This is the companion volume to the book on Spanish infantry of the early Peninsular War that I reviewed he:
TMP link
So what do we get this time around?
Again the book is about 240mm x 160mm (9.5"x6.5") and 192 pages, printed on high quality paper and published by Ken Trotman in the UK.
Firstly the title is misleading, because in addition to the cavalry it covers the Guards and the artillery, the specialists (engineers and miners), the muleteers and finally the navy and marines. Unifroms cover various forms covering the period from 1788 through to 1806.
So we now have a complete overview of the Spanish forces at the beginning of the Peninsular War and details of some of the equipment of the Junta period. So we owe a debt of gratitude to our own Gerard Cronin and Stephen Summerfield.
Cavalry is divided between the Horse, Dragoons (including the their reorganisation as light horse) and the Hussars.
The Guards were a large formation of about 7,000 foot and 1,000 horse and are covered in detail.
For both the cavalry and guards there are numerous flag illustrations.
Dr. Summerifeld being in an acknowledge expert on smoothbore artillery the section on artillery is excellent. Even if I do now realise that the skyblue I used for my artillery was both too bright and too blue. Discussion covers not only field artillery but the normally overlooked fortress guns and naval style guns assigned to fortresses.
The muleteers are included because the Spanish retained the tradition of civilian contracts for moving artillery.
The marines cover both naval operations, and with the reduction of the navy after Trafalgar as supplementary land forces. Flags for the marines are also included.
Finally there are a number of orders of battle covering the period May 1808 through to Talavera in July of 1809.
Thoughts:
If your interested in the Peninsular War these two volumes are a must.
Considering the wealth of information these books are excellent value for money.