Open Daily: 10am - 10pm | Alley door pickup 10am - 7pm 3038 Hennepin Ave Minneapolis, MN
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  • Open Daily: 10am - 10pm
    Alley-side Pickup: 10am - 7pm

    3038 Hennepin Ave Minneapolis, MN
    612-822-4611

Open Daily: 10am - 10pm | Alley-side Pickup: 10am - 7pm
3038 Hennepin Ave Minneapolis, MN
612-822-4611
History of the British Legion and War in Spain

History of the British Legion and War in Spain

Somerville, Alexander
Alexander Somerville, Somerville
Alexander Somerville

Hardcover

General Military HistoryOther WarsSpainish & Portuguese History

ISBN10: 1847344836
ISBN13: 9781847344830
Publisher: Naval & Military Press
Published: Jun 20 2006
Pages: 724
Weight: 2.13
Height: 1.75 Width: 5.50 Depth: 8.50
Language: English
This substantial book is both an unusual military memoir and a fascination exploration of an almost forgotten episode in Anglo-Spanish military history. The 'British Legion' of the title has nothing to do with its 20th Century namesake, but was the name of an expeditionary force raised in 1837 to fight in the First Carlist War - a bitter dynastic dispute. Don Carlos, brother of the deceased Spanish King Ferdinand, refused to accept the succession of his infant neice Isabella, and raised the standard of revolt in the ultra-conservative Navarre and Basque provinces of northern Spain. Britain and France, fearing instability, sent forces to shore up the relatively Liberal Madrid regime against the Carlists. The campaign that followed was messy, inconclusive, and, according to Somerville's account, characterised by incompetence, cowardice and even mutiny - mainly on his own side. The narrative switches between accounts of bloody battles at Irun and St Sebastian, comparisons with the Peninsular War fought over the same terrain only a quarter of a century before, and near-farcical episodes when the author makes no attempt to disguise his disgust with his own side. An inglorious episode in British arms by any standard, it is scarcely surprising that the Carlist Wars are today terra incognita, even to military buffs. This book should go a long way towards filling a gap in our knowledge. It is accompanied by appendices listing the Legion's Nominal Roll etc.

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