scrubbedexpat142

Admiral John Jervis.

Sancho

Thanks very much. You're a very knowledgeable lot.

I don't think I'd heard of the great siege of Cadiz till now, which is odd. I was there a couple of years ago - there's an plaque high on the wall facing the cathedral door, commemorating what the townspeople did for the wounded of both sides brought there after Trafalgar - but I didn't hear or read anything about the siege.

Yes, I remember now. You're right. It was Jervis who was in command at the Battle of Cape St Vincent. The one I was thinking of anyway. It transpires that there was another Battle of Cape St Vincent, though, and in that one Rodney was in command. I was confusing the two.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle...Vincent_(1780)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle...Vincent_(1797)

EMR

I am a fan of the Sharpe novels based mainly in the Peninsula.
Their historical accuracy is one reason why they are best sellers.
The chef Rick Stein in his travels around Spain also made reference to the siege of Cadiz in his program from there.

Sancho

I was just looking for an atlas of the Napoleonic wars and I found this. Do you know it ?

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Battle-Barr...apoleonic+wars

EMR

Yes it is featured in one of the Sharpe novels.

Sancho

Thanks very much. I've just ordered a copy.

I've also - thanks again to you - ordered a nearly complete series of DVDs of Sharpe's Rifles. (There are apparently two I'll have to buy separately.) I'd already got them on my wish-list, but I hadn't realised that most are about the Peninsular War. It'll make the trip more interesting.

The author of the OUP Very Short Introduction thinks we could see the Napoleonic Wars as the first world war. I'm looking for an atlas that reflects this, showing what happened in India and on the far side of the Atlantic as well as in Europe, but so far without success. Do you happen to know of one ?

I've seen the battlefields of Salamanca and Talavera, and this time I'll be seeing Badajoz and Albuera. The retired colonel with purple trousers that showed us round Stratfield Saye said he thought the most interesting one was Vitoria. I wonder if you've seen it, and if so whether you agree.

EMR

I have not visited the battlefields.
It has always interested me that as in the case of Cadiz the focus has always been on Wellington and that the actions of the other British forces, the Spanish armies and the Portuguese have been underestimated and to a degree ignored.
Spain equalled Russia as Napoleans biggest strategic mistakes.
It was for years an open sore consuming 100,000s of his best troops.
His most famous marshals all failed in the Peninsula.

Sancho

Interesting thing in the Mail today, but perhaps you've already seen it -

Brexit's giving Spain fresh hope of seizing Gibraltar | Daily Mail Online