Wellington - Vítěz od Waterloo – Res Daniel (2018)

The gripping life story of the Duke of Wellington, the man who defeated Napoleon at Waterloo and became a hero celebrated throughout Europe. Historian Daniel Res recounts Wellington's fate in a readable form that combines careful historical analysis richly citing contemporary sources with a fictional writing style, making the book read almost like a novel. We learn about Wellington's youth in Ireland, his beginnings in politics, his first fame in India, and key clashes with Napoleonic France on the Iberian Peninsula, from where Wellington fought his way to southern France in 1814, and a year later faced Napoleon at Waterloo. Res presents Wellington not only as a brilliant military leader but also as a man and a sensitive individual who was often completely devastated by the horrors of war. He also brings the poignant story of Wellington's marriage to Catherine Pakenham, which was often compared by contemporaries to the story of Odysseus and Penelope, and above all, the colorful, societal context of Britain during the Napoleonic Wars. From a scholarly perspective, the book offers a new hypothesis regarding the construction of the Torres Vedras lines, which already in 1809 foreshadowed Napoleon's downfall. In the conclusion, the author also describes Wellington's political career, during which he became...