Salamanca, 1812 / Rory Muir.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Muir, Rory, Author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Wellington, Arthur Wellesley, Duke of, 1769-1852.

Wellington, Arthur Wellesley.

Salamanca, Battle of, Salamanca, Spain, 1812.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (336 p.)

Place of Publication:

New Haven, CT : Yale University Press, [2001]

Language Note:

In English.

Summary:

July 22, 1812. Salamanca, Spain. Frustrated at their first advance, British forces under Wellington's command have spent the last four days maneuvering and retreating from the French army. Patient and cautious, Wellington is determined not to make a fatal mistake. He glimpses a moment of opportunity and grasps it, committing all of his troops to a sudden devastating attack. At the end of the day, the French army is broken, panic-stricken, and reeling; Wellington has achieved the finest victory of his brilliant military career. This book examines in unprecedented detail the battle of Salamanca, a critical British victory that proved crushing to French pride and morale in the Peninsular War (1808-1814). Focusing on the day of the battle, award-winning author Rory Muir conveys the experience of ordinary soldiers on both sides, dissects each phase of the fighting, and explores the crucial decisions each commander made. Muir employs wide-ranging British and French sources-many unpublished or obscure-to reconstruct every aspect of the battle. Having walked the battlefield itself, a site which remains today much as it was in 1812, he relates the ebb and flow of the battle with particular vividness. Muir also discusses in separate commentary sections his sources of information and explains how he has dealt with the inevitable contradictions and gaps in evidence that emerged during his research. Complete with maps, battleground plans, and other illustrations, this compelling book focuses long overdue attention on a single day in Salamanca that changed European history.Rory Muir is visiting research fellow in the department of history, University of Adelaide. His previous books include Tactics and the Experience of Battle in the Age of Napoleon and Britain and the Defeat of Napoleon, 1807-1815, both published by Yale University Press.

Contents:

Frontmatter

Contents

List of Maps and Plans

Abbreviations

Preface

Chapter One: The Campaign

Chapter Two: Armies and Generals

Chapter Three: Preliminary Manoeuvres and Skirmishing: Morning and Early Afternoon

Chapter Four: Pakenham and Thomieres

Chapter Five: Leith and Maucune

Chapter Six: Le Marchant and the Destruction of the French Left

Chapter Seven: Collapse and Recovery in the Centre

Chapter Eight: Pack's Attack on the Greater Arapile

Chapter Nine: Ferey and the French Last Stand

Chapter Ten: Foy and the French Retreat

Chapter Eleven: The Victory

Chapter Twelve: The Aftermath

Chapter Thirteen: Consequences

Appendix I: Casualties Suffered on 18 July 1812

Appendix II: Allied Strength and Losses

Appendix III: French Strength and Losses

Appendix IV: Letter Describing the Battle, Possibly Written by Major-General Henry Campbell

Appendix V: The Battlefield Today

Notes

Bibliography

Index

Notes:

Description based upon print version of record.

Includes bibliographical references (pages [296]-307) and index.

Description based on online resource; title from PDF title page (publisher's Web site, viewed 24. Apr 2020)

ISBN:

0-300-17715-1

OCLC:

1024013329