Wellington had from the first seen that, whatever number of men Napoleon might send against him, it was impossible, owing to the poverty of the country, that any great mass of troops could long be held together, and that the French, used to "making war support war," would fare worse in such conditions than his own troops with their organized supply service. It was so at the end of 1811. Soult had to move southwards to live, and the English were again more than a match for the enemy in front of them. Wellington resumed the offensive early in 1812, took by storm Ciudad Rodrigo and Badajoz, although with terrible loss, and then advanced into Spain. Marmont, who had succeeded Massena, fell back to the Douro, but there turned upon his assailant, and, by superior swiftness, threatened to cut the English off from Portugal. Wellington retreated as far as Salamanca (q.v.), and there extricated himself from his peril by a brilliant victory (July 22). Instead of immediately following the French, Wellington thought it wise to advance upon the Spanish capital. King Joseph retired, and the English entered Madrid in triumph. The political effect was great, but the delay gave the French northern army time to rally. "The vigorous following of a beaten enemy was not a prominent characteristic of Lord Wellington's warfare," as Napier says. Moreover, Soult, raising the siege of Cadiz, pressed towards Madrid. Wellington was compelled once more to retire into Portugal. During this retreat he announced in general orders that the demoralization and misconduct of the British army surpassed anything that he had ever witnessed. Such wholesale criticism was bitterly resented, but indeed throughout his career Wellington, cold and punctilious, never secured to him self the affections of officers and men as Marlborough or Na poleon did. He subjugated his army and gave it brilliant victories, but he inspired few disciples except the members of his own staff. For Salamanca his rewards included a marquessate.
He was now invested with the supreme command of the Spanish armies, and, after busying himself with preparations, in May 1813 the hour for his final and victorious advance arrived. The Russian disasters had compelled Napoleon to withdraw some of his best troops from the Peninsula. Against a weakened and discouraged adversary Wellington took the field with greatly increased num bers and with the utmost confidence. Position after position was evacuated by the French, until Wellington came up with the retreating enemy at Vittoria, and won an overwhelming vic tory (June 21). Soult's combats in the Pyrenees, and the des perate resistance of St. Sebastian, prolonged the struggle through the autumn, and cost the English thousands of men. But at length the frontier was passed, and Soult forced back into his entrenched camp at Bayonne. Both armies now rested for some weeks, during which interval Wellington gained the confidence of the inhabitants by his unsparing repression of marauding, his business-like payment for supplies, and the excellent discipline which he maintained. In Feb. 1814 the advance was renewed. The
Adour was crossed, and Soult was defeated at Orthes. At Toulouse, after the allies had entered Paris, but before the abdication of Napoleon had become known, the last battle of the war was fought. Peace being proclaimed, Wellington took leave of his army at Bordeaux, and returned to England, where he was created duke of Wellington.
After the Treaty of Paris (May 3o) Wellington was appointed British ambassador at the French capital. During the autumn and winter of 1814 he reported the mistakes of the restored Bourbon dynasty, and warned his Government of the growing hostility to it. His insight, however, did not extend beyond the circumstances immediately before and around him, and he failed to realize that the great mass of the French nation was still with Napoleon at heart. He remained in France until Feb. 1815, when he took part in the congress of Vienna. His imperfect acquaintance with French feeling was strikingly proved in the despatch which he sent home on learning of Napoleon's escape from Elba. "He has acted," he wrote, "upon false or no information, and the king (Louis XVIII.) will destroy him without difficulty and in a short time." Almost before Wellington's unfortunate prediction could reach London, Louis had fled, and France was at Napoleon's feet.
The ban of the congress, however, went out against the common enemy, and the presence of Wellington at Vienna enabled the allies at once to decide upon their plans for the campaign. To Wellington and Blucher were committed the invasion of France from the north, while the Russians and Austrians entered it from the east. But Napoleon outstripped the preparations of his adver saries, concentrated his main army on the northern frontier, and on June 14 crossed the Sambre. The four days' campaign that followed, and the crowning victory of June 18, are described in the article WATERLOO CAMPAIGN. Wellington's reward was a fresh grant of .L200,000 from parliament—he had already received £500,000 for the Peninsular War, the title of prince of Waterloo and great estates from the king of Holland, and the order of the Saint-Esprit from Louis XVIII.
Not only the prestige of his victories, but the chance circum stances of the moment, now made Wellington the most in fluential personality in Europe. The emperors of Russia and Austria were still far away at the time of Napoleon's second abdication, and it was with Wellington that the commissioners of the provisional Government opened negotiations preliminary to the surrender of Paris. The duke well knew the peril of delay ing the decision as to the Government of France. The emperor Alexander was hostile to Louis XVIII. and the Bourbons gen erally; the emperor Francis might have been tempted to support the cause of Napoleon's son and his own grandson, who had been proclaimed in Paris as Napoleon II. ; and if the restoration of Louis—which Wellington believed would alone restore permanent peace to France and to Europe—was to be effected, the allies must be confronted on their arrival in Paris with the accomplished fact.