Recording from Peter Caddick Adam’s talk, ‘The Peninsular War’, for CVHF, Tuesday 25th June 2013.

Acclaimed historian Peter Caddick-Adams brought his vast knowledge and his experience of walking the ground to bear in this talk about the Peninsular War, a long and drawn-out campaign, in which the combined British and allied forces gradually ground down and defeated Napoleon’s French armies. Notable for the reputations made and ruined, and for the numerous battles and sieges fought across Portugal and Spain, this was a brutal and bloody campaign. From Sir John Moore’s retreat to Corunna, through the Lines of Torres Vedras and the siege of Badajoz and Ciudad Rodrigo to the battles of Salamanca and Vitoria (recreated at the Festival on Sunday 30th), he told the tale of this six-year campaign with all his usual enthusiasm, expertise and empathy for those who fought, from the lowly rifleman to Wellington himself.