MARCHING, FIGHTING, DYING: Experiences of Soldiers in the Peninsular War

1-229230

Explores the everyday experience of British troops during the Napoleonic War in the Peninsular using excerpts from their letters. Only extracts from letters written during the campaigns are quoted - journals written much later for publication are discounted - so a true picture of life in the army at war comes out directly, as it was perceived at the time. Every aspect of the soldiers' experience is covered, from the fatigue and discomfort of existence on military service to the reality of combat and their feelings when a comrade was wounded or killed. The letters reveal so much about their attitude to the enemy, civilians and the men who served alongside them. Since this was the first war in history where regular postal services operated - and since a rising number of soldiers were able to read and write - their letters offer us an insight into men at war that has never been recorded before.