A History of the Peninsular War - Volume I

by Charles Oman

‘I am not the heir of Louis XIV, I am the heir of Charlemagne,’ wrote Napoleon, in one of those moments of epigrammatic self-revelation which are so precious to the students of the most interesting epoch and the most interesting personality of modern history. There are historians who have sought for the origins of the Peninsular War far back in the eternal and inevitable conflict between democracy and privilege: there are others who—accepting the Emperor’s own version of the facts—have represented it as a fortuitous development arising from his plan of forcing the Continental System upon every state in Europe. To us it seems that the moment beyond which we need not search backward was that in which Bonaparte formulated to himself the idea that he was not the successor of the greatest of the Bourbons, but of the founder of the Holy Roman Empire. It is a different thing to claim to be the first of European monarchs, and to claim to be the king of kings. Louis XIV had wide-reaching ambitions for himself and for his family: but it was from his not very deep or accurate knowledge of Charlemagne that Napoleon had derived his idea of a single imperial power bestriding Europe, of a monarch whose writ ran alike at Paris and at Mainz, at Milan and at Hamburg, at Rome and at Barcelona, and whose vassal-princes brought him the tribute of all the lands of the Oder, the Elbe, and the middle Danube...

Genres: History, Military History, Military Fiction, Nonfiction, Spain, France

702 pages, Kindle Edition

First published May 1, 1999

About the author

Sir Charles William Chadwick Oman was a British military historian of the early 20th century. His reconstructions of medieval battles from the fragmentary and distorted accounts left by chroniclers were pioneering. His style is an invigorating mixture of historical accuracy and emotional highlights, and it makes his narratives, though founded on deep research, often read as smoothly as fiction, especially in his History of the Peninsular War. Occasionally, his interpretations have been challenged, especially his widely copied thesis that British troops defeated their Napoleonic opponents by firepower alone. Paddy Griffith, among modern historians, claims the British infantry's discipline and willingness to attack were equally important.

He was born in India, the son of a British planter, and was educated at Oxford University, where he studied under William Stubbs. In 1881 he was elected to a Prize Fellowship at All Souls College, where he would remain for the rest of his career.

He was elected the Chichele Professor of modern history at Oxford in 1905, in succession to Montagu Burrows. He was also elected to the FBA that year, serving as President of the Royal Historical and Numismatic societies, and of the Royal Archaeological Institute.

His academic career was interrupted by the First World War, during which he was employed by the government Press Bureau and Foreign Office.

Oman was a Conservative member of Parliament for the University of Oxford constituency from 1919 to 1935, and was knighted in 1920.

He became an honorary fellow of New College in 1936 and received the honorary degrees of DCL (Oxford, 1926) and LL.D (Edinburgh, 1911 and Cambridge, 1927). He died at Oxford.

Two of his children became authors. Son Charles wrote several volumes on British silverware and similar housewares. Daughter Carola was notable for her biographies, especially that of Nelson.

Reviews

[Marcus · Rating 5 out of 5]

Charles Oman is along with Chandler and Elting one of the most significant contributors to military history literature about Napoleonic era. Not only are his five volumes about Peninsular a seminal work about that theatre of war, but what's perhaps even more important, his writing style is extremly accessible to novice and expert alike. Another thing that gained my admiration is his obvious goal to be objective in regard of all involved parties - something that should be considered absolutely natural, but seems to be extremly difficult for historians dealing with this period.

[Heinz Reinhardt · Rating 5 out of 5]

While I finished this back some months ago, now, it has to rank as one of the finest military histories I have ever read. Written at the turn of the 19th into the 20th century, certainly some of Sir Oman's material might be 'dated' in the sense that more has come to light since. However, the majority of his narrative, and his analysis, is still quite sound, even if you can debate his conclusions judiciously.
Sir Oman did a wonderful job setting the stage, describing the absolute train wreck that was the House of Bourbon in Madrid, and with the elites of Spain, and with their doomed alliance with France. While Sir Oman is so very typically British in his treatment of Napoleon and his motives, he doesn't fall prey to their tendency to over vilify to the point of caricature.
In fact, I found Sir Oman's treatment of Napoleon, his Marshals, and of the French Imperial forces in general to be quite fair, and sometimes, his own admiration of them couldn't help but shine through in his narrative. His treatment of the British forces was likewise fair, pointing out errors, and faults easily, while praising them for waging such a tense campaign, what with being perennially outnumbered, and outgunned.
His scathing treatment of Wellesley's superiors following his victory at Vimiero (thrown away via the Conventions of Cintra) is judicious, though I wasn't expecting such a lengthy treatment of the court-martial proceedings of all involved afterwards. Sir Oman clearly respected and admired Sir John Moore, but pointed out the flaws in Moore's generalship. Flaws which were redeemed by his heroic fall at the Battle of Coruña, and the repulse of the French attempt to drive his cornered army into the sea.
Where others have chastised Sir Oman for, his treatment of the Spanish and Portuguese armies, I have to admit that I didn't think his treatment of them was as unremittingly harsh as often portrayed.
The bare facts are that, in the vast majority of occasions, for most of the Peninsular War, when the French Imperial forces met the Spanish Army on the field, the Spanish were crushed. Again, not always, but more often than not, the French, Marshals or not, handled the Spanish forces very roughly.
One major criticism to be leveled at Sir Oman was his wholesale disregarding of the Polish Cavalry and their remarkable achievement outside Madrid at the passes of Somosierra. The Polish charge(s) here have gone down in history as one of the most outstanding battlefield achievements of mounted troopers in military history, if bloodily bought.
Sir Oman dismisses the story as mere fantasy.
Considering the age of the work, over a century old, and that those with a seriously nefarious case of presentism routinely label Sir Oman as a jingoistic, chauvinistic, pro-British historian, his omission of the Poles at Somosierra is the only real lapse in this monumental opening volume.
Beyond that little quibble, I admit to being truly taken in with Sir Oman, and consider my hefty investment from 2021 of all of the hardback, crimson and gold jacketed, volumes from Greenhill Books to be a very worthwhile one.
And now that I have, finally, settled down to write this review, I realize I need to begin volume II before the end of the year.
I cannot recommend this book highly enough, it truly is a military history classic.

[Jan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Lucid, detailed and well documented. A pleasure too read.

[Alistair North · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of the greatest of Military Historians, Sir Charles Oman's multi-volume study of the Peninsular War covers the French Invasions of Spain and Portugal and the long struggle by the Spanish and Portuguese together with their British allies to liberate their Countries.

The drama begins with the secret Treaty of Fontainebleau where the Spanish King is induced to sanction and support a French invasion of Portugal - so Napoleon can enforce his 'Continental System' against British Trade and so the Spanish can take possession of a lot of free land. Naturally, this all goes wrong for the Spanish who find that they are the target of the invasion as much as the Portuguese. The Spanish Royal Family is imprisoned by Napoleon but the French Armies find themselves threatened by Uprisings ar0und the Country.

Meanwhile, a small British Army lands at Mondego Bay in Portugal led by the precocious Sir Arthur Wellesley, the youngest and most junior Lieutenant General in the Army. Under his leadership, the British win their first victory of the Peninsular War at Vimiero and defeat the French Army of Portugal. Wellesley is rewarded for his victory...by being effectively demoted as 2 senior Lieutenant Generals arrive and take charge. They sign a Treaty that allows the French to be evacuated in British ships and repatriated to France. Oh, and they are also allowed to keep all the plunder extracted from the Portuguese! All the Generals are recalled to London to face an Enquiry, and the Army is now to be led by Sir John Moore who advances into Spain to co-operate with the Spanish Armies plus insurgents.

Unfortunately for Moore, Napoleon has had enough of all this pussy-footing in the Peninsula and comes to Spain himself, bringing with him his 'First Team' - The Grande Armee, victors of Austerlitz, Jena, and Friedland. He also brings the Imperial Guard. The British begin a headlong retreat to the Coast, only just outrunning their pursuers until at Corunna they turn and fight off the French giving time to be evacuated by the Royal Navy. But Moore is killed, dying just after hearing of the final French attack being defeated...

All seems lost..or is it? Find out in Volume 2...

[Aubrey Smith · Rating 4 out of 5]

Details of those two years.

Very detailed account of those two years. I Felt like I was there and suffered with those men (& women). Enjoyed most of the first book, now looking forward to reading the others.

[Eldon.shirkley · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fascinating reading. My knowledge heretofore only covered Wolfe's justly famous Corunna burial poem. Poor Sir John Moore. Another hero bites the dust.

[Martyn Lennon · Rating 2 out of 5]

Very dense factual

[Errol Cavan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Still the best and best written account of the campaign

[Garret Patterson · Rating 4 out of 5]

As a quick review for all 7 volumes. This series is the absolute magnum opus of military history. Sir Oman manages to construct a highly detailed and well structured narrative. If you truly want to learn about this conflict I cannot imagine a better source.
With all that said I will add a caveat of my biggest issues with these books.

First: Sir Oman provides way to few maps, and the ones he does provide can be difficult to read and lacking in details that would be helpful to the narrative. I am not intimately familiar with Spain’s numerous towns/cities, and having to follow along with how an army split into three columns taking 3 separate roads all named after cities to-from is extremely difficult. Fortunately cardinal directions are frequently given, so you can grasp from a high level what is happening.

Second: The descriptions of battlefields can also be difficult to follow. Usually there is a map of the battlefield to help but he goes into great detail on the terrain.

Third: No translations of French are provided. Usually it’s just Oman providing a quote from a marshal, and isn’t critical information. But it is very annoying to have to use a translator every time it happens.

However, I would not have read all 7 volumes if I didn’t think that his work was spectacular. And I especially enjoyed the frequent footnotes calling out Napier’s (soldier in the light division) inaccuracies from his memoir.

[Rob Markley · Rating 5 out of 5]

When this was republished it was such a legendary title that I could hardly believe such was possible. Initially I was disappointed in the physical presentation but once I started reading I then couldn't believe how good it was.

[Jim]

I read this series after reading the historical notes in the Sharpe novels. To save time, I read Vol. 1-7, I didn't bother reading Vol. 8 as it seemed to be mostly a compilation of statistics