Download or read book Napoleon and Wellington written by Andrew Roberts and published by Hachette UK. This book was released on 2010-12-16 with total page 384 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A dual biography of the greatest opposing generals of their age who ultimately became fixated on one another, by a bestselling historian. 'Thoroughly enjoyable, beautifully written and meticulously researched' Observer On the morning of the battle of Waterloo, the Emperor Napoleon declared that the Duke of Wellington was a bad general, the British were bad soldiers and that France could not fail to win an easy victory. Forever afterwards historians have accused him of gross overconfidence, and massively underestimating the calibre of the British commander opposed to him. Andrew Roberts presents an original, highly revisionist view of the relationship between the two greatest captains of their age. Napoleon, who was born in the same year as Wellington - 1769 - fought Wellington by proxy years earlier in the Peninsula War, praising his ruthlessness in private while publicly deriding him as a mere 'sepoy general'. In contrast, Wellington publicly lauded Napoleon, saying that his presence on a battlefield was worth forty thousand men, but privately wrote long memoranda lambasting Napoleon's campaigning techniques. Although Wellington saved Napoleon from execution after Waterloo, Napoleon left money in his will to the man who had tried to assassinate Wellington. Wellington in turn amassed a series of Napoleonic trophies of his great victory, even sleeping with two of the Emperor's mistresses.
Download or read book Napoleon and Wellington written by Andrew Roberts and published by Simon and Schuster. This book was released on 2001 with total page 392 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Explores the relationship between the French emperor Napoleon Bonaparte and the Duke of Wellington prior to and in the aftermath of the Battle of Waterloo, the most decisive battle of the nineteenth century.
Download or read book All for the King s Shilling written by Edward J Coss and published by University of Oklahoma Press. This book was released on 2012-10-11 with total page 400 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The British troops who fought so successfully under the Duke of Wellington during his Peninsular Campaign against Napoleon have long been branded by the duke’s own words—“scum of the earth”—and assumed to have been society’s ne’er-do-wells or criminals who enlisted to escape justice. Now Edward J. Coss shows to the contrary that most of these redcoats were respectable laborers and tradesmen and that it was mainly their working-class status that prompted the duke’s derision. Driven into the army by unemployment in the wake of Britain’s industrial revolution, they confronted wartime hardship with ethical values and became formidable soldiers in the bargain These men depended on the king’s shilling for survival, yet pay was erratic and provisions were scant. Fed worse even than sixteenth-century Spanish galley slaves, they often marched for days without adequate food; and if during the campaign they did steal from Portuguese and Spanish civilians, the theft was attributable not to any criminal leanings but to hunger and the paltry rations provided by the army. Coss draws on a comprehensive database on British soldiers as well as first-person accounts of Peninsular War participants to offer a better understanding of their backgrounds and daily lives. He describes how these neglected and abused soldiers came to rely increasingly on the emotional and physical support of comrades and developed their own moral and behavioral code. Their cohesiveness, Coss argues, was a major factor in their legendary triumphs over Napoleon’s battle-hardened troops. The first work to closely examine the social composition of Wellington’s rank and file through the lens of military psychology, All for the King’s Shilling transcends the Napoleonic battlefield to help explain the motivation and behavior of all soldiers under the stress of combat.
Download or read book Napoleon and Grouchy written by Paul L. Dawson and published by Pen and Sword. This book was released on 2017-06-30 with total page 446 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: One of the enduring controversies of the Waterloo campaign is the conduct of Marshal Grouchy. Given command of a third of Napoleons army and told to keep the Prussians from joining forces with Wellington, he failed to keep Wellington and Blcher apart with the result that Napoleon was overwhelmed at Waterloo. Grouchy, though, was not defeated. He kept his force together and retreated in good order back to France.Many have accused Grouchy of intentionally holding back his men and not marching to join Napoleon when the sound of the gunfire at Waterloo could clearly be heard, and he has been widely blamed for Napoleons defeat.Now, for the first time, Grouchys conduct during the Waterloo campaign is analyzed in fine detail, drawing principally on French sources not previously available in English. The author, for example, answers questions such as whether key orders did actually exist in 1815 or were they later fabrications to make Grouchy the scapegoat for Napoleons failures? Did General Grard really tell Grouchy to march to the sound of the guns? Why did Grouchy appear to move so slowly when speed was essential?This is a subject which is generally overlooked by British historians, who tend to concentrate on the actions of Wellington and Napoleon, and which French historians choose not to look at too closely for fear that it might reflect badly upon their hero Napoleon.Despite the mass of books written on Waterloo, this is a genuinely unique contribution to this most famous campaign. This book is certain to fuel debate and prompt historians to reconsider the events of June 1815.
Download or read book Wellington The Iron Duke Text Only written by Richard Holmes and published by HarperCollins UK. This book was released on 2012-06-28 with total page 258 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In this compelling book, Richard Holmes tells the exhilarating story of the Duke of Wellington, Britain's greatest ever soldier.
Download or read book Wellington s Hidden Heroes written by Veronica Baker-Smith and published by Casemate. This book was released on 2015-10-19 with total page 217 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: “An excellent account of the contribution of the newly formed (and short-lived) United Kingdom of the Netherlands to the Allied victory” (HistoryOfWar.org). The Dutch-Belgians have been variously described as inexperienced, incompetent, and cowardly, a rogue element in the otherwise disciplined Allied Army. It is only now being tentatively acknowledged that they alone saved Wellington from disaster at Quatre Bras. He had committed a strategic error in that, as Napoleon advanced, his own troops were scattered over a hundred kilometers of southern Belgium. Outnumbered three to one, the Netherlanders gave him time to concentrate his forces and save Brussels from French occupation. At Waterloo itself, on at least three occasions when the fate of the battle “hung upon the cusp,” their engagement with the enemy aided British recovery. Their commander—the Prince of Orange—has been viciously described as an arrogant fool, “a disaster waiting to happen,” and even a dangerous lunatic. According to the assessment of Wellington himself, he was a reliable and courageous subordinate. This book reveals a new dimension of the famous campaign and includes many unseen illustrations. For the first time, a full assessment is made of the challenge which Willem I faced as king of a country hastily cobbled together by the Congress of Vienna, and of his achievement in assembling, equipping, and training 30,000 men from scratch in eighteen months. “An extraordinary and impressively researched, written, organized and presented history that sheds considerable new light on one of the most influential battles of 19th century Europe.” —Midwest Book Review “A fascinating read.” —Military Heritage
Download or read book On Wellington written by Carl von Clausewitz and published by University of Oklahoma Press. This book was released on 2012-10-11 with total page 262 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Battle of Waterloo has been studied and dissected so extensively that one might assume little more on the subject could be discovered. Now historian Peter Hofschröer brings forward a long-repressed commentary written by Carl von Clausewitz, the author of On War. Clausewitz, the Western world’s most renowned military theorist, participated in the Waterloo campaign as a senior staff officer in the Prussian army. His appraisal, offered here in an up-to-date and readable translation, criticized the Duke of Wellington’s actions. Lord Liverpool sent his translation of the manuscript to Wellington, who pronounced it a “lying work.” The translated commentary was quickly buried in Wellington’s private papers, where it languished for a century and a half. Now published for the first time in English, Hofschröer brings Clausewitz’s critique back into view with thorough annotation and contextual explanation. Peter Hofschröer, long recognized as a leading scholar of the Napoleonic Wars, shows how the Duke prevented the account’s publication during his lifetime—a manipulation of history so successful that almost two centuries passed before Clausewitz’s work reemerged, finally permitting a reappraisal of key events in the campaign. In addition to translating and annotating Clausewitz’s critique, Hofschröer also includes an order of battle and an extensive bibliography.
Download or read book Wellington s Foot Guards at Waterloo written by Robert Burnham and published by Casemate Publishers. This book was released on 2018-11-30 with total page 306 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: During the Waterloo Campaign, Wellington had only one division that was composed entirely of British infantry, the 1st Division. This consisted of two brigades of the most famous regiments of the British Army the three regiments of Guards.The exploits of the Guards at Waterloo have passed into legend. On that day, Wellington entrusted the most crucial part of his line to the men he knew would hold their position at all cost. That vital position was the Chteau d'Hougoumont, and those men were the Guards.As the great battle unfolded, the French threw more and more troops at the walls of Hougoumont, setting some of the Chteaus buildings on fire and almost forcing their way in through its northern gateway. Though almost an entire French corps was engaged in the struggle for Hougoumont, the detachment of the Guards valiantly resisted every attack.Then, as the battle reached its climax, Napoleon launched his Imperial Guard at the centre of Wellingtons line. Just as the French believed that victory was in their grasp, up stood the 1st Guards Brigade to deliver a devastating volley, followed by a ferocious bayonet charge from which the French never recovered.The experienced duo of Robert Burnham and Ron McGuigan have compiled the first comprehensive study of the Guards Division throughout the entire Waterloo campaign, from the initial deployment in Belgium to the Occupation of Paris. The book also includes an explanation of the organisation and composition of the two brigades and personal details of many of the Guards officers the men who saved the day at Waterloo.
Download or read book Wellington s Wars written by Huw J. Davies and published by Yale University Press. This book was released on 2012-06-26 with total page 429 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Arthur Wellesley, Duke of Wellington, lives on in popular memory as the "Invincible General," loved by his men, admired by his peers, formidable to his opponents. This incisive book revises such a portrait, offering an accurate--and controversial--new analysis of Wellington's remarkable military career. Unlike his nemesis Napoleon, Wellington was by no means a man of innate military talent, Huw J. Davies argues. Instead, the key to Wellington's military success was an exceptionally keen understanding of the relationship between politics and war.Drawing on extensive primary research, Davies discusses Wellington's military apprenticeship in India, where he learned through mistakes as well as successes how to plan campaigns, organize and use intelligence, and negotiate with allies. In India Wellington encountered the constant political machinations of indigenous powers, and it was there that he apprenticed in the crucial skill of balancing conflicting political priorities. In later campaigns and battles, including the Peninsular War and Waterloo, Wellington's genius for strategy, operations, and tactics emerged. For his success in the art of war, he came to rely on his art as a politician and tactician. This strikingly original book shows how Wellington made even unlikely victories possible--with a well-honed political brilliance that underpinned all of his military achievements.
Download or read book Wellington s History of the Peninsular War written by Stuart Reid and published by Pen and Sword. This book was released on 2019-05-30 with total page 374 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: An historic account of the Peninsula War written by the man leading forces against the French, Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington. Though pressed many times to write about his battles and campaigns, the Duke of Wellington always replied that people should refer to his published dispatches. Yet Wellington did, in effect, write a history of the Peninsular War in the form of four lengthy memoranda, summarizing the conduct of the war in 1809, 1810, and 1811 respectively. These lengthy accounts demonstrate Wellington’s unmatched appreciation of the nature of the war in Spain and Portugal, and relate to the operations of the French and Spanish forces as well as the Anglo-Portuguese army under his command. Unlike personal diaries or journals written by individual soldiers, with their inevitably limited knowledge, Wellington was in an unparalleled position to provide a comprehensive overview of the war. Equally, the memoranda were written as the war unfolded, not tainted with the knowledge of hindsight, providing a unique contemporaneous commentary. Brought together by renowned historian Stuart Reid with reports and key dispatches from the other years of the campaign, the result is the story of the Peninsular War told through the writings of the man who knew and understood the conflict in Iberia better than any other. These memoranda and dispatches have never been published before in a single connected narrative. Therefore, Wellington’s History of the Peninsular War 1808-1814 offers a uniquely accessible perspective on the conflict in the own words of Britain’s greatest general.
Download or read book Wellington written by Philip J. Haythornthwaite and published by . This book was released on 2007 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: One of the Duke of Wellington's officers once remarked, "We would rather see his long nose in the sight than a reinforcement of ten thousand men." Arthur Wellesley, first duke of Wellington (1769-1852), was one of the greatest military commanders in history and is best known as the successful opponent at Waterloo of arguably the leading general of all time, Napoleon Bonaparte. Although Waterloo is the battle most associated with Wellington, his career was much wider. He gained his first military experience in the Netherlands in 1793-94 in an unsuccessful campaign that taught him, as he said, "how not to do it." From there he went to India, where he conducted a number of successful campaigns and honed his military skills until he became Britain's leading general. With great strategic foresight and as master not only of the battlefield but also of organization and logistics, he helped expel the French from Spain and Portugal during the Peninsular War, which materially weakened Napoleon's strategic position and led to his downfall in 1814. After Napoleon returned from exile in 1815, Wellington was a principal leader of the coalition forces at Waterloo. In subsequent years, Wellington exerted a considerable influence on British politics, serving as prime minister and in later life as a trusted elder statesman. Upon his death, he was widely regarded as the greatest Briton of his generation and undisputedly one of the greatest British soldiers. The Duke of Wellington has been the subject of many biographies over the years but none as comprehensive yet concise as this latest addition to Potomac's Military Profiles series.
Download or read book Waterloo written by Christopher Hibbert and published by Canelo + ORM. This book was released on 2021-11-25 with total page 386 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: THE GREATEST OF BATTLES The defining military engagement of the nineteenth century. The epic battle that forever ended one man’s dreams of a European empire unified under his rule. THE GREATEST OF RIVALS This epoch-defining conflict would ultimately be remembered for the showdown between two of history’s most legendary commanders: the Duke of Wellington, and Napoleon Bonaparte. THE DEFINITIVE ACCOUNT Divided into three parts, Christopher Hibbert masterfully depicts first Napoleon and his rise to power, then a portrait of Wellington and the allied armies, and lastly the steps leading up to and the battle itself, the final clash on the fields of Waterloo. A gripping, succinct and panoramic survey of this legendary battle, the history surrounding the conflict, and the personalities that defined both the battle itself, and a generation.
Download or read book Napoleon and Wellington written by Andrew Roberts and published by . This book was released on 2001-01-01 with total page pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "An award-winning historian offers an eye-opening view of the relationship between Napoleon Bonaparte and the Duke of Wellington, whose lives moved inexorably to their meeting at Waterloo, one of the most famous battles of all time." At breakfast on the morning of the battle of Waterloo, the Emperor Napoleon declared that the Duke of Wellington was a bad general, the British were bad soldiers and that France could not fail to win an easy victory. Forever afterwards, historians have accused him of gross overconfidence and massively underestimating the caliber of the British commander opposite him. Now Andrew Roberts presents an original, highly revisionist view of the relationship between the two greatest captains of their age and of the great battle that determined European history in the nineteenth century. Napoleon, who was born in the same year as Wellington -- 1769 -- fought Wellington by proxy years earlier in the Peninsular War, praising his ruthlessness in private while publicly deriding him as a mere "general of sepoys." In contrast, Wellington publicly lauded Napoleon, saying that his presence on a battlefield was worth forty thousand men, but privately he wrote long memoranda lambasting Napoleon's campaigning techniques. Although Wellington saved Napoleon from execution after Waterloo, the emperor left money in his will to the man who had tried to assassinate the duke. Wellington in turn amassed a series of Napoleonic trophies of his great victory, even sleeping with two of the emperor's mistresses. The fascinating, constantly changing relationship between these two historical giants forms the basis of Andrew Roberts's compelling study in pride,rivalry, propaganda, nostalgia and posthumous revenge. It is at once a brilliant work of military history and a triumphant biography. Featuring a cast of fascinating supporting characters -- including the empress Josephine, the Prince Regent and Talleyrand -- "Napoleon and Wellington" provides the definitive account of the most decisive battle of the nineteenth century.
Download or read book Waterloo Commanders written by Andrew Uffindell and published by . This book was released on 2007 with total page 256 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The three commanders-in-chief during the Waterloo campaign rank among the most famous soldiers in history. Rarely have three such remarkable men as Napoleon, Wellington and Blücher confronted each other on a field of battle or had such an impact on the history of their time. Andrew Uffindell, in this readable and meticulously researched three-part biography, gives vivid accounts of their parallel lives and extraordinary careers. The dramatic contrasts that emerge between their backgrounds, personalities and methods of command offer a fascinating insight into the secrets of leadership and into the warfare of the Napoleonic era.
Download or read book The Wellington and Napoleon Quartet Young Bloods The Generals Fire and Sword Fields of Death written by Simon Scarrow and published by Hachette UK. This book was released on 2015-05-21 with total page 2792 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Simon Scarrow's four classic novels based on the lives of the Duke of Wellington and Napoleon Bonaparte are published together in one superb-value ebook volume not to be missed by readers of Bernard Cornwell. Arthur, Duke of Wellington, and Emperor Napoleon Bonaparte were adversaries on an epic scale. Across Europe and beyond, the armies of Great Britain and France clashed, from the Iberian Peninsula to India, from Austerlitz to the final confrontation at Waterloo. What drove the two clever, ambitious, determined men who masterminded these military campaigns? How did the underdog from Corsica develop the strategic military skills and the political cunning that gave him power over swathes of Europe? And how did Wellington, born to be a leader, hone his talents and drive an army to victory after victory? From an outstanding historian and novelist come four epic novels, now available in one volume for the first time, which tell the full story of both these men, from their very early days till the momentous battle at Waterloo which decided the future of Europe. INCLUDES MAPS
Download or read book The Generals Wellington and Napoleon 2 written by Simon Scarrow and published by Hachette UK. This book was released on 2008-09-04 with total page 640 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: THE GENERALS is the compelling second novel in Simon Scarrow's bestselling Wellington and Napoleon quartet. A must read for fans of Bernard Cornwell. In the turbulent aftermath of the French Revolution Napoleon Bonaparte stands accused of treachery and corruption. His reputation is saved by his skill in leading his men to victory in Italy and Egypt. But then he must restore order in France and find peace or victory over her enemies: England - and Arthur Wellesley (the future Duke of Wellington). Wellesley is leading a vast army in India, where British interests are under threat. The campaign will result in the creation of the Raj - the jewel in the British Empire's crown. Wellesley returns to England a hardened veteran and more determined than ever to end France's domination of Europe. Both Wellesley and Napoleon intend to win - whatever the cost. Who will ultimately succeed?
Download or read book Wellington Napoleon written by Robin Neillands and published by Pen and Sword. This book was released on 2003-03-01 with total page 297 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Wellington and Napoleon tells the story of the convergence and final clash of two of the most brilliant commanders ever to meet on the field of battle. Wellington, his men said, did not know how to lose a battle. But Wellington himself admired his adversary
