Beschrijving

The Duke of Wellington’s years of the sword ended abruptly while he was still in his prime. Weeping for the dead of Waterloo, he prayed he had fought his last battle. So he had; it might be supposed that the rest of his career would prove to be one long aftermath. Yet such was the power of this extraordinary man to propel himself into the path of great events that the second half of his active life was as eventful as the first–and, as a subjective story that rocketed between the zenith and the nadir of fortune, it was unique. If he was indeed the Iron Duke, it was iron which had been returned again and again to the fire.

Wellington was in one sense a ready-made \