Field Marshal Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington, was a British statesman, soldier, and Tory politician who was one of the leading military and political figures of 19th-century Britain, serving twice as prime minister of the United Kingdom. He is among the commanders who won and ended the Napoleonic Wars when the Seventh Coalition defeated Napoleon at the Battle of Waterloo in 1815.
The Peninsular War (1807–1814) was the military conflict fought in the Iberian Peninsula by Spain, Portugal, and the United Kingdom against the invading and occupying forces of the First French Empire during the Napoleonic Wars. In Spain, it is considered to overlap with the Spanish War of Independence.
Field Marshal FitzRoy James Henry Somerset, 1st Baron Raglan,, known before 1852 as Lord FitzRoy Somerset, was a British Army officer. When a junior officer, he served in the Peninsular War and the Waterloo campaign, latterly as military secretary to the Duke of Wellington. He also took part in politics as Tory Member of Parliament for Truro, before becoming Master-General of the Ordnance.
Duke of Wellington is a title in the Peerage of the United Kingdom. The name derived from Wellington in Somerset. The title was created in 1814 for Arthur Wellesley, 1st Marquess of Wellington, the Anglo-Irish military commander who is best known for leading the decisive victory with Field Marshal von Blücher over Napoleon's forces at Waterloo in Brabant. Wellesley later served twice as British prime minister.
General Sir John Coape Sherbrooke, was a British soldier and colonial administrator. After serving in the British army in Nova Scotia, the Netherlands, India, the Mediterranean, and Spain, he was appointed Lieutenant-Governor of Nova Scotia in 1811. During the War of 1812, his policies and victory in the conquest of present-day Maine, renaming it the colony of New Ireland, led to significant prosperity in Nova Scotia.
John Wilson Croker was an Anglo-Irish statesman and author.
The Battle of Assaye was a major battle of the Second Anglo-Maratha War fought between the Maratha Empire and the British East India Company. It occurred on 23 September 1803 near Assaye in western India. An outnumbered Indian and British force, under the command of Major General Arthur Wellesley, defeated the combined Maratha army of Daulatrao Scindia and the Bhonsle Raja of Berar. The battle was Wellesley's first major victory and the one he later described as his finest accomplishment on the battlefield, even more so than his more famous victories in the Peninsular War, and his defeat of Napoleon Bonaparte at the Battle of Waterloo.
The Battle of Talavera was fought just outside the town of Talavera de la Reina, Spain some 120 kilometres (75 mi) southwest of Madrid, during the Peninsular War. At Talavera, a British army under Sir Arthur Wellesley combined with a Spanish army under General Cuesta fought in operations against French-occupied Madrid. The French army withdrew at night after several of its attacks had been repulsed.
Gregorio García de la Cuesta y Fernández de Celis was a prominent Spanish general of the Peninsular War.
Sharpe's Eagle is a historical novel in the Richard Sharpe series by Bernard Cornwell, first published in 1981. The story is set in July 1809, in the midst of the Talavera Campaign during the Peninsular War. It was the first Sharpe novel published, but eighth in the series' chronological order.
Lieutenant-General Sir Colin Campbell was a British Army officer and colonial governor.
Events from the year 1809 in the United Kingdom.
Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington,, was one of the leading British military and political figures of the 19th century. Often referred to solely as "The Duke of Wellington", he led a successful military career in the Indian subcontinent during the Fourth Anglo-Mysore War (1798–99) and the Second Anglo-Maratha War (1803–1805), and in Europe during the Napoleonic Wars (1803–1815).
The Anglo-Portuguese Army was the combined British and Portuguese army that participated in the Peninsular War, under the command of Arthur Wellesley. The Army is also referred to as the British-Portuguese Army and, in Portuguese, as the Exército Anglo-Luso or the Exército Anglo-Português.
The Battle of Arzobispo on 8 August 1809 saw two Imperial French corps commanded by Marshal Jean-de-Dieu Soult launch an assault crossing of the Tagus River against a Spanish force under José María de la Cueva, 14th Duke of Alburquerque. Alburquerque's troops rapidly retreated after suffering disproportionate losses, including 30 artillery pieces. El Puente del Arzobispo is located 36 kilometres (22 mi) southwest of Talavera de la Reina, Spain. The action occurred during the Peninsular War, part of a larger conflict known as the Napoleonic Wars.
The Battle of Puerto de Baños saw a Portuguese-Spanish column led by Robert Wilson attempt to defend a mountain pass against Marshal Michel Ney's VI Corps. After a nine-hour combat, Wilson's force broke up and scattered into the mountains. Baños de Montemayor is located about 45 kilometres (28 mi) northeast of Plasencia, Spain. The clash occurred during the Peninsular War, part of a larger struggle known as the Napoleonic Wars.
The Royal Waggon Train was the name originally given to the Supply and Transport branch of the British Armed Forces, which would eventually become the Royal Logistic Corps.
A battalion of detachments is a term used to refer to battalion-sized units of the British Army formed from personnel drawn from several parent units. They were used to temporarily collect together detached companies or individual stragglers into more manageable-sized formations for logistics purposes or to provide additional fighting forces. Two longer-term battalions were raised by Arthur Wellesley in 1809 for service in the Peninsular War. These comprised stragglers left behind following the British withdrawal at Corunna and saw action in the Oporto and Talavera campaigns before they were disbanded and the men returned to their regiments. Though effective on the battlefield criticism was made of their discipline in camp and on the march and there was concern over the impact on manpower in their parent regiments. Other battalions of detachments were later formed in the field from British and foreign units in the peninsula and during the Walcheren Campaign. Three units of British line infantry were formed from depots in England in 1814 but saw no action before the hostilities ceased after the Treaty of Paris. Similar units were employed as late as the 1857 Indian Mutiny.
The Fort of Subserra, also known as the Fort of Alhandra, is situated at 142 metres above sea level close to Alhandra in the municipality of Vila Franca de Xira in the Lisbon District of Portugal. Together with other smaller redoubts and batteries that also had the Subserra name, it was built during the Peninsular War (1807–14) as part of the first line of defence of the Lines of Torres Vedras planned by Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington to protect the Portuguese capital of Lisbon and, if necessary, his own retreat.
Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington, died on 14 September 1852, aged 83. He was the commander of British forces and their allies in the Peninsular War and at the Battle of Waterloo, which finally ended the Napoleonic Wars, and served twice as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom. Although Wellington's political career had led to his unpopularity because of his opposition to the Great Reform Act, in old age it was his military career which was remembered and he was revered as a national hero. His state funeral on 18 November at St Paul's Cathedral in London was the grandest of any in Britain during the 19th century.
