Perhaps with the exception of Churchill, England has produced no

more a remarkable man of action than the Duke of Wellington, who

put an end to the Napoleonic Wars at Waterloo—nearly six million

dead and twenty-three years after France’s mad genius first

declared war against Austria in 1792. He was as effective an

organizer and logistician as Lords Roberts, Wolseley, and

Kitchener. But unlike his successors he crafted a method of war

for his times that transcended the theater of his command, and so

could prove as deadly to European adversaries as to colonials.

Born Arthur Wesley to a shaky aristocratic family (which later

changed the spelling to Wellesley), the future duke showed no

unusual talent as a student. His early military commissions were

the results of purchase and family connections, culminating in a

command in India granted largely through the interventions of his

talented brother Richard, the Governor-General. Indeed, after

borrowing to buy a captaincy, majority, and colonelcy, he found

himself in debt to almost everyone from close family members to

his boot maker.

Yet when he was at last in a position of authority, Wellington

immediately showed the hallmark signs of brilliance that would

characterize the next twenty years of his military career,

resulting in the costly, but dazzling victory over the Marathas

at Assaye, followed by further wins at Argaum and Gawlighur