"Wellington won Battle of Waterloo 200 years ago – but..." Topic

… Irish rejected his legacy.

"The Duke of Wellington never did say about his Irish birth "just because you are born in a stable does not make you a horse".

It was said by Daniel O'Connell about him and has hung about the reputation of the Iron Duke ever since like a bad smell because it is true.

Wellington was Irish in so far as he was born in Ireland and spent his youth in Ireland, but he was really a British aristocrat and imperialist. His allegiances were to his own class and to the British monarchy…"
Full article here
link

Amicalement
Armand

Unfortunately the 200th seems to bring out uninformed tall poppy cutters from under their slimy rocks…

Wellington was of course an ardent defender of the rights of Irish Catholics, even fighting a duel in their name.

Vive L'Emperour, and the Kings of Northern Italy, Holland, Naples, Spain, the Imperial Princes, Sovereign Princes, Victory Princes, and various sorts of Dukes, Counts and Barons.

Yep, Long live the Republic !

And I thought it was the Prussians that won Waterloo, not the Irish or Wellington?

(smile)

Amicalement
Armand

And I thought it was the Prussians that won Waterloo,

Clearly it was Wellington. He ordered the Prussians to show up in dramatic fashion.

NFWS – Yes, it's interesting how the writer cherry-picks some quotes from his early life when he was a frustrated junior officer and probably had the same acerbic view of everyone and everything. He also distorts them, as the Duke refers to the way in which even attempts to improve life for the poorer majority were misrepresented as additional evils being inflicted on them. I've no doubt that the writer's views are shared by some in modern-day Irish society, but they are very much a minority – most Irish people I know who are aware of the realities of his life, do not share this view.

As with his initial opposition to the Reform Act (another atypical episode in his life which he later recanted, but which is invariably trotted out by his detractors as evidence of his total character), his opinions changed as he grew older. The number of Irish officers – especially Catholics – who provided invaluable liaison with the Spanish and Portuguese, and who helped to improve the Portuguese army, made a considerable impact on him. As did the Irish among the rank-and-file, to whom he gave due praise in speeches before Parliament.

About 10 years ago, a rather loud Irish-American woman went around Trim giving out about the presence of a memorial to the "colonial oppressor". The people of Trim responded in the local media by telling her to mind her own business, and that most of them were proud of their local lad.

As I maintain, the greatest Irishman in British history.