Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington

• 1. A Dublin Birth And A Lonely Boy

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  Arthur Wellesley entered the world on the 1st of May 1769 within a townhouse at 6 Merrion Street in Dublin. The exact date and location remain disputed by historians, yet contemporary newspapers from early May announced his birth to the Countess of Mornington. His family belonged to the Protestant Ascendancy, an aristocratic Anglo-Irish group that held significant power in Ireland. He was the sixth child born to Anne, Countess of Mornington, and Garret Wesley, 1st Earl of Mornington. His father had been a composer and politician before inheriting the earldom in 1758. Young Arthur spent much of his childhood at Dangan Castle near Summerhill in County Meath or at the Dublin home. When he enrolled at Eton College in 1781, the experience proved deeply unhappy for him. Biographers note that his loneliness there caused him to hate the school. This isolation makes it highly unlikely that he ever said the famous quote about Waterloo being won on the playing fields of Eton. In fact, Eton possessed no playing fields during his time there.

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• 2. Indian Campaigns And Military Rise

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  Wellesley sailed for India in February 1797 after spending five months in Calcutta. He participated in the Fourth Anglo-Mysore War against Tipu Sultan beginning in 1798. During the conflict, rockets were used repeatedly by the enemy forces. On the 5th of April 1799, Wellesley led a night attack on the village of Sultanpettah adjacent to the fortress of Seringapatam. The operation failed due to confusion among British troops and strong defensive preparations by the Mysorean army. Twenty-five men died while Wellesley suffered a minor injury to his knee from a spent musket-ball. He resolved never to attack an enemy who was strongly posted without daylight reconnaissance. After extensive artillery bombardment opened a breach in the main walls, Major-General David Baird secured the fortress. Wellesley confirmed the death of Tipu Sultan by checking his pulse at the scene. Following the war, he stayed behind as Governor of Seringapatam and Mysore at age thirty. He later suppressed an insurgency led by Dhondia Wagh in 1800 using an army of eight thousand infantry and cavalry. At the Battle of Conaghul on the 10th of September 1800, he personally led a charge of one thousand four hundred dragoons against five thousand cavalry. Dhondiah was killed during the clash and his body was taken to camp tied to a cannon.

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• 3. Lines Of Torres Vedras And Talavera

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  Wellesley arrived in Lisbon on the 22nd of April 1809 aboard HMS Surveillante after narrowly escaping shipwreck. He took command of British forces in Portugal following the death of Sir John Moore at Corunna in January 1809. In 1810 Marshal André Masséna invaded Portugal with a newly enlarged French army. Wellington slowed the French advance at Buçaco before preventing them from taking the Lisbon Peninsula. He constructed massive earthworks known as the Lines of Torres Vedras in complete secrecy. These fortifications had flanks guarded by the Royal Navy and baffled the invading French forces. The starving French troops retreated after six months of failed attempts to break through. Wellesley advanced into Spain to unite with General Cuesta's forces for an assault on Marshal Claude-Victor Perrin's I Corps at Talavera. On the 27th of July 1809 the French attacked in three columns but were repulsed several times throughout the day. The battle came at heavy cost to the British force. Afterward Marshal Soult's army threatened to cut Wellesley off from Portugal. He moved east on the 3rd of August to block this threat while leaving one thousand five hundred wounded in Spanish care. Communications and supply lines from Lisbon remained secured temporarily. The lack of supplies coupled with threats of French reinforcement led to a decision to retreat into Portugal.

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• 4. Waterloo And The Prussian Alliance

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  Napoleon escaped from Elba on the 26th of February 1815 and regained control of France by May. Wellington left Vienna to take command of the British-German army stationed alongside Prussian forces under Gebhard von Blücher. Napoleon defeated the Prussians at Ligny on the 16th of June before engaging Wellington at Quatre Bras. The Prussians retreated eighteen miles north to Wavre while Wellington withdrew fifteen miles to a shallow valley south of Waterloo. Torrential rain fell on the 17th of June and severely hampered movement during the following day. The Battle of Waterloo commenced on Sunday the 18th of June 1815 near the town that now lies within Belgium. Approximately seventy-three thousand troops formed the Anglo-Dutch-German army including twenty-six thousand British soldiers. Thirty percent of those British men were Irish. Marshal Ney launched cavalry charges against Wellington's center around 16:30 but achieved little success alone. At approximately 19:30 Napoleon sent forward three thousand Middle Guardsmen in five battalions. They advanced west of La Haye Sainte despite being outnumbered and facing heavy fire. David Chassé's Dutch division charged the outnumbered French who faltered and broke. The last of the Guard retreated headlong causing mass panic through French lines. Wellington stood up in Copenhagen stirrups and waved his hat to signal an Allied advance just as Prussians overran positions to the east.

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• 5. Prime Minister And Political Reforms

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  Lord Liverpool invited Wellesley to become Master-General of the Ordnance in December 1818. He held this position for over eight years increasing efficiency at the Board of Ordnance. In January 1828 he resigned as Commander-in-Chief to become Prime Minister alongside Robert Peel. During his first seven months as prime minister he chose not to live at 10 Downing Street because it was too small. He oversaw the passage of the Roman Catholic Relief Act 1829 while opposing the Reform Act 1832. His tenure lasted from 1828 until 1830 before serving on an interim basis for less than a month in 1834. He remained one of the leading figures in the House of Lords until retirement in 1846. He continued as Commander-in-Chief of the Forces until his death in 1852. As Foreign Secretary under Lord Castlereagh he opposed intervention by the Holy Alliance in Spain and Naples affairs. Following Castlereagh's suicide in August 1822 King George IV favored Wellington taking his place but appointed George Canning instead. Wellington represented Britain at the Congress of Verona opposing French intervention in Spain.

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