“Every contractor is a thief.”: Logistics, Insurgents, and the Art of War in Early Napoleonic Spain, 1808–9
Unexpected setbacks to Napoleon’s plan to control Spain at the onset of the Peninsular War (1808–1814) required the emperor to launch a 270,000-man counteroffensive into the heart of the country in late 1808 – culminating with the British defeat at the Battle of Corunna, January 16, 1809.
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Goulash: Culinary Icon of the Hungarian Puszta
There is always something special about the history of a certain dish, a unique blend of flavors, savors, and tastes. When you try Hungarian goulash, its enticing flavor and smell lead back to a bygone era when the vast Hungarian Puszta echoed with the calls of nomadic herders and shepherds. It was during these times, around the 9th century, that goulash emerged as a humble yet healthful dish, marking the inception of a culinary legacy that would endure for centuries.
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The Peninsular War (1808-1814) vs. Spanish War of Independence: A Historiographical Battleground
The main dispute within the historiography of the Peninsular War has always been (and remains) a competing narrative between British and Spanish historians.
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Captain John Grant Tod, Texas Sailor in the Heart of Sin City Mexico, 1848
Born in 1808 near Lexington, Kentucky, John Grant Tod, the youngest of nine children born to pious immigrants from Scotland, left home at seventeen.
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Albert-Jean Michel de Rocca and the Most Dangerous Road in Napoleonic Spain
Most memoirs by French officers who took part in the Napoleonic occupation of Spain lauded their victories and achievements on the battlefield with the exception of Albert-Jean Michel de Rocca (1788-1818), a lieutenant who served in the French Army until 1810 when he was injured and forced to hobble back to France on the most dangerous stretch of road in the war.
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