Sir Arthur Wellesley Archives

Burly bluejackets from the Royal Navy muscle the landing craft to shore during the British amphibious landing at Aboukir Bay, Egypt, on March 8, 1801, in this contemporary oil painting by Philippe Jacques de Loutherbourg.

Sir Arthur Wellesley

Alexandria: Redcoats in the Land of the Pharaohs

By Eric Niderost

It was a spectacle never to be forgotten by those few who were lucky enough to witness it. Read more

Wracked by wintry weather, demoralized British soldiers trudge the snow in artist Richard Bevis’s painting, Retreat to Corunna.

Sir Arthur Wellesley

Dismal British Retreat to Corunna

By Eric Niderost

It was December 1808, and the French Army was struggling though the 4,500-foot Sierra de Guadarrama Mountains in central Spain. Read more

Sir Arthur Wellesley

Chevau-Légers Polonais: Napoleon’s Polish Cavalry Charge at Somosierra Pass

By Alexander Zarkzewski

On the foggy morning of November 30, 1808, Napoleon Bonaparte, Emperor of France, watched impatiently as his Grande Armée lumbered up the rocky slopes of the Sierra de Guadarrama Mountains of central Spain. Read more

Brown Bess was the close companion of the British soldier for almost a hundred years.

Sir Arthur Wellesley

Revolutionary War Weapons: The Brown Bess Musket

By Joseph G. Bilby

The French advanced swiftly, with men yelling “Hurrah” and officers shouting encouragement. They knew the British were to the front, somewhere, although they could not see them yet, and they expected to roll over the enemy in an impetuous, distinctively Gallic tide. Read more

French cuirassiers charge against a British square in a painting by 19th-century artist Felix Philippoteaux that exaggerates the steepness of the hills. Field Marshal Wellington’s artillery pounded the advancing French cavalry, greatly weakening its strength.

Sir Arthur Wellesley

The Duke of Wellington’s Preparations for the Battle of Waterloo

By William E. Welsh

Field Marshal Arthur Wellesley, Duke of Wellington, was in Vienna when the news arrived in early March 1815 that Napoleon had escaped from exile on Elba and returned to France. Read more

Alexandria: Redcoats in the Land of the Pharaohs

Dismal British Retreat to Corunna

Chevau-Légers Polonais: Napoleon’s Polish Cavalry Charge at Somosierra Pass

Revolutionary War Weapons: The Brown Bess Musket

The Duke of Wellington’s Preparations for the Battle of Waterloo

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