A Marine of the Imperial Guard: Eyewitness to the French Failure in Spain, 1808; Recollections of Admiral, General, and Count Pierre de Baste (English Edition) [Kindle-editie] beoordelingen het boek quotes

This memoir provides an eyewitness account of several of the actions of the 1808 Andalusian campaign, culminating in the battle of Baílen and the capitulation of Dupont’s entire army. Very little material has hitherto been available in English dealing with this campaign—thus the reader can expect to discover fresh details and new insights not available in the general histories of the Peninsular War. Pierre Baste, who ended his life in combat as a General of Brigade and a Count of the Empire of the French at the age of 46, was born to humble origins in Bordeaux in 1768. His early career in the merchant marine and the navy of the French Republic are not recorded in any great detail, other than that which appears at the beginning of this memoir. The principal interest of these “Recollections” is in the detailed narrative and analysis of the campaign and eventual capitulation of Baílen in Andalusia, June-July 1808. Although sometimes bombastic and self-aggrandizing, Baste comes across as an informed commentator on the Baílen campaign. While he is frequently critical of General Dupont’s indecision and deployment at both the strategic and tactical levels—both of which were sometimes “evidently contrary to the principles of war,” in Baste’s own words—he also demonstrates an appreciation of the difficult position in which Dupont found himself through a combination of unfortunate circumstances. With a corps consisting largely of new recruits with minimal training, led by an officer corps drawn from depots and newly-commissioned lieutenants, living off the countryside in a region barely able to support its own population and marching hither and yon in a summer of extraordinary heat, it is doubtful whether any other of Napoleon’s aspiring generals would have done any better, given the same intelligence and countermanded orders that were Dupont’s lot. Baste saw both sides of the principal argument that raged at Baílen—whether Vedel’s division should be included in the capitulation or not—since he shuttled between Dupont’s headquarters and that of Vedel throughout the day. He also throws considerable light onto ancillary actions of the campaign, including the action at the bridge at Alcolea, the sack of Cordoba and the pacification of Jaen, in all of which he was personally involved. For these reasons, despite the occasional tendency towards exaggeration of the importance of his own role, his memoir is an important contribution to the study of the Andalusian campaign. It would be a poor historian who ignored this eyewitness account. In this translation I have struggled to provide the sense of what Baste is trying to convey, rather than a literal translation of phrases that may be anachronistic, no longer in popular usage or misleading. There are thus particular passages that a professional translator may take issue with—but I believe I succeed in staying true to the original intent of the author throughout the 18,000 words of his text. The reader should be aware of the conventions I have adopted. All ranks and peculiarly French expressions, for which there is either no direct English equivalent or for which a broad acceptance of the French original is held by English readers, are maintained in the original French and italicised. Footnotes consist of translations of the footnotes of the original editors/publishers of the Baste text, except where explanatory notes have been in