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The United States and the Peninsular War, 1808–1812

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  11 February 2009

G. E. Watson
G. E. Watson
Affiliation:
University College Cardiff
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Extract

Military historians should not be content with the accurate narrative reconstruction of a war, campaign or battle. Success in the field and the generalship which produced victory or defeat can be understood only through a wider appreciation of the nature of war. Political influences, direction, control and interference; the allocation of resources between theatres of operation; manpower problems and morale; advances in military technology; relations with allies and neutrals; and all the varied logistical problems which face a commander should also engage the attention of the historian. Most wars have received sufficient treatment from the military analyst, whether scholar or soldier, to balance and enhance the work of the narrator. One conflict, however, has suffered from a surfeit of narrative accounts and a lack of broadly based analysis: the Peninsular War, 1808–14.

Type
Articles
Information
The Historical Journal , Volume 19 , Issue 4 , December 1976 , pp. 859 - 876
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1976

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