Napoleonic Wars

In the French Revolutionary Wars (1792-1803) and closely related Napoleonic Wars (1803–1815) France faced successive coalitions of European states. In the Revolutionary Wars France expanded its control to the Low Countries, Italy, and the Rhineland. Napoleon built upon this and conquered much of Europe. However French success unravelled quickly after Napoleon’s disastrous invasion of Russia (1812). The Napoleonic Wars ended with Napoleon’s defeat at Waterloo (18 Jun 1815). The wars depended on extremely high numbers of soldiers, recruited by modern mass conscription. My main interest is the grim contest between France and Spain (plus allies) in the Peninsular War (1808-1814).

Albuera Wargaming Project for the Peninsular War

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I wanted to build some Peninsular War Armies for Shako based on a historical Order of Battle. The Battle of Albuera (16 May 1811) seems a reasonable starting point or perhaps finale since it requires three armies: Spanish, Anglo-Portuguese, and French. The two overall commanders (Beresford and Soult) were competent and several significant others were also present including Joaquín Blake y Joyes who commanded the Spanish, José de San Martin who was one of the famous Liberators in the South American Wars of Liberation , and José de Zayas who was arguably the best of the Spanish divisional commanders during the entire war. The French and Anglo-Portuguese are roughly the same numbers (ignoring the Spanish). The orders of battle are close to those in pick up lists for Shako.

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