Volume I:
"The first of two groundbreaking volumes on the Waterloo campaign, this book is based upon a detailed analysis of sources old and new in four languages. It highlights the political stresses between the Allies, and their resolution; it studies the problems of feeding and paying for 250,000 Allied forces assembling in Belgium during the ‘undeclared war’, and how a strategy was thrashed out."
"It studies the neglected topic of how the slow and discordant Allies beyond the Rhine hampered the plans of Blücher and Wellington, thus allowing Napoleon to snatch the initiative from them. Napoleon’s operational plan is analyzed (and Soult's mistakes in executing it). Accounts from both sides help provide a vivid impression of the fighting on the first day, 15 June, and the volume ends with the joint battles of Ligny and Quatre Bras the next day."
Volume II:
Review
"A masterful study of command, control, communications, and even intelligence of all the major combatants during the Waterloo Campaign. Destined to become the gold standard for those studying how armies were controlled and decisions made during the Waterloo Campaign." Robert Burnham, editor-in-chief, The Napoleonic Series "These two volumes represent a comprehensive study of the events of 1815 that surpasses all previous studies of the subject. Future historians will be hard pressed to improve upon such a work! … Every stage of the story of 1815 is handled in great detail with the author having used many sources, and every chapter presents new information and tells the story of events in such a way that this work is a veritable encyclopaedia of the subject… If your family want to know what you want for Christmas, then make sure these two books are at the top of your wish list." The Waterloo Journal "This is an outstanding, scholarly work that unearths many facts about and facets of a subject long considered to have been full explored. No serious student of this battle or, indeed, this epoch, can afford to be without it." Patrick Mercer, Military History Monthly "...an indispensable starting point for all future studies of the British-Prussian side during the Waterloo campaign." Michigan War Studies Review "John Hussey's study of the Waterloo campaign with its multiple armies and multiple battles is monumental and magisterial. The final word on Waterloo will never be written but this work is a close run thing." Dr. John Peaty, FRGS FRHistS
not for me, I was manipulated by the hype about this book to buy, and literally forced myself to read those incredible boring two volumes, old recycled history of that notorious battle and campaign, for me a waste of time to read.
Publisher’s and reviewer’s hyperbole is rarely justified. This work is the exception that proves the rule.