Talk:Invasion of Martinique (1809)

GA Review

This review is transcluded from Talk:Invasion of Martinique (1809)/GA1. The edit link for this section can be used to add comments to the review.

1. Well-written:

• 'The Invasion of Martinique was a successful British amphibious operation against the French West Indian island of Martinique between 30 January and 24 February 1809 during the Napoleonic Wars. ' - 'That took place between 30 January and 24 February 1809...'
• 'The British mustered an overwhelming force under Vice-Admiral Sir Alexander Cochrane and Lieutenant-General George Beckwith,' - 'Overwhelming' seems a tad peacock-ish, maybe just replace with 'large' or 'powerful'?

• I don't think overwhelming is peacocky (its certainly less so than "powerful"), its an accurate description of the size of the British force compared to the French.--Jackyd101 (talk) 22:25, 27 February 2009 (UTC)

• 'who collected 29 ships and 10,000 men: almost four times the number of French regular forces garrisoning Martinique'- I think the ':' could be replaced with a '-', it seems better, but that's not a biggie.
• 'Landing in force on both the southern and northern coasts of the island, British troops pushed inland, engaging French regulars in the central highlands and routing the militia' - this seems a bit off - surely the regulars were defeated as well when they were engaged? It sounds like the regulars were never defeated and the militia were at the moment. And you also need to introduce the militia in a better way, ie 'local militia units'
• 'By 9 February, the entire island was in British hands except Fort Desaix, a powerful position intended to protect the capital Fort-de-France, but bypassed during the British advance' - 'but was bypassed...'
• 'With Martinique defeated, British attention in the region turned against Guadeloupe, and the second island was captured the following year' - instead of 'the second island', perhaps just 'which was captured', as it's already been introduced.
• 'An attempt in 1780 was defeated by a French battle squadron at the Battle of Martinique,' - Just replace the comma with a full stop here.
• 'By 1808 there were no French squadrons at sea, eliminated or driven back to port in a series of battles, including the disastrous defeat at the Battle of Trafalgar in 1805' - need 'having been' added after the first comma.
• 'and merchant vessels were prevented to trade Martinique's produce with France or allied islands' - 'prevented from trading' sounds better gramatically.
• 'The invasion began the same morning, 3,000 soldiers going ashore at Sainte-Luce under Major-General Frederick Maitland under the supervision of Captain William Charles Fahie and 6,500 at Le Robert under Lieutenant-General Sir George Prevost under the supervision of Captain Philip Beaver. Beckwith remained on Cochrane's flagship HMS Neptune, to direct the campaign from offshore' - Repetition of 'under' needs sorting out.
• 'and retreating to Ilot aux Ramiers offshore' - Can you clarify what this is? I'm presuming an island of some sort.
• 'At 16:30 on 19 February the preparations were complete and the bombardment began, 14 heavy cannon and 28 mortars unleashing a continuous attack on the fort for four days' - 'Unleashing' seems a little too unencyclopedic and dramatic.

• All done except one.--Jackyd101 (talk) 22:25, 27 February 2009 (UTC)

2. Factually accurate and verifiable:

• 'By 1808 there were no French squadrons at sea, eliminated or driven back to port in a series of battles, including the disastrous defeat at the Battle of Trafalgar in 1805. The fleet that was destroyed at Trafalgar had visited Martinique the year before and was the last full scale French fleet to visit the Caribbean for the rest of the war.' - Ref please.
• 'With the bulk of the French Navy confined to port, the British were able to strike directly at French colonies, although their reach was limited by the significant resources required in blockading the French coast and so the size and quality of operations varied widely' - Same here please.
• 'while French Guiana fell to an improvised force under Captain James Lucas Yeo' - Can we have a date for this, please?
• 'The militia were disbanded and Martinique became a British colony, remaining under British command until the restoration of the French monarchy in 1814, when it was returned to French control.' - Reference for this would be nice.

• Refs all done.--Jackyd101 (talk) 22:55, 28 February 2009 (UTC)

3. Broad in its coverage: Pass

4. Neutral: it represents viewpoints fairly and without bias: Pass

5. Stable: it does not change significantly from day-to-day because of an ongoing edit war or content dispute: Pass

6. Illustrated, if possible, by images: Pass

An excellent article, which just needs a few things seeing to before I pass it. I look forward to reviewing Action of 14-17 April 1809 and the Invasion of Guadelope! Skinny87 (talk) 11:49, 27 February 2009 (UTC)

Thanks for the review, much appreciated. There will also be two frigate actions to go along with them (As well as at least 30 new articles on ships and men involved, although not to GA standard at this stage).--Jackyd101 (talk) 22:55, 28 February 2009 (UTC)