Alongside the Spanish army in the campaign against Napoleon (1808-1814) was an assortment of freebooters, local peasants, and bandits who were organized into ad hoc regional private armies. These “guerrillas”―a term introduced to the English language during the Peninsular War―ambushed French convoys, attacked French encampments, and pounced upon, dodged, and fought French columns, often with extreme brutality. This book investigates for the first time the irregular Spanish forces and their role in resisting Napoleon. 
Delving deeply into previously untapped archival resources, Charles Esdaile arrives at an entirely new view of the Spanish guerrillas. He shows that the Spanish war against Napoleon was something other than the great popular crusade of legend, that many guerrillas were not armed civilians acting spontaneously, and that guerrillas were more often driven by personal motives than high-minded ideology. Tracking down the bandit armies and assessing their contributions, Esdaile offers important insights into the famous “little war” and the motives of those who fought it.

Fighting Napoleon

History

Esdaile, Charles J.

Asia

Yale University Press

The Wars of Napoleon (Modern Wars In Perspective)

A survey of the Napoleonic Wars. The central theme is the scale of French military power and its impact on other European states from Portugal to Russia and from Scandinavia to Sicily.

Children's Books

Routledge

This book is the first single volume history of modern Spain to appear in over 30 years. It describes Spain's emergence in the nineteenth century as the first modern post-imperial power and examines the vast social and economic changes which Spain witnessed during this period. In lucid and accessible prose, the author provides a gripping account of 131 years of politics, warfare and social conflict.  Charles Esdaile places particular emphasis on crucial periods in the history of modern Spain. He shows how nineteenth century Spain was in many ways shaped by the Peninsular War of 1804-18, as the politicization of the army during this conflict cast a shadow over the century-long political struggle between liberalism and absolutism. Esdaile also demonstrates that the years between 1868 and 1874 were a watershed in the history of modern Spain. During this time the social and political changes of the century were consolidated and Spain emerged as a constitutional monarchy. Providing a riveting account of the events of the Spanish Civil War of 1936-39, this book shows that the result of the brutal struggle between the nationalists and republicans was the preservation of the social and economic order that had arisen in the nineteenth century.  Blending analysis with narrative, Charles Esdaile allows the reader to understand nineteenth century Spain on its own terms and to see how the seeds of the civil war of 1936-39 were sown by the failure of liberalism in the previous century.

Spain in the Liberal Age: From Constitution to Civil War, 1808-1939 (A History of Spain)

Europe

Wiley/Blackwell

This book is the first single volume history of modern Spain to appear in over 30 years. It describes Spain's emergence in the nineteenth century as the first modern post-imperial power and examines the vast social and economic changes which Spain witnessed during this period. In lucid and accessible prose, the author provides a gripping account of 131 years of politics, warfare and social conflict. 
Charles Esdaile places particular emphasis on crucial periods in the history of modern Spain. He shows how nineteenth century Spain was in many ways shaped by the Peninsular War of 1804-18, as the politicization of the army during this conflict cast a shadow over the century-long political struggle between liberalism and absolutism. Esdaile also demonstrates that the years between 1868 and 1874 were a watershed in the history of modern Spain. During this time the social and political changes of the century were consolidated and Spain emerged as a constitutional monarchy. Providing a riveting account of the events of the Spanish Civil War of 1936-39, this book shows that the result of the brutal struggle between the nationalists and republicans was the preservation of the social and economic order that had arisen in the nineteenth century. Blending analysis with narrative, Charles Esdaile allows the reader to understand nineteenth century Spain on its own terms and to see how the seeds of the civil war of 1936-39 were sown by the failure of liberalism in the previous century.

Spain in the Liberal Age: From Constitution to Civil War, 1808-1939

Napoleon’s forces invaded Spain in 1808, but two years went by before they overran the southern region of Andalucía. Situated at the farthest frontier of Napoleon’s “outer empire,” Andalucía remained under French control only briefly—for two-and-a-half years—and never experienced the normal functions of French rule. In this groundbreaking examination of the Peninsular War, Charles J. Esdaile moves beyond traditional military history to examine the French occupation of Andalucía and the origins and results of the region’s complex and chaotic response. Disillusioned by the Spanish provisional government and largely unprotected, Andalucía scarcely fired a shot in its defense when Joseph Bonaparte’s army invaded the region in 1810. The subsequent French occupation, however, broke down in the face of multiple difficulties, the most important of which were geography and the continued presence in the region of substantial forces of regular troops. Drawing on British, French, and Spanish sources that are all but unknown, Esdaile describes the social, cultural, geographical, political, and military conditions that combined to make Andalucía particularly resistant to French rule. Esdaile’s study is a significant contribution to the new field sometimes known as occupation studies, which focuses on the ways a victorious army attempts to reconcile a conquered populace to the new political order. Combining military history with political and social history, Outpost of Empire delineates what we now call the cultural terrain of war. This is history that moves from battles between armies to battles for hearts and minds.

Outpost of Empire: The Napoleonic Occupation of Andalucia, 1810–1812 (Volume 33) (Campaigns and Commanders Series)

University of Oklahoma Press

Women in the Peninsular War

In the iconography of the Peninsular War of 1808–14, women are well represented—both as heroines, such as Agustina Zaragosa Domenech, and as victims, whether of starvation or of French brutality. In history, however, with its focus on high politics and military operations, they are invisible—a situation that Charles J. Esdaile seeks to address. In Women in the Peninsular War, Esdaile looks beyond the iconography. While a handful of Spanish and Portuguese women became Agustina-like heroines, a multitude became victims, and here both of these groups receive their due. But Esdaile reveals a much more complicated picture in which women are discovered to have experienced, responded to, and participated in the conflict in various ways. While some women fought or otherwise became involved in the struggle against the invaders, others turned collaborator, used the war as a means of effecting dramatic changes in their situation, or simply concentrated on staying alive. Along with Agustina Zaragoza Domenech, then, we meet French sympathizers, campfollowers, pamphleteers, cross-dressers, prostitutes, amorous party girls, and even a few protofeminists. Esdaile examines many social spheres, ranging from the pampered daughters of the nobility, through the cloistered members of Spain’s many convents, to the tough and defiant denizens of the Madrid slums. And we meet not just the women to whom the war came but also the women who came to the war—the many thousands who accompanied the British and French armies to the Iberian peninsula. Thanks to his use of copious original source material, Esdaile rescues one and all from, as E. P. Thompson put it, “the enormous condescension of posterity.” And yet all these women remain firmly in their historical and cultural context, a context that Esdaile shows to have emerged from the Peninsular War hardly changed. Hence the subsequent loss of these women’s story, and the obscurity from which this book has at long last rescued them.

The Wars of the French Revolution: 1792–1801

The Wars of the French Revolution, 1792–1801 offers a comprehensive and jargon-free coverage of this turbulent period and unites political, social, military and international history in one volume.   Carefully designed for undergraduate students, through twelve chapters this book offers an introduction to the origins and international context of the French Revolution as well as an in-depth examination of the reasons why war began. Aspects unpicked within the book include how France acquired a de facto empire stretching from Holland to Naples; the impact of French conquest on the areas concerned; the spread of French ideas beyond the frontiers of the French imperium; the response of the powers of Europe to the sudden expansion in French military power; the experience of the conflicts unleashed by the French Revolution in such areas as the West Indies, Egypt and India; and the impact of war on the Revolution itself.  Offering extensive geographical coverage and challenging many preconceived ideas, The Wars of the French Revolution, 1792–1801 is the perfect resource for students of the French Revolution and international military history more broadly.

The Wars of the French Revolution, 1792–1801 offers a comprehensive and jargon-free coverage of this turbulent period and unites political, social, military and international history in one volume. Carefully designed for undergraduate students, through twelve chapters this book offers an introduction to the origins and international context of the French Revolution as well as an in-depth examination of the reasons why war began. Aspects unpicked within the book include how France acquired a de facto empire stretching from Holland to Naples; the impact of French conquest on the areas concerned; the spread of French ideas beyond the frontiers of the French imperium; the response of the powers of Europe to the sudden expansion in French military power; the experience of the conflicts unleashed by the French Revolution in such areas as the West Indies, Egypt and India; and the impact of war on the Revolution itself. Offering extensive geographical coverage and challenging many preconceived ideas, The Wars of the French Revolution, 1792–1801 is the perfect resource for students of the French Revolution and international military history more broadly.

A survey of the Napoleonic Wars. The central theme is the scale of French military power and its impact on other European states from Portugal to Russia and from Scandinavia to Sicily.

The Spanish Civil War: A Military History (Warfare and History)

The Spanish Civil War: A Military History takes a new, military approach to the conflict that tore Spain apart from 1936 to 1939. In many histories, the war has been treated as a primarily political event with the military narrative subsumed into a much broader picture of the Spain of 1936–9 in which the chief themes are revolution and counter-revolution. While remaining conscious of the politics of the struggle, this book looks at the war as above all a military event, and as one in whose outbreak specifically military issues – particularly the split in the armed forces produced by the long struggle in Morocco (1909–27) – were fundamental. Across nine chapters that consider the war from beginning to endgame, Charles J. Esdaile revisits traditional themes from a new perspective, deconstructs many epics and puts received ideas to the test, as well as introducing readers to foreign-language historiography that has previously been largely inaccessible to an anglophone audience. In taking this new approach, The Spanish Civil War: A Military History is essential reading for all students of twentieth-century Spain.

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Esdaile, Charles J.. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Books by Esdaile, Charles J.

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Esdaile, Charles J.. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Fighting Napoleon

The Wars of Napoleon (Modern Wars In Perspective)

Spain in the Liberal Age: From Constitution to Civil War, 1808-1939 (A History of Spain)

Spain in the Liberal Age: From Constitution to Civil War, 1808-1939

Outpost of Empire: The Napoleonic Occupation of Andalucia, 1810–1812 (Volume 33) (Campaigns and Commanders Series)

Women in the Peninsular War

The Wars of the French Revolution: 1792–1801

The Wars of the French Revolution: 1792–1801

The Wars of Napoleon (Modern Wars In Perspective)

The Spanish Civil War: A Military History (Warfare and History)