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Albuera 1811: The Bloodiest Battle of the Peninsular War. By Guy Dempsey. London: Frontline Books, 2008. ISBN 978-184832-499-2. Maps. Illustrations. Notes. Appendixes. Bibliography. Index. Pp. 336. £25.00.
The Napoleonic Wars ended on the field of Waterloo in 1815. Ever since, a handful of topics - the Waterloo campaign, Napoleon's invasion of Russia - have dominated English language printed material about those wars. The Peninsular War, 1807-1814, narrowly trails those dominant topics. Then and thereafter, British writers pubUshed accounts celebrating an unbroken string of battlefield successes against the heretofore seemingly invincible French legions. In particular, readers were treated to the exploits of Sir Arthur WeUesley, the future Duke of Wellington, the general whose conduct of affairs in Portugal and Spain did so much to turn the Iberian Peninsula into 'the Spanish Ulcer', a disease tliat ate away at the vitals of the Napoleonic Empire.
Wellington's towering presence overshadowed most everything else. Some protested that he received too much credit. Among them was an elderly Viscount Montgomery, who explained to a young Sandhurst instructor, David Chandler, "Marlboro and Montgomery, M, very good. Wellington and Wavell, upside down M. No good!" Montgomery excepted, few could gainsay Wellesley's tactical genius and ultimate strategic success.
The Battle of Albuera, fought on May 16, 1811,...