Wellington's Headquarters

Wellington's Headquarters PDF Author: S G P Ward
Publisher: Pen & Sword Books
ISBN: 9781473896826
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 240

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Book Description
Wellington's Headquarters is an essential introduction to the administration of the British army in the early nineteenth century. It offers a fascinating insight into the structure and operation of the Duke of Wellington's command during the Peninsular War. S.G.P. Ward's classic study, first published over sixty years ago, describes the complicated tangle of departments that administered the army, departments which had grown up haphazard and survived virtually unchanged until the time of the Crimean War. Wellington adapted the existing system in order to turn it into an efficient instrument in the war against Napoleon, despite clashes of responsibility and personality that frustrated him and impaired the army's performance on campaign. Chapters cover peacetime and wartime administration, the relationships of the staff officers, the supply and maintenance of the army in the Peninsula, the gathering and interpretation of intelligence, the organization of the army on the march and the sometimes tense relations between Wellington and his subordinates. The study raises the quartermaster general's department to its proper position, and discusses Wellington's attitude to the 'chief of staff' system which was then favored on the continent. The result of this lucid and absorbing survey is an enhanced understanding of the system that had evolved to administer the British army two hundred years ago.

Wellington's Headquarters

Wellington's Headquarters PDF Author: S G P Ward
Publisher: Pen & Sword Books
ISBN: 9781473896826
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 240

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Book Description
Wellington's Headquarters is an essential introduction to the administration of the British army in the early nineteenth century. It offers a fascinating insight into the structure and operation of the Duke of Wellington's command during the Peninsular War. S.G.P. Ward's classic study, first published over sixty years ago, describes the complicated tangle of departments that administered the army, departments which had grown up haphazard and survived virtually unchanged until the time of the Crimean War. Wellington adapted the existing system in order to turn it into an efficient instrument in the war against Napoleon, despite clashes of responsibility and personality that frustrated him and impaired the army's performance on campaign. Chapters cover peacetime and wartime administration, the relationships of the staff officers, the supply and maintenance of the army in the Peninsula, the gathering and interpretation of intelligence, the organization of the army on the march and the sometimes tense relations between Wellington and his subordinates. The study raises the quartermaster general's department to its proper position, and discusses Wellington's attitude to the 'chief of staff' system which was then favored on the continent. The result of this lucid and absorbing survey is an enhanced understanding of the system that had evolved to administer the British army two hundred years ago.

Wellington's Headquarters

Wellington's Headquarters PDF Author: Stephen George Peregrine Ward
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Great Britain
Languages : en
Pages : 238

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Book Description


Wellington's Command

Wellington's Command PDF Author: George E. Jaycock
Publisher: Pen and Sword
ISBN: 1526733544
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 229

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Book Description
A military historian assesses the leadership style of the man who defeated Napoleon. The Duke of Wellington’s victory at the Battle of Waterloo cemented his reputation as a great general, and much subsequent writing on his career has taken an uncritical, sometimes chauvinistic view of his talents. Little has been published that fully pins down the reality of Wellington’s leadership, clearly identifying his weaknesses as well as his strengths. George E. Jaycock, in this perceptive and thought-provoking reassessment, does not aim to undermine Wellington’s achievements, but to provide a more nuanced perspective. He clarifies some simple but fundamental truths regarding his leadership and his performance as a commander. Through an in-depth study of his actions over the war years of 1808 to 1815, the author reassesses Wellington’s effectiveness as a commander, the competence of his subordinates, and the qualities of the troops he led. His study gives a fascinating insight into Wellington’s career and abilities. Wellington’s Command is absorbing reading for both military historians and those with an interest in the Napoleonic period.

Wellington

Wellington PDF Author: Rory Muir
Publisher: Yale University Press
ISBN: 0300198604
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 693

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Book Description
The leading Wellington historian’s fascinating reassessment of the Iron Duke’s most famous victory and his role in the turbulent politics after Waterloo. For Arthur Wellesley, First Duke of Wellington, his momentous victory over Napoleon was the culminating point of a brilliant military career. Yet Wellington’s achievements were far from over: he commanded the allied army of occupation in France to the end of 1818, returned home to a seat in Lord Liverpool’s cabinet, and became prime minister in 1828. He later served as a senior minister in Peel’s government and remained commander-in-chief of the army for a decade until his death in 1852. In this richly detailed work, the second and concluding volume of Rory Muir’s definitive biography, the author offers a substantial reassessment of Wellington’s significance as a politician and a nuanced view of the private man behind the legend of the selfless hero. Muir presents new insights into Wellington’s determination to keep peace at home and abroad, achieved by maintaining good relations with the Continental powers and resisting radical agitation while granting political equality to the Catholics in Ireland rather than risk civil war. And countering one-dimensional pictures of Wellington as a national hero, Muir paints a portrait of a well-rounded man whose austere demeanor on the public stage belied his entertaining, gossipy, generous, and unpretentious private self. “[An] authoritative and enjoyable conclusion to a two-part biography.” —Lawrence James, Times (London) “Muir conveys the military, political, social and personal sides of Wellington’s career with equal brilliance. This will be the leading work on the subject for decades.” —Andrew Roberts, author of Napoleon and Wellington: The Long Duel

Wellington

Wellington PDF Author: Gordon Corrigan
Publisher: A&C Black
ISBN: 0826425909
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 432

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Book Description
The Duke of Wellington, the most successful of British commanders, set a standard by which all subsequent British generals have been measured. His defeat of Napoleon at Waterloo in 1815 crowned a reputation first won in India at Assaye and then confirmed during the Peninsular War, where he followed up his defence of Portugal by expelling the French from Spain. Gordon Corrigan, himself an ex-soldier, examines his claims to greatness. Wellington was in many ways the first modern general, combining a mastery of logistics with an ability to communicate and inspire. He had to contend not only with enemy armies but also with his political masters and an often sceptical public at home.

Notes of Conversations with the Duke of Wellington, 1831-1851

Notes of Conversations with the Duke of Wellington, 1831-1851 PDF Author: Earl Philip Henry Stanhope Stanhope
Publisher: London : J. Murray
ISBN:
Category : Great Britain
Languages : en
Pages : 372

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Book Description


Notes of Conversations with the Duke of Wellington 1831-1851

Notes of Conversations with the Duke of Wellington 1831-1851 PDF Author: Philip Henry, 5th Earl of Stanhope
Publisher: Pickle Partners Publishing
ISBN: 1908692359
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 388

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Book Description
The notes that the 5th Earl Stanhope collected during his intimate friendship with the 1st Duke of Wellington, form an interesting and entertaining addition to the publications of the period and in particular the character and thoughts of the Duke himself. They are chronologically organised, in almost diarised format, and are clearly contemporaneous, Stanhope avoids adding much input of his own to the text, leaving the Duke words to be recorded verbatim. Although published after the Duke’s death they are scrupulously cross-referenced with other publications such as the Croker Papers and the Greville memoirs which lends authenticity to the work. There is also a uniformity of character and phrase in the words that Wellington is quoted as saying, so as to lose none of their wit, verve, conservatism and in many cases severity of judgement. Stanhope, himself was no mean scholar, and a champion for the arts being a driving force behind the National Gallery in London. The text contains many insights into how Wellington viewed the world, his allies, and enemies, both political and on the field of battle. The anecdotes feature no less persons than the arch-schemer Prince Talleyrand, Prince Metternich, Field Marshal Blücher, Generals Gneisenau, Picton and Alava, the Royal families of Great Britain and France, Austria, Sir Robert Peel, Lord Castelreagh et al. Of particular interest are his views on the campaigns that made him famous and particularly of Napoleon; just to quote one example of the text 'I have heard, Sir, from military men that Napoleon's campaign to defend Paris was one of his most skilful?—"Excellent—quite excellent. The study of it has given me a greater idea of his genius than any other. Had he continued that system a little while longer, it is my opinion that he would have saved Paris. But he wanted patience—he did not see the necessity of adhering to defensive warfare.' Highly recommended Author – Philip Henry, 5th Earl Stanhope (30 January 1805 – 24 December 1875)

Spying for Wellington

Spying for Wellington PDF Author: Huw J. Davies
Publisher: University of Oklahoma Press
ISBN: 0806162147
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 329

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Book Description
Intelligence is often the critical factor in a successful military campaign. This was certainly the case for Arthur Wellesley, the Duke of Wellington, in the Peninsular War. In this book, author Huw J. Davies offers the first full account of the scope, complexity, and importance of Wellington’s intelligence department, describing a highly organized, multifaceted series of networks of agents and spies throughout Spain and Portugal—an organization that was at once a microcosm of British intelligence at the time and a sophisticated forebear to intelligence developments in the twentieth century. Spying for Wellington shows us an organization that was, in effect, two parallel networks: one made up of Foreign Office agents “run” by British ambassadors in Spain and Portugal, the other comprising military spies controlled by Wellington himself. The network of agents supplied strategic intelligence, giving the British army advance warning of the arrival, destinations, and likely intentions of French reinforcements. The military network supplied operational intelligence, which confirmed the accuracy of the strategic intelligence and provided greater detail on the strengths, arms, and morale of the French forces. Davies reveals how, by integrating these two forms of intelligence, Wellington was able to develop an extremely accurate and reliable estimate of French movements and intentions not only in his own theater of operations but also in other theaters across the Iberian Peninsula. The reliability and accuracy of this intelligence, as Davies demonstrates, was central to Wellington’s decision-making and, ultimately, to his overall success against the French. Correcting past, incomplete accounts, this is the definitive book on Wellington’s use of intelligence. As such, it contributes to a clearer, more comprehensive understanding of Wellington at war and of his place in the history of British military intelligence.

Charging Against Wellington

Charging Against Wellington PDF Author: Robert Burnham
Publisher: Casemate Publishers
ISBN: 1844684369
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 419

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Book Description
This comprehensive military history details the generals, organization and movements of Napoleon’s cavalry through the Peninsular War. In Charging Against Wellington, historian Robert Burnham draws on primary sources, manuals, memoirs, and regimental histories to reveal the experiences and activities of the French officers and soldiers who fought the British Army in Spain and Portugal. Burnham presents biographies of eighty French generals, focusing on their service in the Peninsula and its impact on their careers. Two become Marshals of France and many were promoted, while others saw their careers damaged in the conflict—including nine who were relieved from their commands. The author then examines the ever-changing organization of the cavalry, including the location and command of the various regiments and brigades. By April 1814, the Peninsula cavalry was down to 4,000 men, a shadow of the force that invaded six years before. Charging Against Wellington chronicles these changes, showing which units left and how their departure impacted the army. Finally, Burnham looks at the service record of the 70+ French cavalry regiments. There is a table for each that tracks the regiment’s colonels, composition, organization, strength, and casualties while in the Peninsula.

Official War History of the Wellington Mounted Rifles Regiment, 1914-1919

Official War History of the Wellington Mounted Rifles Regiment, 1914-1919 PDF Author: A. H. Wilkie
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Gaza, Battles of, Gaza, 1917
Languages : en
Pages : 356

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Book Description
WMR saw action as infantry on Gallipoli followed by mounted action in Sinai and Palestine to the end of the war. Text contains much detail plus Roll of Honour, a list of those wounded, and Decorations--abebooks website.