Wellington S Army Illustrated

AN HISTORICAL CLASSIC Wellington's Army is a classic history of Great Britain's Army during the Napoleonic Wars, by noted historian Charles Oman. DETAILS: Includes the Original Illustrations and Images of Wellington

Includes over 100 maps of the actions, engagements and battles of the entire Peninsular War. Whilst writing his magisterial The History of The Peninsular War, Sir Charles Oman gathered material that was to become Wellington’s Army. Into Wellington’s Army he gathered, as he says in his Preface, “much miscellaneous information which does not bear upon the actual chronicle of events in the various campaigns that lie between 1808 and 1814, but yet possesses high interest in itself, and throws many a side-light on the general course of the war ... these notes relate either to the personal characteristics of that famous old army of Wellington, which, as he himself said, ‘could go anywhere and do anything,’ or to its inner mechanism — the details of its management. I purport to speak in these pages of the leaders and the led; of the daily life, manners, and customs of the Peninsular Army, as much as of its composition and its organization. I shall be dealing with the rank and file no less than with the officers, and must even find space for a few pages on that curious and polyglot horde of camp followers which trailed at the heels of the army, and frequently raised problems which worried not only colonels and adjutants, but even the Great Duke himself.”

Charles Hamilton Smith's illustrations of soldiers of the British Army are a faithful and delightful record of how Wellington's troops were uniformed and equipped. Wellington's Army presents a collection of these sought after plates in a special, large format and provides a superb evocation of British military uniforms during the closing years of the Peninsular War and at the epic battle of Waterloo. The plates, drawn from life and completed in 1814, cover all the branches of service including line infantry; light infantry and rifles; heavy and light cavalry; general officers; foreign troops; artillery and engineers; and cadets and veterans. Each plate is accompanied by an incisive text by the leading expert on Wellington's troops - Philip Haythornthwaite - which discusses the unit in question, the uniform and its significant features. Wellington's Army also includes an extensive introduction analyzing the evolution of the British Army of the period and examining the colorful life of Charles Hamilton Smith.

This is a major series of books that provides the most authoritative information on the uniforms and equipment worn by the great armies of the past. Each book is written by a noted authority on the subject and is lavishly illustrated with over 150 color and black-and-white illustrations. Ian Fletcher describes the reality of life in Wellington's army, from the wear-and-tear on uniforms, to the equipment used by each unit.

This illustrated history presents a detailed overview of the British infantry’s organization, uniforms, and equipment during the Napoleonic Period. The years from 1800 to 1815 were one of the most glorious periods for the British Army—and the infantry was its backbone. Lavishly illustrated with color artwork, this book examines how the foot regiments evolved to absorb the lessons of defeat in America, transforming them into the efficient and dependable bedrock of victory in the Napoleonic Wars. Historian Gabriel Esposito details the uniforms, equipment, and weapons of the infantry, along with their organization and tactics. Chapters are devoted to the Guards, the line regiments of foot, the Light Infantry and Rifles, as well as Highland and Lowland Scots regiments. Esposito considers not only those units serving with Wellington in the Peninsular War and the Waterloo Campaign, but all British infantry units, including those in Canada, the West Indies, India and elsewhere—including the home defense Fencibles. Foreign units serving with the British army, most notably the King's German Legion, are also included.

At the beginning of the Napoleonic period, the British Army's record left something to be desired. During the Peninsular War (1808-1814), however, Wellington led and trained an army that never knew a major defeat on the field. Even Wellington himself described his army as "able to go anywhere or do anything." This book examines the formidable British Army which played an integral part in stalling Napoleon's advance, focusing on the staff, infantry, cavalry, artillery and sieges and sappers. Numerous illustrations, including eight color plates, vividly depict the weaponry and uniforms of Wellington's Peninsular Army.

Sir Charles William Chadwick Oman, KBE (1860-1946) was a British military historian. He was born in India, the son of a tea planater, and educated at Winchester College and Oxford University. In 1881 he was elected to a Prize Fellowship at All Souls College where he remained for the rest of his academic career, becoming the Chichele Professor of Modern History at Oxford in 1905. He served as President of the Royal Historical Society from 1917-21 and was employed by the government's Press Bureau and the Foreign Office during the First World War. From 1919-35 he was the Conservative MP for the University of Oxford constituency and was knighted in 1920. He was the author of numerous works on military history and his reconstructions of mediaeval battles from fragmentary accounts were considered pioneering. This book was first published in 1912 and is reprinted from the second impression of 1913. Illustrated with eight full-page plates.

In this, the last of a trio of volumes dealing with three great contemporary men of action, I have attempted to tell the story, in its main lines, of the crowded life of Wellington. The narrative provides as substantial a view of Wellington as is possible within the limits of my space, but I hope that readers of my book will be so interested that they will go on to the perusal of its companions, for the careers of Napoleon, Nelson, and Wellington should be studied together. They are the three sides of a triangle of which Napoleon is the base. The Duke’s career, when compared to the others, is “a plain, unvarnished tale,” not altogether devoid of romance, certainly not of adventure, but lacking in many of the qualities which have endeared less notable men. It would be obviously untrue to state that Wellington lacked humanity, but he was certainly deficient in that attractive personal magnetism so evident in Nelson. Speaking broadly, he did not repose that confidence in his subordinates which was one of the great sea-captain’s most marked characteristics, and he often said hard things of the men under him. Nelson is “the darling Hero of England”; Wellington will always be known as the Iron Duke. If it ever became the fashion to canonize military and naval men, Nelson’s nimbus would be of rosemary, Wellington’s of steel. The mob never broke the windows of Merton Place, but it shattered every exposed pane in Apsley House. The incident arose from8 his conscientious opposition to reform, and occurred in 1831, sixteen years after the battle of Waterloo. A little over a decade later, an immense mob cheered him as he proceeded up Constitution Hill. His acknowledgment was to point to the iron shutters of his house when he reached Hyde Park Corner. They had been put up after the bombardment by brickbats, and were never taken down during his lifetime. In a way, Wellington is the typical John Bull of our fancy. He gloried in an open-air life, he enjoyed sport, he was a man wedded to duty, stern and uncompromising once his mind was made up. We love to imagine that the average Briton displays the same characteristics, although we know at heart that he does not do so, and that the secret of our material success as a nation is our extraordinary power of absorption, of “setting our sail to every passing breeze,” of compromising provided we get the best of the bargain. This is how the Duke appeared to a foreigner, the Duchesse de Dino, Talleyrand’s niece: “He has a very exact memory, and never quotes incorrectly. He forgets nothing, and exaggerates nothing, and if his conversation is a little dry and military, it attracts by its fairness and perfect propriety. His tone is excellent, and no woman has ever to be on her guard against the turn that the conversation may take.” In later years Wellington’s memory failed somewhat. He was invariably precise, always a soldier, and never given to what is generally known as small talk. In a word, he commanded. A more intimate and less familiar view of Wellington is afforded us in the diary of Benjamin Robert Haydon, who painted the Duke’s portrait at Walmer Castle in the autumn of 1839. During breakfast, he tells us, “six dear, healthy, noisy children were brought to the windows. ‘Let them in,’ said the Duke, and in they came, and rushed over to him, saying, ‘How d’ye do, Duke? How d’ye do, Duke?’ One boy, young Grey,9 roared, ‘I want some tea, Duke!’ ‘You shall have it if you promise not to slop it over me, as you did yesterday.’ Toast and tea were then in demand. Three got on one side, and three on the other, and he hugged ’em all. Tea was poured out, and I saw little Grey try to slop it over the Duke’s frock coat. Sir Astley [Cooper] said, ‘You did not expect to see this.’ To be continue in this ebook...