Arthur Wellesley: The Iron Duke of Wellington

this video is brought to you by squarespace whether it's your new profession or just a lifelong passion start your journey to website glory with squarespace check out their amazing all in one platform through the link in the description below more on them in a bit for centuries the british army was not held in very high esteem by the public it was notorious for employing the dregs of society poor desperate men prone to drunkenness and criminal behavior its officers were almost the exact opposite floppish gentlemen who literally bought their way up the ranks it was this army that britain needed to use to contain the seemingly endless ambitions of the emperor of france napoleon bonaparte who crushed countless army sent against him and his marshals and he seemed destined to become the master of europe it was at this moment of crisis that a man almost single-handedly changed the course of world history through his skill on the battlefield he took the british army full of fools and rogues as it was and honed it into a deadly weapon that defeated every martial napoleon sent against him he helped drive napoleon off his throne was rewarded handsomely by his king with money and titles and then incredibly was asked to take down napoleon again when the man escaped from exile and reclaimed his crown when the two men finally faced each other on the battlefield it set up one of the greatest war stories the world had ever seen initially arthur wellesley did not seem to be a very remarkable man he was born on the 1st of may 1769 in dublin ireland he was the second son of an anglo-irish nobleman garrett wesley the earl of mornington he grew up in ireland though the family like most members of the irish protestant nobility modeled themselves after the english aristocrats they were descended from when garrett died in 1781 arthur's older brother richard inherited his title as earl of mornington along with all the landed estates as was often the case with the younger sons of noblemen it left the question of what to do with arthur he was enrolled at the prestigious eating college in england soon after his father's death he hated it there it was very lonely for him being so far from his family and the other boys made fun of him because of his irish heritage he left the school in 1784 and moved to brussels with his mother who became worried about him telling friends i don't know what i shall do with my awkward son arthur wellesley's opportunity for advancement came through the british army serving in the military was considered an honorable profession for lesser sons of the nobility assuming of course that you had the money for it unlike in the navy where officers were appointed and promoted based on merit and seniority in the army it was standard practice to purchase your commission usually for an exorbitant sum of money that is the equivalent of tens of thousands of english pounds in today's money the purchase system was put in place in the aftermath of the english civil war in an effort to ensure that commoners like oliver cromwell would never be in a position to lead an army against the crown again as a result the officer ranks of the british army were almost exclusively filled with gentlemen regardless of their actual martial ability wellesley was able to take full advantage of this system along with his connection to his brother the earl of mornington to buy his way up the ranks until in 1793 he was a lieutenant colonel attached to the 33rd regiment of foot raised in yorkshire this was as high as he could rise through the purchase system further promotion would have to be secured through merit or seniority as even the british nobility recognized that allowing untrained officers to literally buy command of an army was a bad idea wellesley first got the taste to battle in 1794 when the 33rd foot was sent to the netherlands to join the army commanded by the duke of york attempting to contain the power of france who was attempting to spread the ideals of the french revolution to all of europe by force at the battle of barksdale wellesley and the 33rd acquitted itself well repelling a french cavalry charge but the campaign was a failure for the british plagued by disease and incompetent leadership and wellesley returned to england in 1795 [Music] in 1796 wellesley newly promoted to colonel was sent along with the 33rd regiment to india one of the most important strongholds of british trade in the world india was a complicated place at the time british interests were represented by the british east india company which started as an ordinary trading corporation but by the 1790s had become essentially a law unto itself in india the company controlled vast swaths of indian territory made alliances with neighboring principalities and raised large armies composed of a mix of native indian soldiers called sea boys and troops from great britain complicating this was the machinations of the french who recognizing the importance of india to british commerce constantly worked to undermine them in 1798 a celebrated french general named napoleon bonaparte had landed with an army in egypt and took control of the ottoman province which would give them access to the red sea and an ability to directly threaten british trade in india not satisfied with that the french maiden alliance with the powerful indian kingdom of mysore mysore and its ruler the tipu sultan had long been an enemy of the british bisaw had fought three wars already wisdom and the idea of french army in egypt allying with a mysorian army scared the british who decided to conquer the sultanate to prevent that from happening mysore had a well-trained army and like many indian princes had european officers in its employ to train them into modern style of warfare especially french officers in the case of the tipu sultan they also had a large store of mysorean rockets advanced projectiles that could be launched up to two kilometers far more advanced than anything the british had at the time the tibu sultan would be a formidable foe in april 1799 the british and their indian allies invaded baisor from all sides converging on the capital serengeti which they put under siege in command of the 33rd regiment and second as a division commander was colonel arthur wellesley wesley wasn't well liked by the other senior officers who considered him young and inexperienced a product of nepotism since his brother was the governor general of india this was further reinforced when wellesley suffered a defeat at the hands of the tibu sultan's forces during the siege of serengapatan sent to attack a small village outside the main fortress to clear way for the siege artillery wellesley's men got lost and stumbled into a mysorian trap coming under fire from a storm of musketry and the ever-present rocket explosives the men were driven back in confusion with several killed or captured wellesley himself was wounded in the knee and narrowly avoided capture for another officer in his position the humiliation might have meant the end of his military career but thanks to the patronage of his brother he was able to recover and took part in the final storming of the city in may which resulted in the capture of the city and the death of the tipu sultan marking the end of the war wellesley was named governor of serenge apatam and stayed while most of the army withdrew but he never forgot the defeat before serengapatan for the rest of his military career he showed an immense dislike for night attacks and sieges in general and tried to avoid both wherever possible at the end of 1802 wellesley was promoted to major general and sent off to war again to the north of serengapatam was the powerful maratha confederacy controlled by five chief chains that were constantly squabbling with each other the british intervened in one of these power struggles taking the side of peshwa bajo rao ii against the daolatskindia the raja of bharara and triggering the second anglo-maratha war general wellesley was put at the head of a mixed army of native indian sepoys and british regulars and sent north to destroy cindy and bharara's combined armies like the tipu sultan skindia's army was large but most were poorly trained although it did have some 10 000 troops that were trained and commanded by european officers the army itself was commanded by anthony polman a former sergeant in the british east india company from the german province of hanover who had deserted in the 1790s lured by the lucrative rewards offered by the indian princes for european soldiers wellesley split his army in two with a smaller force commanded by colonel james stevenson to try and trap pullman's army after over a months of pursuit the two received intelligence that their quarry was at borkadun some 30 miles to the north and planned to combine their forces there on the 24th of september 1803 to attack and destroy the maratha army however the day before the planned meet-up scouts reported that the marathas had moved and were now in position directly in front of wellesley's army near the small village of arsei wellesley in command of 4500 infantry and 5 000 cavalry found himself confronting our army of 50 000. he knew that if he waited for stevenson to join up with him the army would move off and the pursuit would drag on further straining the british supply lines and possibly drawing the british forces into a disadvantageous position the 34 year old general had heard whispers from his colleagues that he was a product of nepotism too young and inexperienced for such an important command in order to make his reputation he needed victory so he resolved to attack the marathas right there and then without waiting for reinforcements the idea was not as insane as it might sound at the outset the maratha army was large certainly but mostly composed of irregular infantry that wellesley reasoned wouldn't stand up under fire he had only the european trained infantry to worry about the marathas were in a strong defensive position behind the river kitener covering the only known forward in the area however wellesley spotted twin villagers on either side of the kaidna pipagayon and war they were small hamlets and didn't even appear on most maps however wellesley reasoned that the only way two villages would exist on either side of the river like that is if there was a ford between them scout soon confirmed the existence of the ford and wellesley decided to cross his army bet was he initially attempted to flag poleman's army but the germans saw what he was doing and swung his army like a door hinge rotating it 90 degrees to form a new line facing the british now it was wellesley who was in the strong position as both armies were on a narrow isthmus between the kitener and chua rivers which favored wellesley's smaller army wellesley ordered his infantry to attack and they started off across the plains towards the morath position at a say the marathas had more than 100 cannons and they laid down a withering fire on the advancing british troops however the british withstood the pounding and maintained their formation and charged the cannons capturing them and killing the gunners the right flank of pullman's line panicked and fled and half of the maratha army fled the battlefield before being engaged wellesley's right flank on the other hand was being hard and wellesley sent in cavalry to support them amidst the violent encounter it came to wellesley's attention that some of the maratha gunners who had pretended to be dead were now re-manning their cannons the general himself led a cavalry charge to recapture the gun positions being unhorsed by a spearman nearly killed in the melee pullman had reformed his infantry but when wellesley formed up to attack them they too broke and ran giving wellesley the field the battle of a say was bloody in proportion to the numbers involved a third of wellesley's army was killed or wounded and as many as six thousand marathas fell it was also strategically very important on the outcome of the war as afterwards many of skindia and bharara's men deserted including many of their european officers who accepted an amnesty from the british east india company if they surrendered wellesley would win two more victories over the marathas at aguam and galague and skindia and bharara were forced to super peace the campaign in india made wellesley's career for the rest of his life he would maintain that a say was his greatest victory napoleon on the other hand would refer to wellesley as the sepoy general implying that his reputation was inflated by a series of victories over minor opponents wellesley would soon have a chance to prove the newly crowned french emperor wrong and what a tease that was we're going to escalate the conflict between napoleon and wellesley in just a minute but first here is a word from today's amazing sponsor squarespace now more than ever people are getting 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squarespace provides so that your website can thrive email campaigns patronage portals social integrations member only areas analytics commercial options three customer support it's all in there in one convenient place so when you're ready to get started on the next web project of yours big or small if it involves a website it's got to be with squarespace right now you can go to squarespace.com for a free trial and when you're ready to launch go to squarespace.com forward slash biographics and you'll save 10 off your first purchase of a website or a domain and let's get back to the duke [Music] by 1805 wellesley was tired of india had spent seven years there and was ready to go home he requested a transfer and when his brother's tour as governor general of india ended the two returned to england on board the same ship for the next three years wellesley dabbled in politics while also participating in military adventures in russia and denmark raised to lieutenant general in 1808 he was put in command of an expeditionary force of 9 000 men that was supposed to attack spanish colonies in south america but at the last minutes his force was diverted to portugal little did he realize it at the time but events had just been set in motion that would consume wellesley's life for the next seven years and turn him into a national hero in 1808 napoleon bonaparte was master of europe the french emperor had decisively defeated both the austrians and the prussians had control of all of italy and much of germany and it just concluded a treaty with russia his only real opposition left came from great britain the two countries were in an awkward stalemate because while britain couldn't hope to match napoleon's powerful army neither could france mount any effective opposition to the british navy which was the undisputed master of the seas the cream of the french naval fleet had been destroyed at the battle of trafalgar in october of 1805 and with no way to counter the british navy napoleon was unable to invade britain standing his army on the wrong side of the english channel napoleon tried to undermine the british by again attacking their commercial interests justice it attempted to do in egypt ten years earlier this time napoleon devised the continental system which tried to block trade between britain and the countries of mainland europe he enforced this system at bayonet point threatening to invade any country that didn't comply his threats they didn't impress the country of portugal located on the western edge of the iberian peninsula portugal was one of great britain's oldest and longest-standing allies and the country's economy depended heavily on foreign trade further portugal was separated from france by the country of spain which while france's ally didn't seem likely to permit french troops to march all the way across their country to get to portugal finally great britain promised to defend portugal if it was attacked napoleon however in his usual spectacular fashion turned on his ally and invaded spain deposing the government in madrid and placing his brother joseph on the spanish throne he also occupied portugal forcing the portuguese royal family to flee into exile in brazil great britain intervened and wellesley was the first general to arrive in portugal with a combined british and portuguese army he defeated the forces of french general jean and dos journal at the battle of rollicker and the miero in august of 1808. however immediately after the two battles wellesley found himself superseded in command by the governor of gibraltar general hugh darimpal darampal undermined everything wellesley had done by signing an agreement with general juneau the convention of syndra that stipulated that the french army would be evacuated from portugal on board british ships complete with all their arms their cannons and even the booty that they'd stolen from the portuguese during the invasion the convention of sintra caused outrage in great britain and both darrimple and wellesley were recalled to face a court of inquiry over the whole affair meanwhile napoleon invaded the iberian peninsula himself at the head of his grand army decisively defeating the british at karuna in january 1809 killing the british commander sir john moore in the process darumpal was blamed for the entire affair and would never hold a field command again wellesley who had vehemently opposed the agreement his superior had made was cleared of all wrongdoing at a loss for what to do next the british secretary of war or castle ray received a memo from wellesley that stated that he believed the portugal was still an ideal place for britain to carry on the war against the french that lisbon should be their base of operations because it could be protected by the royal navy castle ray agreed and sent wellesley back to portugal in april 1809 this time in command of all british forces in theater a position he would hold for the rest of the war [Music] wellesley immediately went on the offensive portugal had named him commander-in-chief of their army as well as the british one and he quickly combined them together into one integrated army less than a month after his arrival he led his new army north from lisbon and routed martial jean de deux army at porto liberating portugal's second city seoul's army escaped but had to abandon their artillery and baggage in the process with portugal cleared wellesley advanced into spain and linked up with the spanish army commanded by general gregorio questa questa proved a rather ineffectual ally however he routinely promised supplies to the british and didn't provide them and he arrogantly believed that he knew more about military strategy than everyone around him including wellesley at the same time his army was poorly trained at one point during the campaign as wellesley and the other anglo-portuguese officers watch the entire battle line of spanish soldiers fired a cacophonous volley at a small group of french scouts who were out of range causing no damage terrified by the noise of their own volley four entire battalions of spanish soldiers over two thousand men fled the field in a panic looting the british baggage train on their way out the next day the 28th of july 1809 wellesley faced off against the french marshal jordon at the battle of talavera this was far larger in scale than any battle wellesley had fought before he commanded an army of 55 000 british portuguese and spanish troops against 46 000 french wellesley held his ground while jordan sent his army forward in three great columns a tactic napoleon had perfected over the years as being able to smash through enemy formations like a hammer blow but wellesley who had studied napoleon's battles extensively showed off for the first time has countered the attacking columns putting his troops in a defensive position on a hill arranging them in two deep firing lines and taking advantage of superior british musketry training concentrating an almost continuous volume of fire onto the approaching columns until the french panicked and retreated this is what happened at televera and at the end of a bloody day of fighting that saw 15 000 combined casualties wellesley was in command of the field the victory at talavera was celebrated all over britain and wellesley was raised the british peerage named the vika wellington of talavera but wellington as he was now known couldn't afford to rest on his laurels soon after his victory he was forced to retreat into portugal the supply situation to become untenable as wellington's spanish allies failed it completely he was incensed to discover that not only had questa refused to help him defend portugal against another incursion by martial soul but the questor had also abandoned 1 500 wounded british soldiers left in his care and they were captured by the french 1810 saw wellington under threat from a massive new french army commanded by marshall andre messina messina was one of napoleon's most celebrated marshals and had been given orders by the emperor to sweep the british out of portugal wellington was forced to retreat before messina's forces though he was able to briefly check the marshall's advance at the battle of barcelo on the 27th of september british opinion of the army was low and there was speculation that the whole portuguese adventure would have to be cooled off but wellington wasn't beaten yet messina arrived at torres verdres in october of 1810 to discover that his army had run into a literal wall the british had in complete secrecy constructed an elaborate line of thoughts and redoubts that chained together the mountains across the entirety of the lisbon peninsula the lines of taurus vedras had an effective communication system and interior lines all along it to rush defenders to any threatened portion third the portuguese had adopted a scorched earth policy before the lines removing or destroying any food fodder or shelter for miles evacuating a quarter of a million civilians to positions behind the lines messina was completely baffled and found himself stuck in a position as winter set in when messina finally retreated back into spain in march 1811 he had lost 21 000 men to starvation and the elements the lines of taurus vedras marked the high water mark of the french advance while wellington's army emerged from behind them in the spring of 1811 and they never used them again when wellington emerged from behind the lines of torres verdes he did so at the head of an army that was beginning to be honed into a powerful weapon the average british soldier came from a very poor background many had criminal records and were given a choice between joining the army or going to prison others joined because the only alternative was starving wellington like most of the upper class considered these men to be rogues prone to drunkenness and debauchery and thus needed to be disciplined harshly however wellington also respected their ability as soldiers and praised them for fighting well in battle wellington found himself at the head of a multinational army eventually consisting of british portuguese and spanish soldiers in addition to troops from the german province of hanover who formed the king's german legion his ability to negotiate the complications of this coalition force was just as important as his tactical skill on the battlefield equally important was his conviction not to throw away the lives of his soldiers needlessly he excelled as a defensive general able to pick his ground and force the enemy to attack him in 1811 after chasing the french army out of portugal wellington laid siege to the strategic border fortress of almeida the first of three strongholds he needed to capture in order to secure his invasion route into spain he took almeida in may 1811 after the french abandoned it with most of the garrison able to avoid capture much to wellington's anger he then took the french by surprise in january 1812 advancing through a snowstorm to lay siege to and capture the second fortress ceod rodrigo before the french had a chance to send her elite force now wellington went south knowing he had to capture the third fortress to secure his line of communication and supply into spain unfortunately badahos was the most difficult of the three to take it boasted a modern wall bristling with cannons and manned by a garrison of 5 000 french soldiers wellington's army put the city under siege in march 1812 and made three breaches in the walls on the night of april vi wellington ordered his troops to assault baderharth and attack the breaches since the french knew they were coming they had prepared all sorts of nasty surprises for the british salt troops including mines ditches sharpened stakes and of course plenty of cannons and muskets the storming of batahoth was a violent affair compounded by the small space in which the battle was fought two hours of attacks had produced nothing but carnage for the british until two attacks with ladders on the flanks of the fortress that were only supposed to be diversions unexpectedly succeeded in entering the city and capturing the breaches from behind the victorious british ran wild through the city raping and killing spanish civilians and fleeing french soldiers looting and burning homes an orgy of violence and destruction that wouldn't be fully stopped for three days daybreak on april 7th revealed why the soldiers had been so bloodthirsty the sight of the breaches was filled with bodies stacked on top of each other like firewood blood soaked to the ground and ran in the ditches like streams over 2000 british soldiers lay dead or dying in the relatively small space part of 4 800 total casualties sustained during the assault the normally composed wellington broke down and wept when he viewed the carnage but despite the high cost wellington now had the keys to spain in his pocket and he intended to use them to push the french out of spain once and for all [Music] after capturing battle hearth wellington intended to advance into spain but first he needed to deal with the french army commanded by marshall auguste marmor who had replaced messina after months of maneuvers the two armies met at salamanca on the 22nd of july both armies were roughly the same size about fifty thousand but wellington took advantage of a mistaken positioning by marmor and caught the french by surprise inflicting a decisive defeat on them fourteen thousand casualties to the allies five thousand it was said that wellington had defeated an army of forty thousand and forty minutes the victory forced the french out of the spanish capital madrid which was occupied by the allies it also convinced the spanish who had been mistrustful of their allies to make wellington commander of all their armies the generalissimo but wellington wasn't able to capture the strategic fortress of burgas despite laying siege to it and when the french armies of marmars so combined together to one force wellington was compelled to retreat again towards portugal by the time the campaign of 1813 began the strategic picture of the entire war had changed napoleon's invasion of russia the year before had ended in disaster when his grand army was virtually destroyed the defeat prompted the previously defeated countries of austria and prussia to rise up against napoleon again joining together with russia sweden and the allied countries fighting in spain in a new coalition against the french there would be no more reinforcements sent to iberia in fact the emperor started moving troops out of spain to reinforce his increasingly pressed armies in germany wellington on the other hand had a reinforced and well-organized army of 120 000 british spanish and portuguese soldiers with it he attacked not east as he did in 1812 but north towards the spanish city of santander a port city on the bay of biscay only then did he advance east not to meet the french army but to attempt to cut it off from france the french army retreated abandoning central spain trying to avoid being outflanked it was nominally headed by king joseph bonaparte though he left operational control to his marshals but the king's presence meant that the army carried wisdom not only equipment needed to make war but also all the treasure that the french had amassed since their invasion perhaps as much as a hundred million dollars in today's money wellington caught up with the french at victoria on the 21st of june 1813. in the battle that followed the french army was completely routed it suffered 8 000 killed wounded or captured and the rest fled the field in panic abandoning over 150 artillery pieces to the enemy french casualties might have been worse but the victorious british troops stopped pursuing the fleeing french in order to loot the baggage train which had also been abandoned wellington continued to push and by the end of the year had thrown the french out of spain entirely and had invaded southern france he had just captured the city of toulouse when word came in on the 12th of april 1814 that napoleon his position untenable as the combined russian austrian and prussian armies captured paris had abdicated and the war was over the news prompted the austere wellington to break out into an impromptu flamenco dance [Music] as his victories mounted in spain wellington was rewarded with increasingly prestigious titles of nobility first vi count then earl then marquis and finally on the 3rd of may 1814 he was created as the first duke of wellington he was also promoted to the army's highest rank field marshal the only one in active army service he was also hailed as a conquering hero in britain the most successful british general since the duke of marlborough some hundred years earlier the prime minister wanted to send him to north america to beat the united states in the war of 1812 but wellington felt he was needed more in europe instead he was named the british ambassador to the congress of vienna convened to carve up europe in the post-napoleon world everything changed on the 26th of february 1815 when napoleon exiled to the island of elba in the mediterranean sea escaped and returned to france the restored french monarchy crumbled under the onslaught of renewed support for napoleon and by may he'd regained control of the country the congress of vienna declared napoleon an outlaw and all the major powers of europe resolved to once again put their armies in the field to remove him from power wellington appointed to command british forces left vienna for the netherlands where british troops were being combined with dutch and small german state forces into an allied army that would fight alongside a prussian army commanded by general gebhardt von blucher they were planning to wait there until july when the russian and austrian armies would join them and they would all invade france together as an overwhelming force napoleon figuring that if he defeated both the british and the prussian armies in turn he could force the coalition to the negotiating table marched first he invaded the netherlands on the 15th of june catching wellington and lucia by surprise the first part of napoleon's plan worked well he prevented the two armies from combining together and beat the prussians at the battle of ligne on the 16th of june forcing them to retreat believing the prussians to be out of the fight napoleon now turned on wellington who moved his army to a position he believed he could defend a ridgeline just south of the belgian town of waterloo on the 18th of june the two armies faced off against each other in one of the greatest battles ever fought on european soil if you want a detailed play-by-play of the battle of waterloo you should absolutely check out our video on our sister channel geographics all about it the short version is that it was gargantuan in scale involving more than 200 000 soldiers by the day's end and it was bloody 65 000 were dead wounded or missing napoleon had made two key mistakes at waterloo that would prove to be his undoing first he had underestimated wellington despite being warned about him by his marshals who had fought and been beaten by him the emperor dismissed him as an opponent unworthy of respect the sepoy general who fought sitting on his arse he believed that he could be easily swept aside second the prussians hadn't retreated by mid-afternoon they had appeared on the battlefield at waterloo catching the french in the flank just as the british who had not been swept aside but were still occupying the ridgeline they'd held all day defeated an attack spearheaded by the wanted french imperial guard the collapse of the guard triggered a route of the entire french army and just like that it was all over wellington and lucia were masters of the field and napoleon was finished less than a week after the battle he had abdicated again never to return again to power and after over 20 years of almost continuous conflict europe was at last at peace wellington was already a hero before the battle of waterloo when his victorious armies had marched over 6 000 miles across spain and portugal and defeated a parade of french marshals and a king too but after defeating napoleon he crossed into the realm of legend at the same level as admiral horatio nelson who had decisively defeated the french navy at trafalgar ten years earlier the nations of europe lined up to throw honours at him he eventually acquired field marshal batons from eight different countries and was bestowed with noble rank or honours by 18 nations reportedly if he had fixed all the medals he'd earned to his uniform it would have been too heavy to wear to war but wellington after over 20 years of military service had grown tired of war riding amongst the slaughter of the battle of waterloo he wept and was heard to say i pray to god i have seen my last battle true to his word he never saw combat again returning to england wellington discovered that not only was he one of the most influential men in the kingdom now but he was also one of the most admired it became fashionable to dress as wellington did well on campaign and the man soon found himself at the center of london politics yes it seemed everyone got along well with the war hero except unfortunately for his wife wellington had married catherine kitty packingham in 1806 and she had borne him two children arthur and charles however wellington soon made it clear that he found her to be unpleasant company and the marriage was not a particularly happy one the two spent much of their time apart wellington had been in spain for years during the war while kitty had remained in london instead wellington was known to enjoy the company of other women a fact that was hardly a secret in london's society even being lampooned in the press when one publisher wrote a letter asking the duke for money in exchange for not publishing the lurid memoirs of one of his mistresses wellington supposedly responded to the blackmail attempt by replying publish and be damned nevertheless wellington became an increasingly important member of the tory party until in 1828 he was made prime minister one of the last members of the house of lords to serve in that role his ministry was dominated by the issue of catholic emancipation for almost 300 years ever since king henry viii broke with the roman catholic church and founded the church of england catholics and protestants had battled for influence and power in great britain the issue was seemingly decided in the protestant's favor when the catholic king james ii was deposed in favor of the protestant king william iii to keep their hold on power the protestants had passed what was known as penal laws harsh discriminatory regulations designed to make catholic second-class citizens within the kingdom while most of the more harsh measures had been repealed by the 1820s there were still laws on the books banning catholics from serving in most public offices they couldn't be judges sheriffs or sit in parliament wellington had grown up in ireland which was majority catholic and many of his best soldiers in spain were irish he had great sympathy for their plight and as a result he pushed hard for the repeal of these laws which was accompanied with the passing of the catholic relief act of 1829 despite vigorous opposition from within his own party however wellington's government was brought down in 1830 when a wave of civil unrest prompted by the unfair rules government election to the house of commons that were heavily tilted in favor of the rich and powerful swept the country parliament voted on a vote of no confidence in wellington's ministry and wellington resigned in november [Music] wellington remained an important political figure as the tory party transformed into the conservative party led by sir rob peale he would serve as a cabinet minister in peel's government and as the conservative leader of the house of lords until his retirement in 1846 he also served as an advisor to the young queen victoria the duke of wellington died on the 14th of september 1852 in kent at the age of 83 from a stroke his body was transported by train to london where he was honored with the state funeral the first since admiral nelson in 1805. he was buried in some paul's cathedral next to nelson who had met once a few weeks before the admiral's death and had a long conversation with him the legacy of the duke of wellington is enormous his name adorns everything from the capital city of new zealand to a popular style of boots his military tactics inspired a generation of military scholars and generals and can be seen most clearly in the campaigns of robert e lee during the american civil war most importantly his victory over napoleon ushered in an unprecedented period of peace and prosperity on the european continent that lasted until the outbreak of the first world war a century later with less focus on military campaigns and destruction the european nations instead focused on industrial output and later on social welfare it was an incredibly transformative period that likely would not have been possible without the work of one man who rose from obscurity to become perhaps the greatest soldier the united kingdom has ever seen so i really hope you found that video interesting if you did please do hit that thumbs up button below don't forget to subscribe please do check out our fantastic sponsor squarespace link to below thank you for watching [Music] you

Channel: Biographics

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Length: 34min 36sec (2076 seconds)

Published: Wed Apr 28 2021