"The Spanish Ulcer, A History of the Peninsular War" Topic

"The Spanish Ulcer, although an old publication in terms of more recent history's of the Peninsular War, is still an important tome in the canon of books on the subject.

Until now, it was still on my "must read before I die pile", and now I can relax having ticked that off my list. So I thought I would share my thoughts about it, in case you are, like me, back in late January, considering launching into reading the 469 pages, not including the time line, very useful order of battles, list of sources and index at the back, 557 pages in all.

This book was first published back in 1986, and I am old enough to remember the first hard back editions arriving on the shelves of certain well known book retailers. My edition is a 2001 paperback publication from De Capo Press…"

Full review here
link

Amicalement
Armand

It is an excellent book, still relevant and one of the first in English to give the Spanish forces their own context and importance.

It needed better maps though.

Yes, a good book let down by very poor, amateurish maps.

I agree the maps are a let-down, otherwise a good book.

I would recommend also Osprey´s Atlas of the Peninsular War. Through it´s excellent maps you get a much better grasp of who did most of the fighting in that long campaign. :-)

Many thanks for your guidance boys!. (smile)

Amicalement
Armand

I have the Hard bound one. Purchased it when it came out. Love it.

Thanks you too my friend.

Amicalement
Armand

Yes, a good book let down by very poor, amateurish maps.

Yes, the maps were pretty sub-par in that one, though the rest was good. This is just another example of why every one interested in the period should own a copy of this, which can save you from even the dreaded Book With No Maps :

And/or be aware of this site, which has some (all?) of the maps from the above book:

link

Although for the Peninsula, joaquin99 is totally correct, the Osprey Atlas is the perfect companion. And totally worth owning in its own right.

>one of the first in English to give the Spanish forces their own context and importance.

Hardly, Oman was more than thorough about addressing Spain in context or importance. One must be careful about spreading the strange myth that English written histories are mostly English-centric. I have yet to read one that was.

Also an oldie but goodie, and much better in many ways than Glover, is Gabriel Lovett's two-volume work, Napoleon and the Birth of Modern Spain. His Spanish archival sources are amazing and quite thorough.