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Waterloo by Bernard Cornwell
Non-fiction retelling of the four days leading up to and through Waterloo. Cornwell has a huge amount of experience of writing fictionalised accounts of historical battles, of course, and this works very well. He focuses on different elements of the battle in detail, so there's the account of the French defeat of the Prussians at Ligny and their retreat to Wavre before they were able to come up in the nick of time to Waterloo itself, Quatre-Bras, Hougoumont, La Haie Sainte of course, all leading up to the final assault of the Imperial Guard on the British and Dutch line at Mont St Jean. He uses the accounts of people who fought to add detail and personal stories which make it all the more affecting.
There are so many ways in which things could have gone differently, aside from the question of whether Blücher and the Prussians would make it from Wavre before the French over ran the British and Dutch. If d'Erlon hadn't been doing his Grand of Duke of York impression between Quatre-Bras and Ligny, would Napoleon have been able to comprehensively defeat the Prussians before marching on the British and Dutch? What about if Napoleon had sent the troops requested by Marshal Ney as his cavalry were destroying themselves in repeated attacks on British and Dutch infantry squares? Why couldn't someone have put a bullet through the Prince of Orange (Slender Billy) before he sent the Kings German Legion to their deaths in defence of La Haie Sainte, the third time he set infantry in line rather than square against French cavalry? The French skirmisher who eventually shot him in the shoulder and so sent him back through the lines was very helpful to the British and Dutch because it stopped the idiot doing any more damage.
The descriptions of the carnage are as horrifying as you would expect. It was the fate of so many of the horses that I found affected me most though. I don't know if that makes me a bit odd. But the bravery was extraordinary as well. The discipline of the British soldiers was incredible, standing in squares against the cavalry and not breaking, all the while being pounded by the French artillery and closing up to keep the square secure when another round of shot has blasted away part of their ranks. Sir John Colborne, who marched the 52nd out of line to wheel and fire on the left flank of the Guard Chasseurs and the legendary Imperial Guard, the Indestructibles, as they made their final attack on Mont St Jean. The defence of Hougoumont and La Haie Sainte would have been terrifying and terrible work. And at the heart of the story of the battle are the two men: Napoleon and Wellington.
Of the two, and aside from the fact that it was Wellington who came out victorious, I find Wellington to be the more impressive leader. The French soldiers may have adored Napoleon and fought willingly at his command, but he himself stayed away from the front, whereas Wellington was seen and spoke to his soldiers in the thick of the battle. He brought up reinforcements, he had to rely on Copenhagen's speed to carry him to safety when he was under threat from French cavalry, he brought a panicking battalion under control and personally led them back to the ridge during the fiercest of the French final attacks on Mont St Jean, and his presence at so many areas of the battlefield at different times brought reassurance and steadiness to the men. They may not have adored Wellington, but they damn well respected him. Czar Alexander I called him 'conqueror of the world's conqueror', and Wellington never lost a battle in which he had command.
This is a fascinating and detailed look at the three battles (Quatre-Bras, Ligny and Waterloo) that led to the final downfall of Napoleon. Cornwell has done a brilliant job with it.