Quotes Suitable for Framing: Duke of Wellington
- Donald R. McClarey
Donald R. McClarey
Cradle Catholic. Active in the pro-life movement since 1973. Father of three, one in Heaven, and happily married for 43 years. Small town lawyer and amateur historian. Former president of the board of directors of the local crisis pregnancy center for a decade.
Good answer! Though, to be fair, they had also seen his back often enough. The Peninsular War was a war of movement, with a dozen feints, frustrated sieges and retreats for every victory.
It has reminded me of another good answer, this one by General Castaños, who fought many times side by side with the English (and against them a few times, too) in the Peninsular War. When Castaños won the battle of Bailen (the first major defeat in open terrain suffered by the Napoleonic armies), The French General Dupont surrendered to him saying: “Here is my sword, victorious in a hundred battles”. Castaños answered, honestly, with a shrug: “Well, it’s the first one I’ve won, but I hope to win many more”.
War is unpredictable and fortune is fleeting.