This is more than a military study. It also deals with Wellington’s diplomatic relations with Spain and various Spaniards not only during the Peninsular War but also in the French intervention crisis of 1823, and in the first Carlist War of the 1830’s when the Duke was still influential in British politics. For the military part, Azcárate uses a judicious mixture of English, Spanish, and French sources, among the first-named being the Duke’s dispatches, Oman’s Peninsular War, and Lord Stanhope’s Conversations. The result is a well-balanced work, with the author frequently defending Wellington against the unreasonable charges of Spanish writers who either did not know the Duke’s orders from the British ministry or failed to understand the military problems with which he had to grapple. Wellington appears here as he has always appeared; as an innate conservative who usually tempered his prejudices with the common sense called for in the difficult situations confronting him.
Because of the recent theft of the Goya painting of Wellington, Azcárate’s descriptions of the several sittings the general had with the great Spanish painter are of timely interest. The posings were interrupted by the intrusions of British officers, to whom Wellington gave peppery and sometimes angry instructions. Goya, who understood no English, was agog with interest and tried to understand these conversations, usually formulating interpretations very wide of the mark.
The book is illustrated with portraits and facsimiles, though maps would have been of more help to the general reader.
