Wellington in India (Greenhill Military Paperback) (Greenhill Military Paperback) |
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Jac Weller
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Pages: 320 (Paperback)
ISBN: 1853673978
Pub: Greenhill Books
Pub date: 2000-04-15
Amazon.co.uk Sales Rank: 419337
Reader Reviews:
Excellent research on a less than well known period of his military career. (0/0 people found this helpful)
Something of a misnomer, as he was merely Arthur Wellesley in India.
But this is a minor criticism because this is the first book of a trilogy radically titled WELLINGTON IN INDIA, WELLINGTON IN THE PENINSULA, and WELLINGTON AT WATERLOO.
I must confess I read the last first. But this is because I do wargame that particular battle regularly.
The author is a real fan of ARTHUR, reading the trilogy you get to the conclusion he never put a foot wrong!, and that is I am afraid not true at all... even his flirtations with married women are branded with the comment "consenting husbands" attached to prove it was all right!.
Been serious, Arthur Wellesley made his teeth on military AND political affairs in India, his learnings on matters so important as transports and logistics are duly emphasized (to the limit... with the gratuitous comment that if HE would have been in command of the 1812 Russian campaign the French wouldn't have starved!...which is OUT OF FOCUS... he would never have tried such a stupid campaign at all!).
Mr. Weller overpraise him thoroughly, and in fact this is against the character itself, I must agree with him in the fundamental things thought:
Arthur Wellesley understood proper logistics and campaigning in an hostile land.
He was a master of diplomacy and cooperation with proud quasi enemies.
All the experience he acquired and bettered in the Peninsula served him well at Waterloo.
It is to his ever lasting merit the final defeat of Napoleon thanks to a pincer movement in which his Allied army was the anvil and the Prussian army the hammer. Without the Prussians promised help he wouldn't have fought at all at Waterloo. And it was a near run thing.
He was undoubtedly A VERY GOOD AND COMPLETE MODERN GENERAL by far advanced to his times...
But there is no need to debase Napoleon to eulogize Wellington, after all the former did produce a Civil Code of Law that was valid for nearly two hundred years.
But I digress, this book is very well crafted in an exhaustive American way, and can be recommended to anyone interested in where and how the future Duke of Wellington learned his trade.
A must read.
ADB
PS: Of course if you have read the three books of Sharpe in India, then you know a bit what to expect...
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Amazon.co.uk places this book into the following categories:
Books -> Subjects -> History -> Countries & Regions -> Asia -> General AAS
Books -> Subjects -> History -> General
Books -> Subjects -> History -> General AAS
Books -> Subjects -> History -> Britain & Ireland -> General AAS
Books -> Subjects -> History -> Military History -> General AAS
Books -> Refinements -> Language (feature_browse-bin) -> English
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