Overview

The story of the Battle of Waterloo of the ultimate defeat of Napoleon and the French, the triumph of Wellington, Blucher and their allied armies - is most often told from the viewpoint of the victors, not the vanquished. Even after 200 years of intensive research and the publication of hundreds of books and articles on the battle, the French perspective and many of the primary French sources are under-represented in the written record. So it is high time this weakness in the literature and in our understanding of the battle was addressed, and that is the purpose of Andrew Field's thought-provoking new study. He has tracked down over ninety first-hand French accounts, most of which have never been previously published in English, and he has combined them with accounts from the other participants in order to create a graphic new narrative of one of the world's decisive battles. Virtually all of the hitherto unpublished testimony provides fascinating new detail on the battle and many of the accounts are vivid, revealing and exciting. SELLING POINTS: An original and thought provoking study of the Battle of Waterloo Based on French primary sources and never published before in English Questions previous assumptions and viewpoints An exciting battle-narrative packed with graphic quotations from the soldiers who were there Published to mark the 200th anniversary of the battle ILLUSTRATIONS: 30 colour and b/w

Full Product Details

9781781590430

Table of Contents

Reviews

This book is a most welcome addition to any English bookshelf about the Battle of Waterloo on 18 June 1815, for on reading it one now realises how long the gap has remained unfilled. By using extensive extracts and grouping the material in a series of chronological chapters hour by hour through the day, Colonel Field has provided the reader with a gripping first-hand narrative of the fighting. There are some incidents where French accounts may seem strange to us, to need fleshing out, or are inadequate, or silent; but here Andrew Field has turned to allied sources, using them as a sort of mirror to shed light on the events, and this works remarkably well. Highly recommended. - British Army Review

Author Information

Andrew Field is an expert in the battles of Napoleon.

Tab Content 6

Customer Reviews

Recent Reviews

Countries Available