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1Ammianus
In the late 80s I was stationed in Augsburg, Bavaria, when the city celebrated its 1,000 birthday. Originally Augusta Vindelicorum, the city had housed many military units over the centuries, including one of my favorite Roman units, Legio III Italica. Given the age of Europe it's really difficult NOT to stumble over battlefields or fortresses wherever you go; of course when you count all the military engagements in no wonder we rarely find military parks on the order of Gettysburg. I remember driving around the Bavarian countryside looking for the battlefield of Blindheim (Blenheim) & eventually finding a small plague on a church wall.
Spain resembles the rest of Europe in being the home of many military campaigns. Hannibal, Scipio, Pompey, Caesar, Napoleon, Wellington, and others fought here to say nothing of Spain's bloody civil war in the 1930s. Over the years I've been lucky enough to visit Spain & Portugal four times and was able to visit a number of Peninsular War sites. The curator at Salamanca was very surprised to see an American, and presented me with a musket ball!
Now, god willing & the creeks don't rise, my wife & I will head back to Spain in late March. Our tour will describe a loop beginning & ending at Barcelona, transiting Catalonia, Aragon & Valencia. I've primarily focused on tracking the footsteps of Napoleon's Marshal Suchet's campaigns (the only marshal to acquire his baton in the Peninsula) with Punic War, Roman Civil War and Spanish Civil War sites thrown in as well.
I'll be carrying Suchet's Memoirs Of The War In Spain, From 1808 To 1814 with me, but I've been reading up as well. I highly recommend both Gates' The Spanish Ulcer: A History of the Peninsular War and Esdaile's The Peninsular War: A New History. There's a plethora of books on the Peninsula and the other wars in Spain. Besides Livy The War with Hannibal and Polybius The Rise of the Roman Empire, I also like Bagnal The Punic Wars: Rome, Carthage, and the Struggle for the Mediterranean and Goldsworthy The Punic Wars on the Roman and Carthaginian struggles in Spain. Caesar's struggles against Pompey included a number of battles in Spain; some works I've found useful include: Caesar's The Civil War, Goldsworthy's Caesar's Civil War, as well as Caesar Against Rome: The Great Roman Civil War. I've also just repurchased Hugh Thomas' The Spanish Civil War: Revised Edition.
Our itinerary includes:
Tarragona: Scipio vs Hanno, Captured by Suchet in the Peninsular War & scene of Vandal/Goth/Roman fighting in the Late Roman period.
Valls: Marshal StCyr vs Spanish, Peninsular War battle
Lerida (LLeida): captured by Caesar, captured by Suchet
Mequienza:captured by Suchet
Alcaniz: Blake's Spainiards defeat Suchet's French; seat of the Order of Calatrava.
Teruel: Spanish Civil War, Peninsular War
Sagunto:Capture by Hannibal kicks off 2d Punic War, Sertorius defeats Pompey, battle & siege by Suchet, captured by EL Cid in 1098.
Valencia: Visigoths, Moors, El Cid, captured by Suchet
Peniscola:captured by Hamilcar Barca (Hannibal;s Dad) & Suchet
Montserrat: fortified monastery seized by Suchet
Tortosa: besieged & captured by Suchet
So that's my plan. I expect we'll also stop at sites where Hannibal, Caesar, and Suchet purchased jewelry and other items for their wives.
Spain resembles the rest of Europe in being the home of many military campaigns. Hannibal, Scipio, Pompey, Caesar, Napoleon, Wellington, and others fought here to say nothing of Spain's bloody civil war in the 1930s. Over the years I've been lucky enough to visit Spain & Portugal four times and was able to visit a number of Peninsular War sites. The curator at Salamanca was very surprised to see an American, and presented me with a musket ball!
Now, god willing & the creeks don't rise, my wife & I will head back to Spain in late March. Our tour will describe a loop beginning & ending at Barcelona, transiting Catalonia, Aragon & Valencia. I've primarily focused on tracking the footsteps of Napoleon's Marshal Suchet's campaigns (the only marshal to acquire his baton in the Peninsula) with Punic War, Roman Civil War and Spanish Civil War sites thrown in as well.
I'll be carrying Suchet's Memoirs Of The War In Spain, From 1808 To 1814 with me, but I've been reading up as well. I highly recommend both Gates' The Spanish Ulcer: A History of the Peninsular War and Esdaile's The Peninsular War: A New History. There's a plethora of books on the Peninsula and the other wars in Spain. Besides Livy The War with Hannibal and Polybius The Rise of the Roman Empire, I also like Bagnal The Punic Wars: Rome, Carthage, and the Struggle for the Mediterranean and Goldsworthy The Punic Wars on the Roman and Carthaginian struggles in Spain. Caesar's struggles against Pompey included a number of battles in Spain; some works I've found useful include: Caesar's The Civil War, Goldsworthy's Caesar's Civil War, as well as Caesar Against Rome: The Great Roman Civil War. I've also just repurchased Hugh Thomas' The Spanish Civil War: Revised Edition.
Our itinerary includes:
Tarragona: Scipio vs Hanno, Captured by Suchet in the Peninsular War & scene of Vandal/Goth/Roman fighting in the Late Roman period.
Valls: Marshal StCyr vs Spanish, Peninsular War battle
Lerida (LLeida): captured by Caesar, captured by Suchet
Mequienza:captured by Suchet
Alcaniz: Blake's Spainiards defeat Suchet's French; seat of the Order of Calatrava.
Teruel: Spanish Civil War, Peninsular War
Sagunto:Capture by Hannibal kicks off 2d Punic War, Sertorius defeats Pompey, battle & siege by Suchet, captured by EL Cid in 1098.
Valencia: Visigoths, Moors, El Cid, captured by Suchet
Peniscola:captured by Hamilcar Barca (Hannibal;s Dad) & Suchet
Montserrat: fortified monastery seized by Suchet
Tortosa: besieged & captured by Suchet
So that's my plan. I expect we'll also stop at sites where Hannibal, Caesar, and Suchet purchased jewelry and other items for their wives.
6Ammianus
#5: Thanks rudel, can't believe I'm finally getting to cover that part of Spain. Lot of prelim rading to do!
11rocketjk
Very cool. Have a blast. My own Spain reading has focused mainly on the civil war (I found Antony Beevor's account most excellent) and the wars between Christian and Moor (Moorish Spain by Richard Fletcher was a good primer to read on the topic). My wife and I visited western Andalusia a couple of years back.
Also, regarding the Spanish Civil War, I recommend in the strongest terms the only recently published War is Beautiful: an American Ambulance Driver in the Spanish Civil War by James Neugass.
Also, regarding the Spanish Civil War, I recommend in the strongest terms the only recently published War is Beautiful: an American Ambulance Driver in the Spanish Civil War by James Neugass.
