Originally published in 1839, this is the FIRST volume in a series of three published between 1839-1841, which together form an impressive biography of Field-Marshall Arthur Wellington, 1st Duke of Wellington (1769-1852), one of the leading military and political figures of 19th-century Britain whose defeat of Napoleon at the Battle of Waterloo in 1815 put him in the top rank of Britain’s military heroes. Written when witnesses of the Iron Duke’s exploits were still alive, Maxwell used much firsthand information was available from serving a discharged military personnel to enrich the narrative. In this volume the future Duke’s career is taken up to his arrival to take command in the Peninsula for the second time after Moore’s disastrous retreat in 1809. Richly illustrated throughout with steel and wood engravings.