"Who was the worst?" Topic

The Neopolitans were the worst soldiers of the Napoleonic Era….I had to paint up hundreds of French gendarmes, just to keep an eye on them!

Regards,
Wayne

I'm glad to see only a couple of comments about the Spanish, and I'm positive those people didn't know what they were talking about or just kidding.

The Spanish never quit, and that's worth something. I hate how they are treated by wargamers. This is actually an extremely entertaining army to play and their history is worthy of merit.

My vote for worst is Westphalians. Sam's article is great.

Ancient Libyans.

Bunch of C class skirmishers with javelins and no shields.

I concur with most that Armand has said regarding to Argentina. Since 1806 there were a strong independentist feeling between the upper classes. When Spain herself was invaded, they took their chances and by 1816 the independence of the country was as much as guaranteed. Spain hadn't the money, nor the men or the will to send expeditions to Argentina. The scarce resources that were left to the Spanish government were sent to Peru, Mexico and Venezuela.

Once the United States broke with Great Britain, the American empire of Spain was doomed. It was just matter of time (as Floridablanca recognized in a report to Charles III, written few months before the king's demise) that the hispanic-american elites would take the same path.

(Floridablanca as much as recognized that if they did, Spain would lose all South America; he believed that only Mexico could be hold, and that because the whites were afraid of the Indian population and would look to Spain for protection).

I fought as the commander of a Spanish Army about 5 times, lost four times and managed a draw once, when a British wing commander shored up my defences before the French could dislodge my positions.

The Spanish artillery arm was adequate enough, the Spanish cavalry & infantry however, almost always were in need of Allied support.

My Spanish cavalry on three occassions were defeated by French cavalry, each time the French didn't even counter-attack, they took my charge at a standstill and they still defeated the Spanish cavalry(unbelievebly….!).

Wayne

Is it too late to throw in the Egyptians as a candidate?

Thanks Armand for the great post. It is history that I had no idea of.
regards
Max

When the Spanish were well fed, paid and well led they were OK--And as iregulars they were excellent…As with all soldiers there are 2 types--1)Well led and 2)badly led--As shown at New Orleans, you can have the best troops in the world but if you throw them into an unwinnable fight they will still lose…Like wise at Waterloo a hotch potch of average troops who were very well led by Wellington won a great victory…