Wellington's Two-Front War

Sir Arthur Wellesley''s 1808-1814 campaigns against Napoleon''s forces in the Iberian Peninsula have drawn the attention of scholars and soldiers for two centuries. Yet, until now, no study has focused on the problems that Wellesley, later known as the Duke of Wellington, encountered on the home front before his eventual triumph beyond the Pyrenees. In Wellington''s Two-Front War, Joshua Moon not only surveys Wellington''s command of British forces against the French but also describes the battles Wellington fought in England-with an archaic military command structure, bureaucracy, and fickle public opinion.

In this detailed and accessible account, Moon traces Wellington''s command of British forces during the six years of warfare against the French. Almost immediately upon landing in Portugal in 1808, Wellington was hampered by his government''s struggle to plan a strategy for victory. From that point on, Moon argues, the military''s outdated promotion system, politi