Long before he marched on Russia, Napoleon's attempt to place his brother Joseph on the throne of Spain proved to be one conquest too many. In a long series of campaigns from 1808 to 1814, Napoleon's subordinate marshals and generals proved incapable of defeating the British army under Wellington that had come to the aid of Spain and Portugal, while French encampments and supply columns were bedeviled by Spanish irregulars who added the word "guerrilla" to the world military lexicon.

In a similar style to the popular Battleground Europe books on World War I, the major battles in the Iberian Peninsula from Rolica to Talavera 1808-1809, Busaco to Salamanca 1810-1812, and Vitoria to Toulouse 1813-1814 are now covered with detailed texts, numerous illustrations and maps, and guides to the battlefields as they are today.