* Footnotes have been renumbered into a single series. Each footnote is placed at the end of the paragraph or the table that includes its anchor. [Illustration: _Marshal Soult, Duke of Dalmatia_ _from the portrait by Girardet_] A HISTORY OF THE PENINSULAR WAR BY CHARLES OMAN M.A. OXON., HON. LL.D. EDIN. FELLOW OF THE BRITISH ACADEMY CHICHELE PROFESSOR OF MODERN HISTORY FELLOW OF ALL SOULS COLLEGE CORRESPONDING MEMBER OF THE REAL ACADEMIA DE LA HISTORIA OF MADRID, OF THE ACADEMY OF LISBON AND OF THE ACADEMY OF SAN LUIS OF SARAGOSSA VOL. V OCT. 1811-AUG. 31, 1812 VALENCIA CIUDAD RODRIGO BADAJOZ SALAMANCA MADRID WITH MAPS AND ILLUSTRATIONS OXFORD AT THE CLARENDON PRESS 1914 OXFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS LONDON EDINBURGH GLASGOW NEW YORK TORONTO MELBOURNE BOMBAY HUMPHREY MILFORD M.A. PUBLISHER TO THE UNIVERSITY PREFACE In this volume Wellington’s campaigning in 1812 is followed no further than the day (August 31st) on which he set out from Madrid to drive back Clausel from the Douro. Reasons of space make it impossible to include the siege of Burgos and the retreat which followed. I had written the narrative of them, but found it impossible to add six long chapters to the 620 pages already in print. The fact is that, from the point of view of Wellington’s army, the year 1812 was much more tightly packed with military events than any which had gone before. In 1809 there was nothing important to chronicle after August: in 1810 the Anglo-Portuguese did not come into the forefront of the war till July, when Masséna had crossed the frontier and laid siege to Almeida. In 1811 the year opened with a deadlock, which was only ended by the commencement of Masséna’s retreat on March 9th, and concluded with a similar deadlock which endured from July to December--interrupted only by the short campaign of El Bodon and Aldea da Ponte, and this covered only a week [Sept. 22-9]. In 1812 the great strategical operations began on the first day of the year with the concentration for the siege of Ciudad Rodrigo, and did not end till the last week of November--which saw Wellington once more encamped under the walls of that fortress. For eleven months on end he had been on the move, with only a brief rest in cantonments between April 24th, the day when he gave up his pursuit of Marmont in Northern Portugal, and the end of May, when his divisions began to assemble again for the projected march on Salamanca. But for this short break his operations were continuous, and the narrative of them must of necessity be lengthy.