Wellington

Wellington's momentous victory over Napoleon was the culminating point of a brilliant military career. Yet Wellington's achievements were far from over: he commanded the allied army of occupation in France to the end of 1818, returned home to a seat in Lord Liverpool's cabinet, and became prime minister in 1828. He later served as a senior minister in Peel's government and remained Commander-in-Chief of the Army for a decade until his death in 1852. In this richly detailed work, the second and concluding volume of Rory Muir's definitive biography, the author offers a substantial reassessment of Wellington's significance as a politician and a nuanced view of the private man behind the legend of the selfless hero. Muir presents new insights into Wellington's determination to keep peace at home and abroad, achieved by maintaining good relations with the Continental powers and resisting radical agitation while granting political equality to the Catholics in Ireland rather than risk civil war.0And countering one-dimensional pictures of Wellington as a national hero, Muir paints a portrait of a well-rounded man whose austere demeanor on the public stage belied his entertaining, gossipy, generous, and unpretentious private self.

Part I: War and peace in Europe (1814-18). Celebrations and diplomacy, April 1814-March 1815 ; The return of Napoleon, March-June 1815 ; Quatre Bras, 15-17 June 1815 ; Waterloo, 18 June 1815 ; Peacemaking in Paris, June-December 1815 ; The occupation of France, 1816-18 -- Part II: In cabinet (1819-27). Politics and the duke ; The radical challenge, 1819 ; The Queen's affair, 1820-21 ; The King and his ministers, 1821-22 ; Verona and Spain, 1822-23 ; Latin America and the Catholic question, 1823-25 ; The last year of Liverpool's government, December 1825-February 1827 ; Master-General of the Ordnance, 1818-27 ; Family and friends, 1819-27 ; The ins and outs of 1827 -- Part III: Prime minister (1828-30). Cabinet-making, January-June 1828 ; Catholic emancipation, 1828-29 ; The foreign policy of Wellington's government, 1828-July 1830 ; Domestic difficulties, May 1829-July 1830 ; The fall of Wellington's government, July-November 1830 -- Part IV: Out of office (1830-41). Opposing the Reform Bill, November 1830-June 1832 ; The limits of opposition, 1832-35 ; Private life, 1828-35 ; The many faces of fame ; Leading the Lords, 1835-41 ; Wellington and the army, 1819-41 -- Part V: Back in…