The rise of the Duke of Wellington is a fascinating story. Despite his dogged reputation as a disciplinarian and a defensive fighter, his early campaigns can stand easily beside those of his great adversary Napoleon. Many admire the rise of the future Emperor for its daring and audacious accomplishments such as the crossing the Alps, Marengo and Egypt. There in Napoleon’s customary melodramatic flair appears to be the all the dash and action of a heroic novel, but then that is how he wanted it to look, and the French People soaked it in. Not as many people realise just how different Wellington was as a general and a man when he was in India. It is a glimpse into the general he might have been if he had not been so tightly curtailed by the government, what he might have been like if he had Napoleon’s freedom. So here it is, the first part of my series of Wellington in India, no doubt it will grip you, no doubt it will shock you, no doubt it will change your whole outlook on history, no doubt it will cure your insomnia and leave you sleeping like a kitten. Hope you enjoy it, please forgive spelling errors and grammer, and I’ll see you at the end. Continue reading “Wellington in India.”
C’est moi.
Allow me to enlighten those of you who wish to know a little more about the mysterious writer behind this blog. First off, despite the title of this post I cannot speak French beyond ordering food and a few phrases I have picked up from history books. Now to the point shall we? After a long think of a few minutes I have come to the resolution that I cannot call myself a Historian, for the very good reason that nobody calls me that. If I had to give myself a title for semi academic purposes I would call myself a Historical Observer. Or perhaps Commentator, would be a good word, or better yet a melage of the two… What is a Historical Commentator/Observer? Well don’t ask me, I just invented it, but it seems quite self explanatory, I observe history and give my opinions about it (see its like a historian but not). Well that about covers it. True I may have sown more confusion than enlightenment but then I never promised not to do so, but hopefully this has given a certain reson dêtre (There’s that deceiveingly authoritative use of French again) for what I do here.
Twitter Banners.
You sharp eyed visitors have probably noticed the stunningly awesome banners that are at the top of the page. It’s good that you have for a number of reasons. First because it proves that you can see, which can only enhance your experience here and second because they are rather eye catching, so the poor minimum wage freelance that I cajoled into doing them will be feeling very chuffed right now (well done, the pride of a job well done is yours). To the point then, they represent historical twitter accounts, that with the permission of the various Kings and Dukes and whoever else might appear in the future, have consented to appear here for publicity reasons and a very small yet substantial monetary donation. Right so now that’s out of the way please carry on to wherever you were going before this post distracted you.
Hello There!
Hello. Welcome to Adventures in Historyland. A rather informal place were I can annoy you with my thoughts about history. I tend to write allot about military subjects but as Lady Butler said not “For the glory of war… But for its pathos and heroism” and it isn’t all going to be soldiers and fighting. For more information and a better orientation please go to the About page. But I’d like to take this opportunity to say how nice it is to see you and if I may be so bold how nice you look today.