Waterloo - Ten Hours That Shaped Europe (Orders of Battle)

Recently revised and republished in full colour, this book describes the culmination of Napoleon’s campaign in Belgium and describes how it was to provide one of the most decisive battles in history. A ‘path changer’ in European affairs that ensured it would be forty years before any of the leading continental powers fought each other again. And almost a hundred before all the leading powers were again at war with each other. Bringing to an end as it did, what was known as either ‘the French wars’ or ‘the Great war’ and what historians would eventually call ‘the Napoleonic wars’, its end had only been achieved when its namesake was banished from world affairs. The battle had been as dramatic as the life of the man who had brought it about. Yet the short four day campaign had already arguably been lost before the first cannon shot was fired on 18th June, since the brilliantly conceived strategies that provided the spring board for victory, had largely been squandered by the indecisiveness of the previous morning. The invasion led by a commander who was the foremost soldier of his age, had caught his experienced and able opponents off guard. They were slow to recover and even slower to grasp the strategies opposing them. Saved as they were by a combination of their own subordinates’ ‘rising to the occasion’ and by miscarried French orders, both Blücher and Wellington were able to first delay then safely withdraw from the Napoleonic juggernaut. Divided as they were two days before the final battle, the Allies had conceded that the French primary objective had been achieved. But crucially, that objective had been neither consolidated nor exploited….. a reprieve had been granted at the last moment….. a classic case of being let off the hook. The reasons for this have been debated many times; Napoleon believed the victory at Ligny to have been more decisive than it was – he would not expect the Prussians to be able to interfere again ‘for several days’ – it was time to tend the wounded, resupply the munitions and prepare for the march on Brussels. Besides, if Ney had not resumed his battle with Wellington that morning, then the ‘English’ had long since begun their own retreat in conjunction with the Prussians – so there was no urgency. What happened over the next twenty four hours would lead one commander to the defensive position of his choice, another to the showdown he needed, and yet another to the revenge he almost fanatically sought.In the more than 200 years since what is perhaps, the most famous battle in history, there have been thousands of books written about these ten hours of brutal bloodshed and the events leading up to and following on from the great battle. But what of the officers and common soldiers who fought in it? Some of them had not appreciated the enormity of the event and were not even convinced the engagement would be given the label of a ‘battle’. Each soldier present would have a limited view of the day. He would only have grasped those events that had a personal effect on himself and those near to him. In recent years, many eye-witness accounts have found their way into books on this subject. This is a more balanced and fairer way of telling history – it uses the words of those who were there of course, but it also gives context to otherwise flat narrative that loses the visualisation gained from relaying personal experiences. For the telling of this story then, I have used a subjective approach and have drawn on the words of the many soldiers who wrote about their own part in this ‘one hundred day’ period of European history. I have tried to show the battle through their eyes. 100’s of illustrations have been prepared and where possible, views as close to ‘then and now’ have been attempted. Nearly eighty unique and newly created maps showing the unfolding events at key moments have also been added.