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Despite his own less than complementary comments on their abilities, the Duke of Wellington actually was supported by a very capable band of generals during his long campaigns in Spain and Portugal. This volume presents biographies of forty-one of those subordinates, including divisional commanders, staff officers and two members of the support staff.
This book is designed to be used as a reference work, to be dipped in at need, rather than as a text to be read from end-to-end. As a result the biographies are largely independent of each other, with a certain amount of unavoidable repetition. Having said that, one of the key impressions one gets from this book is that Wellington's generals often had very varied careers, serving in far flung theatres of war, from the West Indies to India. This is best illustrated by the thirty-five articles on those battles and campaigns that involved at least five of the men covered. This section starts with the early campaigns in the Low Countries in 1793-96, but then expands out to include campaigns in Egypt, South America, Denmark and the Baltic as well as the more familiar battles of the Peninsular War.
This is a useful reference work, bringing together an interesting selection of biographies that allow the reader to gain a better understanding of the types of men who served under Wellington and their wide range of experiences.
Chapters
The Biographies (41 sub-chapters)
The Battles (35 sub-chapters)
Army Seniority List
Author: T. A. Heathcote
Edition: Hardcover
Pages: 189
Publisher: Pen & Sword Military
Year: 2010