In the days before cameras, the battle paintings done by soldier-painter Baron Louis-François Lejeune drew record crowds when exhibited. In February 1811, Victor was ordered to send a large detachment to Portugal to bolster the French position against Wellington. But there was one jewel missing from his crown. Combining scholarship with a vivid narrative, it reveals a war of unexpected savagery, of carnage at times so great as to be comparable to the First World War. Trapped within the medieval stone walls, Spanish political and military factions vied for control. The Junta’s poor showing against Napoleon resulted in its dissolution in favor of the five-person Regency. King Joseph refused to believe that victory was not at hand and rode out to survey the situation himself. Meredith Hindley is a senior writer for Humanities. The chance to capitalize on Spain’s revolt proved irresistible. Buy The Spanish Ulcer: A History of the Peninsular War New Ed by Gates, Dr David (ISBN: 9780712697309) from Amazon's Book Store. The Spanish Ulcer...The Spanish Ulcer. Download PDF. As he wrote a friend in mid April, “I don’t know what I can do or say to get out of this odious prison and away from the still more odious people.” He found some solace in the companionship offered by a new dog, “a white poodle of middling size.” The dog had belonged to a French general who had died at Barosa. It took everything he had left to hang on to central Europe and France. The Spanish Ulcer: A History of the Peninsular War by Gates, Dr David at AbeBooks.co.uk - ISBN 10: 0712697306 - ISBN 13: 9780712697309 - Pimlico - 2002 - Softcover All that remained was to occupy southern Spain and oust the British from Portugal. The Battle of Barosa and the intrigues that followed left Graham disenchanted and anxious to join Wellington in Portugal. “This was the state of the garrison at Cádiz when the retreat of the French left us free to leave our walls, and roam through the open country.” Within days, five thousand British soldiers were marching north from Cádiz to liberate Seville. . Britain had evaded every attempt at conquest, a credit to its naval prowess. By taking Seville, the French gained control of two hundred cannon, immense magazines, and the only foundry in Spain. A review of: The Spanish Ulcer: A History of the Peninsula by David Gates (Author) This very thick book is an excellent and very well covering story of the War in Spain, Portugal and Southern France between the French Empire of Napoleon and the various armies of the Portuguese, British and Spanish in the Peninsula War between 1808 and 1814. By the end of 1810, Graham had transformed Cádiz into a well-fortified town. They needed those men and tactical help from their emperor. On February 28, the Anglo-Spanish army finally set out for Chiclana. Army after army was sent to Spain. “I must make all the peoples of Europe one people and Paris the capital of the world,” declared Napoleon. After being turned away by the governor, Victor surveyed Cádiz’s defenses. The “Spanish ulcer,” as he would call the Peninsular War, helped to sow his defeat. Spain was the first showing of defiance to the French and was a sign, which Napoleon failed to see, that Europe was not so ready for Napoleon’s enlightened rule. Wellington also warned Graham that Spain would not deal with a problem until it became a crisis. At first, nothing went right. Spain was an open wound that refused to go away and so it was called “the Spanish ulcer”. When Marshal Claude Victor-Perrin arrived at the gates of the island fortress of Cádiz, in Andalusia, he was confident the poorly defended town would immediately surrender. The 1835 engraving is by H. Meyer from a painting done by Sir Thomas Lawrence. In the name of retaliation and example-setting, towns were leveled, civilians slaughtered, and soldiers executed. Although the French crushed the Spanish in the revolt of May 2, 1808, this provided martyrs to the people's cause which fed the flames of rebellion rather than stifling it. Courtesy Prado, Madrid, Spain / The Bridgeman Art Library. On August 25, 1812, the French withdrew from Cádiz. La Peña, who had been relieved of command for failing to pursue the French, published a mischievous account of Barosa, which included personal attacks on Graham. In March 1808, King Carlos IV abdicated in favor of his son, then withdrew it, much to Fernando’s displeasure. Charles Oman, author of the seminal multivolume A History of the Peninsular War, warns against the dangers of hindsight. Buy from… The Nile Mighty Ape Fishpond Whitcoulls The Warehouse Paper Plus Some died on the battlefield in the big war, la Guerra. Courtesy Kress Collection, Washington D.C., USA / The Bridgeman Art Library. Britain shipped three thousand men to Cádiz and appointed Henry Wellesley, Wellington’s younger brother, as the envoy to Spain. In June, Wellington came to Graham’s rescue, issuing the much desired transfer to Portugal. Wellington, however, had nothing but praise for Graham’s actions. After he was defeated once and for all at Waterloo in 1815, Napoleon lived out the rest of his life in exile on the island of St. Helena. He wasn’t an aristocratic libertine playing soldier, like so many Spanish generals. Graham would not be confronting Victor alone, and herein lay the problem. Nineteen thousand French soldiers surrendered, marking the first time since 1801 that a large French force had capitulated. Gates' Spanish Ulcer is a one-volume history of the Peninsular War waged by France in Spain from 1808-1814. The French army’s passage through Spain was arranged by Godoy. It was the open sore that bled France and weakened her. The Spanish Ulcer. Gates' Spanish Ulcer is a one-volume history of the Peninsular War waged by France in Spain from 1808-1814. Published by Da Capo Press (2001) The Peninsular War in Spain and Portugal was the most bitterly fought contest of nineteenth-century Europe. Spain had proven equally unreliable, having flirted with aligning with Prussia against him. Personal leadership/political. When la Peña directed his men toward the coast—and toward Cádiz —Victor sprang his trap. THE SPANISH ULCER: Sagunto, 25 October 1811—Suchet 20,000 vs. Blake 28,000 Salamanca, 22 July 1812 — Marmont 49,652 vs. Wellington 51,939 Vitoria, 21 June 1813 — Joseph 57,300 vs. Wellington 88,276. In a vain attempt to keep Napoleon out of contention, they unwisely declared war on GB. All the circumstances of my disasters are bound up in that fatal knot.”. Download Full PDF Package. The Spanish ulcer. Paperback. A short summary of this paper. If he couldn’t beat Britain on the high seas, Napoleon decided he would cripple its economy. The town had adequate troops, but its defenses were abysmal. Madrid was already in French hands, along with the rest of northern Spain. Wellesley, who cut a dashing figure with his white pants, Hessian boots, and dark tunic, had learned the virtues of good intelligence, a steady supply line, and nimble logistics while fighting in India. Graham lost more than twelve hundred. He never appreciated how independent the Spanish people were of their government; he misjudged the extent of their pride, of the tenacity of their religious faith, of their loyalty to Ferdinand. As he looked back over his career, it wasn’t the failed 1812 invasion of Russia that loomed large in his mind, but rather the Peninsular Campaign. Poor reconnaissance and bad advice from la Peña’s guides sent them down the wrong roads, over uneven ground, and through flooded streams, difficult conditions made treacherous by la Peña’s insistence on night marches. An encounter with British forces led by Sir John Moore at La Coruña in northwestern Spain in mid January 1809 was a major setback for the French. Victor was right. Boston University Libraries. He arrived two days before Victor. One bright spot was General Arthur Wellesley’s victory at Copenhagen in 1807. The plan called for the combined Anglo-Spanish force of thirteen thousand to land at Tarifa, a port city behind French lines, march fifty miles, and attack the French at the town of Chiclana. The Spanish Guerrillas along with the British troops who had successfully liberated Portugal kept the French pinned down in Spain for years. One of Napoleon’s largest allies against Britain was Spain. Allied spies also noted the arrival of a detachment of marines and shipwrights at Victor’s headquarters, both of which suggested he was going to start constructing the boats needed to attack Cádiz. Wellington’s advance into Spain was marked by a series of setbacks in the fall, especially in Madrid, which he had to abandon. Publisher: Vintage Publishing, Pimlico. Napoleon might have wondered the same. Napoleon invaded Spain to gain the upper hand against Britain as well as to take more territory for himself, His rule was met by guerrilla military opposition, aided by the British, The war that followed resulted in a stalemate, but it had a heavy cost for the French because they were forced to keep a large amount of troops and resources in Spain which were greatly needed on the other fronts across central Europe, Spain was an open wound which crippled the French and that they were unable to close, hence "The Spanish Ulcer". He sent one division under General Eugène-Casimir Villatte to block the road to Cádiz and sent the other two divisions to flank the Anglo-Spanish army and force a fight on the plain between Chiclana and Barosa Ridge.
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