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'Barbarity more suited to Savages': British Soldiers’ Views of Spanish and Portuguese Violence during the Peninsular War, 1808–1814
This article explores British soldiers’ reactions to the violence that Iberian soldiers, guerrillas and civilians perpetrated against wounded French soldiers and prisoners of war during the Peninsular War. Whilst they saw this violence as retaliatory, and sympathized with the suffering of the occupied, British soldiers were shocked, disturbed and outraged, often leading them to self-identify with their very enemy — the French. On one level, this violence was seen as a fundamental violation of customary rules of war. Yet further, in British minds it revealed a deeper Iberian culture of violence and way of war, which set the Iberian peoples apart from ‘civilized’ nations.
History
Publication title
War and SocietyVolume
35Issue
4Pagination
242-258ISSN
0729-2473Department/School
School of HumanitiesPublisher
RoutledgePlace of publication
United KingdomRights statement
Copyright 2016 School of Humanities & Social Sciences, The University of New South WalesRepository Status
- Restricted