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WELLINGTON, DUKE OF (1769-1852). Two great generals were born in 1769. One was Napoleon
Bonaparte; the other was his final conqueror, Arthur Wellesley, who became the first duke of Wellington. Arthur Wellesley
was born on May 1, 1769, in Dublin, Ireland, the fourth son of an Irish nobleman. He attended the preparatory school at
Chelsea and Eton College. Later he was sent to military school at Angers, France, for a year.
At 17 he entered the British army. Through the custom of purchasing commissions, he became a lieutenant colonel at 23,
but his later achievements justified his quick promotion. In the hill country of India from 1796 to 1805, he conquered
Mahratta chiefs who had sworn to drive the English into the sea. In making treaties that closed the war with these
tribes, he proved himself an able diplomat as well.
In 1805 he left India for the war with Napoleon in Europe. He won a notable victory in his first campaign on the
French-held Spanish peninsula, but the results were lost by incompetent superiors. In 1809 he returned as commander in
chief. In five years he drove Napoleon's generals from the Iberian Peninsula.
After Napoleon's first exile Wellington was in Paris as Britain's ambassador to the restored king of France.
Napoleon's escape from Elba sent Wellington back into military service. Finally at Waterloo, with the aid of Prussian
troops, Wellington met and vanquished Napoleon himself.
For years Wellington was one of the most influential men in all of Europe. As prime minister of Great Britain from
1828 to 1830, however, he was less successful. He was an aristocrat who failed to note the changing times. He dismissed
without consideration the demand for parliamentary reform and the extension of the right to vote as the work of
agitators. He was forced to resign and had to protect his house from a mob. When the angry passions of the times
subsided, people granted that Wellington, while not always an able statesman, had tried to do what he believed best for
the nation. He died at Walmer Castle in Kent, England, on Sept. 14, 1852.
WATERLOO, BATTLE OF, On June 18, 1815, Napoleon Bonaparte received a crushing military
defeat on the fields near the Belgian village of Waterloo, about 9 miles (14 kilometers) south of Brussels. Napoleon's
defeat ended 23 years of recurrent warfare between France and the other powers of Europe. The battle between Napoleon's
forces, which included 72,000 troops, and a combined Allied army of 113,000 British, Dutch, Belgian, and Prussian troops
was fought so hard that either side might have won. A heavy rain the evening before the battle forced Napoleon to delay
his attack. The delay cost him the battle.
Only three months before, Napoleon had slipped away from his island prison of Elba off the western coast of Italy.
When he returned to France his veteran soldiers flocked to rejoin him. He hurried northward, hoping to defeat his enemies
before they could unite against him.
Napoleon's plan was to get between the British and Dutch, who were grouped near Brussels, and the Prussians, who were
east of the road from Charleroi to Brussels. On June 16 French Marshal Michel Ney engaged the British at Quatre Bras,
while Napoleon crushed--as he thought--Field Marshal Gebhard L. von Blucher's Prussians at Ligny. After these battles
Napoleon ordered Marshal Emmanuel de Grouchy to follow the Prussians, and Napoleon turned his attention to the British.
Blucher, however, marched northward to the assistance of the duke of Wellington, the British commander, while Grouchy
wasted valuable time looking for the Prussians east of Ligny. It was at this point that Napoleon's plans began to fall
apart. The essence of his original strategy was surprise. The battle of Ligny was indecisive because Marshal Ney had
failed to send reinforcements that could have crushed the Prussian army. Then Napoleon made the false assumption that
Blucher would retreat to the northeast instead of heading northwest to link up with Wellington. Lastly, the element of
surprise was completely lost when Napoleon wasted the night of June 16 and the morning of the 17th without giving battle.
By the time he started, Wellington was ready for him.
The British, meanwhile, retreated from Quatre Bras to the village of Waterloo. Napoleon overtook them late on June 17.
Because of the heavy rain that night, he could not attack until the next morning. His artillery could not move until the
ground dried. He delayed the attack until 11:00 AM.
The ensuing battle raged for ten hours. Napoleon repeatedly threw his cavalry against the bayonet-wielding British
infantry. During one furious cavalry charge the French overran all the British artillery. Had the guns been destroyed or
at least made unusable at that time, the French cavalry might have won the battle. For a time it looked as though the
British ranks would give way under the onslaught.
Wellington eagerly awaited the help the Prussians had promised. Finally, late in the afternoon, Blucher and his men
arrived. Those few hours of delay in the morning had been decisive. The French made a last desperate attack but were
slowly overcome. By 9:00 PM the French defeat had become a rout. Napoleon lost
25,000 men killed and wounded and 9,000 captured. Wellington's casualties were 15,000 and Blucher's about
8,000.
On June 22, 1815, four days after the battle of Waterloo, Napoleon signed his second abdication in Paris. This ended
his rule in France forever
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