Product Description

In August 1808, a 14,000-man British army landed at Figura da Fozin Portugal under the future Wellington, Sir Arthur Wellesley. General Andoche Junot had 25,000 French troops in Portugal but these were scattered trying to contain the Portuguese. A 6,000-strong French force under General de Laborde was sent against the British. Wellesley outmanoeuvred his opponent and, at Rolica on 17 August, defeated the French. The suprized French mustered a further 13,000 men and hoped to defeat the British quickly as more troops were arriving from England. Junot met Wellesley (16,000 British, 2,000 Portuguese) at Vimeiro on 21 August.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #281493 in Books
• Published on: 2001-09-19
• Format: Illustrated
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 96 pages

About the Author
Rene Chartrand was born in Montreal and educated in Canada, the United States and the Bahamas. A senior curator with Canada's National Historic Sites for nearly three decades, he is now a freelance writer and historical consultant. He has written numerous articles and books including almost 20 Osprey titles and the first two volumes of Canadian Military Heritage. He lives in Hull, Quebec, with his wife and two sons. Patrice Courcelle, born in northern France in 1950, has been a professional illustrator for some 20 years. His previous work for Osprey includes MAA 328 and 335 'Emigre & Foreign Troops in British Service' Vols. 1 and 2, Campaign 76 'Ticonderoga 1758' and Campaign 79 'Louisbourg 1758'

Customer Reviews

Napoleon's first invasion of Portugal
Following with the excellent Campaign series from Osprey Publishing, "Vimeiro 1808" gives us a good account of Napoleon Bonaparte's first invasion of Portugal.
This campaign was the very inception of the Peninsular War, in Portugal, with the first contact between the French and Anglo-Portuguese armies.
In many ways, this was a preliminary confrontation to the larger scale engagements that would happen during the second and third French invasions, and one where an ascending Sir Arthur Wellesley faces one of Napoleon's favourite generals: Andoche Junot.
Wellesley's tactical expertise leads the Anglo-Portuguese army to two important victories, in the battles of Rolica and Vimeiro, puts a definite end to the first expedition of the Grande Armee and sets the roots for a sustained campaign of resistance against Napoleon, in Portuguese soil.
Despite this, Wellesley's superiors: generals Hew Dalrymple and Harry Burrard, not only do not exploit the success in Vimeiro to unleash further destruction on Napoleon's armies but also, in an extraordinary display of shear ineptitude, agree extremely damaging terms with Napoleon, in the infamous Cintra Convention.
At the end of the campaign, Junot's army, that so many atrocities had committed among the civilian populations of Portugal, is allowed to return to France, on Royal Navy ships and, unbelievably, carrying their weapons and loot.

Rene Chartrand and Patrick Courcelle's book covers this campaign in exemplar detail, with good photos of the sites as they are today and a good selection of plates and tactical diagrams.
Furthermore, time is taken to accurately describe the main intervenients in both armies, as well as providing an immersion in the realities of military life (and death) during this period.
Beyond the military aspects of the campaign, the authors also took the time to give a good background description of the social and political context on the onset of the invasion, as well as the appalling outcome following the Cintra convention.
I vividly recommend this book to anyone with an interest in the Peninsular War, and as a first approach to the French invasions in Portugal.

Could be more...
This Osprey book on the battle of Vimeiro has 96 pages.
The actual battle is dealt with on pages 62-80... meagre 18 pages.
Most of the book deals with the run up to the battle, which is well written and a fluent read.
Just too expensive for the little one gets though.
Richard Holmes book on Wellington would come to mind as a more worthwile investment.