The Legacy of the Peninsular War

Abstract

By the end of the Peninsular War, the British government and the military had changed significantly. It is often contended that this military machine was disbanded from 1815, albeit in a slightly drawn-out process with Wellington commanding an army of occupation in France and the war in North America.1 This is certainly true in terms of the physical aspects of the army, namely the number of soldiers it had, but the transformation wrought by Britain’s 20-year war with France, and particularly the Peninsular War, continued to influence the British Army and its place and standing in British society. This founded a long and enduring legacy from the Peninsular War, which affected the shape of the British Army and the way it was thought about and conceived from that point onwards into the Victorian era and beyond.