The Duke of Wellington: The Gentleman Soldier

Review also includes:

William the Conqueror: The Norman King, ****, Charlotte Moore, 9781904977612

Nelson and Napoleon have already appeared in this excellent biographical series, so it is fitting that the Great Duke should now join this illustrious gathering. The book begins, and ends, with the events of 18 June 1815, the decisive victory for which Wellington will always be remembered. Born in 1769, in the same year as Napoleon, Arthur Wellesley was a late developer who struggled at school and was sent by his despairing mother to a Military Academy in France. There he found his métier, and honed his skills as a first-class horseman. As a junior officer he learned many of the lessons of war in campaigns in India, returning to England as a general. There followed the years of campaigns in Portugal, Spain and France before the French were finally defeated at Toulouse. Doder describes in detail the sequence of events at Waterloo, painting a vivid picture of the battlefield and of Wellington’s steely determination and iron discipline which earned him the respect of his men. He also includes a useful chronology of the Duke’s life and places to visit, as well as good sources of information. A pity he does not include more of Wellington’s own pithy sayings – he was after all the man who said ‘Publish and be damned’!

William the Conqueror is also remembered for victory in battle on what is perhaps the most famous date in English history. Charlotte Moore, ‘brought up in 1066 country’, writes with a novelist’s skill, with dialogue and scene-setting to bring the characters to life. She opens with a meeting between Matilda, William’s wife, and a young seamstress at work on the Bayeux Tapestry. She is good too on the politics and intrigue of both the Norman and English courts, and paints William as a strong and fierce character with a brutal streak of cruelty. Yet he was also a clever and clear-sighted ruler who saw the benefits that peace and unity could bring. His legacy is undoubtedly the Domesday Book, a hugely ambitious project that provides invaluable documentary evidence of life in the 11th century.