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CerdicWellington obviously had a good track record in terms of victories on the battlefield. Most of his military problems in Spain and Portugal stemmed from the political situation of trying to keep the Spanish allies happy. His original brief from the British government was that the British troops were to be used to support the Spanish forces against the French. It is hard to see, given the limitations on his freedom of action, how anyone could have done much better!
Obviously he did things that in hindsight he would have probably done differently. But so did Napoleon and any other general you can think of!
He certainly didn’t inspire the devotion from his soldiers in the same way as Napoleon. But they certainly respected him. I don’t have time to look it up, but there is an account from a private of one of the actions in the Pyrennes where he says that as soon as they heard Wellington had arrived on the battlefield they knew that everything would be OK and that they were assured of victory.
