A History of the Peninsular War Volume 2

January - September 1809

De: Charles Oman

Narrado por: Felbrigg Napoleon Herriot

FNH Audio presents a slightly abridged performance of this second volume of Charles Oman's military history classic.

In this second volume, a detailed examination is made of the months January to September of 1809. The Talavera campaign is examined from both sides using reference materials from British, French, Spanish, and Portuguese sources.

This book covers the entire Talavera campaign, from its inception right through to the near starved retreat of the victors from the field.

This history, written many years after Napier's, draws its information from more firsthand accounts and corrects some of more glaring mistakes and biases of Napier. Although this audiobook is abridged, the only text removed is that in French, namely Appendix 9 and a number of footnotes scattered throughout the book. All English text from the appendices and footnotes is present. Volume 1 of this set is available under the title A History of the Peninsular War 1807-1809.

©2012 Charles Oman (P)2014 Felbrigg Napoleon Herriot

Excellent information and story.

One problem is the narrators inability to pronounce French or Spanish names or places (which is surprising given the sheer number of Napoleonic books he has narrated.
Otherwise, this is the single best source on the subject.

Dull and impossible to follow

This book was written at the dawn of the 20th century, and it probably should have stayed there. The narrative, such as it is, becomes impossible to follow because of the constant interruption of tangential footnotes. The phraseology and military analysis are archaic, and all too often reflect the still romantic view of war that the World Wars put to rest. The narration is fine, but the narrator needs to work on his pronunciation of Spanish.