Wellington's Eastern Front: The Campaigns on the East Coast of Spain, 1810-14

Colonel Nick Lipscombe will examine how the east coast of Spain was important to the Spanish, French and British for very different reasons during the Peninsular War.

For the Spanish, the ports of Tarragona, Valencia, Alicante and Cartagena sustained the nation, feeding the people and the military machine. For the French, failure to gain early control of the east coast was cited by Napoleon as one of the principal reasons for their eventual defeat. For the British, the east coast was a necessary and cost-effective distraction, but ultimately held the key to the successful invasion of France.

Colonel Nick Lipscombe served in the British Army for 34 years. He is an accomplished Napoleonic historian with an extensive knowledge of the Peninsular War. His first book, 'An Atlas and Concise Military History of the Peninsular War', was published in 2010 and selected as one of the Daily Telegraph (History) Books of the Year. His other works include 'Wellington's Guns', 'Wellington Invades France', the official Waterloo 200 book - 'A Decisive Victory', and most recently 'Wellington's Eastern Front'.

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