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General Interest 3
A landmark biography
revealing the real man
behind the heroic legend
inspired by the triumph at
Waterloo
The last harvest or British Threshers makeing French crops, 1808.
© The Trustees of the British Museum
October
672 pp. 234x156mm.
32 pp. illus., maps & plans
HB ISBN 978-0-300-18665-9 £30.00*
Wellington
The Path to Victory, 1769–1814
Rory Muir
The Duke of Wellington was Britain’s greatest soldier, whose victories
turned the tide of Napoleon’s conquests and played a crucial role in his
downfall. Wellington went on to be a major figure in British politics,
twice serving as Prime Minister. Often the centre of controversy, he was
at times feted and celebrated as a national hero, at others reviled in the
press and abused in the streets. He was a far more complicated man
than the paragon of virtue celebrated by Victorian biographers.
Rory Muir’s masterly new biography, the first of a two volume set, is
the result of thirty years research into the Duke of Wellington and his
times. The author brings Wellington into much sharper focus than ever
before, critically examining every aspect of his life from his unhappy
childhood, his baptism into British and Irish politics and his
remarkable successes in India, to the setbacks and triumphs of the
Peninsular War. This is the first biography to address the significance of
Wellington’s political connections and the way they both helped and
hindered his campaigns. The work also gives fresh insight into
Wellington’s character: his many strengths and the flaws that together
made him a complex and interesting man as well as a great soldier.
Rory Muir is visiting research fellow, University of Adelaide.
His previously published books include a highly praised study of
Wellington’s great triumph at Salamanca and the edited letters of
Alexander Gordon, Wellington’s confidential aide-de-camp.
Translation rights: A. M. Heath & Company, London