The Education of a Field Marshal :: Wellington in India and Iberia
Total Page：16
File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb
University of Massachusetts Amherst ScholarWorks@UMass Amherst Masters Theses 1911 - February 2014 1992 The education of a field am rshal :: Wellington in India and Iberia/ David G. Cotter University of Massachusetts Amherst Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarworks.umass.edu/theses Cotter, David G., "The ducae tion of a field marshal :: Wellington in India and Iberia/" (1992). Masters Theses 1911 - February 2014. 1417. Retrieved from https://scholarworks.umass.edu/theses/1417 This thesis is brought to you for free and open access by ScholarWorks@UMass Amherst. It has been accepted for inclusion in Masters Theses 1911 - February 2014 by an authorized administrator of ScholarWorks@UMass Amherst. For more information, please contact [email protected]. THE EDUCATION OF A FIELD MARSHAL WELLINGTON IN INDIA AND IBERIA A Thesis Presented by DAVID' G. COTTER Submitted to the Graduate School of the University of Massachusetts in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of MASTER OF ARTS May, 1992 Department of History Copyright by David G. Cotter 1992 All Rights Reserved ' THE EDUCATION OF A FIELD MARSHAL WELLINGTON IN INDIA AND IBERIA A Thesis Presented by DAVID G. COTTER Approved as to style and content by Franklin B. Wickwire, Chair )1 Mary B/ Wickwire 'Mary /5. Wilson Robert E. Jones^ Department Chai^r, History ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I am grateful to all in the History department at the University of Massachusetts, especially Professors Stephen Pelz, Marvin Swartz, R. Dean Ware, Mary Wickwire and Mary Wilson. I am particularly indebted to Professor Franklin Wickwire. He performed as instructor, editor, devil's advocate, mentor and friend. Thank you. iv TABLE OF CONTENTS Page ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS IV LIST OF MAPS Vll Chapter INTRODUCTION. ^ 1. TO COLONEL BY PURCHASE 4 Youth and Education 4 Early Career . e 2. APPRENTICESHIP IN INDIA Destination India 3^4 Portent of Greatness !!!!!!!! 21 Preparation and First Action !!!!25 A Sobering Reversal 38 Assaye 43 Journeyman General 54 3. MASTER OF THE DEFENSE 58 From India to Iberia 58 The Peninsular War, 1808-1814 63 The Defense: The Better Part of Valor 67 Talavera 71 Bussaco and Torres Vedras 76 Artillery 84 Master of the Defense 85 4. SIEGECRAFT IN THE PENINSULA 87 Siegecraf t : Wellington' s Achilles 87 Ciudad Rodrigo 91 The Third Siege of Badajoz 94 Burgos 102 5. THE CONSUMMATE FIELD MARSHAL 107 The Conclusion of the Peninsular War 107 Genius and Reason; An Uncommon Combination Ill Coalition Warrior 112 Tactics 114 Intel ligence 116 Wellington and his Staff 117 The Consummate Field Marshal 120 V ENDNOTES 122 BIBLIOGRAPHY 143 vi . LIST OF MAPS Map — Page 1 • India - ^ 2. Seringapatam 4q 3. Approaches to Assaye 46 4. Assaye ^-^ 5. Iberia 62 6 Talavera 73 7. Bussaco 32 8 Bada joz 95 9. Vitoria hq vii INTRODUCTION You think Wellington is a great general because you have been beaten by him. I tell you Wellington is a bad general . Napoleon 18 June 1815 Napoleon uttered those words to his chief of staff, Marshal Soult* on 18 June 1815, the morning of the battle of Waterloo. Mellowed but never cowed after his defeat at that battle. Napoleon eventually allowed that, as a field commander, Wellington was probably his equal, ". .with the advantage of having more prudence. Napoleon's later comments attest to an historical truth, that Field-Marshal the Duke of Wellington was an outstanding general, perhaps Britain's greatest field captain. At the time Napoleon Bonaparte faced the Duke of Wellington at Waterloo, the duke was the best military commander in the world. In full command of the time-proven elements of military success, the field marshal was also an innovator. He displayed an exceptional grasp of all aspects of campaign. A master of strategy, operations, tactics and logistics, he broke with the accepted norms of the profession to propose fitness regimens for his soldiers, and to pursue tirelessly the acquisition of supplies and materiel required for the well-being of his troops. One of *Marshal Nicolas Jean de Dieu Soult. Wellington's most unusually profitable qualities was his ability to coalesce winning armies from polyglot formations that operated under vastly differing systems and often spoke many different languages. Further, he dealt with the twin plagues of military operations, communication and transportation, before he ever faced an enemy. The duke's emphasis on protecting his soldiers by ensuring their welfare coupled with his extensive preparations before entering a conflict was the beginning of a British martial renaissance that continued throughout the nineteenth century. Soldiers will endure almost any hardship if their commander cares about them and leads them to victory. Wellington did just that, and inspired Captain John Kincaid's comment: "We would rather see his long nose in a fight than a reinforcement of ten thousand men any day."^ Of particular interest is the process of the duke's military education. He was certainly a man of intellect and keen insight, but commanders are made, not born. Like all late eighteenth century officers, Wellington had to acquire his expertise through study and experience. He applied himself to that task in his typical fashion and excelled beyond his colleagues to become a master of modern warfare. He set himself apart from his brother officers by his singular and total dedication to success. 2 There is no question that Sir Arthur Wellesley*, the Duke of Wellington, belongs to an exclusive cotillion of military masters that stand apart from and above most generals; a small pantheon peopled by the likes of Alexander, Caesar and Napoleon. My purpose is not to reiterate Wellington's exploits in order to glorify him. That has already been done, many times, by many others. The goal of this essay is to examine how the ". .quiet, dejected and observant" boy of twelve, obsessed with his violin, grew into the field marshal who defeated, most often in the face of superior numbers, the vaunted Imperial French army and, ultimately, Napoleon himself." *Born Arthur Wesley, he became Wellesley when his older brother, Richard, changed the family name to Wellesley in 1798. Arthur was not created Viscount Wellington until after the battle of Talavera in 1809. 3 CHAPTER 1 TO COLONEL BY PURCHASE Youth and Education Arthur Wesley was born in Dublin on 1 May 1769.^ His father, the second Lord Mornington, was an accomplished musician but a poor financial manager. The passive and unassuming youth took quickly to the music that his father brought to the home and by age twelve Arthur showed real promise on the violin. The Earl's early death in 1781 left the family ". .financially embarrassed" and the future duke without a patron for his musical endeavors.^ Arthur's mother, Lady Mornington, was much more pragmatic than her late husband and also less than fond of her middle son. According to one biographer. Sir Herbert Maxwell: "It is believed that she disliked Arthur as a boy, because of his slow, thick speech and dull manner, which gave him an air of stupidity."^ With the help and approval of Arthur's older brother, Richard, the Earl of Mornington, Lady Mornington situated Arthur at Eton. While not unsuccessful there, he showed no real promise and, as funds were short and there were other more promising sons to educate, she withdrew the future field marshal from Eton in the summer of 1784, bemoaning Arthur's mediocrity and 4 apparent lack of drive: "i don't know what I shall do with my awkward son Arthur."* As a youth, then, the future Duke of Wellington displayed none of the qualities that would so distinguish him in later life. Frustrated with her son's chronic underachievement and worried about his prospects. Lady Mornington complained that Arthur was ". .food for powder and nothing more."^ Accordingly, his mother began to steer him toward the military, though the least attractive of possible careers, by enrolling him in the Royal Academy of Equitation at Angers, in the present day department of Maine-et-Loire, France. This preparatory institution, an historic quasi-military school, continued the martial traditions of old. In addition to equestrian and fencing skills, the students also learned mathematics and humanities.^ At the Royal Academy the young student gained a working knowledge of French, a knowledge that would serve the future general well during his years facing Napoleon's armies. Further, Wesley developed socially from the almost painfully shy, lonely and clumsy youth into an engaging and dynamic young man. Moreover, pale and often sickly, at Angers he seems to have developed a more robust constitution. In short, he excelled. It was as though he had finally found his niche. The weak and diminutive young boy who had entered the academy at Angers left it in late 1786, a robust seventeen year old brimming with confidence and thoroughly steeped in the traditions of old Europe. When his mother first saw him she said: "I do not believe there is my ugly boy Arthur."^ Early Career Britain's army officer corps has long been a repository for the flotsam of the aristocracy, especially so in the latter eighteenth century. In this era a career in the army was a last resort for many of offspring of the high born. Entrance and promotion in the infantry and cavalry, based neither on merit nor seniority, depended on the candidate's ability to purchase a desired position and was, of course, subject to all manner of corruption. Only the Ordnance branches, artillery and engineers, differed, requiring formal education and promotion based solely on seniority.* Arthur Wesley entered into this system in 1787 when he acquired an ensign's commission in the 73rd Highland Regiment, purchased on his behalf by his older brother Richard.