I have questions regarding the sacking of San Sebastian and Wellington:
Did both British and Portuguese troops indulge in the sacking after the assault?
Was Wellington's conduct in the aftermath of the sacking reasonable? I'm specifically referring to the statements Wellington made. Is it true that he tried to justify the sacking by saying that the populace was pro french? Is this a case of a lapse in Wellington's character or is it a case of Wellington poorly trying to firefight the political fallout the sacking caused?
@Zack White , @Rui Moura and anyone else who is knowledgeable on this subject I would love your input. Thanks in advance! 👍
Hi Daniel,
As it happens on 18th June The Sword and the Spirit (which I edited) is coming out from Helion - in it is a chapter by Gavin Lewis on the sacking of the town and the aftermath, which tackles a lot of the myth-making that went on in the wake of storming the town.
The brief answer is: yes, they did sack the town, but nowhere near on the scale as Badajoz - as I argued briefly in a podcast episode, the measures that were used to quell the situation in Badajoz were pre-emptively implemented at San Sebastian, to head off the worst of it. I'm not aware of Wellington attempting to justify the sacking - it was not really his way. He spent too much time trying to deal with (false) accusations of deliberately burning the town down to say something that dumb. Also consider that in France, he did not permit plundering the locals despite Britain being at war with France, so the idea that he would try and justify the plunder of an ally doesn't really hold water.
Bruce Collins' book, Wellington and the Siege of San Sebastien might be helpful.
However, there were actually two sieges of San Sebastien with the British being defeated in the first one.
Rory Muir's additional notes:
https://www.lifeofwellington.co.uk/commentary/chapter-32-the-pyrenees-july-september-1813/