fourth British-Mysore War, a victory that, as historian
George Bruce writes, “gave the British supremacy in
southern India.” Tipu Sahib was killed, and Sir David
baird, who had more seniority than Wellesley (having
been in India since 1779), fully expected to be named
as commander of British forces in India. When London
chose Wellesley instead, Baird quit. Wellesley served as
commander during the Second Anglo-Mahratta War of
1803–05, when he distinguished himself particularly
well at the battles of Assaye (23 September 1803) and
Argaon (also Argaum, 29 November 1803). It was at As-
saye that Wellesley, with just 9,000 men—of whom only
1,800 were British—defeated over 40,000 of the enemy.
The war ended with the surrender of the Sindhia and the
raja of Berar. Wellesley was made a Knight Companion
of the Order of the Bath (KCB) for his services.
In 1805, now as Sir Arthur Wellesley, he returned
to England and was recalled into service almost im-
mediately, serving in an abortive expedition to relieve
Hanover, Germany. The following year, he was elected
as a member of Parliament for Rye—later, for Mitchell
(1807), and for Newport (1807–09). In 1807, he was
named as chief secretary of Ireland. Later that year, when
Britain went to war against Denmark, Wellesley com-
manded the English Division, composed of the 43rd and
52nd light infantry, the 92nd Highlanders, and the 95th
Rifles, winning the only battle of that conflict at Kioge
(29 October 1807). For his service in the Danish war, he
was promoted to lieutenant general.
In 1808, Wellesley was sent to Portugal to fight the
French in Spain, the campaign known as the Peninsular
War (1808–14). He commanded a force of some 17,500
men and saw action at Rolica (17 August 1808), when
he won a decisive victory, and at Vimeiro (21 August
1808), when the French, under Jean-Andoche Junot,
were routed. However, following Vimeiro, the British,
commanded first by General Burrard and then by Gen-
eral Sir Hew Dalrymple, refused to chase the French,
and the ultimate value of the victory was lost. Dalrymple
then signed—and forced Wellesley to sign—the Con-
vention of Cintra, which ended the campaign. This
“treaty” allowed Junot and his army to return home
with all their arms and loot and to be transported by the
British fleet. The public outrage at this led to a court of
inquiry in London that censured Dalrymple but com-
mended Wellesley for his actions.
In 1809, Wellesley was sent back to counter a
French invasion of Spain under General Nicolas Jean
Soult. With some 23,000 men, he moved from Lisbon
to Oporto, where Soult had stationed a huge portion of
his army of 20,000. Wellesley dispatched some of his
force eastward to hold off reinforcements to Soult from
General Claude-Victor Perrin, duc de Bellune, while he
inflicted a defeat on Soult at the River Douro at Oporto
(12 May 1809). A week later, another defeat forced
Soult to withdraw, and Wellesley then concentrated on
capturing Madrid. At Talavera (27–28 July 1809), he
defeated a French force backed by King Joseph, but his
forces were threatened by Soult advancing on his lines
of communication, and he retreated into Portugal to re-
group. He was then created Baron Douro of Wellesley
and Viscount Wellington of Talavera.
Knowing that naPoleon had made peace with
Austria and would now reinforce Spain, Lord Wellington
prepared for a second French invasion of Portugal. He
established a series of defensive fortifications—called the
Lines of Torres Vedras—across the peninsula on which
Lisbon stands. He realized that the combined British
and Spanish forces were no match for the overwhelming
French army, but he felt that, with their long, vulner-
able lines of communication, a defensive war rather than
an offensive one would eliminate the French advantage.
Wellington was right: Marshal André masséna moved
into Portugal to attack the British but was halted at the
defensive line at Busaco on 27 September 1810. After a
lengthy siege, Masséna was forced to withdraw back to
Spain in April 1811. He invaded again in May 1811 to
attack the Portuguese garrison at Almeida, but Welling-
ton attacked him at Fuentes de Oñoro on 5 May 1811.
Two separate French attacks were repulsed at a loss of
some 2,250 killed on the French side; British losses were
about 1,400. When Masséna’s forces moved to attack a
second time, Wellington attacked the French garrison at
Ciudad Rodrigo (19 January 1812). The quick British
victory was followed by Wellington’s attack on Badajoz
(17 March 1812), in which his troops laid siege to the
French garrison, leaving 3,500 French and over 5,000
British dead. The fortress fell to Wellington’s forces on
6 April 1812, but he looked on with horror as his men
ransacked the fortress and town for two days before
order could be restored. The final major battle of the
year was at Salamanca on 22 July 1812, when Welling-
ton, with more than 67,000 troops, including 14,000
Portuguese and 3,000 Spaniards, defeated French gen-
eral Marshal Auguste Marmont’s 49,000 men; French
losses were estimated to be over 15,000, while the Brit-0 wellington, ARthuR welleSley, FiRSt Duke oF