Wellington: The Path to Victory 1769-1814 (Volume 1) by Rory Muir (PDF)

Description

A landmark contribution to understanding the real man behind the heroic legend inspired by the triumph at Waterloo The Duke of Wellington was not just Britain’s greatest soldier, although his seismic struggles as leader of the Allied forces against Napoleon in the Peninsular War deservedly became the stuff of British national legend. Wellington was much more: a man of vision beyond purely military matters, a politically astute thinker, and a canny diplomat as well as lover, husband, and friend. Rory Muir’s masterful new biography, the first of a two-volume set, is the fruit of a lifetime’s research and discovery into Wellington and his times. The author brings Wellington into much sharper focus than ever before, addressing his masterstrokes and mistakes in equal measure. Muir looks at all aspects of Wellington’s career, from his unpromising youth through his remarkable successes in India and his role as junior minister in charge of Ireland, to his controversial military campaigns. With dramatic descriptions of major battles and how they might have turned out differently, the author underscores the magnitude of Wellington’s achievements. The biography is the first to address the major significance of Wellington’s political connections and shrewdness, and to set his career within the wider history of British politics and the war against Napoleon. The volume also revises Wellington’s reputation for being cold and aloof, showing instead a man of far more complex and interesting character.

User’s Reviews

Editorial Reviews: Review “Muir’s painstaking recital of facts and descriptions of battles will delight military buffs.”—Lawrence James, The Times”The first major Life of Wellington since Elizabeth Longford’s work of 1969-72, Rory Muir’s biography is matched by an extensive commentary online (at www.lifeofwellington.co.uk). Muir comes to his task after long research on the wars against Napoleon, from both political and military perspectives . . . giv[ing] us an exceptional insight into the struggle, the changes that were necessary to sustain British forces, and the impact made by determined and ambitious individuals.”—Chris Woolgar, Times Literary Supplement”Mr. Muir provides an authoritative view . . . an important book.”—Max Hastings, The Wall Street JournalWon Second place in the 2014 International Napoleonic Society book award”A biography of Wellington that far outclasses all its numerous competitors and will be enjoyed by specialists and general readers alike: truly a splendid achievement.”—Charles Esdaile, author of Napoleon’s Wars: An International History, 1803-1815″This deeply researched and brilliantly written book supersedes all previous work on the subject. A masterpiece.”—Tim Blanning, author of The Pursuit of Glory: Europe, 1648-1815 About the Author Rory Muir is visiting research fellow, University of Adelaide. His previously published books include a highly praised study of Wellington’s great triumph at Salamanca and the edited letters of Alexander Gordon, Wellington’s confidential aide-de-camp. He lives in Australia.

Reviews from Amazon users which were colected at the time this book was published on the website:

⭐This is one of the best biographies I have read from any era, really enjoyed the balance Muir draws between the narrative drive and his awareness of the source material (and accompanying issues). Will certainly be recommending this.

⭐”Wellington: The Path To Victory, 1769-1814”, the new biography of the Duke of Wellington by Rory Muir, is simply put the best biography of the Iron Duke now available. It supersedes any previous bios and is a prime example of how biography should be written. Although a massive tome (744 pages in the print edition) it is still only the first book of a two-volume set, the fruit of a lifetime’s research and discovery into Wellington and his times by author Rory Muir.As the author noted in his preface, Wellington was not, in the usual sense of the phrase, “a political soldier”, but both politics and the army were intimately entwined throughout his career, from the very beginning until the end. He was a Member of Parliament before he saw a shot fired in anger; when he died (1852) he was both Commander-in-Chief of the army and an elder statesman of the Conservative Party in the House of Lords.This has led author Muir to write a two-volume biography that is a thorough reassessment of Field Marshal Wellington’s entire life from the cradle to the grave and in which three strands are constantly entwined: Wellington’s own actions and perspective; the history of his military campaigns and the political debates in which he was engaged; and the way he was perceived by his contemporaries, or the history of his reputation, which was itself a significant influence on his life and actions.”The Path To Victory, 1769-1814″ covers the first forty-five years of his life. Alas, for the Battle of Waterloo (1815), Wellington’s crowning glory, we will have to wait for volume two. Rory Muir shows that the 1st Duke of Wellington, arguably, the greatest and most successful of all British generals, was a far more complicated man than the Victorian image of this national hero, the cold and haughty aristocrat nick-named the “Iron Duke”, would let us believe.The book has 34 chapters, divided over four parts, which take the reader from his birth in 1769 and an unsettled childhood to Toulouse and the end of the (Peninsular) War in 1814. Although the battles inevitably take center stage from chapter six on, the author meanwhile examines the many strengths and the flaws that together made him a complex and interesting man as well as a great soldier.Muir’s thirty years’ research into the Duke of Wellington and his times, has debunked many myths concerning the Iron Duke. This author also pays attention to periods in Wellington’s life that have been skipped over by other biographers (take for example the years between his return from India and the beginnings of the Peninsular War, covered in chapters 11-14 in this book) more interested in his military history, as well as a host of other elements of both his public career and private life that never before have received detailed scrutiny.To give a few examples: Although regularly attributed to him in dictionaries of quotations, Wellington never mentioned that “the battle of Waterloo was won on the playing fields of Eton”; that quip was invented by the French journalist Charles Montalembert three years after Wellington’s death.And there’s the oft-used quote (also used as title of this review): two privates when ordered to march of by one of Wellington’s staff, said they knew who it was that ordered: “`Atty the long-nosed bugger that beats the French”, while the original source reads: “It was that long-nosed beggar that licks the French.”To sum it up: this is an eminently readable book that provides an incredible amount of new information on Wellington and, while especially the military campaigns are exactingly detailed, never gets bogged down. Rory Muir, one of the leading authors on the subject of the Napoleonic Wars, managed to hold my interest throughout the narrative. Recommended!Although a massive tome, it should be noted that “only” 65% of the book is text. The last 35% of this volume is taken up with a brief chronology of Wellington’s life and career to 1814; the extensive endnotes, and a wide-ranging bibliography and index.The book is also lavishly illustrated: it has 66 illustrations, both in color and in black & white and with extensive captions, as well as 26 maps of his campaigns and battles. These maps provide the only major point of criticism: most of these are “satellite-view” charts of where the battles took place, not military-style maps of the battles itself. Had these also been provided, would have really put “the icing on the cake”, so to speak.Volume 2: Waterloo and the Fortunes of Peace, 1814-1852 will be available in spring 2015, and I am eagerly awaiting this sequel, which will cover Waterloo and the remaining years of Wellington’s (political) life until his death in 1852.Now for the added value provided by the author, which raises this book to Five Star Plus status if possible to award: the website is mentioned in the book, but search online for “life of wellington rory muir” and you’ll discover the UK website that is home to the accompanying Commentary of this biography. In his research, Muir made many interesting discoveries which, for reasons of space, can only be touched on briefly in the biography. This extensive Commentary (about the same length as the main narrative) is available to read online and as a free download. As Muir notes on this website: the Commentary adds a third layer to historical writing: a parallel text that elaborates, divagates and illuminates, and whose online format makes it easy to search and explore.For further reading on the Napoleonic Wars, I recommend:: “Redcoat: The British Soldier in the Age of Horse and Musket” by Richard Holmes, “The Spanish Ulcer: A History of the Peninsular War” by David Gates and “Britain Against Napoleon: The Organization of Victory, 1793-1815” by Roger Knight.

⭐This is a fantastic book and seems to be pretty exhaustive. That said, there is hardly anything about Wellington’s childhood or younger life. The author works around that to the best of his abilities and uses contemporary information from the era to connect the dots when there is nothing specific to Wellington.Great picture sections that depict the major players at this stage in his life. This book will take you up to the end of the war and the Battle of Toulouse. I thought this was an interesting place to stop the first volume. Like a lot of people I always associate Waterloo as the real end of the war although I know it was a post-treaty engagement. In any case, Muir has saved one last battle for the second volume.As a recovering Catholic I greatly enjoyed the section of the book covering Wellington’s time as Chief Secretary for Ireland. The quotes Muir chooses in this book show a man with incredible strength of will but also flashes of compassion and humor. I will admit that Muir seems hesitant to criticize The Duke and there is a certain element of hero worship in the book. That said, how could there not be? Arthur Wesley (as he started out life) was a pretty good example of a self-made man in a lot of ways. He had family connections and was definitely among the economic 1% of his time, but his early life (continuing into his late 20s) wasn’t defined by security. There seemed to be little love and support and his upward trajectory was interrupted with extraordinary disappointments.The book is a treasure chest of behind the scenes politics and gave me an excellent sense of the men who ruled the British Empire and how they made their decisions. This book isn’t just a fascinating look at the first half of Wellington’s career, it is a reference book for anyone curious about the development of the British Empire and how the war with France consolidated and expanded their political and economic reach.I eagerly await volume 2.

⭐It’s been a generation since Elizabeth Longford’s two volume biography of the first Duke of Wellington. Napoleonic wars scholar Rory Muir clearly intends to improve on that mark. The first volume, “Wellington: The Path to Victory, 1769-1814” is certainly a page-turning treat for keen students of the man and the era.Muir has done his research. The comprehensive narrative follows Arthur Wellesley from birth through his youth, his formative military experiences in India, and his career-making leadership of a legendary Anglo-Portuguese Army in the Peninsular War, ending with his triumphant return from France in 1814. Along the way, Muir offers both detail and perspective on Wellington’s career and his personal development. His commentary is blunt but fair: the future Duke was an ambitious young Army officer, not above pulling strings to get ahead. But Wellington was also a gifted military professional in the modern sense of that word, a master of tactics, logistics, and intelligence, and a dedicated public servant.The battle narrative is mostly at a campaign level of perspective; Muir does not refight the Peninsular War. The insightful chapter “Life at Headquarters”, late in the book, offers some intriguing perspectives into the mature Wellington in his early forties. The text is enhanced by a thoughtful selection of maps and illustrations. The next volume, just out this year, will cover the climactic Waterloo Campaign and the Duke’s long political career after Waterloo. Highly recommended.

⭐Wellington: The Path to Victory by Rory Muir is a fascinating and in depth book looking at the first part of Arthur Wellesley’s, the Duke of Wellington, life. This book, unlike many other’s that have been written over the years does not split his life between his career in the military and his political life, but looks at his life in whole and how both sides interacted with each other.We get the full story of his life from his youth (which there is not much known about) to being sent into the army (as an officer) by his mother as he did not show much aptitude for anything, His early years in the army were served as one of the aide de camp for the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, where the future Iron Duke, spent a lot of time drinking and having various liaisons with women, which may have resulted in the birth of an illegitimate child. During this time he also served as a member of the Irish Parliament where he served as a quiet supported of the government Wellesley first saw action in the 1794 expedition against the French in the Netherlands, which ended in disaster for the British. Wellesely next ended up in India, having a need to leave Britain to try and improve his fortune, having been unable to secure any lucrative posts in the Irish government (Wellesely was getting deeper in debt, living a lifestyle beyond his means) and having been rejected by the Family of Kitty Pakenham, for lacking good future prospects.In India, Wellesley managed to achieve a degree of success and fame, helped partial by the fact that his eldest brother was soon to become the Lord Governor of India. Wellesley took part in several successful campaigns and served as governor of the newly conquered province of Mysore. Having had his fill of India and seeing his career stalling, Wellesley returned to England where he made friends with influential members of the government, and ended up serving as a member of the British Parliament and as Chief Secretary of Ireland. Back in England, Wellesley continued to rise through the ranks and served in the Danish campaign where he performed admirable, until he ended up in the Pennisula war where he would become the chief commander of forces there, which threw the French out of Portugal and Spain.This is a very interesting and well written book about the first (and more famous) part of Wellesley/Wellington’s life. It was insightful, as I had no idea just how closely tied the Political and Military aspects of his career were. It also showed me another point, that Wellington had a habit of playing on his connections (by no means something unique to him, most officers of the British army played upon any connection they might have to those in a position of power), if he did not like where he was, or how his commanders were performing, he would complain and where possible, leave, something which I had no idea about before reading this. Rory Muir did an excellent job of trying to remain unbiased towards the man to give a warts and all picture of Wellington, which on the whole he mostly succeeded at. This book is readable for both the general reader and also those with a greater passion for the subject. Definitely worth a read

⭐An excellent second volume of Rory Muirs biography of Wellington. It starts well covering with the short peace of 1814 and then capturing the drama of the Waterloo campaign brilliantly. I found the section on early stages of Wellingtons political career slightly heavy going, with a seeming emphasis on long quotes and extracts. That said, the book quickly recovers its earlier focus and ease of reading and the last 300 pages, covering some of the most dramatic moments of early-mid Nineteenth Century fly by and are, in truth, hard to put down.In this and the earlier volume, Rory Muir has succeeded in creating a detailed, yet balanced, portrait of one of the miss important people in British history. Both books are highly recommended.

⭐I found the book fascinating, well written, and easy to read. The book was not just a window on the life of Wellington, but also provided insight into the society of which he was a member, and the political system of that time. Above all, I was in awe of the author’s knowledge of his subject. If you haven’t read a book on Wellington before, then buy this one.Read this

⭐This is detailed and substantial biography which paints a vivid picture of its subject. The chapters on the Peninsular War do not break much new ground, but the account of Wellington’s earlier years does. I look forward to the second volume.

⭐An excellent review of Wellington…not known by me. I’m brimful of knowledge about the great Man…The Author has done a magnificent job in his 2 volumes over 30 years.

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