At the end of 1811, Wellington had driven the French out of Portugal, but now he needed to invade Spain.  The main roads into Spain were dominated by two fortresses, Ciudad Rodrigo in the North and Badajoz in the South.  Wellington captured both in lightning sieges in January and April 1812 respectively.

Wellington now advanced into Spain and fought the Battle of Salamanca against the French Marshal Marmont on 22^nd July 1812.   The French had thought of Wellington as a cautious and defensive general, but Wellington attacked and beat the French in a brilliant series of co-ordinated moves.

Rod MacArthur has a talk which covers the sieges of Ciudad Rodrigo and Badajoz, followed by the Battle of Salamanca and its aftermath.  It lasts about 45 minutes.

All Rod’s talks are given to raise funds for charities, in this case for Combat Stress, which provides support and treatment to military veterans with mental health problems to help them tackle the past and take on the future.