Wellington and the Military Eclipse of Spain, 1808–1814

peninsular war of 1808-14 may justly be regarded as the true foundation of the duke of Wellington's military reputation, raising him from the level of a mere 'sepoy general' to the position of foremost British commander of his age. The object of this essay is by no means an attempt, to paraphrase the man himself, to pick holes in Wellington's jerkin. Indeed, it is founded upon the belief that the liberation of the Iberian Peninsula was in the last resort the work of Wellington's army. Much as the author, as an ardent hispanophile, might like to rewrite history, his intention will rather be to examine why the Spaniards, in particular, came to take second place in their own liberation. Before proceeding any further, it is necessary to emphasize the distinction that must be drawn between resistance to the French, and the capacity to drive the French from the Peninsula. For all the catastrophes that afflicted the Patriot cause between 1808 and 18 14, Spanish resistance to the French never ceased, and in this sense the Spaniards may certainly be said to have earned their deliverance. Outnumbered as he was, Wellington could never have carried the war into the interior of Spain had not the continued Spanish resistance made it virtually impossible for the French to concentrate their superior forces against him. Furthermore, whilst the Spaniards kept Wellington perfectly informed as to the situation of his opponents, the guerrillas forced his opponents to operate in a 'fog of war' that has never been more opaque. Yet while paying every tribute to the Spaniards, it is still clear that they could never have driven the French over the Pyrenees on their own account. To illustrate this point, it is necessary to examine the state of Spain at the moment in January 181 2 when Wellington inaugurated her liberation through the recapture of the crucial border fortress of Ciudad

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