Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington

**Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington**, KG, GCP, GCH, PC, FRS( 1 may 1769-14 September 1852 ) was an Anglo-Irish general and Tory politician who served as Prime minister of the United Kingdom from 1828 to 1830 and again in 1834. He is most known for having defeated Napoleon at the Battle of Waterloo. Wellesley was born in Dublin Ireland into an aristocratic Anglo-Irish protestant family. He was the son of Garret Wellesley and his wife Anne Wellesley. Wellesley spent most of his childhood in the two homes owned by his father. In 1781, the same year his father died he attended Eton College in England where he was largely unsuccessful and lonely. Due a lack of funds as a result of his fathers death Wellesley and his mother were forced to move to Brussels. In 1786 Wellesley enrolled into the French royal academy in anger where he would learn French and horse riding. Wellesley was unable to get a job despite having promised his mother he would and so he asked his brother Richard if he was able to get him a job in the military. On 7 March 1787 he was made an ensign in the 73rd foot regiment. In October he was made aide-de-camp to the lord lieutenant of Ireland, lord Buckingham. He would later be transferred to 76th regiment before being promoted to lieutenant. On 25 June 1789 Wellesley was yet again transferred to 12th regiment of dragoons. In 1791 he was transferred a third time to the 58th foot regiment as a captain. It was around this time he became interested in Catherine Pakenham and proposed but was declined by her brother. He would become a major in the 33rd regiment( by purchase ) and later lieutenant-colonelcy which he also purchased, using a loan given to him by his brother. In June of 1794 Wellesley and the 33rd regiment were sent to the Netherlands as part of the Flanders campaign during the war of the first coalition aimed at invading France and reaching Paris. Wellesley would fight his first battle on 15 September 1794, the battle of boxtel. As part of the allied retreat the 33rd held off French cavalry and held a Defense line along the waal river. The 33rd faced major losses mostly from the harsh weather. The campaign ended in disaster for the allies but Wellesley learned many important lessons from it. He returned to England in March of 1795. The 33rd regiment was sent to India where Wellesley was prompted to full colon. The regiment arrived in India in February 1797. In 1798 the fourth Anglo-Mysore war broke out with goal of expanding the influence of the British East India Company. Wellesley was ordered to attack the Mysore sultan Tipu. Due to the Mysore use of rockets Wellesley was nearly defeated at the battle of Sultanpet. Wellesley also fought along side general Harris at the battle of mallavely. During the battle of Seringapatam on 5 April 1799 Wellesley launched a night attack on The village of sultanpettah to clear way for artillery. As a result of the darkness and good enemy defences the attack failed. Wellesley received a minor knee injury during the attack. Wellesley would learn from the attacks failure to never attack well prepared enemy defences. Wellesley would return to England in March 1805. In May 1807 war against Denmark-Norway broke out with Wellesley commanding an infantry brigade during the battle of Copenhagen. Wellesley captured 1,000 prisoners during the battle of Koge. By September he had returned to Britain but would later be sent to Portugal to fight in the peninsular war. Once he got to Portugal he defeated the French at Roliça and Vimeiro but Napoleon would came done to Spain in person with the goal of crushing the revolts. Wellesley would return to Britain for a brief time before returning to Portugal where he was commander of all forces in Portugal. Following his victory at the battle of Porto Wellesley advanced his forces into Spain where he defeated the French at battle of talavera and was made the viscount Wellington. Wellesley continued to fight the French in Iberia until 1814 following Napoleons defeat in the war of the sixth coalition. On 26 February 1815 Napoleon returned to France beginning the war of the seventh coalition with Wellesley being sent to Belgium and meet up with the Prussian army. He defeated Napoleon at the battle of quatre brass but Napoleon would win the battle of ligny against the Prussians. Wellesley would confront Napoleon yet again at the small village of Waterloo. Wellesley defeated Napoleon once and for all at the battle of Waterloo ending the Napoleonic wars. Following his victory over Napoleon Wellesley entered into politics and along side Robert peel became prime minister of the United Kingdom. Wellesley would be kicked out of office due to a vote of no confidence. He became interim prime minister in 1834 when prime minister Robert peel was in Italy. Wellesley retired from politics in 1846 and died on 14 September 1852.