The Spanish Ulcer: A History of the Peninsula War Author: David Gates (W.W.Norton & Co., 557pp., $29.95) The Spanish Ulcer is not so much a history of the Peninsular War as it is an overview. David Gates has attempted to examine this part of the Napoleonic Wars so as to bridge a gap which he perceives between superficial accounts and multi-volume studies such as Oman. He admits in his preface that this is a difficult undertaking and he vows to examine mainly the military aspects of the conflict, only touching upon the political and economic elements. This is where I find fault with the book. If the examination of the military operations had been thorough this might have worked, but the book reads like a Classics Illustrated comic. Admittedly most, if not all, of the battles in the Peninsula are mentioned, but engagements that would warrant a three page treatment even in a wargaming magazine get only a paragraph here. Even battles such as Salamanca receive only a few pages. There simply is no depth to the coverage. And how can one look at the war in Spain and not examine the political and economic aspects which were so important? England very nearly gave up its support of the conflict for these reasons. And the guerrillas? They are mentioned now and then as harrassing French supply lines and garrisons, and only one or two of their leaders are mentioned. One last complaint I have with the book is with the maps. There are many of these (no separate list in the front of the book) showing areas of operation, troop dispositions at the start of battles, and plans of fortresses under siege. Yet the detail, the movements of troops, etc., are not depicted, and Mr. Gates has an annoying habit of placing north in different positions in relation to the top of the page. If the captions were always to the south of the map, this would be acceptable, but they are not. Things I learned from the book--the Spanish regulars, though not great fighters, were incredibly resilient. No matter how many times they were defeated, they always seemed to come back a few weeks later for more, and thus could not be ignored. Also, though Wellington may have been a defensive genius, he was more lucky than anything else when it came to siege warfare. And if Napoleon had had more generals like Suchet in the Peninsula, the war might have ended differently. For the wargamer, there are fifty pages of OB's covering French, Spanish, and English armies throughout the war. These go down to the divisional level, then enumerate the number of battalions in ea c h division. (I would have liked to see regiments as well). Again most, if not all, battles of any consequence are mentioned, and there is an extensive bibliography for those who wish for more detail. If you are interested in siege games, the maps of fortifications may be of interest. Unless you buy every Napoleonic book that you can, I would suggest that you check The Spanish Ulcer out of the local library and spend the $29.95 on miniatures instead. Back to MWAN # 24 Table of Contents Back to MWAN List of Issues Back to MagWeb Magazine List © Copyright 1986 Hal Thinglum This article appears in MagWeb.com (Magazine Web) on the Internet World Wide Web. Other articles from military history and related magazines are available at http://www.magweb.com