Leadership of Wellington

The British general Arthur Wellesley beautifully fits the model of a maverick military commander offered by Robert Harvey in his work Maverick Military Leaders, the Extraordinary Battles of Washington, Nelson, Patton, Rommel, and Others. Maverick Military Leaders discusses Wellesley's first (and significant) battle against Maratha forces at the Battle of Assaye. In Harvey's formulation, the future Duke of Wellington can be understood to exhibit most, if not all, of the sixteen traits found in successful battlefield commanders; and indeed, Wellington would go on to defeat Napoleon and end the putative emperor's reign at the decisive Battle of Waterloo in 1815. The victory at Waterloo would secure Britain's position as a great power vis a vis continental politics and affairs for the next century-and-a-half. It can be fairly said that the qualities of leadership that Wellesley displayed at Assaye were a precursor in his eventually becoming one of...
[ View Full Essay]