Osprey Men-at-Arms 334 : Spanish Army of the Napoleonic Wars (3) 1812-1815

At the beginning of 1812 the French still occupied most of Spain. From that time, however, the British and Portuguese armies under the Duke of Wellington - joined by increasingly large contingents of Spanish troops - slowly but steadily drove the French out. By the spring of 1814 the Allies were invading southern France. This book covers the final years of the Peninsular War and the long trek over the Pyrenees into France and concludes Rene Chartrand's study of the army that fought alongside Wellington's redcoats throughout the Peninsular War [Men-at-Arms 321, 332 334]. Prior to 1813 it was the Spanish armies that bore the brunt of the fighting and this text - based on primary research in Spanish and British archives which will be new to most readers - fills a large and long-standing gap in our knowledge of those Napoleonic campaigns which have always fascinated English-speaking students of the period. The text is accompanied by plenty of illustrations, including eight full page colour plates by Bill Younghusband.

Contents

• The State of the Spanish Armies
• Uniforms and Equipment
• Cavalry
• Infantry
• Specialist Troops
• Guerrillas and Militias
• The Army of King Joseph-Napoleon
• Select Bibliography
• The Plates