A Reply to Various Opponents: Particularly to Strictures on Colonel Napier's History of the War in the Peninsula" ; Together With Observations Illustrating Sir John Moore's Campaigns"

"A Reply To Various Opponents: Particularly To Strictures On Colonel Napier's History Of The War In The Peninsula" ; Together With Observations Illustrating Sir John Moore's Campaigns by William Francis Patrick Napier. This is a polemical defense in which Napier responds to criticisms of his History of the Peninsular War, addressing anonymous pamphlets and noted critics such as Sorrel, Leith Hay, and Cyril Thornton. He defends the accuracy of his narrative, adduces documentary evidence from letters, dispatches, and official communications, and offers detailed rebuttals of arguments regarding the conduct of Beresford, Cradock, Baird, and Moore’s campaign. The work surveys strategic debates over the defense of Portugal, operations around Oporto and Leiria, and the battles of Busaco and Albuera, presenting Napier's interpretation of events and his approach to historical method. It is a vigorous, documentary defense of Napier's Peninsular War history.