Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington, was an Anglo-Irish soldier and statesman whose career included campaigns in India, command of the allied army in the Peninsular War and victory over Napoleon at Waterloo in 1815. Known for careful logistics, defensive positioning and coalition management, he became one of Britain’s most celebrated commanders.
He later served twice as prime minister and remained an influential conservative public figure until his death in 1852. Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington served as Duke of Wellington and Duke of Victoria.
Griff Hosker’s 1808 follows Arthur Wellesley during his first victories in Portugal before command passes to the campaign that ends at Corunna. Allan Mallinson’s A Close Run Thing places a young cavalry officer in Wellington’s army during the Waterloo campaign, while Georgette Heyer’s An Infamous Army moves between Brussels society and the staff work, mobilisation and battlefield decisions surrounding Wellington in June 1815. G. A. Henty’s At the Point of the Bayonet uses Wellesley’s earlier Indian campaigns during the Second Anglo-Maratha War as its historical frame, and One of the 28th brings him into the later struggle against Napoleon as the commander whose campaigns define the fictional soldier’s service.