For all its notoriety, the 1812 British sack of Badajoz during the Peninsular War has been surprisingly overlooked as a subject of historical investigation, symptomatic of a broader neglect of European sieges and sacks for this period. This article explores British officers’ reactions to the sack through their letters and memoirs. It suggests rethinking Badajoz as a site not only of excess and atrocity, but also one of constraint, outrage, shame and censure. In so doing, it investigates sieges as an important place for examining changes and continuities in customary laws of war, cultures of war, and moral, humanitarian and sentimental discourses over the long eighteenth century.

中文翻译：

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“洗劫一个城镇是可憎的”：英国军官关于半岛战争的著作中对平民的围攻、洗劫和暴力——以巴达霍斯为例

尽管臭名昭著，但 1812 年半岛战争期间英国对巴达霍斯的洗劫却令人惊讶地被忽视为历史调查的主题，这是这一时期对欧洲围攻和洗劫的更广泛忽视的表现。这篇文章通过他们的信件和回忆录探讨了英国军官对麻袋的反应。它建议重新考虑巴达霍斯，它不仅是一个充满暴行和暴行的地方，也是一个约束、愤怒、羞耻和谴责的地方。在此过程中，它将围攻作为一个重要场所来研究，以检查 18 世纪漫长的战争习惯法、战争文化以及道德、人道主义和多愁善感话语的变化和连续性。