Wellington’s military operations in the Iberian Peninsula have garnered ample attention over the past 200 years. While the majority of these works cover tactics and strategy, no composite study focuses solely upon the problems that Wellington encountered as he conducted a protracted expeditionary campaign in the early nineteenth century. It is the aim of this dissertation to correct that deficiency.
The scope of this work examines Wellington’s campaigns in relation to the strategic and operational problems he encountered both at home and abroad while liberating the Iberian Peninsula from French control from 1808 to 1814. Throughout the course of the war Wellington and his army encountered opposition on many fronts. Underlying all of his problems was an unforgiving military and political bureaucracy, which subject to public opinion, failed to formulate a clear and decisive strategy. Only when victory was assured did Wellington receive the support required from London. Forced to formulate and pursue his own plans for victory in Iberia, Wellington was reduced to fighting a two-front war. On the one hand, he fought the French armies sent to destroy him; and on the other, he struggled against his political and military masters in London.
