Eyewitness Accounts from the Napoleonic Wars: Spain and Portugal 1808-1814

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In 1808, Napoleon launched a war against Spain, sparking a savage conflict that lasted nearly six years, cost half a million lives, and helped to bring down his empire.

We tell the story of this war through more than a dozen dramatic accounts from Spanish, French, British, German and Polish participants. Together, they provide a raw and unflinching perspective of Napoleon's doomed attempt to conquer the Iberian peninsula.

For the Spanish, it was their ‘War of Independence’ – for their British allies, ‘the Peninsular War’. These are the voices of witnesses to those momentous days.

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Thank you to Osprey Publishing for kind permission to use several of their images in this video. They have many excellent books covering the Peninsular War such as:

📚 Reading list:
‘Memoirs of a French Napoleonic Officer’ by Jean-Baptiste Barres

‘Peninsular Eyewitnesses: The Experience of War in Spain and Portugal 1808-1813’ by Charles J. Esdaille

‘The Recollections of Rifleman Harris’ by Benjamin Randell Harris

‘Adventures in the Rifle Brigade: In the Peninsula, France and the Netherlands from 1809 to 1815’ by John Kincaid

‘The Autobiography of Sergeant William Lawrence: A Hero of the Peninsular and Waterloo Campaigns’ by William Lawrence

‘With Napoleon's Guns: The Military Memoirs of an Officer of the First Empire’ by Jean-Nicolas-Auguste Noël

‘A British Rifle Man: The Journals & Correspondence of Major George Simmons, Rifle Brigade during the Peninsular War & Campaign of Waterloo’ by George Simmons

You can visit our online bookshop to find great books on the Peninsular War and other Epic History topics:

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#EpicHistoryTV #History #Napoleon #NapoleonicWars #MilitaryHistory #PeninsularWar

[EpichistoryTv]

As always, let us know that you think and tell us what your favourite testimony was in the comments!

Thank you for watching.

[ulvi]

Using different voice actors to create historical accuracy is just a genius idea. Good work. Keep going

[HoH]

Very impressive and gripping accounts. Thank you, this was superb as always.

[TheIrishvolunteer]

The quality of these videos is getting unbelievable, the paintings, narration and topics are amazing.
These tales remind me of the horrors inflicted during the 1798 rebellion of Ireland. Both sides took no prisoners and it was said that every tree in the South East had a "Croppy" (term for an Irish rebel) hung from every tree.

[imtoolazy]

0:27 "in 1808... ", goosebumps

[folktai]

We often hear battles and tactics but not often their voices…thank you for bringing this to our attention.

[masterplokoon]

Respect to the French colonel in the Portuguese campaign. It was a pretty sober and rational assessment of the situation and the atrocities that happened without sentimentalism or propaganda and actually saw the perspective of his enemy.

[hottrash]

THE channel for Napoleonic War content. Best series on youtube.

[luisotaduyperez]

As a Spaniard I am proud of our history and happy that you make it known in such a rich and entertaining way, thank you very much.

[yashsinghbrl]

Best History channel on YouTube without a shred of doubt

[HochundDeutschyapster]

18:27 really reflects the horror the soldier came through only by hearing his voice alone...
epic history really took me by surprise with this small detail... cheers to the team lads!

[stuart]

Toby making his voiceover debut 😮 A decade in the making 🫡

[Ohioanpatriot]

I had always known that the peninsular war was brutal... But this was almost too much to watch.
I found myself wincing at some of the recounts. I never knew of the extent of the atrocities.
The viewer discretion is most certainly earned.

[Kat-jkzq]

This definetly delivered. Harrowing accounts, incredible artwork and the best narrator on the platform🙌

[the_christopher]

Watched on Nebula when it was an early release, watching again for algorithm.

This is honestly *my favorite episode of yours to date*, with Marengo a close second.

[hiramabiff]

The narration and subject matter is always spot on with this channel. Such a pleasure to watch.

[Caratacus]

A fair acknowledgement of all sides contributions. Wellington's Army was always outnumbered at least 4 to 1 by the French troops in Spain. It would have been absolutely impossible for him to keep winning without the Spanish and Portuguese also tying down so many French troops.

[abthedragon]

Dang the production value on these videos just keeps getting better and better! The detail on the map is amazing and I love how they use different accents for the different soldiers who's quotes the narrators are voicing, really nice touch!

[reeky]

I have been waiting for Marengo for years. This will be an upcoming amazing video.

[brainflash]

Spanish: War of Independence
British: The Peninsula War
Napoleon: The Spanish Ulcer.