Abstract copyright UK Data Service and data collection copyright owner.

The aim of this database is to provide an insight into the sociology of the guerrilla movement that fought Napoleon Bonaparte in Spain between 1808 and 1814. Although a phenomenon that is both well known and accorded considerable importance in the history of the period, the participants in this struggle have never been the subject of detailed study. Many assumptions have been made about them – that the clergy figured disproportionately among their leadership, that many of the rank and file were deserters, etc. – but it has been impossible to test out these ideas. By amassing details of c.3,000 of the individuals involved in the struggle, this data base remedies this deficiency, and at the same time allows important conclusions to be drawn about the nature and extent of popular resistance to the French in Napoleonic Spain.

Main Topics:

This database contains personal details relating to c.3,000 participants in the guerrilla war which assailed the French in Spain in the period 1808-14. In elaborating the project, the ideal was to build up a complete picture of each individual – age in 1808; place of birth; place of residence; occupation; social class; previous military service; military experience 1808-14; history post-1814, etc. The data from which the database was put together being extremely fragmentary, it has not proved possible to find all the information that would have been desirable, but sufficient material exists in most categories for the data base to be interrogated on a selective basis.

No sampling (total universe)

Transcription of existing materials

Compilation or synthesis of existing material