The Making of Wellington: The Battle of Vimeiro
Historic Battles • 31m
On 21st of August 1808, the 39-year-old Sir Arthur Wellesley (later to become the Duke of Wellington) stood at the head of an Anglo-Portuguese army numbering approximately 14,000.
His army was positioned on the blind side of a slope, awaiting the advance of a French Army under General Jean-Andoche Junot, that outnumbered him by between 3,000 and 6,000.
He held his men steady and waited until the French crested the hill and descended on this side to within range. Only then did he open fire.
This deployment of an army on the blind side of a hill became known as the ‘reverse slope tactIc’. At Vimeiro, it proved to be immensely successful and Wellesley subsequently made frequent use of it throughout the Peninsular War.
That the future Duke of Wellington should be in command of the combined British and Portuguese forces at this juncture, however, was an accident of Fate.
Up Next in Historic Battles
-
The Battle of Britain
In June 1940 Nazi Germany overran France and forced the British army to evacuate at Dunkirk. Severely lacking in military equipment, Britain and her empire now stood alone against Adolf Hitler's forces. Nevertheless Winston Churchill, Britain's new prime minister, refused to come to peace terms, ...
-
St Helena: Napoleon's Last Battlefield
Napoleon was one of the most significant soldiers and statesmen in world history. And his last years spent on the remote island of St Helena only adds to the fascination of his story.
Dan Snow visits the key sites on St Helena, linked to Napoleon's stay on this island. St Helena has been COVID ...
-
The Causes of the Wars of the Roses
The Wars of the Roses were one of the bloodiest periods in English history. After 30 years of conflict between the royal houses of Lancaster and York, the nobility was shattered, and the Plantagenet dynasty was ended. But what caused this long period of internecine violence? It's a story of such ...
28 Comments