A critical assessment of Sir John Thomas Jones’ ‘Journals of the Sieges undertaken by the allies in Spain in the years 1811 and 1812’

During the Peninsular War (1808-1814) the Anglo-Portuguese army conducted seven major sieges in its struggle with the French invaders. In 1814 brevet Lieutenant-Colonel John Thomas Jones published Journals of the Sieges undertaken by the allies in Spain in the years 1811 and 1812 about the conduct of the sieges. Because Jones was a high-ranking Royal Engineer who had served in five sieges Journals of the Sieges … became the yardstick by which all other accounts were judged. In the 200 years since its publication more and more sources of information about the sieges have become available to researchers, from the publication of personal diaries or memoirs to the opening of various archives to the public. Yet despite this wealth of information many British (English language) historians still have an uncritical view of Journals of the Sieges and have made no attempt to check on the accuracy of its contents. This thesis is a critical assessment of Jones’ Journals of the Sieges, to examine how it became to be regarded in such an uncritical light, if Jones is a reliable historian of the sieges and are his conclusions valid? Much of this thesis is an examination of the evidence presented by Jones in Journals of the Sieges compared with evidence gleaned from a variety of other sources that include Jones’s personal journal, journals of other engineers present at the sieges and several French sources. However, because not many people are au fait with the details of early C19th fortifications or the processes involved in siege-warfare my thesis contains a chapter, which covers these issues. It also discusses the history, training and practical experience of both the French military engineers and their British counterparts. Such a comparison underlines the gulf in training and practical between the different sets of engineers. Besides literary sources, I decided to examine the physical remains at Badajoz and Ciudad Rodrigo to see if I could learn anything that had been omitted from the written accounts and to check whether the breach sites chosen by the engineers were the best available options. As Wellington was in overall command it was felt necessary to examine his role in the decisions made during the sieges, to see if they had a positive or negative impact on the sieges. At the conclusion of this thesis, I will draw together all the evidence from the literary sources, the field survey data and the exploration of Wellington’s involvement with the decisions made during the sieges to answer the three questions I set out in the introduction