Who is Britain’s greatest ever general? The BBC and the National Army Museum put the question to the public at the end of last year. The public declared the Duke of Wellington Britain’s best, together with William Slim.
Professor Saul David is not so sure. His latest book, All The King’s Men: The British soldier from the Restoration to Waterloo, sketches the beginnings of a revision of Wellington. I asked him about this rather bold move.
‘I certainly did not set out writing the rather large section [in the book] on Wellington to bash him, but the more detail I got into about his career and how he reacted to certain situations, the more convinced I thought that he has been slightly overrated by historians.
‘Even the battle of Waterloo, where of course he undoubtedly does a number of things incredibly well, but he also made some mistakes. It has been seen as the piece de resistance of his wonderful defensive planning, but the disposition of his soldiers was a weakness.
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