NARRATIVE OF THE PENINSULAR CAMPAIGN 1807-1814 ITS BATTLES AND SIEGES

The expanded title of this book, as printed on the title page, is “A Narrative of the Peninsular Campaign 1807-1814, Its Battles and Sieges, Abridged from the History of the War in the Peninsular by Lieut-General Sir W.F.P.Napier, KCB.” This says it all. William Napier was the brother of the militarily more famous General Sir Charles, who made his reputation in India and is probably best known for his conquest of the province of Scinde. William, who like his brother did well in the Peninsular War, made his name as the author of the six-volume history War in the Peninsula and this is Dobson’s abridged version. As he says in the introduction it has been his aim to give an account of only the principal events of this long and bitterly fought campaign, paying tribute to Napier’s “masterpiece of detailed military history.”