HarperCollins Wellington, Non-Fiction, Paperback, Richard Holmes
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Price: £14.99
Brand: HarperCollins
Description: Richard Holmes, highly acclaimed military historian and broadcaster, tells the exhilarating story of Britain's greatest-ever soldier, the man who posed the most serious threat to Napoleon. The Duke of Wellington's remarkable life and extraordinary campaigns are recreated with Holmes' superb skill in this compelling book. HarperCollins Wellington, Non-Fiction, Paperback, Richard Holmes - shop the best deal online on thebookbug.co.uk
Category: Books
Merchant: Harper Collins
Product ID: 9780007137503
Delivery cost: Spend £20 and get free shipping
Dimensions: 129x198mm
Keywords: Sir Arthur Wellesley, Duke of Wellington
ISBN: 9780007137503
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Author: Nelson
Rating: 5
Review: There is no doubt about it, Richard Holmes was a splendid writer and has written a splendid book. Having read some works on the Napoleonic Wars I was unprepared to have the preconcieved nuances of my views on Wellington to be quite so challenged. I had carried the simplistic and certainly conventional thought that the Duke was really just an rather efficient logistician, who fought his war largely by calculating the odds and through exceptional organisation - all rather dull. At a personal level, it wasn't so much his affairs but the offhand treatment of his wife which one found a little challenging. Finally, reading about his political life, I had also found his "high" Tory views somewhat constricted. In short, I thought him a very able general, although a somewhat unlikeable individual. However, in 300 or so pages, Mr. Holmes has caused me to go back to my book shelves once again and reconsider my somewhat naive views. There are a number of thoughts I took away from this book, but perhaps the most worthy of consideration may be the following: 1) Wellington clearly was more than a great general in the context of the Penisular; He has to be considered a great general for the ages. It is said that he was a defensive, unimaginative and somewhat uninspirational leader - none of this can be true in the context of his outstanding military achievements in both India and the Penisular. Mr. Holmes does well to bring out the strengths which made him the genius he was and hopefully this goes some way to correcting two centuries of negative propaganda around his generalship. I particularly like Mr. Holmes' even-handed approach when dealing with controversies, particularly Badajoz (where it seems apparent he lost control of his troops) and Waterloo (where he was conflicted with national imperatives and the need to support his allies). 2) Touching on his personal life, I am glad Mr. Holmes did not feel the need to go into prurient details, but it was evident that Wellington had an unhappy marriage. How he coped with this seems to have at least involved discretion but what I think brought his humanity to the fore was his observations following his wife's death. Sadly, it also seems clear that his relationships with his children seemed somewhat poor - perhaps, to paraphrase Douro, because they all hard a terrifically hard act to follow. Beyond his family though, there does seem to be strong evidence that he was in fact warm hearted and generous behind the public facade. 3) As to his politics he comes across as man of the times working in a framework of principles, but at least did have the flexibility of mind to shift his position on various issues. His political career was not stellar in any real sense, but I think it hard to see his goverment service as anything but a good man trying, by his lights, to do what was right for the country and his monarch. In short, no review of mine can do justice to this excellent biography, but I just would have liked to thank Mr. Holmes for vividly showing the Duke to be a much more complex, gifited, humane, interesting and, (dare I say it since Holmes himself may not have agreed), likeable man than I had previously understood to be the case.
Author: Col Gadget
Rating: 3
Review: I bought this book and was disappointed to see that the website has attributed the book to the wrong author. There are 2 Richard Holmes, the one who actually wrote this book who was my Military History lecturer at Cranfield and another Richard Holmes, the one to which the book is ascribed on the website, who tends to write about English poets and writers. The mistake is repeated on Amazon on every book by the Military Historian Richard Holmes. The 'real' Richard Holmes in the picture had a mustache. Sadly he has passed away.
