The Rise of Wellington

In this short but eminently concentrated biography, Field-Marshal 'Bobs' Roberts V.C., who was among the best loved of all British commanding officers, reviews the military achievements of one of the most successful British generals, the Duke of Wellington. Eschewing any attempt to cover the Duke's later life in politics or his private life, Lord Roberts focuses on the Duke of Wellington's rise from lowly rank to Napoleon's nemesis at Waterloo. The military career of Wellington naturally divides itself into three periods: the Indian period, the Peninsular period, and the period during which he commanded the Allied Forces in the Netherlands, terminating in the battle of Waterloo. Three chapters, relating in turn to each of these periods, briefly describe the principal incidents of this great soldier's life, and show how the experience he gained first in the East, and afterwards in South-Western Europe, so developed his natural talents and administrative capacity that he was finally able to meet and overthrow the French Emperor, whose genius for war had up to that date been regarded as absolutely unrivalled.