8.75 x 5.5 in.  356 pages.
Greenhill Books Napoleonic Library

The third of Jac Weller's trilogy to be reissued in the Napoleonic Library, following Wellington at Waterloo and Wellington in the Peninsula, concerns the period before the future Duke of Wellington faced Napoleon's armies, but during which he earned his spurs as a military commander. It was in India that he gained his experience of strategy and tactics which he would put to masterly effect against his most formidable opponent in years to come.

Colonel Arthur Wesley as he then was (later Wellesley) of the King's 33rd Foot arrived in India in 1797 and left as a major-general in 1805. There his achievements were closely linked to those of his brothers, Richard, the Earl of Mornington, who became the new Governor-General of India, and his younger brother Henry, who acted as the Governor's private secretary.

The prime danger in India was not so much from the strength of rebellious native rulers but the threatened resurgence there of the power of Britain's old enemy France, where Napoleon Bonaparte had already begun his meteoric rise to military and political power and glory. Wellesley was a long way behind him, an unknown colonel, but what took place in India set him upon the road that would eventually lead to Napoleon's defeat at Waterloo.

Although when Wellesley arrived, British power was ascendant, it controlled only a fraction of India as a whole, and France was ever waiting an opportunity to regain her lost influence. In 1792 Britain had annexed part of the territories of the Sultan of Mysore, Tipoo, who was now trying to form an alliance with France. French military influence was fast gaining ground in Mysore. Taking Seringapatam by storm in 1799 against Tipoo's forces, which were defeated, Wellesley was put in command of the whole of Mysore. After active and successful operations against the Rajah of Bulum, he was promoted major-general and early the following year appointed to command a force sent to restore the Peshwa, who was the young ruler of the Mahratta Confederation, the most powerful political entity in India after the East India Company, and had been defeated by a subordinate ruler the previous autumn. Wellesley succeeded, but the situation remained volatile, and he was put in supreme command, both military and political, of all British personnel for the Mahratta operations. A series of brilliant military successes followed, notably the Battle of Assaye.

Jac Weller explores in his vigorous, clear and readable style the first major steps in Wellesley's career, steps that provided him with the experience to deal so expertly with the problems facing him when the future of Britain and the whole of Europe lay within his hands. His triumphs in India set Wellesley on the road that would eventually lead to Napoleon's defeat at Waterloo.

Greenhill Books  ISBN 1-85367-141-X

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