1st duke of wellington biography examples

He also ordered countless other remote engagements mostly whilst serving in the Napoleonic Wars, during which Britain played a major role in the Coalition's struggle against Napoleon, between and Wellesley received his first commission by purchase. He was gazetted ensign on 7 March , in the 73rd Highland Regiment of Foot , and became an aide-de-camp in October.

In September , Wellesley experienced his first taste of warfare, against the French at the Battle of Boxtel with the 33rd. In , whilst serving as Governor of Mysore, Wellesley was tasked with suppressing an insurgency led by Dhoondiah Waugh , formerly a Patan soldier who had served under Tipu Sultan. Waugh had also captured some British-held outposts and forts in Mysore, and was receiving the support of several Maratha killedars opposed to Company rule in India.

With this victory Wellesley's campaign was concluded, as British authority had been restored. After winning the Fourth Anglo-Mysore War, and serving as governor of Seringapatam and Mysore, Wellesley was promoted to major-general on 29 April , although he did not receive the news until September. Wellesley gained further success in India during the Second Anglo-Maratha War of —05, and in Wellesley succeeded the Marquis Cornwallis as Colonel of the 33rd, which he held until By , Napoleon's attempt to prevent continental Europe from trading with Britain had resulted in all but Sweden, Denmark and Portugal closing their ports.

In June , Napoleon pressured Denmark further, resulting in the British naval bombardment of Copenhagen and seizure of the Danish fleet to prevent it from falling into French hands. Wellesley later disapproved of the bombardment, saying "we might have taken the capital with greater ease. He was promoted to lieutenant-general on 25 April , [ 27 ] and in June was given command of 9, men set to invade revolutionary Spanish America.

On 31 July , Wellesley was promoted to general , although it only applied in the Peninsula. Wellesley returned to England, arriving on 4 October, but his victory at Vimeiro was overshadowed because of the controversial terms of the Convention of Cintra, a treaty that he had signed which arranged for French troops to be evacuated back to France on Royal Navy vessels, rather than kept as prisoners, along with all their equipment, weapons and personal possessions, which included anything they might have plundered from Portugal since its occupation in A public inquiry was held in November to determine their roles in the convention.

Wellesley gave evidence stating that he and Burrard had played no part in negotiating terms with the French generals, that Dalrymple had discussed the contents of the treaty alone. He had approved of a French evacuation but felt the terms were too generous; though he considered the treaty "an extraordinary paper" his signature was a formality.

When the head of the British forces in the Peninsula, Sir John Moore , was killed in the Battle of Corunna in January , [ 41 ] the British Army having been driven from the Peninsula in disarray, [ 42 ] Wellesley sent the Secretary of War a memo insisting that a British force of no less than 30, British troops should be sent to defend and rebuild Portugal's military strength.

Due to a second invasion of Portugal by the French he remained to continue the Peninsular War for a further five years, engaging the French armies across Portugal, Spain, and north into France until Napoleon's abdication in After the Battle of Talavera , in July , Wellesley was made a peer and bestowed the titles baron and viscount.

As he was unavailable, his elder brother William was consulted by the College of Heralds to decide on a suitable name for the title. William chose "Wellington", Viscount Wellington of Talavera, which became Wellesley's new name, one that he said was "exactly right". He returned to Europe in appointed overall commander of the Anglo-Allied forces of the Seventh Coalition, better known as the Hundred Days , following Napoleon's escape from exile and attempt to retain power.

Despite many battles to his name over twenty-one years of duty, it would be shortly after the battle at Waterloo upon hearing of approximately 50, casualties dead or dying that he wept, saying "I hope to God I have fought my last battle. Wellesley's understanding of logistics was to prove valuable in leading an expeditionary force against the French invasion of Portugal and Spain.

Secure supply lines to the Portuguese coast were of vital importance if he was to maintain his ability to fight the French. In April , Wellesley returned to Portugal with 28, British and 16, Portuguese troops under his command — the French Army of Spain numbered , This served in sharpening Wellington's awareness that a defensive strategy was essential, initially, to ensure the British Army survived.

In the Peninsula the French were grouped into multiple armies, each operating chiefly in its own area, in order to secure Portugal and Spain. Though these armies were under the nomiminal command of Napoleon's brother, King Joseph Bonaparte , the marshals commanded their armies with a high degree of independence. Wellington arrived in Lisbon in with an army composed mostly of volunteers.

After the disastrous failure of the invasion of Russia , Napoleon weakened his forces in Spain in early by redeploying many veteran troops from the Peninsula to Germany to shore up his losses. Subsequently, many of the remaining troops became a second line in quality, experience and equipment — new recruits were often not French. Wellington's army consisted of four combat arms : Infantry, cavalry and artillery.

Engineers also played a valuable role in the Peninsula, such as the building of the Lines of Torres Vedras — a defensive line of forts built to protect Lisbon [ 68 ] — and making preparations for any sieges throughout the war. He never had more than 2, cavalry before , [ 70 ] and his cannons, although highly competent, were inferior to French guns in both number and quality.

He advanced on to Madrid, arriving on 12 August — Joseph Bonaparte had abandoned the capital after the defeat at Salamanca. The Spanish government made Wellington commander-in-chief of all allied armies, providing an extra 21, Spanish troops after Salamanca. He advanced north, through the Pyrenees , and into France itself. The French were no longer fighting to keep Spain but to defend their own border.

Wellington and his army had marched over an estimated 6, miles 9, km [ 77 ] and fought in many engagements through Portugal and Spain, the consequences of which helped bring the downfall of Napoleon, resulting in peace across Europe. There are a large number of battles attributed to Wellington. Although many leave the impression that he was present or in command at those actions, it was sometimes the case that he entrusted other officers to engage the enemy, such as at remote locations, and that he could not have attended them all in person.

Similarly, Wellington was not usually in command of rear guard actions, during advances or retreats, despite his army engaging in them often. Engagements where the lack of his presence is absolutely certain, or where his position is unconfirmed by records and accounts, are not included in his battle record. Contents move to sidebar hide.

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1st duke of wellington biography examples

Read Edit View history. Tools Tools. Download as PDF Printable version. In other projects. Wikidata item. Wellington at Waterloo by Robert Alexander Hillingford. Flanders campaign. Fourth Anglo-Mysore War. Seedaseer Mallavelly Sultanpet Tope Seringapatam. As a result, he and Winchilsea fought a duel in Battersea Park in March They deliberately missed each other in firing, and honour was satisfied.

The duke had a much less enlightened position on parliamentary reform. He defended rule by the elite and refused to expand the political franchise. His fear of mob rule was enhanced by the riots and sabotage that followed rising rural unemployment. His opposition to reform caused his popularity to plummet to such an extent that crowds gathered to throw missiles at his London home.

The government was defeated in the Commons, and the duke resigned, to be replaced by Earl Grey. He continued to fight reform in opposition, though he finally consented to the Great Reform Bill in In he organised a military force to protect London against possible Chartist violence at the large meeting at Kennington Common. He also gave his name to the humble Wellington boot.

View all past prime ministers. At a time of peril, when his country most desperately needed victories, this great soldier never lost a battle. Wellesley was born in Dublin, the fourth son of the 1st Earl of Mornington. He always denied being Irish, however, saying that being born in a barn does not make someone a horse. He felt he was not truly Irish because he hailed from the Anglo-Irish aristocratic 'Protestant Ascendancy' that ruled Ireland until the partition of He was educated first at Eton, where he learned little except perhaps how to use his fists, and then - probably due to lack of funds because of his father's early death - at school in Brussels.

He entered the French military academy at Angers, in Anjou, in Although his mother decried the idea of a military career for him, believing him to have no aptitude for soldiering, he was commissioned as a lieutenant in an infantry regiment in and became a captain of dragoons five years later. In the meantime he was elected to a seat in the Irish parliament, but took as little interest in politics as he initially did in soldiering, preferring to idle his life away socialising and playing the violin.

Indeed, he might have spent his entire life as a wallflower attending the picnics of the Irish Lord-Lieutenant as an aide-de-camp, had not the French executed King Louis XVI in , prompting Wellesley suddenly to take his life and career seriously. He burned his violin in his fireplace, and became a lieutenant colonel of the 33rd Foot Regiment, in which capacity he saw his first action at Boxtel in the Netherlands campaign in , and then fought again at Geldermalsen the following year.

The incompetence of the British officers in command, however, prompted him to take up a still closer study of the military arts. When his elder brother Richard became the new Governor-General of India in , Wellesley took the 33rd Foot out there and founded a great reputation for himself as a brilliant but also painstaking commander. His victories in Mysore, at Srirangapatna and over Dhoondiah Waugh won him promotion to major-general.

Subsequently he considered this to be the finest of all the 60 battles he fought in his military career. He was knighted the following year and in he returned home, stopping off on the way on the remote island of St Helena in the Atlantic Ocean. In , after having commanded thousands of men and subdued hostile sub-continents, he was given the command of a lowly battalion in Hastings.

He was elected MP for Hastings in the same year. He also found time to take part in the Copenhagen campaign, which was short-lived, though not quite so disastrous as earlier British incursions to Napoleon's Europe. He told a friend that he would not be chased off the continent as so many other similar forces had been Wellesley remained a respected figure in British society.

He died in and was buried with royal honors in St. Paul's Cathedral in London. Wellesley's legacy as a military commander and statesman continues to be celebrated today. Arthur Wellington English commander, statesman, diplomat Date of Birth: Contact About Privacy.