Wellington
A Personal History
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- 11,99 €
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- 11,99 €
Descripción editorial
A bestseller in hardback, this is a highly-praised and much-needed biography of the first Duke of Wellington, concentrating on the personal life of the victor of Waterloo, and based on the fruits of modern research. Christopher Hibbert is Britain’s leading popular historian.
Wellington (1769–1852) achieved fame as a soldier fighting the Mahratta in India. His later brilliant generalship fighting the French in Spain and his defeat of Napoleon at Waterloo earned him a dukedom and the award of Apsley House (No. 1, London) and a large estate in Hampshire.
His second career saw him make his mark as a politician with commanding presence. Appointed Commander-in-Chief for life, he became Prime Minister in 1827 and presided over the emancipation of Roman Catholics and the formation of the country’s first police force.
Privately, he was unhappily married, and had several mistresses (including two of Napoleon’s) and many intimate friendships with women. The private side of the public man has never been so richly delineated as in this masterly biography.
About the author
Christopher Hibbert was described by Professor Sir John Plumb as a ‘writer of the highest ability’ & by the New Statesman as ‘a pearl of biographers’. He is our leading popular historian whose works reflect meticulous scholarship. His much-acclaimed books include (in addition to those above) THE DeSTRUCTION OF LORD RAGLAN, THE COURT AT WINDSOR, LONDON and ROME: BIOGRAPHY OF A CITY, THE RISE AND FALL OF THE HOUSE OF MEDICI etc.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
One of history's great captains, Sir Arthur Wellesley, Duke of Wellington (1769-1852) was also a dominant figure in Britain's public life. In this graceful and well-researched life, Hibbert (Nelson) nevertheless limits his treatment of the duke as soldier and statesman in favor of concentrating on his personality and behavior. The duke was a man of manners rather than feelings, according to Hibbert, a man who understood the rules of a Britain governed, even at the height of the Napoleonic threat, by an oligarchy of birth and deference. His relationships with his wife and children were, at best, remote. If he ever had a "friend of the heart," male or female, it has escaped Hibbert's notice. Nor did Wellington wax sentimental over the men in his ranks. But he understood their capacities as soldiers, saw to their material needs and eventually led them to victory over an army that had been for two decades the master of Europe's battlefields. With significant insight, Hibbert shows how, throughout the duke's long, post-1815 career, Wellington's roles were shaped by his status as the conqueror of Napoleon. As a diplomat, as prime minister from 1828 to 1830, as senior advisor to successive governments and commander-in-chief of the army, Wellington expected deference, and developed an increasingly impervious faith in his own judgments. His status as an archetype nevertheless endured until his death--and even longer in an army that required the multiple shocks of the Crimean War to begin modifying the Iron Duke's presumed legacy.
