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st were required to contain Spanish insurgents.” He later describes this effort as “the greatest single contribution that the Spaniards were to make…” The ‘Guerrilla’ or ‘little war’ tactics proved a nightmare to navigate for the French military as General Thiebault later acknowledged when he rendered the scattered situation of the French army desperate. In occupying the vast majority of French forces the Spaniards helped the British to win decisive victories at Talavera in 1809, Fuentes D’onoro in 1811 and Salamanca in 1812 and this contributed greatly to the Peninsula’s liberation and Wellington’s move into southern France. In addition to this there was tremendous variety in the quality of soldiers that Napoleon committed to the Peninsular at various stages of War according to Gates, Baron de Marbot commented that “The moral effect was wholly to our disadvantage ,and as I compared the broad chests and powerful limbs of the Spaniards with those of our weak and weedy privates, my national pride was humbled.” This was in light of the French army’s composition of inexperienced military conscripts, a stark contrast to the composition of the army commanded by Napoleon in the East or at the Battles of Austerlitz and Ulm. The guerrilla nature of war in Spain meant that by the time the war was in full swing Napoleon’s troops who had conquered Austerlitz and Jena previously were now dead. Furthermore “simultaneously, troop quality declined further as veterans suffered some of the nearly 100,000 casualties sustained in the peninsular” (James Arnold) Despite this “No matter how grave affairs became in Spain Napoleon considered them of secondary importance” according to Lachoque. This was illustrated by a letter from Napoleon to his brother Joseph on the 15th of January where he stated “If nothing prevents it, I shall return towards the end of February… The court of Vienna is behaving badly. They shall live to regret it. Don’t worry about anything.” Napoleon’s letter clearly shows how the war in the Peninsular was not of primary importance to him, so much so that he left his brother, an inexperienced military leader in charge which further illustrates how easy the war should have b