Who was the Duke of Wellington?

He was Arthur Wellesley (1769 to 1852), a British general who beat Napoleon's marshals in the Peninsular War and Napoleon himself at Waterloo, and who later became prime minister.

What is Wellington famous for?

For defeating Napoleon at the Battle of Waterloo in 1815, and for his long, successful campaign in the Peninsular War in Spain and Portugal.

Did Wellington beat Napoleon alone at Waterloo?

No. Wellington's allied army held the field through the day, but the arrival of the Prussians under Blucher was decisive; it was a joint victory.

What kind of general was Wellington?

A careful, defensive master who relied on strong positions, good supply and disciplined infantry firepower, and who was famous for keeping his nerve in a crisis.

Was Wellington English?

He was born in Ireland into the Anglo-Irish gentry and served the British crown; he is counted among Britain's greatest commanders.

What did Wellington do after Waterloo?

He became a leading political figure, serving twice as prime minister and as an elder statesman until his death in 1852.

The Duke of Wellington: the man who beat Napoleon

The Duke of Wellington was the general who never lost a pitched battle he commanded¹, and who won the one that mattered most. Cautious, sharp-tongued and utterly calm under fire, he wore down Napoleon's marshals in the long Peninsular War and then, on a muddy ridge in Belgium, met the emperor himself at Waterloo and brought the Napoleonic Wars to an end.

The Peninsular War

Born in 1769 as Arthur Wellesley², the future duke learned his trade in India¹ before taking command in the Peninsular War in Spain and Portugal from 1808¹. There, against a string of Napoleon's marshals, he perfected a patient style built on strong defensive positions³, careful supply and the deadly firepower of British infantry, slowly driving the French out of the peninsula.

Coloured historical map of the Iberian Peninsula divided into provinces with battle sites marked — Spain and Portugal during the Peninsular War, with the main battles marked. Map from Charles Colbeck's Public Schools Historical Atlas, 1905. Public domain

Waterloo

When Napoleon returned from exile in 1815, Wellington took command of an allied army in Belgium. On 18 June, near the village of⁴ Waterloo, his troops held their ridge through a long day of massed French assaults until the Prussians under Blucher arrived on the flank⁵. Together they shattered Napoleon's army in a battle Wellington himself called "the nearest run thing you ever saw⁶."

Portrait of the Duke of Wellington — The Duke of Wellington. Public domain.

He called Waterloo the nearest run thing he ever saw; it ended Napoleon for good.

A national figure

Waterloo made Wellington the most famous soldier in Europe. He turned to politics, serving twice as prime minister (1828 to 1830, and briefly in 1834) and as an elder statesman for decades, a stern, plain-spoken figure who never quite left the battlefield behind. He died in 1852 and was buried with a state funeral¹ of extraordinary scale.

Coloured print of an ornate funeral car drawn through a London street packed with spectators past a triumphal arch — Wellington's funeral car passes the archway at Apsley House, his London home, on 18 November 1852 before vast crowds. Lithograph by Thomas Ashburton Picken, 1853. Yale Center for British Art. CC0 (public domain)

The measure of the man

Wellington was not a dashing conqueror in Napoleon's mould; he was something rarer, a commander who almost never made a fatal mistake. He is remembered as the soldier who, more than any other, brought down the greatest general of the age.

Long crowded painting of the two allied commanders meeting on horseback among soldiers and wounded — The Meeting of Wellington and Blücher after the Battle of Waterloo, painted by Daniel Maclise in 1861. Public domain

See his final victory at the Battle of Waterloo, or meet his peers in the greatest British commanders.

Sources and notes

Numbered notes in the text point to the works below.

National Army Museum, “Wellington: The Iron Duke” ↩ a b c d
GOV.UK (History of past prime ministers), “Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington” ↩
Rory Muir, Wellington: The Path to Victory 1769-1814 (Yale University Press, 2013). ↩
Encyclopaedia Britannica, “Arthur Wellesley, 1st duke of Wellington” ↩
Rory Muir, Wellington: Waterloo and the Fortunes of Peace 1814-1852 (Yale University Press, 2015). ↩
Thomas Creevey, The Creevey Papers, ed. Sir Herbert Maxwell (John Murray, 1903), Creevey's account of his conversation with Wellington in Brussels the day after Waterloo. ↩
World History Encyclopedia, “Duke of Wellington, Encyclopedia of World History”
Wikipedia, “Duke of Wellington, Wikipedia”