Wellington

by Elizabeth Longford

The archetype of the stern, silent Englishman dedicated to his duty, the Duke of Wellington had all the subtlety and variety of genius. WELLINGTON uncovers the sensitive child of Irish aristocrats pushed into the army, making his name in India before returning to lead the Allied Armies to victory against Napoleon in the Peninsular War and at Waterloo. Swapping battlegrounds for political minefields, Wellington emerges as a conservative Tory Prime Minister of a country demanding every variety of reform. Many strands gradually come together in his character, to make at last the ideal he had always held out for himself; 'the retained servant of king and people'.
WELLINGTON triumphantly succeeds in revealing an unforgettable, appealing and very human character. Magisterial, vivid, exhaustively researched, sympathetic yet balanced, rich in personal details but scholarly too. Elizabeth Longford's classic biography was greeted with a storm of acclaim.

Genres: History, Biography, Nonfiction, Military Fiction, British Literature, Biography Memoir

896 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1970

About the author

Elizabeth (Harman) Pakenham, Countess of Longford, CBE was born on 30 August 1906. She was the daughter of Nathaniel Bishop Harman. She married Sir Francis Aungier Pakenham, 7th Earl of Longford, KG, PC, son of Thomas Pakenham, 5th Earl of Longford and Lady Mary Julia Child-Villiers, on 3 November 1931. She died on 23 October 2002.
Her married name became Pakenham.

The Elizabeth Longford Prize for Historical Biography was established in 2003 in memory of Elizabeth Longford (1906-2002), the British author, biographer and historian. The £5,000 prize is awarded annually for a historical biography published in the preceding year. The Elizabeth Longford Prize is sponsored by Flora Fraser and Peter Soros and administered by the Society of Authors.

Reviews

[Trina · Rating 2 out of 5]

This abridgment does scant justice to the man Arthur Wellesley and even less to his military genius. It sucks all the life out of the story, leaving just names and places of famous campaigns and victories. Wellington's second career as a political leader is beyond boring. Maybe her 2-vol. biography is better. But if you want to know what it was like to be a soldier in Wellington's army, you're better off reading the Sharpe series by Bernard Cornwell, which follows all the battles - from the Tippoo of India to Napoleon at Waterloo - under command of The Peer, as Wellesley was called by his men, whom he tended to look down on as "the scum of the earth", none more so than the rifleman Richard Sharpe, who rises through the ranks to become an officer in the British army despite his low-born beginnings. If you want to see what became of Wellington, as he came to be known, watch for him in the Masterpiece Theatre series "Victoria". There his iron will comes up against a much stronger will in Her Majesty the Queen.

[Chris · Rating 2 out of 5]

I came to this book after watching the 1990s UK TV series 'Sharpe' that tracks as corporal Sharpe rises through the ranks in Wellington's army during the Peninsula Wars. I expected deeper details about Arthur Wellesley (Duke of Welington) but the book did not serve it. It is quick glance at the life of Wellington without any particular in depth details. I suppose that's what a pocket biography ought to do.

[Trish · Rating 3 out of 5]

Combined edition of Elizabeth Longford's two-part biography of the Duke of Wellington. Very readable. Interesting insight into one of Britain's greatest generals.

[Lynne · Rating 2 out of 5]

Wow - really not for the average history reader. Way too much detail, I didn't really care about. Didn't even finish the book.

[Susie Schroeder · Rating 5 out of 5]

Superb first volume of Longford's relative the Duke of Wellington