Wellington: The Iron Duke

I have studied Napoleon for a good while yet this is the first biography I have ever read about the Duke of Wellington. Mr. Holmes does a good job of going through all of Wellington's life without getting into nitty gritty details. The book is roughly 200-250 pages and covers all of Wellington's life from his birth, the campaigns in Flanders, India, Spain, Waterloo, and his prime ministry. The military campaigns are covered in adequate detail, enough to know what happened, but not enough to confuse the reader or draw a military thesis statement from. The same goes with regards to his session as prime minister. So bottom line is if you are looking for a good book on the Duke that is an easy read and covers his whole life in a concise single volume, I strongly suggest this one.

Richard Holmes's "Wellington - The Iron Duke" is a well-written survey of the active life of the First Duke of Wellington. In just 300 pages, Holmes presents a balanced, even nuanced view of a man who was both the quintessential military professional and a complex human being. Through Holmes' efficient prose, we see Wellington as an extradinarily dedicated soldier who mastered his profession in ways few of his contemporaries did, yet who sometimes paid a price on campaign for his insistence on micromanaging his armies. Wellington comes across as a remarkably honest and duty-bound public servant; as a young man, he was also relentlessly ambitious, and as an older man, sensitive about his military reputation. Holmes provides some useful insights. He suggests that exhaustion and strain were responsible for Wellington's uncharacteristically poor performance at the Siege of Burgos in 1812. Holmes examines the academic dispute over Wellington's relationship with the Prussians during the Waterloo Campaign; he tellingly notes Wellington's responsibilities to his alliance partners and to the British Government and finds that he served both. Holmes acknowledges Wellington's extramaritial activities but resists the urge to obsess over them or to indulge in psycological speculation. Serious students of the Duke and of the Napoleonic Wars will find no new scholarship here; indeed, Holmes readily acknowledges his debt to earlier works such as Elizabeth Longford's exceptional biography and Jac Weller's battlefield narrative trilogy. Holmes has provided an accessible biography for the general reader, supported by well-chosen quotes from the Duke' contemporaries and by a nice selection of illustrations.This book is highly recommended to the general reader with an interest in the man and the era.

Well researched and thorough yet an easy read. I was sad to turn the last page. Great author writing about an exceptional man

Brillient! Wellington The Iron Duke is something boys of my generation looked up to. He had a reputation of a great soldier ,long before the wars against Napoleon. And, were wars that involved greater problems than those presented by Napoleon. As a young officer, he fough in India, against bigger armies, and more dangerous foes, because there were no 'reserves' to back him up in India. The heat, themalarial carrying mosquitoes, and the type opf warfare he engaged in, and won, were far more dangerous than the war against the French. And again, this tireless commander rode with his tyroops and was directing the attacks personally, and since much of the battles were hand to hand, sword against sword, he was more in personal daanger, than ever he was in Spain or France. He did not do what Napoleon did, stand at the back and send his marshals foreward. He rode with them into battle, riding around the field where his presence was needed, while 'Nappie' as the British army called him, sat on a chair with his telescope,sending out new orders. He was constantly changing horses, and was at the front,where his men could see and hear his orders personally. A superb rider and fearless swordsman, he was the model modern soldier, and a real hero. A hundred years later there were several British writers, who wrote books againt his reputation, but gained no reputation themselves, except bad ones.

After reading a book on Waterloo, I wanted to find out more about the stern but courageous General who won in India, Spain and of course beat Napoleon at the big, bloody battle of Waterloo. I learned the basic facts of his long life and his personal life, which was so different and hard to understand from our perspective.

a quick, well researched bio, excellent and good stories. a fun read, captures the great hero, maybe the greatest military commander of all time! a page turner with clear insights.

Very educational. I enjoyed the read very much and learned so much about a man I had heard so much about.

Easy to read, and shows all sides of the dukes personality. An excellent starting point to learn more about his military as well as his political lives.

This was a gift for my mom and she loved it... said it was a very interesting book!

This is an excellent book, one of my favourites. Richard Holmes does not hide the fact that he is an admirer of Wellington. But why not? He is one of the greatest people in British history. He was by no means perfect, for example his involvement in the Connvention of Sintra, the treatment of his wife Kitty, etc and he was often supported by his connections, for instance his brother Richard in India or his friendship with Castlereagh when he was foreign secretary. But who is perfect? Who hasn't used those around them? What I really love is that in this day and age Wellington is still someone to look up to and to be inspired by. He is not controversial and has stood the test of time. After the success of Waterloo he had the great success of the Catholic Emancipation and was the one who finally talked the Lords into voting through the Great Reform Act (although he did initially appose it). This isn't a complete biography of Wellington, and would recommend further reads such as Elizabeth Longford or Rory Muir to top up the knowledge. In summary, read this book! Great subject matter and very well written.

The authors knowledge is prodigious, and I did appreciate the author’s goal of bringing forth the “real” Wellington, who by the end, and I don’t think this a spoiler alert, still remains a hero for all time, and an amazing human being. However, and it may be the fact I purchased the e-book version (no illustrations, etc) but the tone seemed at times unduly scholarly, where the sentences and paragraphs, even the chapters, seemed to run on so that the material became almost a disconnected blur. After a while. This is in contrast to the style of the author’s introduction and conclusion — too bad he didn’t write like that throughout…. Still, a great job and I appreciated it. I recommend it.

Inhaltlich einwandfrei aber leider ein billig gemachter Nachdruck von amazon, was nicht ersichtlich war beim Bestellen. Abbildungen haben schlechte Qualität, Details sind nicht zu erkennen. Schon das zweite Mal, dass ich beim Aufschlagen eines neuen Buches merkte, dass es nicht das Original des Verlags sonderm ein Nachdruck von Amazon ist. Das nenne ich Etikettenschwindel und Betrug!

This is a readable book. It is an entertaining excursion through Wellington's life. His title was actually chosen by his brother and he had no close relationship with the town.What I missed was some explanation of his military talent. Prior to India his military experience was brief, and he owed a great deal to nepotism. Yes ,he had talent and luck and seems to have been a decent man, but how did his military knowledge develop?This book is something of a light, coffee table affair-enjoyable but shallow.