The difficulties which impeded French military operations in the
Iberian peninsula were well-nigh insurmountable. The nature of the
country furnished several unusual obstacles. In the first place, the
poverty of the farms and the paucity of settlements created a scarcity
of provisions and rendered it difficult for the French armies to resort
to their customary practice of living upon the land. Secondly, the
sudden alternations of heat and cold, to which the northern part of
Spain is liable, coupled with the insanitary condition of many of the
towns, spread disease among the French soldiery. Finally, the
succession of fairly high and steep mountain ranges, which cross the
Peninsula generally in a direction of northwest to southeast, prevented
any campaigning on the large scale to which Napoleonic tactics were
accustomed, and put a premium upon loose, irregular guerrilla fighting,
in which the Spaniards were adepts. In connection with these obstacles
arising from the nature of the country must be remembered the fierce
patriotic determination of the native people and the arms and
disciplined commanders furnished by the British.
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