During the presentation, we had Luis Sorando Muzás , author of the work, one of the greatest connoisseurs of the War of Independence, expert in uniforms and flags, adviser to the Museum of the Army and the painter Augusto Ferrer-Dalmau, and president of the Spanish Napoleonic Association. Together with the author, we had the honor of having Augusto Ferrer-Dalmau , painter of battles, and one of the partners of the bookstore where the presentation took place:Tercios Viejos (C/ María Panés 4, 28003 Madrid), whose recent opening took place last December. It is a new space in the capital exclusively dedicated to history and, specifically, to military history. The presentation was led by Javier Gómez , editor of Desperta Ferro, who established a dialogue with the two participants.
For an hour and a half, Luis Sorando immersed us in what is, without a doubt, the most forgotten army of the Napoleonic Wars by historiography:that of those Spaniards who fought for King Joseph Napoleon I against the rebels. The author explained the difficulties that he has had throughout the creation of the book to know the operation of the army, as well as the biographies, uniforms and flags of his men. Due in large part to the destruction of the documentation of the "Frenchified" side after the end of the war.
However, thanks to access to other primary sources and the author's tenacity, Luis Sorando has been able to reconstruct a complete panorama, the first of this magnitude of said army, which allows us meet the members of the other side of the War of Independence, to which the author grants these words:«To the memory of all those who, wrongly or not, did not hesitate to offer their lives in defense of what they considered best for their country ».
For his part, Augusto Ferrer-Dalmau explained the process of working with the author to illustrate and characterize different pieces of this army such as the Light Horse of the Guard, the Lancers of Seville or the Royal Gendarmes. His magnificent work, a luxury for any military history work, complements the one created by Dionisio Álvarez Cueto also for the work, but whose sad death prevented him from completing it.
In addition, we have been lucky enough to be able to record the entire presentation so that all those who could not attend the event can enjoy, as we did last Friday, this stimulating talk between two of the best professionals, each in his field, in Spanish military history.
