Search results
Wellington has often been portrayed as a defensive general, even though many, perhaps most, of his battles were offensive (Argaum, Assaye, Oporto, Salamanca, Vitoria, Toulouse). However, for most of the Peninsular War, where he earned his fame, his army lacked the numbers for a strategically offensive posture.
Jul 3, 2017 · Dennis Showalter is a professor of history at Colorado College and past president of the Society of Military History. For further reading he recommends Wellington’s Wars, by Huw Davies; The Peninsular War, by Charles Esdaile; and Wellington: The Iron Duke, by Richard Holmes. Originally published in the September 2013 issue of Military History.
- Dennis Showalter
Wellington: The Iron Duke. A leading political and military figure of the 19th century, the Duke of Wellington is best remembered for his defeat of Napoleon Bonaparte at Waterloo in 1815. As a general, he was renowned for his stunning defensive skills. His battle plans are still studied in military academies today.
Many British politicians were opposed to the war in Europe and favoured withdrawal, [59] which hampered its will to muster a larger force to defeat Napoleon. This served in sharpening Wellington's awareness that a defensive strategy was essential, initially, to ensure the British Army survived. [59]
A master of the tactical defensive posture, the Duke of Wellington, later known as the “Iron Duke” for his military prowess, chose his ground well at Waterloo. Wellington recognized the potential strength of his deployment along the Mont-Saint-Jean Ridge and planned to use the escarpment as an impediment to any frontal assault undertaken by Napoleon Bonaparte’s French Army.
May 18, 2015 · Research fellow at the University of Adelaide and author of this year’s Wellington: Waterloo and the Fortunes of Peace 1814-1852 and Wellington: The Path to Victory 1769-1814, we caught up with the historian to get the true measure of the Iron Duke’s leadership and discover whether he was indeed one of Britain’s, or even the world’s, greatest ever generals.
People also ask
Was Wellington a defensive general?
Was Wellington a great general?
How did Wellington become a military hero?
What was Wellington's army like in WW2?
What types of battles did Wellington fight?
What role did Wellington play in the Peninsular War?
Feb 17, 2011 · As commander-in-chief of the British Army between 1827 and 1828, and from 1842 until his death in 1852, Wellington was a force for conservatism, and it has been argued that the lack of army reform ...
