Download or read book A Cavalry Officer In The Corunna Campaign 1808 1809 written by Captain Alexander Gordon and published by Pickle Partners Publishing. This book was released on 2011-08-22 with total page 210 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Captain Gordon led a troop of the 15th Hussars during the first of the British army’s campaigns into Spain, commanded by Sir John Moore. Unearthed and published many years after it was written by the esteemed Regimental historian Colonel Wylly, his diary bears testimony to the events of the retreat to Corunna. Gordon writes of his adventures with verve, wit and in some places a little venom when talking of his erstwhile commander Moore; he is fulsome in his description of the Portuguese and Spanish people to whom the British had come to aid. For example when relating the qualities of a local wine he could “only compare the taste of it to a mixture of vinegar and ink” On military matters he is no great respecter of rank, and distributes blame and praise where he believes they should be rightly apportioned. He gives a great first-hand account of the famed skirmish of Sahagun, to which he believes started a moral ascendancy of the British cavalry over their French counterparts. Despite some defective equipment and, as Gordon attributes it, dilatory conduct by the commander, he reaches Corunna unlike a number of his comrades and fellow country-men. A fine read, which despite its format as a journal retains some pace, it gives a great view of the retreat from an expert military eye. Author – Captain Alexander Gordon (1781-1872) Editor – Colonel Harold Carmichael Wylly (1858-1932)
Download or read book Sir John Moore s Peninsular Campaign 1808 1809 written by D.W. Davies and published by Springer Science & Business Media. This book was released on 2012-12-06 with total page 299 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book is an attempt to present the chief events in the last campaign of Sir John Moore. Enough of Sir John Moore's life, and of life in England, France, and Spain to explain those events has been included. In several instances, perhaps important instances, accounts of events as given here differ from what may be found elsewhere. In such cases the documents upon which the present narrative is based have been indicated. The list of those to whom I am indebted is a long one. The staff of the Public Record Office have been unfailingly helpful, pleasant, and ef ficient on the many occasions when I have used the Record Office. The Librarian and staff of the National Library of Scotland were most help ful when the writer consulted the papers of Sir George Murray and the manuscripts of Thomas Graham, Lord Lynedoch, in that Library. An especially enjoyable occasion was the time spent in the Scottish United Services Museum working with the Sir David Baird papers. I am much indebted to The Honourable the Marquess of Anglesey for permission to consult the Paget papers in the Library at Plas-Newydd. The Libra rian and the Keeper of Manuscripts of the John Rylands Library have been most kind and generous in making available the papers of Sir Henry Clinton. As always, Mr.
Download or read book Charging Against Napoleon written by Eric Hunt and published by Pen and Sword. This book was released on 2001-03-15 with total page 296 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: By means of the personal diaries and letters of three officers in the 18th Hussars, the reader traces the progress of this famous cavalry Regiment through the gruelling years of campaigning in Portugal, Spain and South West France. The scene then shifts to Northern France and Belgium culminating in the decisive victory at Waterloo. The ferocity of the campaigning in the Peninsula is vividly described by these diarists. Their escapades between and during campaigning make fascinating reading and throw interesting light on military and social conditions at the time.
Download or read book Sickness Suffering and the Sword written by Andrew Bamford and published by University of Oklahoma Press. This book was released on 2013-05-01 with total page 459 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Although an army’s success is often measured in battle outcomes, its victories depend on strengths that may be less obvious on the field. In Sickness, Suffering, and the Sword, military historian Andrew Bamford assesses the effectiveness of the British Army in sustained campaigning during the Napoleonic Wars. In the process, he offers a fresh and controversial look at Britain’s military system, showing that success or failure on campaign rested on the day-to-day experiences of regimental units rather than the army as a whole. Bamford draws his title from the words of Captain Moyle Sherer, who during the winter of 1816–1817 wrote an account of his service during the Peninsular War: “My regiment has never been very roughly handled in the field. . . But, alas! What between sickness, suffering, and the sword, few, very few of those men are now in existence.” Bamford argues that those daily scourges of such often-ignored factors as noncombat deaths and equine strength and losses determined outcomes on the battlefield. In the nineteenth century, the British Army was a collection of regiments rather than a single unified body, and the regimental system bore the responsibility of supplying manpower on that field. Between 1808 and 1815, when Britain was fighting a global conflict far greater than its military capabilities, the system nearly collapsed. Only a few advantages narrowly outweighed the army’s increasing inability to meet manpower requirements. This book examines those critical dynamics in Britain’s major early-nineteenth-century campaigns: the Peninsular War (1808–1814), the Walcheren Expedition (1809), the American War (1812–1815), and the growing commitments in northern Europe from 1813 on. Drawn from primary documents, Bamford’s statistical analysis compares the vast disparities between regiments and different theatres of war and complements recent studies of health and sickness in the British Army.
Download or read book The Sketch written by and published by . This book was released on 1913 with total page 812 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book The Outlook written by and published by . This book was released on 1914 with total page 918 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book R U S I Journal written by Royal United Services Institute for Defence Studies and published by . This book was released on 1914 with total page 928 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Journal of the Royal United Service Institution Whitehall Yard written by and published by . This book was released on 1914 with total page 928 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book The United Service Magazine written by and published by . This book was released on 1914 with total page 740 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Aberdeen University Studies written by and published by . This book was released on 1924 with total page 248 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Aberdeen University Library Bulletin written by University of Aberdeen. Library and published by . This book was released on 1922 with total page 884 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Bibliography of the Gordons written by John Malcolm Bulloch and published by . This book was released on 1924 with total page 244 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Subject Index of Modern Books Acquired written by British Library and published by . This book was released on 1918 with total page 1582 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book The English Catalogue of Books annual written by Sampson Low and published by . This book was released on 1914 with total page 376 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Vols. for 1898-1968 include a directory of publishers.
Download or read book Dead Men Telling Tales written by Matilda Greig and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2021-06-03 with total page 240 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Dead Men Telling Tales is an original account of the lasting cultural impact made by the autobiographies of Napoleonic soldiers over the course of the nineteenth century. Focusing on the nearly three hundred military memoirs published by British, French, Spanish, and Portuguese veterans of the Peninsular War (1808-1814), Matilda Greig charts the histories of these books over the course of a hundred years, around Europe and the Atlantic, and from writing to publication to afterlife. Drawing on extensive archival research in multiple languages, she challenges assumptions made by historians about the reliability of these soldiers' direct eyewitness accounts, revealing the personal and political motives of the authors and uncovering the large cast of characters, from family members to publishers, editors, and translators, involved in production behind the scenes. By including literature from Spain and Portugal, Greig also provides a missing link in current studies of the Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars, showing how the genre of military memoirs developed differently in south-western Europe and led to starkly opposing national narratives of the same war. Her findings tell the history of a publishing phenomenon which gripped readers of all ages across the world in the nineteenth century, made significant profits for those involved, and was fundamental in defining the modern 'soldier's tale'.
Download or read book The British Cheer written by Paul Thompson and published by Pen and Sword Military. This book was released on 2023-12-30 with total page 306 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This is a bold, painstakingly researched and wide-ranging assessment of the British Cheer in the Napoleonic era. Reference to the Cheer in accounts of the time is virtually ubiquitous and repeatedly the claim was made for cheering as an integral part of British offensive operations. However, more recent historians have tended to overlook this evidence. Based upon a vast range of contemporary sources, this book suggests that the Cheer wielded genuine power as a true 'weapon of war'. This book first surveys the history of acclamations in battle worldwide and British battle-cries from all periods, before addressing the question of what the British Cheer actually sounded like. Issues of acoustics, physics and the psychology of battlefield morale are considered, along with commentaries from significant military scholars throughout history. Examination of the Napoleonic-era Cheer then reveals the practically invincible 'recipe' of volley-cheer-charge that propelled the British Army to victory upon victory. Comparison is drawn with French and other national patterns of vocalizing, along with analysis of those occasions when the Cheer might be suppressed. Finally, the attitude of the Duke of Wellington towards cheering is reconsidered, with surprising results. This study encompasses a vast canvas of place and time in pursuit of the elusive yet galvanizing Cheer: from the Mahratta wars in India, through campaigns in Egypt, the Mediterranean, Flanders, the Caribbean and South America, as well as the war of 1812. The Peninsular and Waterloo campaigns feature prominently as the Cheer is heard thrillingly from Vimeiro to Talavera, Salamanca to Vitoria, Orthez to Toulouse and the shocking siege of Badajoz to the charge of the Scots Greys on the ridge of Mont Saint Jean. Anyone interested in the wars of Revolutionary France and Napoleon, the British army, the career of the Duke of Wellington, or indeed the wider questions of the psychological motivations of combat will find this book illuminating and thought-provoking.
Download or read book The Peninsular War written by Charles Esdaile and published by Macmillan + ORM. This book was released on 2015-03-17 with total page 945 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A stunning look at Napoleon's campaign across the Iberian peninsula from historian Charles Esdaile. At the end of the 18th century Spain remained one of the world's most powerful empires. Portugal, too, was prosperous at the time. By 1808, everything had changed. Portugal was under occupation and ravaged by famine, disease, economic problems and political instability. Spain had imploded and worse was to come. For the next six years, the peninsula was the helpless victim of others, suffering perhaps over a million deaths while troops from all over Europe tore it to pieces. Charles Esdaile's brilliant new history of the conflict makes plain the scope of the tragedy and its far-reaching effects, especially the poisonous legacy that produced the Spanish civil war of 1936-39.
