Episode Details

Arthur Wellesley, the future Duke of Wellington, began as a broke, poorly regarded young aristocrat who burned his violins after Kitty Pakenham's family rejected him. This episode traces his roots in Ireland's Protestant Ascendancy, his purchased commission, and the lessons in logistics he learned from the disastrous Flanders campaign.

We follow his transformation in India at the Battle of Assaye, the Lines of Torres Vedras in the Peninsular War, and the reverse slope defense that helped defeat Napoleon at Waterloo alongside Blücher's Prussians. We also examine his rigid politics as prime minister and the surprising origin of the Iron Duke nickname.

• Why the playing fields of Eton quote is a myth
• How he found a hidden river crossing at Assaye
• His chance meeting with Horatio Nelson weeks before Trafalgar
• Why he called his own soldiers the scum of the earth yet championed the Waterloo Medal
• Catholic emancipation, opposition to the Reform Act and the iron window shutters