CL112 History Essay: A Soldier's Account of the Salamanca Battle

This essay, written from the perspective of a soldier, provides a detailed account of the Battle of Salamanca during the Peninsular War. The student explores the strategic decisions of Arthur Wellesley, the Duke of Wellington, and the tactical maneuvers of the French army led by Auguste Marmont. The essay describes the landscape of the battlefield, the deployment of troops, and the key moments that led to the British victory. It highlights Wellesley's defensive strategy, the missteps of the French, and the impact of the battle. The essay is structured as a letter home, providing a narrative of the events and the soldier's experiences, including his role in blocking French reinforcements and his appreciation for Wellesley's leadership. The essay also includes references to academic sources used to support the narrative.

Student Name
CL112LEC1 [or LEC2] Student ID
Battle field of Salamanca

Battle Field of Salamanca Surname
Dear Mother,
It has been long since I have written to you but on all accounts I miss you and family a lot. I am
doing well here and hope that you all are in good health too. Through this letter, I am about to
tell you regarding one of the most audacious war situation of my life, which we all encountered
today. Don’t be alarmed as your son is on his feet and doing great. You would be happy to know
that our army defeated the French army in a classic struggle in the town of Salamanca. Both the
sides had armed forces of around 50,000 personnel; therefore, the war had almost equal
shoulders on both ends (Battle Of Salamanca).
Our army was marching and fighting under the great leadership of military genius Arthur
Wellesley, who further strategically divided the force into foot soldiers division (infantry), horse
soldiers division (brigades), and independent brigades with cannons. I appreciate him for his
excellent decision making skills, common sense, good relations with civilian population, and
care for the soldiers and their supplies. Also, in 1805, he returned to England from India with a
knighthood (A Light Dragoon in the Peninsula). I got to learn a lot regarding wars and other skills
from him. Our opposition was a Napoleon army with infantry and artillery, guided by Auguste
Frédéric Louis Viesse de Marmont.
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Battle Field of Salamanca Surname
The view of the landscape where the war took place consisted of two flat-topped hills that
dominated the area, known as the Greater and Lesser Arapiles, with a wide road that ran from
south the north in between the two ridges. I saw with the help of my telescope that down the
valley was complete hush only with a small walled farm about half-way up the slope on the right
of the road and a small olive grove surrounded by a low stone wall on the left of the road. For
many days, our army and the French troops were keeping visual check on each other while
marching on different locations. Today we were massed for the battle and took the advantage of
being masked under the dust clouds from the French view due to a low ridge, retiring to the west.
Lieutenant general Wellesley observed the weakness of separating French army and ordered
attack on them (Atkinson). Eventually, we won this battle and thankfully our commander is safe,
but the head of the opposition, that is, Auguste Marmont got badly injured during the war and
was immediately relocated for medical aid and treatment.
Mother, you will be proud to know that I was commanded to block the French re-enforcements
from arriving at the French siege of Merida, in northern Spain. I completed this task successfully
and got appreciated by Wellesley. This made me feel really honored and glad during the same
moment. An interesting fact associated with Arthur Wellesley is that he had a reputation of being
a defensive general, due to which Marmont misunderstood and took wrong steps which worked
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Battle Field of Salamanca Surname
in our favor. Our commander predicted this poor intelligence of the enemies and planned a
strategy to bluff them to take a wrong action (C. E. H. V.).
Actually, the plan was to represent deploy of the 7th division to the west, so that the French army
will perceive that most of the British army are in retreat. Wellesley asked the troops of the 7th
division to create a retreat situation. Marmout saw the dust cloud and followed the bait set up for
bluffing him and fell right into the trap. Wellesley observed the wrong actions of the enemies
and prepared his various army divisions on right positions for attack and waited patiently until
the opposition made blunder (Edwards). Marmont moved his troops in L-shaped figure around
the Arapiles towards the west to give us a stale mate. Understanding the strategy at the first
glance Wellesley decided to hide most of our troops behind the greater ridge for a surprising
counter attack. Our troops on the other side of the greater ridge marched parallel to that of the
enemy troops. They were completely unaware about the mistake of marching their way to cut-
off the escape of the British armed troops (Wrottesley).
Finally the clash took place leaded by the third division and then followed by the 5th and 4th
division. Wellesley immediately commanded to launch the 7th and the 6th division. Seeing the
mounted attack by our heavy cavalry, French formed a square division in order to tackle the
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situation but it didn’t proved fruitful as the cavalry were followed by the infantry. The poor
strategies lead to the defeat of the French army wing.
This way the war ended and we returned to our tents for celebrating. I am planning to return
home for holidays. Please take care of yourself and family.
Your son.
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Battle Field of Salamanca Surname
References.
A Light Dragoon in the Peninsula: Extracts from the Letters of Captain Lovell Badcock, 14th
Light Dragoons, 1809-1814," Journal of the Society For Army Historical Research, XXXIV
(1956): 70-79.
Battle Of Salamanca | National Army Museum. Nam.Ac.Uk, 2018,
https://www.nam.ac.uk/explore/battle-salamanca. Accessed 27 Nov 2018
Atkinson, C.T. "The British Forces in the Peninsula," The English Historical Review. LXVII
(1902): 110-33.
C. E. H. V. "The Battle Of Salamanca". Notes And Queries, vol 5-, no. 80, 1875, pp. 35-
35. Oxford University Press (OUP), doi:10.1093/nq/s5-iv.80.35c.
Edwards, Peter. Salamanca 1812. Pen And Sword, 2013.
Wrottesley, George. "Life And Correspondence Of Field Marshal Sir John Burgoyne". Richard
Bentley And Son, vol 2, 1873, Accessed 27 Nov 2018.
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