While writing his memoirs on the island of Elba, Napoleon would state that “It was the Spanish ulcer which ruined me.” and while the Iberian Peninsular didn’t see many great battles akin to those deeper into Europe, it was still incredibly deadly and costly for Napoleon, his army, and his ambitions.
> For Napoleon, the Peninsular Wars truly represented a “bleeding ulcer” that could not be stinted, draining his empire of men, money, materiel, and morale. The armed commitment to Iberia tied down hundreds of thousands of French soldiers for nearly six years with the numbers fluctuating between a minimum of 100,000 men and a maximum of 370,000 men in August, 1810. Statistics on casualty figures have varied considerably, but British historian Charles Esdaile in his superb recent work The Peninsular War (2001), which is arguably the finest single-volume book on the subject, projects French deaths at approaching “a quarter of a million” men. Furthermore, the conflict had quickly degenerated into an unwinnable quagmire that never manifested serious signs of total triumph. More than a century before World War I. popularized the expressions “war of attrition” and “total war”, the Peninsular Wars provided convincing evidence of their relevance to the modern world.
SamsaraKama on
My only question, as a Portuguese person, is why the fuck did he try 3 times. 3rd time was *not* the charm, and he tore through Spain as his army moved along. It was just not worth it.
Chef_Sizzlipede on
invading russia while it was still going on was a stupid idea in hindsight.
AssociateWeak8857 on
Well it just means he was wrong. If losing you entire army and running away doesn’t count as “ruined”, what does?
While attacking Spain was a stupid and costly move, he could always just leave Spain alone because the country would struggle to counterattack
bookhead714 on
If I were Napoleon and had an image of military perfection to preserve, I would also blame the campaign I was less directly involved with over the one that I personally led to its doom
5 Comments
While writing his memoirs on the island of Elba, Napoleon would state that “It was the Spanish ulcer which ruined me.” and while the Iberian Peninsular didn’t see many great battles akin to those deeper into Europe, it was still incredibly deadly and costly for Napoleon, his army, and his ambitions.
> For Napoleon, the Peninsular Wars truly represented a “bleeding ulcer” that could not be stinted, draining his empire of men, money, materiel, and morale. The armed commitment to Iberia tied down hundreds of thousands of French soldiers for nearly six years with the numbers fluctuating between a minimum of 100,000 men and a maximum of 370,000 men in August, 1810. Statistics on casualty figures have varied considerably, but British historian Charles Esdaile in his superb recent work The Peninsular War (2001), which is arguably the finest single-volume book on the subject, projects French deaths at approaching “a quarter of a million” men. Furthermore, the conflict had quickly degenerated into an unwinnable quagmire that never manifested serious signs of total triumph. More than a century before World War I. popularized the expressions “war of attrition” and “total war”, the Peninsular Wars provided convincing evidence of their relevance to the modern world.
My only question, as a Portuguese person, is why the fuck did he try 3 times. 3rd time was *not* the charm, and he tore through Spain as his army moved along. It was just not worth it.
invading russia while it was still going on was a stupid idea in hindsight.
Well it just means he was wrong. If losing you entire army and running away doesn’t count as “ruined”, what does?
While attacking Spain was a stupid and costly move, he could always just leave Spain alone because the country would struggle to counterattack
If I were Napoleon and had an image of military perfection to preserve, I would also blame the campaign I was less directly involved with over the one that I personally led to its doom