La política mediterránea de Gran Bretaña durante la Guerra Peninsular

Maties Ramisa

doi:10.5565/rev/rubrica.188

Great Britain's Mediterranean policy during the Peninsular War

Authors

Maties Ramisa Universitat de Vic Institut Antoni Pous i Argila

PDF (ES)

Abstract

The article exposes what was the Mediterranean policy of Great Britain during the War of Independence and the secondary, but very important, place it had in the general strategy in the Napoleonics wars. It explains the role of the island of Sicily as a British base since 1806, as well as that of the island of Menorca and especially that of the port of Mahon since the beginning of the war in Spain in 1808. Converted also into an English base, Menorca served to the supply and repair of the Royal Navy, was the departure point of the surveillance of the French fleet of Toulon as well as a recreation place for officers and sailors. Finally, the communication extends to the characteristics of the British intervention in Catalonia, both in the logistical and military aspects; in the personality and performance of commodore Codrington -who commanded the naval squadron that operated on Catalonian coasts- and in the vision of the Spaniards and Catalans over English politicians and military men.

Keywords

Peninsular War, Royal Navy, Minorca, Catalonia, Edward Codrington

References

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Author Biography

Maties Ramisa, Universitat de Vic Institut Antoni Pous i Argila

Matías Ramisa Verdaguer (Gurb, Barcelona, 1952) has a degree in History from the University of Barcelona. High school professor, he has been a professor at the University of Vic. He has a PhD in History from the University of Barcelona (1991) with the thesis "La Guerra del Francès al Corregiment de Vic, 1808-14". For a few years he has been retired.
He has focused his research in the period of the Peninsular War in Catalonia. The result of this are, among others, his works Els catalans i el domini napoleònic, Barcelona, Publicacions de l’Abadia de Montserrat, 1995; "La administración bonapartista",a chapter in Antonio Moliner (ed.), La Guerra de la Independencia en España, 1808-1814, Barcelona, Ed. Nabla, 2007; and Polítics i militars a la Guerra del Francès, 1808-1814, Lerida, Institut d’Estudis Ilerdencs, 2008. He has also published several articles in specialized history magazines.
He currently works with documentation on the Peninsular War in several British archives.

mramisa@yahoo.com