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

Get Book Here

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.

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.

Wellington's Legacy

Wellington's Legacy PDF Author: Hew Strachan
Publisher: Manchester University Press
ISBN: 9780719009945
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 322

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Book Description


Wellington's Men in Australia

Wellington's Men in Australia PDF Author: C. Wright
Publisher: Springer
ISBN: 0230306039
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 251

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Book Description
An exploration of the little-known yet historically important emigration of British army officers to the Australian colonies in the aftermath of the Napoleonic Wars. The book looks at the significant impact they made at a time of great colonial expansion, particularly in new south Wales with its transition from a convict colony to a free society.

Wellington in the Peninsula, 1808–1814

Wellington in the Peninsula, 1808–1814 PDF Author: Jac Weller
Publisher: Casemate Publishers
ISBN: 1783830883
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 613

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Book Description
The author of Wellington at Waterloo delivers an in-depth history of the military commander’s tactics and strategy in the Peninsular War. After gaining strategic and tactical experience in Colonial India, Arthur Wellesley went to battle against French forces in the Peninsular War. With his decisive victories there, he ascended to the peerage of the United Kingdom as the 1st Duke of Wellington. Inthis volume, historian Jac Weller delivers a complete account of Wellington’s career on the Iberian Peninsula, covering all the battles in which he took part. Talavera, The battles of Busaco, Salamanca and Vitoria are among the famous conflicts Weller brings to life in the lively chronicle, combining meticulous research with extensive visits to the historic battlefields. Supplementing his accessible narrative with photographs, Weller demonstrates how this great commander finally achieved victory after six years of battle against Napoleon’s army.

Wellington's Peninsular War

Wellington's Peninsular War PDF Author: Julian Pagnet
Publisher: Pen and Sword
ISBN: 1844152901
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 309

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Book Description
Wellington's Peninsular War provides a concise and comprehensive account that can be enjoyed by both professional and amateur historians and which includes details of the battlefields as they are today and how to find and explore them. The Peninsular War (1808-1841) was part of the twenty year struggle against Napoleon Bonaparte that involved campaigns in Europe, the Middle East, Russia, the West Indies, South America and South Africa and until 1914 was known as 'The Great War'. The author has presented a balanced picture of the whole campaign and gives due credit to the Spanish and Portuguese efforts without which victory would not have been possible. Arranged in sections, the author starts with a review of the whole war and the background to it and follows with a complete chronological account of the war year by year. Finally a chapter on each of the major battles includes maps and photographs of the battlefields, orders of battle and instructions on how to find the battlefield today and what to see there. The maps show the ground as it was at the time but also include modern features to identify where the fighting took place enabling the reader to stand where Wellington would have stood when surveying the battlefield.

The Other Armada

The Other Armada PDF Author: Alfred Temple Patterson
Publisher: Manchester University Press
ISBN:
Category : Anglo-French War, 1778-1783
Languages : en
Pages : 270

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Book Description


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

Nathan Mayer Rothschild and the Creation of a Dynasty

Nathan Mayer Rothschild and the Creation of a Dynasty PDF Author: Herbert H. Kaplan
Publisher: Stanford University Press
ISBN: 9780804751650
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 234

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Book Description
The story of how Nathan Mayer Rothschild financed Wellington's victory over Napoleon at Waterloo.

The Men Who Planned the War

The Men Who Planned the War PDF Author: Paul Harris
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1134808178
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 199

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Book Description
During the Allied victory celebrations there were few who chose to raise a glass to the staff. The high cost of casualties endured by the British army tarnished the reputation of the military planners, which has yet to recover. This book examines the work and development of the staff of the British army during the First World War and its critical role in the military leadership team. Their effectiveness was germane to the outcome of events in the front line but not enough consideration has been paid to this level of command and control, which has largely been overshadowed by the debate over generalship. This has painted an incomplete picture of the command function. Characterised as arrogant, remote and out of touch with the realities of the front line, the staff have been held responsible for the mismanagement of the war effort and profligate loss of lives in futile offensives. This book takes a different view. By using their letters and diaries it reveals fresh insights into their experience of the war. It shows that the staff made frequent visits to the front line and were no strangers to combat or hostile fire. Their work is also compared with their counterparts in the French and German armies, highlighting differences in practice and approach. In so doing, this study throws new light upon the characteristics, careers and working lives of these officers, investigating the ways in which they both embraced and resisted change. This offers evidence both for those who wish to exonerate the British command system on the basis of the learning process but also for those critical of its performance, thus advancing understanding of British military history in the First World War.