Napoleon: A Biography

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studies of Joseph's reign also come into their own here: J. Riba Mercader,
Jose Bonaparte, rey de Espana, I8o8-I8IJ: Historia externa del reinado
(Madrid 1971) and Jose Bonaparte, rey de Espana I8o8-I8IJ: Estructura
del estado espanol bonapartista (Madrid 1983). The Spanish contribution
to the historiographical debates about the Peninsular War seem
particularly fascinating when set alongside British and French accounts.
Sir William Napier's History of the War in the Peninsula and in the south of
France from the year I807 to the year I8I4, 6 vols (1886) can be usefully
contrasted in its emphases with Maximilien Foy, Histoire des guerres de Ia
Peninsule sous Napoleon, 4 vols (Paris 1827) and with Jose Gomez de
Arteche y Moro, Guerra de Independencia: Historia militar de Espana de
I8o8 a I8I4, 14 vols (Madrid 1903) and J.R.Aymes, La Guerra de Ia
Independencia en Espana (Manchester 1988).
More modern histories of the Peninsular War, all with a distinctive
angle, are Sir Charles Oman, A History of the Peninsular War, 7 vols
(1930); David Gates, The Spanish Ulcer: A History ofthe Peninsular War
(1986); G. Lovett, Napoleon and the Birth of Modern Spain (NY 1965);
Jean Tranie & J.C. Carmigniani, Napoleon et Ia campagne d'Espagne,
I807-I8I4 (Paris 1978); M. Glover, Legacy of Glory: the Bonaparte
Kingdom of Spain, I8o8-I8IJ (NY 1971); J. Read, War in the Peninsula
(1977); J. Lucas-Dubreton, Napoleon devant l'Espagne (Paris 1946); C.
Grasset, La guerre d'Espagne (Paris 1932); Jean Thiry, La Guerre
d'Espagne (Paris 1966). Valuable studies of particular incidents or areas
include Don Alexander, Rod of Iron: French Counterinsurgency Policy in
Aragon during the Peninsular War (Wilmington, DE 1985); D.O.
Horward, Napoleon and Iberia: the Twin Sieges of Ciudad Rodrigo and
Almeida, I8IO (Tallahassee, Fla. 1984); R. Rudorff, War to the Death: the
sieges of Saragossa, I8o8-I8og (1974); P. Conard, Napoleon et Ia Catalogne
(Paris 1909).
Wellington has naturally attracted biographers and historians by the
score, most of whom tend towards hagiography. In a variable field one
should mention Elizabeth Longford, Wellington: The Years of the Sword
(1969); Philip Guedalla, The Duke (1946); Laurence James, The Iron
Duke: A Military Biography of Wellington (1992); Arthur Bryant, The
Great Duke (1971); P. Griffith, ed., Wellington, Commander: the Iron
Duke's Generalship (Chichester 1986). Different aspects of Wellington's
army are dealt with in Philip Haythornthwaite, The Armies of Wellington
(1994); A. Brett-James, Life in Wellington's Army (1972); F. Page,
Following the Drum: Women in Wellington's Wars (1986); C. Oman,
Wellington's Army, 1801)-1814 (1913); G. Davies, Wellington and his Army
(Oxford 1954); N. Glover, Wellington's Army in the Peninsula, I8o8-I8I4

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