Waterloo Wellington Quotes

I had a strong sudden instinct that I must be alone. I didn’t want to see any people at all. I had seen so many people all my life -- I was an average mixer, but more than average in a tendency to identify myself, my ideas, my destiny, with those of all classes that came in contact with. I was always saving or being saved -- in a single morning I would go through the emotions ascribable to Wellington at Waterloo. I lived in a world of inscrutable hostiles and inalienable friends and supporters.

The Battle of Waterloo was won on the playing-fields of Eton.

Sirs, if it were not for that one red spot I would have conquered the world!!!

It had been a damned nice thing - the nearest run thing you ever saw in your life. (Waterloo 18 June 1815) 'I hope to God,' he said one day,'that I have fought my last battle.It is a bad thing to be always fighting.While in the thick of it,I am much too occupied to feel anything;but it is wretched just after.It is quite impossible to think of glory.Both mind and feeling are exhausted.I am wretched even at the moment of victory,and I always say that next to a battle lost, the greatest misery is a battle gained.Not only do you lose those dear friends with whom you have been living,but you are forced to leave the wounded behind you.To be sure one tries to do the best for them,but how little that is!At such moments every feeling in your breast is deadened.I am now just beginning to retain my natural spirits,but I never wish for any more fighting.

After the Battle of Waterloo, Arthur Wellesley, the Duke of Wellington—who managed to defeat Napoleon by the skin of his teeth—surveyed the blood-soaked cornfields of Belgium and wrote in a letter, “Nothing except a battle lost can be half as melancholy as a battle won.

17.  According as circumstances are favorable, one should modify one’s plans. [Sun Tzu, as a practical soldier, will have none of the “bookish theoric.” He cautions us here not to pin our faith to abstract principles; “for,” as Chang Yu puts it, “while the main laws of strategy can be stated clearly enough for the benefit of all and sundry, you must be guided by the actions of the enemy in attempting to secure a favorable position in actual warfare.” On the eve of the battle of Waterloo, Lord Uxbridge, commanding the cavalry, went to the Duke of Wellington in order to learn what his plans and calculations were for the morrow, because, as he explained, he might suddenly find himself Commander-in-chief and would be unable to frame new plans in a critical moment. The Duke listened quietly and then said: “Who will attack the first tomorrow—I or Bonaparte?” “Bonaparte,” replied Lord Uxbridge. “Well,” continued the Duke, “Bonaparte has not given me any idea of his projects; and as my plans will depend upon his, how can you expect me to tell you what mine are?”75] 18.  All warfare is based on deception. [The truth of this pithy and profound saying will be admitted by every soldier. Col. Henderson tells us that Wellington, great in so many military qualities, was especially distinguished by “the extraordinary skill with which he concealed his movements and deceived both friend and foe.”] 19. 

You know where the word shrapnel comes from?” “Where?” “An eighteenth-century British guy named Henry Shrapnel.” “Really?” “He was a captain in their artillery for eight years. Then he invented an exploding shell, and they promoted him to major. The Duke of Wellington used the shell in the Peninsular Wars, and at the Battle of Waterloo.

Any meal at the front was an exercise in war-time ingenuity and devotion of the lower classes for their officers. The Petite Marmite a la Thermit was from beef-broth cubes, the tinned Canadian salmon was called Saumon de Tin A & Q Sauce. The Epaule d'Agneau Wellington, N.Z. was army ration lamb, and the terrine of foie gras aux truffes was a can of foie gras that I had bought from the French commanding general. There was a salad of fresh lettuce from somewhere (no one asked in what or whose fertilizer it had been grown in since we would all soon be dead anyway) and the Macedoine de Fruits a la Quatre Bas was a can of mixed fruit. Then fresh strawberries soaked in Cognac. All the usual wines starting with an amontillado, Pommery Extra Sec, Chateau Steenworde Claret, Graham's Five Crowns Port, Bisquit Dubouche Grande Champagne Cognac, Brandy and a Waterloo Cup.

Might it have been possible for Napoleon to win this battle? We answer no. Why? Because of Wellington? Because of Blucher? No. Because of God. For Bonaparte to be conqueror at Waterloo was no longer within the law of the nineteenth century. Another series of acts was under way in which Napoleon had no place. The ill-will of events had long been coming. It was time for this titan to fall. The excessive weight of this man in human destiny disturbed the equilibrium. This individual alone counted for more than the whole of mankind. This plethora of all human vitality concentrated within a single head, the world rising to the brain of one man, would be fatal to civilization if it endured. The moment had come for incorruptible supreme equity to look into it. Probably the principles and elements on which regular gravitation in the moral and material orders depend had begun to mutter. Reeking blood, overcrowded cemeteries, weeping mothers–these are formidable plaintiffs. When the earth is suffering from a surcharge, there are mysterious moanings from the deeps that the heavens hear. Napoleon had been impeached before the Infinite, and his fall was decreed. He annoyed God. Waterloo is not a battle; it is the changing face of the universe.

La bataille de Waterloo est une énigme. Elle est aussi obscure pour ceux qui l’ont gagnée que pour celui qui l’a perdue. Pour Napoléon, c’est une panique* ; Blücher n’y voit que du feu ; Wellington n’y comprend rien. Voyez les rapports. Les bulletins sont confus, les commentaires sont embrouillés. Ceux-ci balbutient, ceux-là bégayent. Jomini partage la bataille de Waterloo en quatre moments ; Muffling la coupe en trois péripéties ; Charras, quoique sur quelques points nous ayons une autre appréciation que lui, a seul saisi de son fier coup d’œil les linéaments caractéristiques de cette catastrophe du génie humain aux prises avec le hasard divin.

Was it possible that Napoleon should have won that battle? We answer No. Why? Because of Wellington? Because of Blucher? No. Because of God. Bonaparte victor at Waterloo; that does not come within the law of the nineteenth century. Another series of facts was in preparation, in which there was no longer any room for Napoleon. The ill will of events had declared itself long before. It was time that this vast man should fall. The excessive weight of this man in human destiny disturbed the balance. This individual alone counted for more than a universal group. These plethoras of all human vitality concentrated in a single head; the world mounting to the brain of one man,—this would be mortal to civilization were it to last. The moment had arrived for the incorruptible and supreme equity to alter its plan. Probably the principles and the elements, on which the regular gravitations of the moral, as of the material, world depend, had complained. Smoking blood, over-filled cemeteries, mothers in tears,—these are formidable pleaders. When the earth is suffering from too heavy a burden, there are mysterious groanings of the shades, to which the abyss lends an ear. Napoleon had been denounced in the infinite and his fall had been decided on. He embarrassed God. Waterloo is not a battle; it is a change of front on the part of the Universe.

It touches me to think that in his declining years he [George IV.] actually thought that he had led one of the charges at Waterloo. He would often describe the whole scene as it appeared to him at that supreme moment, and refer to the Duke of Wellington, saying, "Was it not so, Duke ? " " I have often heard you say so, your Majesty," the old soldier would reply, grimly. I am not sure that the old soldier was at Waterloo himself. In a room full of people he once referred to the battle as having been won upon the playing-fields of Eton. This was certainly a most unfortunate slip, seeing that all historians are agreed that it was fought on a certain field situate a few miles from Brussels.

The survivors of that confusion would surely be bemused by the argument that Waterloo really was not that important, that if Napoleon had won then he would have still faced overwhelming enemies and ultimate defeat. That is probably, though not certainly, true. If the Emperor had forced the ridge of Mont St Jean and driven Wellington back into a precipitate retreat, he would still have had to cope with the mighty armies of Austria and Russia that were marching towards France. Yet that did not happen. Napoleon was stopped at Waterloo, and that gives the battle its significance. It is a turning point of history, and to say history would have turned anyway is not to reduce the importance of the moment it happened.

one result of Napoleon’s destruction was a great increase in British power. For a century after Waterloo Britain enjoyed global pre-eminence at a historically small price in blood and treasure. Russian pride and interests sometimes suffered from this, most obviously in the Crimean War. In the long run, too, British power meant the global hegemony of liberal-democratic principles fatal to any version of Russian empire. But this is to look way into the future: in 1815 Wellington and Castlereagh disliked democracy at least as much as Alexander I did. Under no circumstances could Russian policy in the Napoleonic era have stopped Britain’s Industrial Revolution, or its effects on British power. Moreover, in the century after 1815 Russia grew greatly in wealth and population, benefiting hugely from integration into the global capitalist economy whose main bulwark was Britain. In the nineteenth as in the twentieth century Russia had much less to fear from Britain than from land-powers intent on dominating the European continent.

1828, the Duke of Wellington, hero of Waterloo, became prime minister of the United Kingdom. In South America, Uruguay gained national independence. Japan suffered its

Napoleon Bonaparte was born on August 15, 1769 in Ajaccio, Corsica. His parents, Carlo Buonaparte and Letizia Ramolino, had had three children before him, but only one survived. To no one’s surprise, the couple was thrilled by the arrival of a happy, healthy baby—they had endured so much hardship in the past. At

By the time the settlers and pioneers of America reached the West Coast, they had gone through many dramatic landscapes, but nothing quite prepared them for the size of the California redwoods. The giant trees led to many disputes, including the very name that should be applied to them. In 1853, British botanists proposed to name the trees Wellingtonia gigantea and called them “Wellingtonias” in honor of the Duke of Wellington, who defeated Napoleon at Waterloo. They justified the name on the grounds that the greatest tree in the world should bear the name of the greatest general in the world. Fortunately, the Americans resisted this choice and supported instead a native American name. Conservationists felt that so great a tree should not be named for a military general. They proposed instead the name Sequoia sempervirens, “evergreen Sequoia,” in honor of the man who invented a way of writing the Cherokee language and worked hard to promote literacy among his people. Both the coastal redwoods and the giant redwoods of the Sierra Nevada bear the genus name Sequoia, in honor of one of the greatest Indian intellectuals and leaders of the nineteenth century.

he “went under the grass quilt on us.” I may be so far off base as to be out of the ballpark, but with “sinflute and dropped him” I hear an echo of, or at least the meter of, the Duke of Wellington’s order for the last charge at Waterloo, “Up guards and at ‘em!

direct and

At Waterloo [Waterloo] sought to break up the rocket unit, commanded by Major E. C. Whinyates R.A. A staff officer told him 'But that, Your Grace, will break Major Whinyates's heart.' 'Damn his heart, Sir, let my orders be obeyed!

Wellington once told a junior officer that timing was everything in life, and who was Hugo to disagree with the victor of Waterloo, especially when the great man’s prophecy was about to apply to him? He

June 18, 1815, that Wellington met Boney at Waterloo, and her John was lost forever. Mac had been there. He had lived, and while she searched for Johnny, Mac found her. Lieutenant William McMillan had

Oman’s book Wellington’s Army is 400 pages in length but just a single page is devoted to the artillery with the opening, ‘only a short note is required as to Wellington’s use of artillery’. Historians ever since

Brent Nosworthy’s excellent work on Napoleonic battle tactics concluded that ‘at close range, artillery was generally unable to inflict a greater number of casualties than competent well-led infantry occupying the same frontage’. The complications of providing that intimate level of artillery support

Nosworthy summed up the problem, ‘artillery although able to break enemy infantry when sufficiently massed or carefully orchestrated to achieve converging fire, was unable to exploit its own success’.

Howie Muir in his introduction to Captain Hew Ross’s Memoirs provides an excellent appraisal of the efficacy and flexibility of horse artillery of the day:14

The situation became so serious that it ended, later in the year, with his Foreign Secretary, Lord Canning, fighting a duel against his Secretary for War, Lord Castlereagh.

Los miserables (Colección Sepan Cuantos: 077) (Spanish Edition) (Hugo, Victor) - Tu subrayado en la posición 6089-6090 | Añadido el jueves, 8 de enero de 2015 22:18:31 se descubría esa gran cosa humana que se llama ley, y esa gran cosa divina que se llama justicia. ========== Los miserables (Colección Sepan Cuantos: 077) (Spanish Edition) (Hugo, Victor) - Tu subrayado en la posición 6423-6424 | Añadido el viernes, 9 de enero de 2015 10:10:32 Cuando se acerca una mano para coger una flor, la rama tiembla, y parece que huye y se ofrece a la vez. ========== Los miserables (Colección Sepan Cuantos: 077) (Spanish Edition) (Hugo, Victor) - Tu subrayado en la posición 6550-6551 | Añadido el viernes, 9 de enero de 2015 10:25:00 Había indudablemente cierta grandeza en aquel ángel monstruoso. ========== Los miserables (Colección Sepan Cuantos: 077) (Spanish Edition) (Hugo, Victor) - Tu subrayado en la posición 6871-6875 | Añadido el viernes, 9 de enero de 2015 11:05:02 Bauduin muerto, Foy herido; el incendio, la matanza, la carnicería, un río de sangre inglesa, de sangre alemana y de sangre francesa, mezcladas furiosamente, un pozo lleno de cadáveres, el regimiento de Nassau y el regimiento de Brunkwick destruidos, Duplat muerto, Blackman muerto, la guardia inglesa mutilada, veinte batallones franceses de los cuarenta del cuerpo de Reille diezmados, tres mil hombres sólo en las ruinas de Hougomont, acuchillados, degollados, fusilados, quemados; y todo esto para que hoy un aldeano diga al viajero: Señor, dadme tres francos; si queréis, os explicaré la cosa de Waterloo. ========== Los miserables (Colección Sepan Cuantos: 077) (Spanish Edition) (Hugo, Victor) - Tu subrayado en la posición 6972-6972 | Añadido el viernes, 9 de enero de 2015 19:27:41 el soldado en guerrilla, entregado en cierto modo a sí mismo, llega a ser, por decirlo así, su propio general; ========== Los miserables (Colección Sepan Cuantos: 077) (Spanish Edition) (Hugo, Victor) - Tu subrayado en la posición 6990-6992 | Añadido el viernes, 9 de enero de 2015 19:30:15 La inmovilidad de un plano matemático expresa un minuto, no un día. Para pintar una batalla se necesita uno de esos pintores poderosos que tenga algo del caos en su pincel; Rembrandt vale más que Vandermeulen. Vandermeulen, exacto a las doce, miente a las tres. La geometría engaña; sólo el huracán es verdadero. ========== Los miserables (Colección Sepan Cuantos: 077) (Spanish Edition) (Hugo, Victor) - Tu subrayado en la posición 7040-7042 | Añadido el viernes, 9 de enero de 2015 19:36:28 —Milord, ¿cuáles son vuestras instrucciones, y qué órdenes nos dejáis si os matan? —Hacer lo que yo —respondió Wellington. ========== Los miserables (Colección Sepan Cuantos: 077) (Spanish Edition) (Hugo, Victor) - Tu subrayado en la posición 7251-7251 | Añadido el viernes, 9 de enero de 2015 20:39:11 Waterloo no es una batalla; es el cambio de frente del Universo. ========== Los miserables (Colección Sepan Cuantos: 077) (Spanish Edition) (Hugo, Victor) - Tu subrayado en la posición 7388-7388 | Añadido el viernes, 9 de enero de 2015 20:55:48 Ni un hombre tembló ante el suicidio. ========== Los miserables (Colección Sepan Cuantos: 077) (Spanish Edition) (Hugo, Victor) - Tu subrayado en la posición 7454-7456 | Añadido el viernes, 9 de enero de 2015 21:14:50 un general inglés, Colville, según unos, o Maitland, según otros, les gritó: —¡Rendíos, valientes franceses! Cambronne contestó: —¡Mierda![3] ========== Los miserables (Colección Sepan Cuantos: 077) (Spanish Edition) (Hugo, Victor) - Tu subrayado en la posición 7461-7465 | Añadido el viernes, 9 de enero de 2015 21:15:17 En efecto, decir esta palabra y morir en seguida, ¡qué cosa más grande! Porque querer morir es morir, y no fue culpa suya si ametrallado sobrevivió. El hombre que ganó la batalla de Waterloo, no fue Napoleón derrotado; no fue Wellington replegándose a las cuatro, desesperado a l

History records that there was only one Napoleon at the battle of Waterloo — and that he was too small for his job. The fact is there were two Napoleons at Waterloo, and the second one was big enough for his job, with some to spare. The second Napoleon was Nathan Rothschild — the emperor of finance. During the trying months that came before the crash Nathan Rothschild had plunged on England until his own fortunes, no less than those of the warring nations, were staked on the issue. He had lent money direct. He had discounted Wellington's paper. He had risked millions by sending chests of gold through war-swept territory where the slightest failure of plans might have caused its capture. He was extended to the limit when the fateful hour struck, and the future seemed none too certain. The English, in characteristic fashion, believed that all had been lost before anything was lost -— before the first gun bellowed out its challenge over the Belgian plains. The London stock market was in a panic. Consols were falling, slipping, sliding, tumbling. If the telegraph had been invented, the suspense would have been less, even if the wires had told that all was lost. But there was no telegraph. There were only rumors and fears. As the armies drew toward Waterloo Nathan Rothschild was like a man aflame. All of his instincts were crying out for news — good news, bad news, any kind of news, but news — something to end his suspense. News could be had immediately only by going to the front. He did not want to go to the front. A biographer of the family, Mr. Ignatius Balla, 1 declares that Nathan had " always shrunk from the sight of blood." From this it may be presumed that, to put it delicately, he was not a martial figure. But, as events came to a focus, his mingled hopes and fears overcame his inborn instincts. He must know the best or the worst and that at once. So he posted off for Belgium. He drew near to the gathering armies. From a safe post on a hill he saw the puffs of smoke from the opening guns. He saw Napoleon hurl his human missiles at Wellington's advancing walls of red. He did not see the final crash of the French, because he saw enough to convince him that it was coming, and therefore did not wait to witness the actual event. He had no time to wait. He hungered and thirsted for London as a few days before he had hungered and thirsted for the sight of Waterloo. Wellington having saved the day for him as well as for England, Nathan Rothschild saw an opportunity to reap colossal gains by beating the news of Napoleon's 1 The Romance of the Rothschilds, p. 88. 126 OUR DISHONEST CONSTITUTION defeat to London and buying the depressed securities of his adopted country before the news of victory should send them skyward with the hats of those whose brains were still whirling with fear. So he left the field of Waterloo while the guns were still booming out the requiem of all of Napoleon's great hopes of empire. He raced to Brussels upon the back of a horse whose sides were dripping with spur-drawn blood. At Brussels he paid an exorbitant price to be whirled in a carriage to Ostend. At Ostend he found the sea in the grip of a storm that shook the shores even as Wellington was still shaking the luck-worn hope of France. " He was certainly no hero," says Balla, " but at the present moment he feared nothing." Who would take him in a boat and row him to England? Not a boatman spoke. No one likes to speak when Death calls his name, and Rothschild's words were like words from Death. But Rothschild continued to speak. He must have a boatman and a boat. He must beat the news of Waterloo to England. Who would make the trip for 500 francs? Who would go for 800, 1,000? Who would go for 2,000? A courageous sailor would go. His name should be here if it had not been lost to the world. His name should be here and wherever this story is printed, because he said he would go if Rothschild would pay the 2,000 francs to the sailor's wife before

In 1828, the Duke of Wellington, hero of Waterloo, became prime minister of the United Kingdom. In South America, Uruguay gained national independence. Japan suffered its second

1815 Napoleon defeated by Wellington at the battle of Waterloo.

Hard pounding, this, gentlemen. Let’s see who will pound the longest. —THE DUKE OF WELLINGTON, RALLYING HIS TROOPS AT WATERLOO, 1815

In 1828, the Duke of Wellington, hero of Waterloo, became prime minister of the United Kingdom. In South America, Uruguay gained national independence. Japan suffered its second-worst natural disaster in 1828, when the Siebold Typhoon killed ten thousand people. On May 26, 1828, in Nuremburg, Germany, a mysterious child named Kaspar Hauser made headlines when he appeared out of nowhere, walking the streets in a daze. In the United States, Andrew Jackson defeated John Quincy Adams in one of the bitterest presidential elections in American history. Jackson's candidacy established a new political party: the Democratic Party.

In 1828, the Duke of Wellington, hero of Waterloo, became prime minister of the United Kingdom. In South America, Uruguay gained national independence. Japan suffered its second-worst natural disaster in 1828, when the Siebold Typhoon killed ten

Reformers believed moral and political relationships were learned in play. Given street-afforded license, kids would grow up bad. “If we let the gutter set its stamp upon their early days,” Jacob Riis warned in 1904, “we shall have the gutter reproduced in our politics.” The antidote to the street was the supervised playground. Settlement houses had opened rudimentary play spaces in the 1890s. In 1898 the Outdoor Recreation League (ORL), founded by Lillian Wald and Charles B. Stover and housed in the College Settlement, opened the city’s first outdoor playground in Hudsonbank Park (at West 53rd Street), whose sand gardens, running track, and equipment were supervised by Hartley House’s headworker. Playground proponents insisted the city take over and expand these programs. An 1898 University Settlement report argued: “Waterloo was won in part on the playing fields of Eton said Wellington; good government for New York may partially be won on the playgrounds of the East Side.” In 1902 the city assumed responsibility for the nine ORL playgrounds created to date. And in 1903 Seward Park became the first municipal park in the country to be equipped as a playground.

1828, the Duke of Wellington, hero of Waterloo, became prime minister of the United Kingdom. In South America, Uruguay gained national independence. Japan suffered its second-worst natural disaster in 1828, when the Siebold Typhoon killed ten thousand people. On May 26, 1828, in Nuremburg, Germany, a mysterious child named Kaspar Hauser made headlines when he appeared out of nowhere, walking the streets in a daze. In the United States, Andrew Jackson defeated John Quincy Adams in one of the bitterest presidential elections in American history. Jackson's candidacy established a new political

Preface In 1828, the Duke of Wellington, hero of Waterloo, became prime minister of the United Kingdom. In South America,

In his preparations for the battle of Waterloo Napoleon contrived to produce a grand slam of mistakes. It is surprising that his great name as a captain has survived the lengthy checklist of errors he committed that day, or that Wellington should have gained such a great reputation for taking advantage of opportunities that were virtually handed him on a plate.

Preface In 1828, the Duke of Wellington, hero of Waterloo, became prime minister of the United Kingdom. In South America, Uruguay gained national independence. Japan suffered its second-worst natural disaster in 1828, when the Siebold Typhoon killed ten thousand people. On May

Leaning against the side of the house, I breathed rather in the manner copyrighted by the hart which pants for cooling streams when heated in the chase. The realization of how narrowly I had missed having to mingle again with this blockbusting female barrister kept me Lot's-wifed for what seemed an hour or so, though I suppose it can't have been more than a few seconds. Then gradually I ceased to be a pillar of salt and was able to concentrate on finding out what on earth Ma McCorkadale's motive was in paying us this visit. The last place, I mean to say, where you would have expected to find her. Considering how she stood in regard to Ginger, it was as if Napoleon had dropped in for a chat with Wellington on the eve of Waterloo.