Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington

Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington, was a British general and statesman whose victories in the Peninsular War and at the Battle of Waterloo made him one of the most celebrated commanders of the Napoleonic era. Born in Dublin in 1769, he rose through the British Army from an ensign's commission in 1787 to field marshal in 1813, leading British-led coalition forces to a string of victories over French armies in Spain and Portugal before commanding the allied army that defeated Napoleon Bonaparte at Waterloo in 1815. He went on to serve as Commander-in-Chief of the British Army and as Prime Minister. Known to the British public as the Iron Duke, Wellington himself rated his 1803 victory at Assaye in India above Waterloo as his greatest achievement.