius or simply lucky really doesn't matter, since even Napoleon was quick to point out that he'd rather have generals that were lucky that good.

Weller paints a picture of a Wellington that is practically precognitive in his ability to figure out what the French were up to and move his troops into position to do the most damage before the French ever really attacked. According to Weller, Wellington emersed himself into the most mundane facets of keeping his army healthy, fed, clothed and armed, and always well positioned. While he might not have been the great producer of talented subordinates that some of his contemporaries were, he knew how to wring every advantage out of a situation and was willing to sacrifice his own reputation at home by avoiding battles on ground that was not advantageous to him, or when the French were able to concentrate a vastly superior force.

This volume begins with a description of the two armies, how they fought, how they were equipped and how they operated, giving the reader a clear picture of how Wellington's "Thin red line" was able to consistently defeat the armies and Marshals who conquered Europe. He ends the book with a description of how Wellington and his consistently outnumbered army was able to defeat the conquerors of the continent. In particular, his obsession with intelligence which he managed himself, training, supply, so that his troops would not be forced to strip Spain bare to feed his army as the French did, and there by turning the partisans against his army as well, and a tactical flexibility that allowed him to consistently out maneuver the French. While Oman and Napier second guess Wellington in their volumes, Weller sticks to telling the tale of the Peninsula and leaves the reader amazed with Wellington's good common sense.

It should be noted, Weller does not paint Wellington as a genius. The portrait he gives us is one a general who fought smarter and did not take the big risks that Napoleon was famous for. He patiently chose his ground based on his correspondents, his own personal observation, and his enemy's tactical doctrine. And then he patiently maneuvered his troops to cause the most damage to them when they inevitably struck.

For someone going to Spain with the intention of seeing where the battles took place, Weller provides a clear description of each site at the end of each chapter, describing the lay of the land, at least as far as it was at the time of publishing. This was invaluable help when trying to figure out exactly where things happened, since Spain does not look upon the Peninsula Campaign (The Spanish War of Independence) with the same pride as the English do.

Don't even think about bying ths book. Sure it got some nice pictures, but the rest of the book stinks. Same your money and buy one of the many other good books in Amazon.

Don't even think about bying ths book. Sure it got some nice pictures, but the rest of the book stinks. Same your money and buy one of the many other good books in Amazon.