History UsefulNotes / TheDukeOfWellington

His military career was rapid, reaching the rank of Colonel in 12 years thanks to the peculiar British system of purchasing promotions. Despite an extremely impressive military career in India, he did not come to real prominence until UsefulNotes/TheNapoleonicWars,[[note]]Ironically, Napoleon too was not born in the nation that he is famous for being from; his birthplace had been transferred from theoretical Genoese sovereignty to French a mere two years before his birth (and he was originally called the much more Italian "Napoleone Buonaparte"), making the Napoleonic wars between the French led by a Corsican and the British led by several Irishmen, most notably Wellington, his brother Richard Lord Wellesley, and Lord Castlereagh. Also born the same year as Napoleon. Makes one wonder...[[/note]] and was promoted to the rank of Field Marshal after leading the allied forces to victory against the French at the Battle of Vitoria in 1813. Following Napoleon's exile in 1814, he served as the ambassador to the Congress of Vienna and was granted a dukedom. During the Hundred Days in 1815, he commanded one of the the allied armies which defeated Napoleon at the Battle of Waterloo. He is also credited with the defeat of the French under Marshall Massena in the Third French Invasion of Portugal due to him ordering the construction of the [[https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lines_of_Torres_Vedras Lines of Torres Vedras]] (after one of the towns through which it passed), which is considered the most cost-effective fortification in military history - it was able to effectively accomplish its tactical (defend the Port of Lisbon, which was the communications gateway between the Anglo-Portuguese Army and the United Kingdom) and strategic (defend Portugal for it was more easy to defend that country then advance into Spain, because he considered that Portugal gave him all necessary conditions; also, Portugal was for him more worthy of defense than Spain, due to the fact it had [[BindingAncientTreaty the oldest alliance]] with the United Kingdom and had offered the UK its full support since the beginning, while Spain had in the beginning of the Peninsular War offered its army and all its resources to aid France) objectives at a very low cost. In fact, Portugal had offered him the patent of Marshall General of the Portuguese Army, which gave control of said army when in joint operations with the British Army. He used that title to reorganize the Portuguese, who were a demotivated and deorganized RagtagBunchOfMisfits into a capable, cohesive, motivated and organized Army.

His military career was rapid, reaching the rank of Colonel in 12 years thanks to the peculiar British system of purchasing promotions. Despite an extremely impressive military career in India, he did not come to real prominence until UsefulNotes/TheNapoleonicWars,[[note]]Ironically, Napoleon too was not born in the nation that he is famous for being from; his birthplace had been transferred from theoretical Genoese sovereignty to French a mere two years before his birth (and he was originally called the much more Italian "Napoleone Buonaparte"), making the Napoleonic wars between the French led by a Corsican and the British led by several Irishmen, most notably Wellington, his brother Richard Lord Wellesley, and Lord Castlereagh. Also born the same year as Napoleon. Makes one wonder...[[/note]] and was promoted to the rank of Field Marshal after leading the allied forces to victory against the French at the Battle of Vitoria in 1813. Following Napoleon's exile in 1814, he served as the ambassador to the Congress of Vienna and was granted a dukedom. During the Hundred Days in 1815, he commanded one of the the allied armies which defeated Napoleon at the Battle of Waterloo. He is also credited with the defeat of the French under Marshall Massena in the Third French Invasion of Portugal due to him ordering the construction of the [[https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lines_of_Torres_Vedras Lines of Torres Vedras]] (after one of the towns through which it passed), which is considered the most cost-effective fortification in military history - it was able to effectively accomplish its tactical (defend the Port of Lisbon, which was the communications gateway between the Anglo-Portuguese Army and the United Kingdom) and strategic (defend Portugal for it was more easy to defend that country then advance into Spain, because he considered that Portugal gave him all necessary conditions; also, Portugal was for him more worthy of defense than Spain, due to the fact it had [[BindingAncientTreaty the oldest alliance]] with the United Kingdom and had offered the UK its full support since the beginning, while Spain had in the beginning of the Peninsular War offered its army and all its resources to aid France) objectives. In fact, Portugal had offered him the patent of Marshall General of the Portuguese Army, which gave control of said army when in joint operations with the British Army.

His military career was rapid, reaching the rank of Colonel in 12 years thanks to the peculiar British system of purchasing promotions. Despite an extremely impressive military career in India, he did not come to real prominence until UsefulNotes/TheNapoleonicWars,[[note]]Ironically, Napoleon too was not born in the nation that he is famous for being from; his birthplace had been transferred from theoretical Genoese sovereignty to French a mere two years before his birth (and he was originally called the much more Italian "Napoleone Buonaparte"), making the Napoleonic wars between the French led by a Corsican and the British led by several Irishmen, most notably Wellington, his brother Richard Lord Wellesley, and Lord Castlereagh. Also born the same year as Napoleon. Makes one wonder...[[/note]] and was promoted to the rank of Field Marshal after leading the allied forces to victory against the French at the Battle of Vitoria in 1813. Following Napoleon's exile in 1814, he served as the ambassador to the Congress of Vienna and was granted a dukedom. During the Hundred Days in 1815, he commanded one of the the allied armies which defeated Napoleon at the Battle of Waterloo.

->''All the business of war, and indeed all the business of life, is to endeavour to find out what you don't know by what you do; that's what I called "guessing what was at the other side of the hill."''

'''Field Marshal Arthur Wellesley''', [[UsefulNotes/KnightFever 1st Duke of Wellington, KG KP GCB GCH PC FRS]] (1 May 1769 – 14 September 1852), was a British soldier and statesman, and one of the leading military and political figures of 19th-century Britain. His defeat of UsefulNotes/NapoleonBonaparte at the Battle of Waterloo in 1815 put him in the top rank of Britain's military heroes. He is often referred to as one of the greatest English generals of all time, except that he was Irish. Indeed his real name is Arthur Wesley, he added the "lle" later. His supposed response (not recorded until after his death) to people pointing out his Irish birth was something along the lines of 'If a man is born in a stable, that doesn't make him a horse', a sentiment which didn't stop him marrying an Irish woman or the Irish building a [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wellington_Monument,_Dublin 200 ft tall monument in his honor]]. To be fair, his comments stemmed from a dislike of the Protestant and often power-abusing Irish aristocracy rather than the "normal" Irish (Catholic or Protestant), whom he regarded as reasonably good soldiering material and thought no worse of than the "normal" English, Scottish or Welsh (which is to say, he didn't think of them very often).

He was Tory Prime Minister 1828-1830 and again for less than a month in 1838. He also named a third ministry: the short-lived first Cabinet of UsefulNotes/TheEarlOfDerby in 1852 was the first time the Protectionist wing of the Conservative Party had governed, and so had a lot of new names (e.g. Creator/BenjaminDisraeli); when these unfamiliar names were read out in the Lords, the aging and hard-of-hearing Duke interjected, "Who? Who?", and behold! the First Derby Ministry is forever known as the "Who? Who? Ministry". His political career is much less famous and far less celebrated mostly because it casts him in a less-than-positive light by modern standards, such as [[http://www.thejc.com/news/uk-news/137984/revealed-why-wellington-was-no-friend-jews his anti-semitism]] which led him to veto a bill that provided increased rights for Jews[[note]]"... this is a Christian country and a Christian legislature, and that the effect of this measure would be to remove that peculiar character...I see no ground whatever for passing the Bill; and shall, therefore, vote against it."[[/note]]. Indeed his general opposition to parliamentary reform earned him the nickname the Iron Duke, and while [[AppropriatedAppellation later supporters appropriated this sobriquet]], it was originally an insult. So unpopular was the Duke, that his house windows were smashed by supporters angry at his opposition of a Reform Bill. In response, [[IResembleThatRemark the Duke put in place Iron shutters to better protect his home]]. Despite this, the 1832 Reform Bill was passed by the Whigs, though the Duke was bitter about its passage. Ironically, the impetus for the Reform Act partly came from a legislation to improve the lot of Catholics in Ireland [[HoistByHisOwnPetard which the Duke had passed]]. Fearing increased rights for the Irish catholic community, a faction of the Tories allied with the Whigs to get the Reform Act passed.

* Has a fairly prominent role in the fifth book of the {{Temeraire}} series, ''Victory of Eagles''.

He was Tory Prime Minister 1828-1830 and again for less than a month in 1838. He also named a third ministry: the short-lived first Cabinet of UsefulNotes/TheEarlOfDerby in 1852 was the first time the Protectionist wing of the Conservative Party had governed, and so had a lot of new names (e.g. Creator/BenjaminDisraeli); when these unfamiliar names were read out in the Lords, the aging and hard-of-hearing Duke interjected, "Who? Who?", and behold! the First Derby Ministry is forever known as the "Who? Who? Ministry". His political career is much less famous and far less celebrated mostly because it casts him in a less-than-positive light by modern standards, such as [[http://www.thejc.com/news/uk-news/137984/revealed-why-wellington-was-no-friend-jews his anti-semitism]] which led him to veto a bill that provided increased rights for Jews[[note]]"... this is a Christian country and a Christian legislature, and that the effect of this measure would be to remove that peculiar character...I see no ground whatever for passing the Bill; and shall, therefore, vote against it."[[/note]]. Indeed his general opposition to parliamentary reform earned him the nickname the Iron Duke, and while [[AppropriatedAppellation later supporters appropriated this sobriquet]], it was originally an insult. So unpopular was the Duke, that his house windows were smashed by supporters angry at his opposition of a Reform Bill. In response, [[IResembleThatRemark the Duke put in place Iron shutters to better protect his home]]. Despite this, the 1932 Reform Bill was passed by the Whigs, though the Duke was bitter about its passage. Ironically, the impetus for the Reform Act partly came from a legislation to improve the lot of Catholics in Ireland [[HoistByHisOwnPetard which the Duke had passed]]. Fearing increased rights for the Irish catholic community, a faction of the Tories allied with the Whigs to get the Reform Act passed.

'''Field Marshal Arthur Wellesley''', [[KnightFever 1st Duke of Wellington, KG KP GCB GCH PC FRS]] (1 May 1769 – 14 September 1852), was a British soldier and statesman, and one of the leading military and political figures of 19th-century Britain. His defeat of UsefulNotes/NapoleonBonaparte at the Battle of Waterloo in 1815 put him in the top rank of Britain's military heroes. He is often referred to as one of the greatest English generals of all time, except that he was Irish. Indeed his real name is Arthur Wesley, he added the "lle" later. His supposed response (not recorded until after his death) to people pointing out his Irish birth was something along the lines of 'If a man is born in a stable, that doesn't make him a horse', a sentiment which didn't stop him marrying an Irish woman or the Irish building a [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wellington_Monument,_Dublin 200 ft tall monument in his honor]]. To be fair, his comments stemmed from a dislike of the Protestant and often power-abusing Irish aristocracy rather than the "normal" Irish (Catholic or Protestant), whom he regarded as reasonably good soldiering material and thought no worse of than the "normal" English, Scottish or Welsh (which is to say, he didn't think of them very often).

'''Field Marshal Arthur Wellesley''', [[KnightFever 1st Duke of Wellington, KG KP GCB GCH PC FRS]] (May 1, 1769 – September 14, 1852), was a British soldier and statesman, and one of the leading military and political figures of 19th-century Britain. His defeat of UsefulNotes/NapoleonBonaparte at the Battle of Waterloo in 1815 put him in the top rank of Britain's military heroes. He is often referred to as one of the greatest English generals of all time, except that he was Irish. Indeed his real name is Arthur Wesley, he added the "lle" later. His supposed response (not recorded until after his death) to people pointing out his Irish birth was something along the lines of 'If a man is born in a stable, that doesn't make him a horse', a sentiment which didn't stop him marrying an Irish woman or the Irish building a [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wellington_Monument,_Dublin 200 ft tall monument in his honor]]. To be fair, his comments stemmed from a dislike of the Protestant and often power-abusing Irish aristocracy rather than the "normal" Irish (Catholic or Protestant), whom he regarded as reasonably good soldiering material and thought no worse of than the "normal" English, Scottish or Welsh (which is to say, he didn't think of them very often).

!The Duke in fiction:
* StephenFry does a most awesome depiction of him in ''Series/{{Blackadder}} The Third'' as an ignorant, bellowing, violent bully, who sees tactical ability and inspired leadership as entirely secondary to the truly important quality needed for an army: '''[[NoIndoorVoice shouting.]]''' This is rather unfair to the good Duke, though he does [[spoiler: play along with Blackadder's plot to replace the incompetent Prince of Wales with the far more competent himself.]]

He was Tory Prime Minister 1828-1830 and again for less than a month in 1838. He also named a third ministry: the short-lived first Cabinet of UsefulNotes/TheEarlOfDerby in 1852 was the first time the Protectionist wing of the Conservative Party had governed, and so had a lot of new names (e.g. Creator/BenjaminDisraeli); when these unfamiliar names were read out in the Lords, the aging and hard-of-hearing Duke interjected, "Who? Who?", and behold! the First Derby Ministry is forever known as the "Who? Who? Ministry".

Yes, he had boots named after him. No, they were not rubber (not yet possible at the time -- Westerners knew about rubber but couldn't yet make anything like that from it). They were leather, but the rubber ones are of the same style. The [[UsefulNotes/{{Wellington}} capital city]] of UsefulNotes/NewZealand was named after him, and the dish [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beef_Wellington Beef Wellington]] ''might'' be named after him.

His military career was rapid, reaching the rank of Colonel in 12 years thanks to the peculiar British system of purchasing promotions. Despite an extremely impressive military career in India, he did not come to real prominence until the NapoleonicWars,[[note]]Ironically, Napoleon too was not born in the nation that he is famous for being from; his birthplace had been transferred from theoretical Genoese sovereignty to French a mere two years before his birth (and he was originally called the much more Italian "Napoleone Buonaparte"), making the Napoleonic wars between the French led by a Corsican and the British led by several Irishmen, most notably Wellington, his brother Richard Lord Wellesley, and Lord Castlereagh. Also born the same year as Napoleon. Makes one wonder...[[/note]] and was promoted to the rank of Field Marshal after leading the allied forces to victory against the French at the Battle of Vitoria in 1813. Following Napoleon's exile in 1814, he served as the ambassador to the Congress of Vienna and was granted a dukedom. During the Hundred Days in 1815, he commanded one of the the allied armies which defeated Napoleon at the Battle of Waterloo.

[[caption-width-right:330:The Proud Duke of Wellington, Commander in Chief]]

'''Field Marshal Arthur Wellesley''', [[KnightFever 1st Duke of Wellington KG KP GCB GCH PC FRS]] (1769-1852), was one of the leading military and political figures of the early nineteenth century. He is often referred to as one of the greatest English generals of all time, except that he was Irish. Indeed his real name is Arthur Wesley, he added the "lle" later. His supposed response (not recorded until after his death) to people pointing out his Irish birth was something along the lines of 'If a man is born in a stable, that doesn't make him a horse', a sentiment which didn't stop him marrying an Irish woman or the Irish building a [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wellington_Monument,_Dublin 200 ft tall monument in his honor]]. To be fair, his comments stemmed from a dislike of the Protestant and often power-abusing Irish aristocracy rather than the "normal" Irish (Catholic or Protestant), whom he regarded as reasonably good soldiering material and thought no worse of than the "normal" English, Scottish or Welsh (which is to say, he didn't think of them very often).

He will also wear any kind of trousers he likes, '''damn you.'''[[quoteright:336:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/z12437566Q_1_159.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:336:The Duke's Magnificent Boots At Apsley House in London, Minus His Feet, (Which Means the Duke Must Be Barefoot...or Wearing Other Shoes...)]]

[[quoteright:348:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/screen-shot-2012-10-25-at-19-28-01_6187.png]]
[[caption-width-right:348:The Hero of Waterloo]]

-->''All the business of war, and indeed all the business of life, is to endeavour to find out what you don't know by what you do; that's what I called "guessing what was at the other side of the hill."''

----

!!Tropes associated with Wellington:

* AFatherToHisMen: In his own, WellDoneSonGuy way, he was -- the men fought specifically for his approval. A famous quotation from him is often used to bash him and claim that he was not one of these. It is always a) taken out of context[[note]]He said it right after his army, against his orders, had plundered the recaptured Spanish Treasury. He was ''apocalyptically'' angry about this.[[/note]] and b) they always leave off the second part of the quotation:
--->'''Wellington''': Our army is made up of the scum of the earth, the mere scum of the earth...but what fine fellows we have made of them!
* AppropriatedAppellation: Kind of; "Iron Duke" was an insulting nickname given to him in later years by parliamentary reformists, referring to the shutters on his windows he installed to protect him from mobs enraged by his policies -- but it's usually misremembered as describing him as a {{Badass}} on the battlefield. InsultBackfire?
* ArchEnemy: Napoleon might have been his, but [[UnknownRival he was hardly Napoleon's]]. At best, before Waterloo, Napoleon considered Wellington a (massively annoying) thorn in his side, responsible for all of his troubles in Spain. However, Wellington took a very intelligent technical interest in Napoleon's strategic methods ... and also made a point of sleeping with two of Napoleon's mistresses.
** In public at least, where Napoleon admitting anybody, let alone his greatest enemy, was his equal was never going to happen. Instead the private writings of Napoleon show that Napoleon certainly did think of Wellington as a rival and one with fantastic ability as a general able to negate much of what made Napoleon so effective. The fact that Napoleon attempted to have Wellington assassinated shows that there was plenty of bitterness on a personal level toward Wellington. Oddly enough Waterloo was the opposite, acknowledging Napoleon in public yet privately disparaging him. Trying to undermine Wellington as a real rival was ploy by Napoleon to unsettle his rival (which ultimately failed) whom he was very aware of and who would ultimately defeat him in battle.
* AwesomeMcCoolname: His first name was used as evidence to claim he was the SecondComing of KingArthur, a claim which he rejected vehemently.
* BadAss: He never lost a battle. Never. And he fought only one with superior numbers (Vitoria).[[note]]For the sake of completeness, it should be noted that he did fail to capture Burgos Castle (it conveniently later blew up in one of the largest explosions of the pre-nuclear age), and he made an utter bollocks of his first independent command, a night action near Seringapatam. But these were the only times he failed to accomplish one or all of his objectives.[[/note]]
* BadassBoast: He made several understated ones.
** " I don't think it would have been done if I had not been there." -- On Waterloo.
** "Napoleon came on in the same old way, and we beat him in the same old way." -- On Waterloo.
** "Mistaken for me, is he? That's strange, for no one ever mistakes me for Mr. Jones." -- On his resemblance to the painter George Jones.
** "No matter madam. I have seen their backs before." -- His remark to the hostess at a formal reception when she apologized for some French officers who turned their backs on him as he entered.
* {{Blackmail}}: Wellington rather magnificently averted this trope when he could have been the victim. In 1824, Harriette Wilson, a famous [[HighClassCallGirl courtesan]], asked for money to leave the Duke out of her scandalous memoirs. Wellington's response was "Publish and be damned!" He did also threaten to sue for libel, but he didn't do so -- possibly because some or most of what was in the book was true. By then, he evidently realized, he had a ControversyProofImage.
* BlueBlood: The Duke was a complete snob when it came to the lower orders. He was once quoted as saying "I'd rather have talent with a title, than talent without."
* BoringButPractical: Wellington was never the most flashy or unpredictable of Generals, but he stuck with what worked and was a superb logistics commander, this being one of his major advantages over his Napoleonic rivals.
** He once said that Napoleon's strategy was made of harness and his was made of rope. Napoleon's was beautiful to look at but would shrivel up if anything snapped, whereas Wellington's was ugly and makeshift, but for that reason very easy to patch up when something went wrong.
** It is often said that Wellington was unimaginative in attack. He was not, but he simply knew what he was doing. He was able to pull spectacular outflanking moves out his hat (such as at Assaye, where he knew the terrain ''better than the Indian scouts who had grown up there''), but usually didn't have to: he knew how to collapse enemy positions. Put it this way, let's say a general defending against Wellington needs to do 20 things right. Chances are, he will do around 16 of them right. Wellington will do all 20 of ''his'' things right, and so win without needing to be showy. At Waterloo, when he faced the only man in the world close to his own ability, he stood firm, confident in the superior abilities (particularly in respect of fire rate) of his soldiers. And he won.
* BribingYourWayToVictory: The reason Wellington made Colonel so quickly and without actually serving in the field was that he bought his way up the ranks. Obviously he turned out to suit the position, though, and anyway, "bribery" is the wrong word. He wasn't paying someone off to promote him when he didn't deserve it. [[ValuesDissonance Purchasing a commission was a normal and legal way of gaining a commission in the British army at the time]]. On the continent, officers had to wait their turn (by order of seniority) for posts to become vacant through the holder dying, being promoted, or retiring. This obviously took longer, especially in times of peace. That officers were promoted on merit was usually an exception; it was only in Wellington's time that merit-based training of officers (at [[MilitaryAcademy Sandhurst]]) became usual (as part of the reforms of Prince Frederick, the Duke of York, who was Commander-in-Chief of the Forces 1795-1809 and 1811-1827; these same reforms were responsible for building Wellington's army in the Peninsular War). The system of purchasing commissions was not completely ended and replaced by merit-based promotion until ''1871'' with the Cardwell Reforms.
* ControlFreak: And quite a big one at that.
** He even went so far as to scold an officer for actually improving his supply route. To be fair, Wellington felt that he had to take on as many duties as he could to combat the SurroundedByIdiots situations he generally found himself in.
** He would keep his plans secret even from his second in command, which could have led to grief had he been killed or incapacitated in the field. In most ways he and his army still belonged to the 18th century, which worked because it still had an 18th-century size. (The more modern Prussian high command kept functioning well even when Field Marshal Blücher went missing -- trapped under his dead horse -- at Ligny in 1815.)
* DeadpanSnarker: The Duke showed shades of this on occasion; when he was looking over a list of officers being shipped over from Britain to fight underneath him, he commented "I have no idea what impact they'll have on the enemy but by God they scare the life out of me."
-->'''Victoria''': Arthur, what do ''you'' think we should do about the sparrows infesting the Crystal Palace?\\
'''Wellesley''': Sparrowhawks, ma'am.
* EveryoneCallsHimBarkeep
* FrontlineGeneral: Inherently somewhat unavoidable for field commanders in the period, given engagement and firearms ranges -- and Wellington had to dodge French cavalry charges personally on occasion. The casualty rate among his staff officers, close colleagues, and professional friends, got pretty horrifying.
* HeAlsoDid: We is well known for his battlefield career, but his later political career is much less famous -- partly because any recounting of his political career casts him in a less-than-positive light by modern standards, what with his staunch opposition to parliamentary reform and his anti-semitism whereas his exemplary career as a commander is much less contentious.
* KnightFever:
** Wellington's titles ended up including a dukedom in the British peerage as well as dukedoms in the peerages of Portugal, Spain and France and a princedom in the Netherlands, 29 knighthoods in twenty different countries (including the highest grade in the premier order of each country), more-or-less honorary field marshal rank in the armies of eight countries, and eleven honorary posts in the government of the United Kingdom from Lord High Constable of England and Constable of the Tower of London through to Ranger of Hyde Park and Chancellor of the University of Oxford. If you were to put the initials for each of these after his name, you'd be talking for a very long time.
** To elaborate, his full name and titles were [[TryToFitThatOnABusinessCard Field Marshal His Grace Arthur Wellesley, Duke of Wellington, Marquess of Wellington, Marquess Douro, Earl of Wellington, Viscount Wellington and Baron Douro, Knight of the Most Noble Order of the Garter, Knight Grand Cross of The Most Honourable Order of the Bath, One of Her Majesty's Most Honourable Privy Council, and Field Marshal and Commander-in-Chief of Her Majesty's Forces, Field Marshal of the Austrian Army, Field Marshal of the Hanoverian Army, Field Marshal of the Army of the Netherlands, Marshal-General of the Portuguese Army, Field Marshal of the Prussian Army, Field Marshal of the Russian Army, and Captain-General of the Spanish Army, Prince of Waterloo, of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, Duke of Ciudad Rodrigo and Grandee of Spain of the First Class, Duke of Victoria, Marquess of Torres Vedras, and Count of Vimiera in Portugal, Knight of the Most Illustrious Order of the Golden Fleece, and of the Military Orders of St, Ferdinand and of St, Hermenigilde of Spain, Knight Grand Cross of the Orders of the Black Eagle and of the Red Eagle of Prussia, Knight Grand Cross of the Imperial Military Order of Maria Teresa of Austria, Knight of the Imperial Orders of St, Andrew, St, Alexander Newski, and St, George of Russia, Knight Grand Cross of the Royal Portuguese Military Order of the Tower and Sword, Knight Grand Cross of the Royal and Military Order of the Sword of Sweden, Knight of the Order of St, Esprit of France, Knight of the Order of the Elephant of Denmark, Knight Grand Cross of the Royal Hanoverian Guelphic Order, Knight of the Order of St, Januarius and of the Military Order of St, Ferdinand and of Merit of the Two Sicilies, Knight Grand Cross of the Supreme Order of the Annunciation of Sardinia, Knight Grand Cross of the Royal Military Order of Maximilian Joseph of Bavaria, Knight of the Royal Order of the Rue Crown of Saxony, Knight Grand Cross of the Order of Military Merit of Wurtemberg, Knight Grand Cross of the Military Order of William of the Netherlands, Knight of the Order of the Golden Lion of Hesse Cassel, and Knight Grand Cross of the Orders of Fidelity and of the Lion of Baden, Fellow of the Royal Society, Chancellor of the University of Oxford, Honorary Member of the Institution of Civil Engineers, Lord Lieutenant of Hampshire, Lord Warden of the Cinque Ports]].
* LivingLegend: In Britain, Wellington was widely seen as ''the'' hero of the Napoleonic Wars and savior of his country, which certainly didn't hurt his subsequent political career. Not everyone agreed with his politics, by any means, but they all knew of him.
* MagnumOpusDissonance: His contemporaries hailed Waterloo as his greatest battle, and it is certainly the one with which he is most associated. Historians generally consider Vitoria, Talavera, or Salamanca to have been his finest. He himself considered the Battle of Assaye to be his greatest achievement, when he destroyed an Indian army of 70,000 men with his own 10,000, using a hidden ford even his own Indian scouts didn't know about. Assaye also shattered the Second Maharatta coalition and forced Dowlat Rao Scindia to sue for peace.
* NoIndoorVoice: His portrayal in ''Blackadder the Third'' is actually fairly accurate in that respect: Wellington really did shout an awful lot.
* ObstructiveBureaucrat: Really didn't like them, as is demonstrated by this delightfully snarky memo he sent back to the Foreign Office during the Peninsular War:
-->Gentlemen:\\
Whilst marching to Portugal to a position which commands the approach to Madrid and the French forces, my officers have been diligently complying with your requests which have been sent by H.M. ship from London to Lisbon and then by dispatch rider to our headquarters.\\
We have enumerated our saddles, bridles, tents and tent poles, and all manner of sundry items for which His Majesty's Government holds me accountable. I have dispatched reports on the character, wit and spleen of every officer. Each item and every farthing has been accounted for, with two regrettable exceptions for which I beg your indulgence.\\
Unfortunately the sum of one shilling and ninepence remains unaccounted for in one infantry battalion's petty cash and there has been hideous confusion as to the number of jars of raspberry jam issued to one cavalry regiment during a sandstorm in Western Spain. This reprehensible carelessness may be related to the pressure of circumstance since we are at war with France, a fact which may come as a bit of a surprise to you gentlemen in Whitehall.\\
This brings me to my present purpose, which is to request elucidation of my instructions from His Majesty's Government, so that I may better understand why I am dragging an army over these barren plains. I construe that perforce it must be one of two alternate duties, as given below. I shall pursue either one with the best of my ability but I cannot do both:\\
1. To train an army of uniformed British clerks in Spain for the betterment of the accountants and copy boys in London or, perchance,\\
2. To see to it that the forces of Napoleon are driven out of Spain.
* PatrioticFervor: Whilst he was naturally extremely patriotic, he considered overstated displays of nationalism to be absurd and dangerous. He later recounted that the most inane remark he had heard in his life was a Portuguese general during the Peninsular War who said to his men: "Remember soldiers, you are Portuguese!"
* OfficerAndAGentleman: Wellington was a very British soldier in some respects and stood out for always taking pains to keep his men from plundering or harassing the local populace wherever he served.
** One example was the storming of Badajoz, where he had gallows erected to stop the British troops rampaging through the city. When he led his combined armies from Spain into France he sent the Spaniards home because he didn't trust them not to pillage. His chivalry paid off, as the French did not rise against his armies in the way the Spanish had against theirs (devastatingly).
** Another prime example is his extremely lavish victory dinner after he won the Battle of Vittoria and thus forced the French from Spain: it ''wasn't his dinner'', it was the one that Marshal Jourdan had ordered prepared in anticipation of victory. Wellington still paid for it, advising the very relieved manager of the hotel at which it was held that he should ask for cash up front next time.
* OldFlameFizzle: His relationship with his wife Kitty. They'd been close in their twenties, but then didn't see each other for ten years. When he returned from India, he proposed without seeing her. [[http://www.cherylbolen.com/Wellington%20Marriage.htm It didn't work out too well]].
* RightfulKingReturns: A rather odd personal example for the Duke due to the legend of King Arthur. As the legends dictated that the King would return when Britain was faced with its greatest threat and the Duke's name was the same of that of the King, several romantics tried to link the two. The Duke, of course, denied it completely.
* SharpDressedMan: His personal style had an impact on men's clothing that lasts to this day. He personally designed his own boots, made of lined calfskin leather with tassels on the front. He wore black coats with white cravats and white breeches and was also known for his plumed black bicorne hats. His full dress uniform was scarlet with gold braid. His expensive tailored clothes combined with his tall height and aristocratic manner to create an impression of authority and style that had great popularity in the Romantic Era that coincided with his victories.
** Always impeccable and well dressed, Wellington could be the focus of criticism for his upper class hauteur according to this account by a contemporary of the Duke's public appearances following his triumph over Napoleon:
** During a visit to the crowded cities of northern England, an old workman in a boisterous crowd asked him how he could understand the world of the poor with his elegant clothes and polished boots. He then challenged the Duke to "step out of those fancy boots" right there and then “strip naked”. He also challenged the impeccably dressed Commander to trade clothes with him! Wellington said nothing and excused himself.\\
\\
Later that day, he appeared again, approached the man and accepted the offer. The stunned crowd and the Duke’s party were silent. The shocked man left with the Duke, and appeared a short time later. Laughter and cheers broke out: the poor old workman was immaculately dressed in all of the Duke of Wellington's finery: coat, cravat, silk waistcoat, breeches and even his silk underclothes. On his head he wore the Dukes plumed hat. And to the delight of the crowd – on his feet he wore the Duke’s famous gleaming black boots and silk stockings. Then the Duke appeared. Nothing remained of his immaculate clothes and grooming. He wore the old jacket and pants of the poor, with the cloth cap of a workman. The rough clogs of the old man were too small for his long, thin feet, so he was barefoot! The crowd suddenly shouted its approval. The old man postured as if he were the Duke himself, and pointed at Wellington's naked feet, stripped of their magnificent boots, and cried "What do you mean sir standing before a Duke in such a state?". Wellington himself smiled. He was known for his upper class identity and snobbery, and later said he took the old man's challenge as a test. He passed the test, but admitted that appearing barefoot in public was intensely humiliating for a man of such dignity and distinction - and that seeing another man wearing his beautiful boots and clothes was even worse. He was famously well dressed, but he was also a true OfficerAndAGentleman first.
** Wellington's boots are now subject to an odd misnomer: 'Wellington boots'- tall waterproof boots with no fastenings to let in water- were, predictably, widely copied in England. When rubber galoshes became available, using technology not possible in the Duke's lifetime, they were also known as Wellington boots because of the shape. Rubber boots were cheaper and less trouble than leather Wellingtons, so they completely took over... so now, in Britain, wellingtons (or wellies) are a kind of boot that the man they're named for would never even have seen.
* {{Sidekick}}: For much of Wellington's career, [[BlueBlood [=FitzRoy=] James Henry Somerset]], later 1st Baron Raglan, served as his (presumably [[ModernMajorGeneral perfectly competent]]) chief aide. Unfortunately, this left him with no significant experience of being ''in charge,'' and Wellington's ability [[LordErrorProne didn't rub off on him]]; later in his life, Raglan commanded British forces in the Main/CrimeanWar, and he turned into Wellington's SketchySuccessor.
* SurroundedByIdiots: How the Duke generally felt about his Spanish allies and even some of the officers under his command...
** ...With a lot of justification. He won the Battle of Talavera in 1809, but had to retreat because the Spanish refused to give promised supplies. And he won that battle when his Spanish allies broke after being terrified by their own volley.
** As to his ''British'' officers -- the quote under DeadpanSnarker is possibly apocryphal, but the sentiment behind it is one found in many of his letters.
* TheStoic: Wellington was known to keep his calm under battle and rallied his men on various occasions despite being under the constant threat of death.
** Other sources suggest he got extremely nervous privately, though. (He had a stomach-upset the night before Waterloo that's generally attributed to this.) His letters to his (female, interestingly) cousin express the struggle of needing to always keep this image up in front of the troops.
** Stoicism was expected of officers at the time, as the range of weapons and the nature of battlefield tactics meant that they were all in serious danger throughout any battle. Late in the day at Waterloo, Lord Uxbridge was close to Wellington when a French cannonball shattered his leg, later necessitating its amputation, but leading to another famous Wellington quote at the time:
-->'''Uxbridge''': By God, sir, I've lost my leg!\\
'''Wellington''': By God, sir, so you have!
* ValuesDissonance: As Prime Minister, Arthur Wellesley opposed a bill of Jewish Emancipation (which would grant male Jews equal rights as ordinary Englishmen). He gave a speech insisting that England was a "Christian nation" and saw to it that Parliament did not pass the bill.
* WeHaveReserves: Mostly avoided. The Duke knew that his army in Portugal and Spain was the only one available to battle against Napoleon in Europe. He took great pains not to needlessly sacrifice them and constantly avoided battles where there was no distinct advantage.
* WorthyOpponent: How the Duke saw Napoleon -- until he found out the former Emperor had left a considerable amount of money in his will to a man who had tried to assassinate the Duke. The feeling was destroyed completely when the Duke found out Napoleon [[ArsonMurderAndJaywalking hadn't even had the money to pay what he promised in the first place.]]
** The Duke took an absurd twice-life-size statue of Napoleon as a Greek god from Paris and had it installed in his home at Apsley House (aka Number One, London), basically saying that Napoleon's egotism mocked itself.
** There's also the (possibly apocryphal) anecdote from Waterloo: as the Armée du Nord rolled in for its third frontal assault of the day instead of doing any clever manoeuvring he was heard to remark "Why, the fellow is [[WeHaveReserves just a pounder]] after all."
** However, he did note in later life (with clarifications that he didn't mean it literally, and that having reinforcements wasn't the same thing as having an excellent commander):
--> ''I used to say of [Napoleon] that his presence on the field made the difference of forty thousand men.''
** There was also a strong mutual respect between Wellington and two of Napoleon's best marshals, André Masséna and Jean de Dieu Soult, who kept him on his toes in Spain and Portugal.

* StephenFry does a most awesome depiction of him in ''{{Blackadder}} The Third'' as an ignorant, bellowing, violent bully, who sees tactical ability and inspired leadership as entirely secondary to the truly important quality needed for an army: '''[[NoIndoorVoice shouting.]]''' This is rather unfair to the good Duke, though he does [[spoiler: play along with Blackadder's plot to replace the incompetent Prince of Wales with the far more competent himself.]]
* Obviously we see him in ''{{Sharpe}}''.
* Appears as a secondary character in ''JonathanStrangeAndMrNorrell''. Gets his own short story, "The Duke Of Wellington Misplaces His Horse", in the followup short story collection ''The Ladies of Grace Adieu''.
* {{Literature/Flashman}} encounters the Duke once or twice, or at least references his opinions. Most notably in the first novel, where he receives a medal from Queen Victoria and a handshake from Wellington; it's the second one he is most proud of.

* ''TheThrillingAdventuresOfLovelaceAndBabbage'' takes place in an alternate timeline where the duke became Prime Minister on account of his superior bone structure and entertainment value.
* The four surviving [[CharlotteBronte Bronte children]], also Anglo-Irish, were obsessed with the Duke and made up elaborate sustained imaginative games about him, lasting into their twenties. They [[WorldBuilding crafted an enormous paracosm]] around him, writing novels, short stories, plays and poems. They had him lead an expedition to colonize Africa, then leave [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arthur_Wellesley,_2nd_Duke_of_Wellington his son Arthur]] in charge. Arthur became the Duke of Zamorna, a figure of almost superhuman courage, beauty and spirit.

* HeAlsoDid: We is well known for his battlefield career, but his later political career is much less famous -- partly because any recounting of his political career casts him in a less-than-positive light by modern standards, what with his staunch opposition to parliamentary reform, whereas his exemplary career as a commander is much less contentious.

* {{Flashman}} encounters the Duke once or twice, or at least references his opinions. Most notably in the first novel, where he receives a medal from Queen Victoria and a handshake from Wellington; it's the second one he is most proud of.

-->'''Uxbridge:''' [[StiffUpperLip By God, sir, I've lost my leg!]]\\
'''Wellington:''' By God, sir, so you have!

-->'''Uxbridge''': By God, sir, I've lost my leg!
-->'''Wellington''': By God, sir, so you have!

-->'''Victoria''': Arthur, what do ''you'' think we should do about the sparrows infesting the Crystal Palace?
-->'''Wellesley''': Sparrowhawks, ma'am.

* StephenFry does a most awesome depiction of him in ''{{Blackadder}} The Third'' as an ignorant, bellowing, violent bully, who sees tactical ability and inspired leadership as entirely secondary to the truly important quality needed for an army: '''[[NoIndoorVoice shouting.]]''' This is rather unfair to the good Duke, though he does [[spoiler: play along with Blackadders plot to replace the incompetent Prince of Wales with the far more competent himself.]]

Yes, he had boots named after him. No, they were not rubber (not yet possible at the time -- Westerners knew about rubber but couldn't yet make anything like that from it). They were leather, but the rubber ones are of the same style. The capital city of UsefulNotes/{{New Zealand}} was named after him, and the dish [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beef_Wellington Beef Wellington]] ''might'' be named after him.

'''Field Marshal Arthur Wellesley''', [[KnightFever 1st Duke of Wellington KG KP GCB GCH PC FRS]] (1769-1852), was one of the leading military and political figures of the early nineteenth century. He is often referred to as one of the greatest English generals of all time, except that he was Irish. His supposed response (not recorded until after his death) to people pointing out his Irish birth was something along the lines of 'If a man is born in a stable, that doesn't make him a horse', a sentiment which didn't stop him marrying an Irish woman or the Irish building a [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wellington_Monument,_Dublin 200 ft tall monument in his honor]]. To be fair, his comments stemmed from a dislike of the Protestant and often power-abusing Irish aristocracy rather than the "normal" Irish (Catholic or Protestant), whom he regarded as reasonably good soldiering material and thought no worse of than the "normal" English, Scottish or Welsh (which is to say, he didn't think of them very often).

One of Britain's more quotable war leaders after WinstonChurchill. Perhaps his most famous quote is "Our army is the scum of the earth - the merest scum of the earth." This is something of a BeamMeUpScotty, however, as it sounds far harsher than intended due to people leaving out the second part: "...so it really is wonderful that we should have made them the fine fellows they are."

He was Tory Prime Minister 1828-1830 and again for less than a month in 1838. He also named a third ministry: the short-lived first Cabinet of TheEarlOfDerby in 1852 was the first time the Protectionist wing of the Conservative Party had governed, and so had a lot of new names (e.g. Creator/BenjaminDisraeli); when these unfamiliar names were read out in the Lords, the aging and hard-of-hearing Duke interjected, "Who? Who?", and behold! the First Derby Ministry is forever known as the "Who? Who? Ministry".

** In public at least, where Napoleon admitting anybody, let alone his greatest enemy, was his equal was never going to happen. Instead the private writings of Napoleon show that Napoleon certainly did think of Wellington as a rival and one with fantastic ability as a general able to negate much of what made Napoleon so effective. The fact that Napoleon attempted to have Wellington assassinated shows that there was plenty of bitterness. Oddly enough Waterloo was the opposite, acknowledging Napoleon in public yet privately disparaging him. The ultimate defensive general against the ultimate offensive general, both were very aware of the others abilities.

* AppropriatedAppellation: Kind of; "Iron Duke" was an insulting nickname given to him in later years by parliamentary reformists, referring to the shutters on his windows -- but it's usually misremembered as describing him as a {{Badass}} on the battlefield. InsultBackfire?

* StephenFry does a most awesome depiction of him in ''{{Blackadder}} The Third'' as an ignorant, bellowing, violent bully, who sees tactical ability and inspired leadership as entirely secondary to the truly important quality needed for an army: shouting. This is rather unfair to the good Duke, though he does [[spoiler: play along with Blackadders plot to replace the incompetent Prince of Wales with the far more competent himself.]]

* VisualInnuendo: [[http://www.wikigallery.org/wiki/painting_229051/Isaac-Cruikshank/The-Master-of-the-Ordnance-exercising-his-Hobby What a big cannon he's got.]]