Dimensions
159 x 240 x 35mm
Richard Holmes, highly acclaimed military historian and broadcaster, tells the exhilarating story of Britain's greatest-ever soldier, the man who posed the most serious threat to Napoleon. The Duke of Wellington's remarkable life and extraordinary campaigns are recreated with Holmes' superb skill in this compelling book.
Richard Holmes charts Wellington's stellar military career from India to Europe, and in the process, rediscovers the reasons Queen Victoria called him the greatest man the 19th century had produced. Combining his astute historical analysis with a semi-biographical examination of Wellington, Holmes artfully illustrates the repaid evolution in military and political thinking of the time.
Wellington is a brilliant figure, idealistic in politics, cynical in love, a wit, a beau, a man of enormous courage often sickened by war. As Richard Holmes charts his progress from a shy, indolent boy to commander-in-chief of the allied forces, he also exposes the Iron Duke as a philanderer, and a man who sometimes despised the men that he led, and was not always in control of his soldiers. Particularly famous is the bestial rampage of his men after the capture of Cuidad Rodgrigo and Badajoz.
This is a beautifully produced book, complete with stunning illustrations and colour plates. It accompanies Richard Holmes' four-part TV series filmed on location in Britain, India, Spain, Portugal, France and Belgium.
