A Life of Marlborough: John Churchill, 1st Duke of Marlborough

An abbreviated and readable biography of John Churchill, 1st Duke of Marlborough (1650–1722) with a primary concentration on his military and diplomatic genius during the War of the Spanish Succession (1701–1714), during most of which the duke served as de facto leader of the Allied forces; and with secondary concentration on his relationship with Prince Eugene Francis of Savoy–Carignano, and then also on the amazing parallels between his career and that of Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington (1769–1852) in a very similar war a century later.

The author, Charles MacFarlane (1799–1858), was a Scottish writer known as much for historical and travel books as for novels.  Before authoring this biography he wrote A Memoir of the Duke of Wellington, during which he accentuated the parallels between the two great generals even more than he does in this book.  As the two men’s lives were similar, the two biographies are similar—with this difference: Wellington was a contemporary of the author, so there was a little more eyewitness-like flavor to that biography.

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