Transcript Document

 His name was Arthur Wellesley
 Lived from 1769-1852
 Went to Eton and then joined the army in 1787.
 Went to India in 1796 where he had his first remarkable
victory at Assaye.
 In 1808 he assumed control of British, Spanish and
Portuguese forces in the Iberian Peninsular.
 Then one of his greatest victories he brought about the
fall of Napoleon and his Empire with a victory over the
French at Waterloo.
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Lived from 1769-1821
in 1796, was made commander of the French army in Italy
In1799, after a coup d'état Napoleon became first consul.
In 1802, he was made consul for life
In 1804 he made himself emperor.
He then negotiated a general European peace which established
French power on the continent.
In 1803 France an England were at war AGAIN!,
Most successful Battle was that at Austerlitz where he beat the
Austro- Prussian Forces.
March 1814, Paris fell. Napoleon went into exile on Elba.
In March 1815 he escaped
The Battle of Waterloo ended his brief second reign.
Exiled to Island of St. Helena
1.
The ability to control their men.
2.
The thoroughness of their preparation
3.
Their overall achievements
4.
Their success in individual Battles and
Wars
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He earned the respect of his men by:
 Not risking their lives unnecessarily
 Leading by example, through bravery on the Battle field.
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This respect meant his men trusted him and
thus were likely to follow his orders with
loyalty.
He used severe punishments, including:
 Flogging
 Hanging
 Death by firing squad.
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As a result of these methods Wellington
generally kept firm control of his men and
desertion happened on a much smaller scale
than in the French army
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He kept control by appealing to men’s emotions,
instead of earning their respect he inspired them.
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This was effective to a point but had some
weaknesses:
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In his conscription army harsh conditions easily
overpowered those of personal admiration of Napoleon
and often led to desertion.
Napoleon also used fear to control his men as
Wellington but Napoleon used the death penalty
more frequently.
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In fact, Napoleon used fear to control his men
that it led to his officers being so afraid that
they distorted the results of battles in reports
so as not to disappoint him.
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Therefore Napoleon did control his men but his
methods had weaknesses that Wellington
avoided which led to a higher desertion rate in
the French army.
• Preparation was one of Wellington’s strong points.
• He was always well informed about his opponents which
enabled him to make use of their weakness on the battle field.
• E.G. he studied Napoleon before Waterloo
• He ensured that he was well informed about the situation of
the enemy army .
• Paid Spanish Guerrilla's well to collect information
on the French army.
• Offered large sums of money for valuable
information.
• Ensured that his army prepared well for future events
• E.G. lines of Torres Vedras.
•Napoleon used Newspapers from his opponents to gather information
about their position:
•This gave him accurate estimates of the number of enemy
troops
•It was so successful that Wellington frequently complained
to the British Press about it
•It counteracted the problem of his Generals giving him
falsely optimistic reports.
•Limitations of Napoleon’s preparation:
•He relied to heavily on newspapers so other sources of
information were limited.
• He failed to study opponents in much detail, therefore
could not adapt his battle plan to suit the enemy.
•An example of the disastrous effects of his poor planning
can be seen in his Russian campaign of 1812.
Wellington
•Most significant triumph was the
expansion of the French Empire:
•Napoleon had created a
2,100,000 km empire
•His many victories included:
ohis successful Italian
campaign
oconquering the
Austrians at the battle of
Ulm;
o defeating the AustroRussian army at
Austerlitz;
obeating the Prussians at
Jena and the
oRussians at Pultusk and
Friedland;
oTreaty of Tilst (1807),
His achievements include:
• Successes in the Iberian Peninsula
against the French
•Successes in India where he annexed a
larger territory than all of Napoleon’s
conquered empire
•His greatest accomplishment was
bringing about the fall of Napoleon’s
empire.
Which is a greater achievement…….
The creation of an empire or the
destruction of one?
Wellington
• Paid close attention
to detail
• Only took very
calculated risks
• rarely made mistakes
Wellington had fewer
glorious triumphs but
never lost a battle, he
won all 40 battles he
fought.
Napoleon
• Didn’t pay such close
attention to detail.
• Great risk taker
• opportunist
Napoleon had more
impressive victories but only
won 60/70 battles
Wellington:
Napoleon:
The line, ranked to deep
• This was a line consisted of
two rows of men
• Allowed for most efficient
firing.
• Could halt an advancing
column.
The column:
• It was narrow but was many men deep.
• It was shielded behind a thick skirmishing
line.
• Worked well against ill-organised troops
• However, he failed to realise its weakness
against the disciplined British.
• could become very disconnected and
uncoordinated.
The reverse slope Tactic
• He hid his men on the reverse
Corps system:
slope of a hill
• This hid them from the enemy • Each corps was ‘in effect a miniature
army.’
• Protected them from enemy
• They had more mobility.
fire
• suited ‘living off the land’ as this was
easier in these smaller groups.
Napoleon had more innovative
tactics but Wellington used his
more conventional tactics more
effectively and selected them to suit
his opponent.
Stage one research:
• I gathered some background knowledge on Napoleon and
Wellington I read a book that looked at the lives of both men.
• I then collected more specific information by looking at certain
chapters in various books that focused on their military lives.
Stage two, planning:
• I chose 5 great military leaders and selected criteria of a great
commander from these
• I used this criteria as a basis for my essay and structured the
paragraphs around the four main points of my essay.
Stage three, writing:
• Once I had my plan I used a number of books to gather
detailed information on the areas I had decided to talk about.
• Whilst writing the essay I adapted the paragraphs slightly as I
realised some could be combined to make a stronger argument
• Plan more specifically before I did the bulk of my
research so that I could focus it more effectively.
• Make notes on my research a more organized way so
that it was easier to find the information as I wrote the
essay.
• Start writing earlier, I had planned my essay and done
the research early enough but it would have been better
if I had had longer to actually write the essay.
• Improved my time management
• Research Skills
• Structuring Essays
• Improved my ability to learn independently