The most successful of the many commanders who fought the French over the course of a generation, he was the fourth son of the Earl of Mornington, a minor member of the Anglo-Irish aristocracy. Wellesley joined the army in 1787, fighting his first action in Flanders in 1794 before being sent to India four years later. Thanks to the position of his brother, Richard, as governor general, he commanded troops at the great siege of Seringapatam in 1799, demonstrating remarkable skills in staff work. Thereafter Wellesley fought in successive campaigns in southern India, most notably the campaign against the Mahrattas in 1803 when, massively outnumbered at Assaye, he defied the odds and routed his opponents.
By the time he commanded the expeditionary force to Portugal in August 1808 Wellesley possessed a reputation for a high degree of efficiency, particularly on logistical matters. He immediately proved himself fit for so important a command, achieving success at Roliça and Vimeiro, where he began the long series of virtually unbroken Peninsular victories down to 1814 for which he is justly celebrated.
Raised to the peerage as Marquis (and eventually Duke of) Wellington in 1809, his many achievements in Iberia included the training of Portuguese units and their successful integration into divisions of the British Army; the establishment of the formidable defensive lines at Torres Vedras which protected Lisbon; and the groundwork laid for the offensive into Spain undertaken in 1812.
Wellington maintained strict discipline within the ranks, in so doing establishing a first-rate, highly proficient fighting force which perfected methods for overpowering French columns through a combination of sustained musket fire and bayonet charges. After ousting French forces from Spain, he crossed the frontier and took Toulouse, shortly after which the campaign ended when other Allied armies took Paris in March 1814.
Wellington served as one of the British delegates at the Congress of Vienna in 1814–15, assuming command of Anglo-Allied forces in Belgium upon Napoleon’s return from Elba.
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Detached and inaccessible, if the duke did not enjoy his soldier’s affections he certainly earned their respect – and for sound reasons. Always present to lend an air of calm and to set an example of steadiness during a crisis in battle, he invariably issued prompt, exact, laconic orders and seldom spoke except to issue a command. Oblivious to shot and shell, the duke displayed no concern for his own safety. Proof of his regular presence near the frontline manifested itself in stark terms, for more than half of his staff officers were killed or wounded during the course of the day. Wellington disliked delegating responsibility to subordinates when he could handle a matter personally. Unlike nearly all his subordinates, the duke shunned the ostentation of senior officer’s dress, preferring to wear a simple, unadorned cocked hat, blue frock coat and cape. Nor did he insist on smartness within the ranks. Rather, he demanded a high state of fighting discipline and proficiency in musket fire, since the principal ingredient of success in battle lay in a unit’s ability to stand fast while delivering – as well as receiving – fire.
Gregory Fremont-Barnes holds a doctorate in Modern History from the University of Oxford and serves as a Senior Lecturer in War Studies at the Royal Military Academy, Sandhurst. A prolific author, his books on this period include Waterloo 1815, The French Revolutionary Wars, The Peninsular War, 1807–14, The Fall of the French Empire, 1813–15, Nile 1798 and Trafalgar 1805. He also edited Armies of the Napoleonic Wars and the three-volume Encyclopedia of the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars. As an academic advisor, Dr Fremont-Barnes has accompanied several groups of British Army officers and senior NCOs in their visits to the battlefields of the Peninsula and to Waterloo.