“The history of a battle, is not unlike the history of a ball. Some individuals may recollect all the little events of which the great result is the battle won or lost, but no individual can recollect the order in which, or the exact moment at which, they occurred, which makes all the difference as to their value or importance...”

—  Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington

Letter to John Croker (8 August 1815), as quoted in The History of England from the Accession of James II (1848) by Thomas Babington Macaulay, Volume I Chapter 5 http://www.worldwideschool.org/library/books/hst/european/TheHistoryofEnglandfromtheAccessionofJamesIIVol1/chap5.html, p. 180.; and in The Waterloo Letters (1891) edited by H. T. Sibome

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Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington45
British soldier and statesman 1769–1852

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