In this definitive account of the Peninsular War (1808-14), Napoleon’s six-year war against Spain, Ronald Fraser examines what led to the emperor’s devastating defeat against the popular opposition – the guerrillas – and their British and Portuguese allies. As well as relating the histories of the great political and military figures of the war, Fraser brings to life the anonymous masses – the artisans, peasants and women who fought, suffered and died – and restores their role in this barbaric war to its rightful place while overturning the view that this was a straightforward military campaign. This vivid, meticulously researched book offers a distinct and profound vision of 'Napoleon’s Vietnam’ and shows the reality of the disasters of war: the suffering, discontents and social upheaval that accompanied the fighting.
With a new Introduction by Perry Anderson.
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Perry Anderson is the author of, among other books, Spectrum, Lineages of the Absolutist State, Passages from Antiquity to Feudalism, Considerations on Western Marxism, English Questions, The Origins of Postmodernity, and The New Old World. He teaches history at UCLA and is on the editorial board of New Left Review.