Ray

Hi. Many thanks.

As I understand the situation, the Portuguese in the north of Portugal in 1809 had to raise the military forces to oppose the invasion of Soult, more or less, from “scratch”: and did so in the main by public subscription. A major difference between 1807 and 1809 was that the Portuguese people (the government and the military) were determined to resist: whilst the call to arms received an almost unanimous response, amongst the civilian population, a major problem was that the military forces, to all intents and purposes, had been disbanded and those that did exist, in the main, lacked weapons, equipment and uniforms.

With respect, I would suggest that Oman did not have as comprehensive an understanding of the Portuguese perspective(s) as he had of the Spanish; certainly not in volume 1 and perhaps even in volume 3. The two incomplete essays by Livermore in Griffith, P. (ed.) “Modern studies of the war in Spain and Portugal” add some very useful insights to our understanding (in respect of the first French invasion) – particularly “Portugal on the eve of the Peninsular War”. We still await (I think) studies of a similar nature in relation to the second and third invasions of 1809 and 1810-1811 to inform our understanding of the situation in Portugal, from a Portuguese perspective – for example the range of perceptions of towards opposition to the French, of recruitment and of the “scorched earth” policy and its implementation.

Given the centrality of Portugal in British policy (foreign and war office) we need this at the very least.

Best wishes

A