Waterloo

Many books, articles and programmes have been produced about the Battle of Waterloo. Recent authors and researchers have started to take a wider perspective of this iconic struggle, which virtually ended the prolonged war against Republican and Imperial France. Whilst not the most sanguinary conflict of these wars, there were thousands of dead and damaged men left on the battlefields, between the 15th and 18th June 1815. The medical services provided at and after the battle, left a good deal to be desired and some lessons learnt in the Peninsular campaigns had been forgotten. 

As Britain and Europe approach the bicentenary of this great event and as we continue to lose men in conflict, it is appropriate to remember their sacrifice and the medical men who helped them, albeit in their limited capacity. 

Medical perspectives of the battles from the 16th to the 18th June 1815, anecdotal casualties, explanations of medical ranking, with a comprehensive list of medical men, who served at the battle and their career paths, add an unusual dimension to the story of the Battle of Waterloo.

The framework for this study is based on the research and literature related to serial entrepreneurs and entrepreneurial ecosystems. Our sample is 12 serial entrepreneurs within a single context—the Waterloo Region—that has been ranked as one of the top start-up ecosystems in the world. In 2012, it was ranked 16th with 32 % of the start-ups identified as being led by serial entrepreneurs. The study provides an understanding of the characteristics that define a mature ecosystem, with specific input on the Regional Municipality of Waterloo, Ontario, Canada. We profile the 12 entrepreneurs to provide a review of their businesses, the contributions they have made within their ecosystem, and their statements on what they have learned in the process of leading multiple ventures. This research may be useful for communities and nations that seek to focus on entrepreneurship as a means for economic growth. It should also stimulate further research on contextual issues and examine serial entrepreneurs within their own ecosystem. -- Entrepreneurs have been viewed as the engines that can move the economy forward, providing new businesses that add to entrepreneurial ecosystems in geographic regions. But entrepreneurs are unevenly distributed individually and geographically. Entrepreneurial behavior is increasingly recognized as being heterogeneous with regard to variations in the level and nature of experiences.

The French side of the Napoleonic Wars is often seen from a strategic point of view, or in terms of military organization and battlefield tactics, or through officers’ memoirs. It is rarely seen from the perspective of the lowest ranks of the army, and the experience of the ordinary soldiers is less well known and is often misunderstood. That is why this account, based on more than 1,600 letters written by French soldiers of the Napoleonic armies, is of such value. It adds to the existing literature by exploring every aspect of the life of a French soldier during the period 1799-1815.

The book will be fascinating and informative reading for military and cultural historians, but it will also appeal to anyone who is interested in the war experience of common soldiers. It offers the English-speaking audience a French view of a conflict which is too often limited to the traditional memoirs of Captain Coignet, Colonel Marbot or Sergeant Bourgogne.

Theme One: Waterloo Artillery
Lt-Col Townend RA gives an informative introduction to the Artillery at Waterloo. Waterloo is one of the most written about battles but the role of the artillery is still poorly understood and controversial. Much of this revolves the letter written by the Duke of Wellington on 21 December 1815 that accused the Royal Artillery of cowardice and despite the evidence is repeated even in books published recently. David Wright revisits the Tactical Deployment of the Royal Horse Artillery at Waterloo as described by Maj-Gen BP Hughes. Stephen Summerfield gives an overview of The Board of Ordnance and Army Supply in 1815 and British Artillery at Waterloo. Erwin Muilwijk gives details upon the Netherlands Artillery at Waterloo.

Theme Two: Horse Artillery [Part 2]
This carries on the discussion of the role of horse artillery with papers by Hume upon the Classification of Artillery. Digby Smith translated Scharnhorst’s comments upon Horse Artillery. Stephen Summerfield explores Towards Tactical Mobility and Napoleonic Horse Artillery. Anthony Dawson and Stephen Summerfield demonstrate that the Origins of British Horse Artillery pre-dates 1793 when it received the Royal Warrant.

Theme Three: Prussian Artillery of Napoleonic Wars
Digby Smith continues his translation of the Geschichte der Brandenburg Preussischen Artillery [History of the Prussian Artillery] by Milnowsky and Bonin (1841).

Theme Four: French Gribeauval and AnXI Cannon (1791-1828)
Stephen Summerfield gives a chronology for French cannon over the period of the French Revolution and the Napoleonic Wars. The Notes on Artillery dictated by Napoleon translated by F.E.B. Laws justifies replacing of the Gribeauval System by the AnXI System.

Bu makale çalışması Napolyon savaşlarının sonuncusu olan Waterloo Savaşını konu alarak hazırlanmıştır. Bunun için bu savaş ile ilgili yazılmış olan kaynaklardan yararlanılmıştır. Tarih her zaman savaşlar tarafından şekillendirilmiştir, bazı savaşların sonucu ulusların kaderini belirlemiş ve geleceğe ışık tutarak ona yeni bir şekil vermiştir. Bu savaşlardan biri olan Waterloo savaşı en çalkantılı Yüz Günün zirve noktasına şahitlik etmiş, Fransız devrimine ve Napolyon Bonapart’a son noktayı koymuştur. Avrupa’nın en büyük iki kumandanın karşı karşıya geldiği savaşta, Wellington Dükü Arthur Wellesley ve müttefikleri zafere ulaşırlarken, Napolyon büyük kayıplar vererek savaşı kaybetmiştir. 1815 tarihinde günümüz Belçika’sındaki Waterloo ovasında gerçekleşen olayda; yağan yağmurun savaşın gidişatını değiştirmesi,  bir garip çiftlik evinin uğrunda en fazla insanın öldüğü yer olarak tarihe geçmesi, ovadaki ters eğimli yokuşların savaşın sonucunu belirleyecek olması ve daha fazlası 18 Haziran günü gerçekleşen savaşı muazzam hale getirmiştir. Makalemde sadece 18 Haziran gerçekleşen olayları ve gelişmeleri değil, Quatre Brass, Ligny ve Wavre gibi Waterloo savaşına ışık tutmuş ve güç dengesini değiştirmiş olan çarpışmalarda dâhil olmak üzere konumu bir olay örgüsü çerçevesinde ele alarak incelemiş bulunmaktayım. Sonuç itibari ile Napolyon Paris’e kaçmış ardından teslim olarak ölüm yeri olarak tarihe geçecek olan Saint Helana adasına sürgüne gönderilmiştir. Waterloo bölgesi, savaş gününe kadar kimsenin bilmediği bir yerken, günümüz itibari ile toplamda dünya genelinde 50’yi aşkın Waterloo kasabası bulunmaktadır. Nedenini ise anlamak zor değildir. Bu, Avrupa kaderinin bir günde değiştiği bir savaştır.

EDITED BY GARETH GLOVER
272pp., 21 contemporary illustrations of the battlefield in June-July 1815, 3 maps. 2020.
Gareth continues to find more and more unpublished material. This is the third volume we have published in the Waterloo Archives series. It includes significant material relating to the Guards & the 52nd, the 33rd & the 92nd.
https://kentrotman.co.uk/featured/the-waterloo-archive-volume-ix-british-sources/

When Wellington pushed forward all of his horse artillery into the line, one of these was overlooked by history. The combined half horse batteries under the command of captains Gey and Petter also joined in the battle, almost immediately behind the farm of Hougoumont.
This article was first published in First Empire in the July/August issue of 2005.

ADAM’S LIGHT BRIGADE (52ND, 71ST & 95TH RIFLES) IN THE NETHERLANDS AND WATERLOO, 1813-15 – Susan Law and Dr. Stephen Summerfield
This sixth book in the Shorncliffe Lectures series, explores the Light Infantrymen in the context of the Netherlands Campaign of 1813-14 and at Waterloo. It uses original texts, contemporary newspapers and documents supported by 9 figures, 27 maps, 23 orders of battle, 20 tables and over 190 short biographies (Chapters 16-19). The more famous exploits of the 1/95th can be found in other books and as they were not part of Adam’s Light Brigade have not been covered here. It is interesting that these four original companies of the 95th were still wearing the same tattered uniforms in which they had marched out of Shorncliffe Camp, almost two years before.

The connections between the officers and men who were trained at Shorncliffe is central to the story as outlined in Chapter 1 and many of their biographies can be found in Chapter 16 and 17. The 52nd Light Infantry, 71st Light Infantry and the 95th Light Infantry were all trained their under the same enlightened methods developed by Sir John Moore, Kenneth Mackenzie and Baron de Rothenberg that had been explored in our (2016) Sir John Moore and the Universal Soldier then our (2019) The Baker Rifle and the Early Campaigns of the 95th Rifles. The origins of the modern British Army.

In November 2015, Dr Stephen Summerfield gave a Shorncliffe Lecture at the Tower Theatre inside the former Garrison Church at Shorncliffe Camp. This concluded that the only way to defend Kent and hence Britain was secure the Netherlands from enemies (Chapter 2).

In late 1813, a mixture of new recruits and convalescent veterans of the 2/52nd and 95th Rifles were dispatched from Shorncliffe in Kent (Chapter 3). These men remained in the Netherlands (Chapter 4). At the end of the War of the Sixth Coalition in 1814, Wellington’s Army returned to Britain or was directly shipped to North America. Only certain elements that were unable due to bad weather to sale were available when Napoleon escaped from Elba (Chapter 5). This once again threatened the borders of the Low Countries due to the lack of natural barriers as described in Chapter 6.

In April 1815, the 1/52nd, 1/71st and 2-3/95th Rifles formed Maj-Gen Frederick Adam’s Light Brigade in Lt-Gen Clinton’s 2nd Division at Waterloo (Chapter 7). These were among the most experienced troops available to Wellington being a blend of Peninsular and Netherlands Campaign veterans (Chapter 8). They formed his only Light Brigade, so essential for rear- and advance guard work. Chapter 9 gives Maj-Gen Adam’s Brigade Orders between the formation of his brigade and the occupation of Paris. He instructed all officers to memorise the first three sections of General Robert Craufurd’s Standing Orders for his Light Division (see Chapter 10).

On 14 June 1814, Napoleon invaded Belgium to split the Anglo-Allied Army from the Prussian Army then destroy them in detail. In response, the Duke of Wellington issued a series of orders to concentrate his army (Chapter 11). Chapter 12 followed Adam’s Brigade up to the eve of the Battle of Waterloo and their important role in the battle is described in Chapter 13. Susan Law’s Chapter 15 was an exercise to place one man in a battle and followed the story of Corporal William Law of the 2/95th Rifles, who lost an arm at Waterloo. This had been undertaken for her husband, Vince Law, who is a re-enactor in the 3/95th. The actual records found have been included.

Chapter 16 gives the biographies of British commanders associated with the Netherlands Campaign of 1813-14. It is interesting that all the commanders of Lt-Gen Clinton’s 2nd Division had served in the Netherlands. Only Lt-Gen Lord Hill, who commanded II Corps, had not served there. Chapter 17 gives the biographies of the officers of the 2/52nd and 95th Rifles provisional battalion. Most of these then served at Waterloo.

THE SHORNCLIFFE TRUST
The Shorncliffe Trust restarted these lectures in November 2014. The Shorncliffe site encompasses over two centuries of continuous military, social and cultural history. The Trust intends to tell the story of Shorncliffe (and the men and women who trained and lived there) from its earliest days defending Britain against invasion, to its role in the birth of the modern army through the role of Sir John Moore, it’s extension through the Victorian and Edwardian periods and the First and Second World war, to its current role as home of the Royal Gurkha Rifles, who were founded in 1815. The Shorncliffe Trust aims to:
• Preserve and conserve Shorncliffe;
• Develop, preserve and improve the features of historic interest at Shorncliffe, with public amenities; and
• To educate the public in the history of the military and the social impact of military history by the provision and maintenance of a heritage centre.

EDITED BY GARETH GLOVER
272pp., 19 contemporary illustrations of the battlefield in June-July 1815, 3 maps. 2020.
Gareth continues to find more and more unpublished material. Alongside individual accounts, there is a wealth of other source material available, which contains just as much if not more invaluable information for those interested in the organisation of the Army of this time. These are the letter books of various commanding officers, containing a mass of letters sent by a myriad of correspondents on an astounding variety of subjects.
https://kentrotman.co.uk/featured/the-waterloo-archive-volume-x-british-sources/

Westminster History Review 5. J.Barber and J.Sargent (eds.), (City of Westminster Archives Centre, London, 2007).
William Afflick was one of the 10th Hussars’ most decorated enlisted veterans of the Napoleonic Wars. He also happened to be black and born in St Kitts in the Caribbean. After service as a trumpeter in the Peninsular and Waterloo campaigns he settled with his family in Kensington, London, Middlesex. His son Charles was transported to Australia in the 1830s, and today there are hundreds, if not thousands of Australians, descended from Charles and his wife Ann, some of whom are not aware of William, their distinguished Afro-Caribbean ancestor.
A post-script containing additional research is also included.

Lead shot analysis is still an undeveloped technique for analysing battlefields, although we can gain a lot of information from it. After an excavation, the lead shot is brought to a university, but is often then forgotten. Therefore, valuable information is lost. A methodology for analysing lead shot in the field can make a difference. But before you can start analysing the individual lead shot, you have to know who fought there and what type of weapons the forces were equipped with. Through the analysis you can match the lead shot calibre, with a specific type of weapon. With this information, you can create a distribution pattern, which can provide information on the battle. For example, pistol balls can suggest close combat. This research will not propose a new methodology for in the field, but it will try to increase our knowledge on lead shot analysis and what exactly happened at Hougoumont during the Battle of Waterloo.

312 pages, 60 maps, 54 tables, 41 OOBs
This book contains 28 maps by Archibald Frank Becke (1871-1947) that have come from these papers and his three books (1907, 1914 and 1936) dealing with the Waterloo Campaign  that have been described as “A must for the specialist, but equally of value for the general reader seeking reputable military history.”  These have been supplemented by 31 maps from Ferraris (1777) that were used by both sides, W. B. Craan (1816), Cotton (1846), Prussian Maps of Rothenburg (1848), Woer (1857), Siborne (Hooper (1862), Major-General C. W. Robinson (1906), W. Hyde Kelly (1906), James (1908), and Fortescue (1910). In addition, David Wright gave his permission to reproduce his map from his fine article in (2012) Waterloo Artillery: British French and Prussian, Smoothbore Ordnance Journal SOJ-5 on the use of the Royal Horse Artillery as a tactical reserve.

Chapter 2 outlines the situation from Napoleon’s return to France. Chapter 3 is Becke’s translation of Napoleon’s lucid reasoning dictated on St Helana of the situation that faced him in 1815 from the chapter entitled “Plan de Campaign de 1815” given in his (1867) Commentaires. The importance and topography of the Low Countries of Belgium and the Netherlands (Chapters 4 and 5).

In order to enhance the theme of logistics, the editor has written chapters on the supplying of the armies greatly influenced how they were deployed, the complex story of supply to the British Army, the Board of Ordnance, water, rations, British camp equipment and infantry loads in Chapter 6. The Tricks of the Trade (Chapter 22) explains the time and space required for troops, visibility and what could be seen at sunrise and sunset times during the Waterloo Campaign.

Archibald Becke gives an appreciation of the situation from the point of view of a French staff officer before the campaign started on 1 June 1815 (Chapter 7). The organisations and the initial orders for the Armée du Nord (Chapter 8), the Anglo-Dutch Army of Wellington and the Prussian Army of Blücher (Chapter 9) are described. Becke’s notes upon the re-equipping of the Royal Horse Artillery with 9-pdrs and their final positions at 7pm on 18 June 1815 is incorporated in Chapter 10.

Becke demonstrated his eye for the battlefields in Quatre Bras and Ligny (Chapter 11), the application of the strategic advanced guard for the 14-17 June (Chapter 12) and then the Prussian Movements on 17 June 1815 the movements in the night of 18 June 1815 (Chapter 13) and Prussian Plans for 18 June 1815 (Chapter 14). Becke expertly examines in Chapter 15, the battlefield of Waterloo, the reason for Wellington’s Detachment at Hal and Tubize, claimants for the first shot from Wellington’s Position, Wellington’s Position, opening fire of the Grande Batterie and Napoleon’s position. Chapter 16 on the Battle of Waterloo is succinctly explained from the initial dispositions, and the Prussian attacks upon Plancenoit. Chapters 17-20 follows the fortunes of Marshal Grouchy to and from Wavre. Chapter 21 is a Becke’s masterful summary of the incidents, features and causes of Napoleon’s ultimate defeat.

Volumes VII (07) to XIV (14) have been published by Ken Trotman 2019-2022.

Many readers will know that I published a series of six volumes entitled
The Waterloo Archive, between 2010 and 2014. When I commenced the
series I had no idea that I would discover so much material on the Battle
of Waterloo and indeed the final volume was crammed with material as
the publishers, Frontline Books had deemed that they could not support
any further volumes, following the standard publishing mantra of ‘the law
of diminishing returns’ by which each volume sells less.

At the time, I was not overly concerned, as I had published all I had and I
had no idea that there was any further mass of material to be discovered,
but how wrong I was. Over the succeeding five years I have accumulated
another huge mass of material on Waterloo, but with all attempts to
persuade the original publishers to carry on the series failing, I turned to
Richard Brown and his Ken Trotman Publishing, whom I am very pleased
to say, has agreed to proceed and this is the first new volume of this
revived series.

Design and Layout by Dr Stephen Summerfield

The way in which Napoleon used cavalry to shape the battlefield and to support his infantry attacks made cavalry operations play a unique role in Napoleonic warfare. Studying the cavalry operations during the decline of the Empire from 1813 through 1815 enabled an analysis not only of the capabilities of the soldiers and leadership of the French cavalry, but also a better understanding of the changes that occurred in Napoleon's operational and strategic art of warfare. This study required an analysis of cavalry operations in all of the major campaigns of the period. The operations of General Francois-Etienne Kellermann from 1813 through 1815 provided an excellent case study of cavalry operations to analyze the changes in Napoleonic warfare. This detailed analysis presented different conclusions than many historians and questions much of the traditional interpretation of the capabilities and operations of Napoleon and his armies.

Feted as one of the decisive battles in history,  Waterloo is seen as a turning point in national and international affairs.  In academic literature on British military history, if not in wider academic literature, Waterloo is a turning point, an imaginary line in the sand. Authors tend to focus on events leading up to 1815, or they tend to discuss events beginning in 1815.  And there are valid reasons for this. Funding for the army was drastically cut; the victor of the battle, Wellington, attained an unassailable position in the country’s political and military establishments, and ushered in an era of conservatism that stymied effective innovation and intellectual growth; and an era of peace on the European continent allowed Britain to direct her attention at imperial expansion in the subcontinent and elsewhere, where small armies, supplemented by indigenous troops and the private army of the EIC could exert and expand authority at minimal cost to the crown. As a result, from the height of success and efficiency at the climax of the Peninsular War and Waterloo, the British Army within thirty years faced an unmitigated disaster in Afghanistan, bloody and expensive victory in the Punjab, embarrassment in the Crimea, and rebellion in India. The men who fought and won in the Peninsula and at Waterloo were the men who fought and lost in Eastern Europe, Central and South Asia.

This second volume deals with the final preparations for war, including the arrival of the Duke of Wellington. The operations, particularly of the Second Division during the whirlwind campaign of Waterloo and the consequent march to Paris are described in great detail as are the details of the Army of Occupation which lasted until 1818, concluding with their embarkation.

As well as his correspondence, Henry Clinton also kept a personal diary that was completed each evening. All of this various material has been put into date order and each day’s diary entry precedes the correspondence for the day (inserted by date of writing rather than of receipt) and the letters have been put in sequential order wherever it is possible or a time of day is indicated.

The appendix gives extracts recorded by an officer in Adam’s Brigade of his Brigade orders that  dovetail with the correspondence between Sir Henry Clinton and his brigade

Ce travail interroge l’impact de la bataille de Waterloo (18 juin 1815) sur le Brabant wallon, où elle s'est déroulée, et sur sa population civile, dans les faits et dans la mémoire, jusqu'au Bicentenaire commémoré en 2015. En 1815, les populations locales locales ont subi les opérations militaires; leur vécu reste encore largement dans l’ombre, contrairement à celui des combattants, de mieux en mieux étudiés. Par la suite, elles ont également subi la mémoire de la bataille. D’un simple lieu géographique, Waterloo devint en quelques années un mythe dématérialisé et délocalisé. Pendant longtemps, ce mythe est animé loin du lieu éponyme par des étrangers. Le site n’est visité qu’en fonction du mythe. Ne peut-on dire à cet égard que les habitants ont subi, passivement, une mémoire collective dominante venue d’ailleurs ? Une réappropriation progressive par des acteurs locaux, entamée dans les années 1950, permet désormais à la Bataille de faire sens pour la région (communes, Province et Région) où elle se déroula. Ce mouvement contribue à définir la forme que prend la commémoration du Bicentenaire, conçue essentiellement au niveau local mais destinée à un public largement international. Outre l'émergence du phénomène de living history et sa forte croissance depuis une quinzaine d'années, signalons encore que les lieux de mémoire locaux, issus d'une sédimentation séculaire, ont bénéficié à l'approche du Bicentenaire d’une (re)valorisation qui apporte plus de cohérence et réactualise l’infrastructure mémorielle, tant sur le plan de l’aménagement que du message. Waterloo est ainsi un cas exemplaire où, dans une évolution foisonnante, se combinent  mémoires nationales diverses, mémoire européenne et mémoires locales.

Paradoxes of Peace - How the Allies tranquilized France through loans.

Written for a course provided by De Graaf who was doing research on the broader topic of the post-Napoleonic occupation army in France between 1815-1818 (published as Fighting Terror).

This article provides an in-depth insight into the events for one of the Dutch-Belgian divisions, from its arrival late 17 June on the right flank of Wellington's army, its position around the village of Braine l'Alleud during the morning of 18 June, after which the division was next placed in reserve during the battle, and finally had one of its brigades take part in the final actions of the battle of Waterloo.
This article was published in First Empire (2006) Nr. 86 (Jan/Feb)

History has been unforgiven for the supposedly ill-managed position of the Dutch brigade under the command of general Van Bijlandt on the forward slopes of Wellingtons' defence line at Waterloo. However, with close examination of both British and Dutch accounts of officers and men who fought in the battle, it becomes clear the infantry brigade took up a well defendable position together with all other Allied troops well in time of the start of the battle.
This article was published in "First Empire" (Jan/Feb) Nr. 104 in 2009.

This paper looks at the historical inertia which builds once a description of a battle has been put on paper and how that leads to that description being accepted unquestioningly and passed down from historian to historian, unaltered, without ever being touched by original research. By using original documents, this article uses an example from possibly the best documented battle of all times: Waterloo. This example shows how difficult it is to replicate a battle in a map. It also shows how, in some circumstance, the published maps are misleading rather than informative.

De aanvang van de slag bij Waterloo en de communicatie onderling tussen Napoleon en zijn commandanten is soms in nevelen gehuld. Enkele jaren terug kwam een nieuw kort briefje op de veilingmarkt met een order van maarschalk Ney, dat meer duidelijkheid kan verschaffen in de opening van de beroemde veldslag.

Although at first sight it would seem that the Dutch theatrical world paid little attention to the Battle of Waterloo, the memory of the battle was in fact kept alive across a wide audience. In more detail than has hitherto been the case for French, German and English-language theatre, this article investigates how and by whom 19th-century theatre-goers in Dutch-speaking regions were confronted with Napoleon's definitive defeat in 1815. Both professional and amateur theatrical companies in the Netherlands and Flanders looked back on Waterloo, initially in the form of plays that explored the events of the battle, and later in commemorative plays by chambers of rhetoric, historical dramas and farces-at least sixteen in total. The production of texts gained momentum around the 50th anniversary of the battle in 1865, by which time it had become possible to speak of the feared emperor in more nuanced terms. Samenvatting Hoewel de Nederlandse toneelwereld op het eerste gezicht weinig aandacht besteedde aan de Slag bij Waterloo, heeft zij de herinnering eraan levend gehouden onder een breed publiek. Dit artikel wil, gedetailleerder dan voor het Franstalige, Duitstalige en Engelstalige theater gebeurd is, nagaan hoe en door wie het negentien-de-eeuwse theaterpubliek in het Nederlandse taalgebied geconfronteerd werd met de definitieve nederlaag van Napoleon in 1815. Zowel professionele theatermakers als amateurgezelschappen in Vlaanderen en Nederland herdachten Waterloo, eerst met to-neelstukken die zich richtten op de gebeurtenissen van de slag, later veeleer in herden-kingsstukken door rederijkerskamers, historische drama's en kluchten-zeker zestien in totaal. De tekstproductie was vooral groot rond 1865, vijftig jaar na dato, toen het mogelijk was geworden om op een meer genuanceerde manier over de gevreesde kei-zer te spreken.

This revisionist history of the Battle of Waterloo portrays the Dutch and Belgian soldiers of the Prince of Orange as essential to the victory of the Duke of Wellington. They also ensured the survival of his army after Napoleon's rush north during the hundred days of his second reign over France. The book goes well beyond tactics and strategy to sketch the political history of the United Kingdom of the Netherlands from its origin in 1814. Readers will learn much, too, about the logistical constraints Dutch and Belgian soldiers faced during the Waterloo campaign. Such emphasis on the Dutch perspective is rare in English-language historiography. Most accounts of Dutch heroism at Quatre Bras and Waterloo—chiefly written in Dutch—have not previously been examined in detail by military historians of the battle. The author of Wellington's Hidden Heroes, historian Veronica Baker-Smith, 1 has spent time in the Netherlands and is fully conversant with the Dutch archival material relevant to Wa-terloo. The book is organized chronologically, starting with a discussion of the foundation of the Kingdom of the Netherlands and the creation of its army out of troops from the Netherlands, Belgium, Luxembourg, and the German possessions of the house of Orange-Nassau. The author then turns to the state of the Armée du Nord and Wellington's management of the difficult process of coalition-building in a polyglot context (ignored by strictly Anglophone historians). Baker-Smith next describes Wellington's surprise in Brussels at the French advance and the strategies adopted by both the French and Anglo-Dutch forces, with attention to the commanders of the Dutch army, including the young, much maligned Prince of Orange. We read next of the brave and determined stand made by the Dutch-Belgian force at Quatre Bras to buy time for Wellington to concentrate his scattered army. Then comes a recounting of the preparations for and the actual Battle of Waterloo. Baker-Smith deconstructs the pro-British myth of the battle, which grudgingly gave credit to the Germans but not the Dutch and Belgians. The Iron Duke himself elided Dutch and Belgian bravery and skill from his (never revised or corrected) post-battle report. The author closes with a look at the aftermath of the battle in the Netherlands and a thoughtful conclusion that shows the Duke of Wellington in an extraordinarily humane light despite her previous criticisms. Baker-Smith underscores Wellington's failure to prepare adequately for Napoleon's invasion on the strategic level and to give due credit to the Dutch and Belgians under his command (a quarter of his total force). She astutely taps not only neglected Dutch sources, but a passage by Wellington showing his wit as well as his concern for the well-being of his men: Unfortunately, the sum of one shilling and nine pence remains unaccounted for in one infantry battal-ion's petty cash, and there has been a hideous confusion as to numbers of raspberry jam issued to one cavalry regiment during a sandstorm in western Spain. This reprehensible carelessness may be related to 1. Her earlier publications include A Life of Anne of Hanover, Princess Royal (Leiden: Brill, 1995) and Royal Discord: The Family of George II (Twickenham, UK: Athena Pr, 2008).

Almost immediately after the end of the Battle of Waterloo it was claimed in Dutch history that one of General Chassé's brigades in the Netherlands army had participated in the final and climatic defeat of the French army, by throwing back troops of Napoleons' Imperial Guard. Did Detmers' brigade actually participate, or were there other French troops alongside, that were charged? This article will trie to set the record straight.
This article was published in the Dutch military-historical magazine "Mars et Historia", Vol 49 (2015) Nr. 2. (Notice the caption under the photo on page 37; this should read "Photopgraph of Captain Lux".)

After Napoleon's final defeat at Waterloo, the Allied Powers (Russia, Prussia, Austria and Britain) gathered in Vienna and Paris to decide what to do with post-Napoleonic France. An important and often ignored aspect of these deliberations was the problem of reparations. On the one hand, there were loud cries for revenge, but on the other hand the Allied diplomats were anxious not to stoke further revolutionary unrest by imposing overly harsh reparations on France. After months of deliberations, a careful balance was ultimately struck between the Allies and France.

Written after following a course by De Graaf who was doing research (ERC Securing Europe) on the broader topic of the post-Napoleonic occupation army in France between 1815-1818 (published as Fighting Terror).

Frédéric Guillaume de Vaudoncourt.
Un républicain-démocrate au cœur des révolutions européennes
(1820-1823).

Le général Frédéric Guillaume de Vaudoncourt (1772-1845), après avoir servi la République comme volontaire en l’an II, se rallie à l’Empire en servant sous le prince Eugène en Italie. Lors de la Terreur blanche, il est condamné à mort par contumace pour avoir dirigé les Fédérés de Metz. Proscrit politique, ouvertement républicain, le général Guillaume se lie avec toute l’élite libérale européenne. Haut dignitaire maçonnique, il sillonne le continent de 1815 à 1820 (Bruxelles, Londres, Munich, Genève…) et est partout accueilli avec bienveillance par ses coreligionnaires.

Membre important de la Charbonnerie européenne, dès qu’une révolution éclate, le général Guillaume s’engage physiquement et avec ardeur dans son succès : on le voit à Turin commandant en chef des insurgés en avril 1821, puis réfugié en Espagne (1821-1824) recommencer ses projets pour abattre les Bourbons. Parfaitement intégré au réseau subversif cosmopolite, Frédéric Guillaume fréquente les plus importants personnages de ces révolutions, comme le comte de Santa-Rosa à Turin, Rafael del Riego ou Beltrán de Lis en Espagne.

L’existence du général Guillaume, totalement dédiée au politique, souligne la vision internationaliste et messianique de ces hommes animés, comme l’écrivait Lazare Carnot en 1814, « d’un amour sincère de liberté ». A partir de 1820, leur engagement individuel trouve refuge dans ce mouvement collectif incarné par la charbonnerie européenne. Dès lors, face à la Sainte-Alliance des rois se dresse une Sainte-Alliance des peuples, organisation rêvée et dirigée par des Européens, à l’image du général Guillaume, qui refusant d’être de simples témoins des événements, s’engagent dans la lutte politique pour des valeurs qu’ils jugent fondamentales.

The British army during the Napoleonic Wars is often studied using English sources and the British view of their French opponents has been covered in exhaustive detail. However, the French view of the British has been less often studied and is frequently misunderstood. This book, based on hundreds of letters, memoirs, and reports of French officers and soldiers of the Napoleonic armies, adds to the existing literature by exploring the British army from the French side of the battle line.

Each chapter looks at a specific campaign involving the French and the British. Extensive quotes from the French soldiers who were there are complemented by detailed notes describing the context of the war and the career of the eyewitness.

Throughout the emphasis is on the voices of the lower ranks, the conscripts and the noncommissioned and junior officers. They describe in their own words the full range of warfare during the period – not only land battles but battles at sea, including the Nile and Trafalgar – and accounts of captivity in England are included too.

This original and revealing material gives a fascinating insight into the attitudes and concerns of the French soldiers of the period and their views about their British enemy.

In the aftermath of the Battle of Waterloo, the battlefield developed into a traditional destination for tourists on the continent. Up to now, nineteenth-century visits to Waterloo have mainly been analysed from the perspective of British travellers. This article will foreground the national differences in dealing with the battlefield on the basis of British, French, Prussian and Dutch travel accounts. The way tourists approached the battlefield points to a tension between a collective national perception and an individual experience of the past. Whereas the nation state was the dominant frame from which they judged their environment, visitors also looked actively for a personal, unique relationship with the past. The tangible remains of the battle were essential to their attempts to recall the battle.

Ordini di battaglia francese, anglo-alleato e prussiano nella campagna di Waterloo.
La compilazione degli ordini di battaglia, ossia lo studio il più dettagliato possibile della composizione delle armate, è la croce e delizia degli storici militari. Non essendo questo testo destinato agli specialisti, ci limitiamo a dare un ordine di battaglia a livello di brigata, più che sufficiente per seguire in maniera adeguata lo svolgimento delle azioni. Anche nelle opere più recenti e documentate si incontrano discordanze nella composizione delle unità; abbiamo seguito dove possibile Adkin e in seconda istanza Hofschröer. Vengono indicati il nominativo del comandante e il numero di battaglioni di fanteria/reggimenti di cavalleria/bocche da fuoco di artiglieria.

Kort na de slag bij Waterloo ontstonden allerlei verhalen wie nu precies aanwezig was bij het redden van de prins van Oranje, nadat deze gewond was geraakt door een musketkogel van een Franse tirailleur. De literatuur en de kunst ging aan de haal, en overal werd de naam van Lord March genoemd. Dit tot ergernis van een kapitein die wel degelijk aanwezig was.
Middels de literatuur en de kunstwerken proberen we hier een definitef antwoord te geven.

invited by my former teachers to deliver the first alumni "Legacy Lecture" on my PhD research and thesis at my former school, St John's International School in Waterloo, Belgium, on the occasion of the school's 50th anniversary and in light of the upcoming 200th anniversary of the Battle of Waterloo (Waterloo, 2 October 2014).

This essay deals with Byron's visit to the field of Waterloo as described in Childe Harold's Pilgrimage, Canto III. I will suggest that the Canto sees the transformation of the Byronic hero into the man of feeling. Byron re-configures this eighteenth-century character type in a way that his personal grief becomes inseparable from collective feeling and national concerns. The deployment of the man of feeling becomes for Byron a political statement: an aid for the articulation of his disappointment in post-Waterloo European politics and a longing for lost Revolutionary ideals. Through the analysis of the Canto's main organising tropes I will be arguing that Byron's ambivalent perspective on the outcome of Waterloo is the reason for the restless oscillation of conflicting forces in the poem. The essay will re-read Stanza 33's broken mirror simile in the context of eighteenth-century notions of sensibility and sympathy.

Présentation de la relativement longue période de transition connue par la Belgique entre la fin de la période française, en janvier-février 1814, et son intégration officielle au Royaume-uni des Pays-Bas, entre février et mai 1815. L’exposé entend présenter brièvement l’exercice du pouvoir (exécutif, administratif et judiciaire) durant ces longs mois d’incertitude, en l’inscrivant dans le contexte diplomatique mieux connu (celui du Congrès de Vienne) de cette période agitée sur la scène européenne.