The Waterloo Campaign in 100 Locations John Grehan
Publisher: Frontline Books (30 Sept. 2023)
Hardcover : 240 pages
ISBN: 9781526746917
In the 200 years since the famous battle in the muddy, bloody fields of Waterloo, almost every aspect of the fighting has been examined and analysed, apart from one – that of finding and illustrating locations relating to the campaign. From Napoleon’s landing on the Golfe Juan on France’s Côte d’Azur, along the Route Napoleon and through Grenoble, the Emperor’s journey back to Paris, and back to power, is shown in glorious full colour. In this beautifully produced book, we see where Napoleon distributed the Imperial Eagles to the regiments of his army, and where his forces assembled before marching to war, and where the Due of Wellington’s Anglo-Allied army gathered in Brussels. The camera follows the initial encounters on the banks of the River Sambre and the manoeuvring of the French and Coalition forces leading to the first great battles of the campaign at Quatre Bras and Ligny. The key sites occupied by the opposing armies at these battles are investigated as are the routes of the withdrawal to Mont St Jean by Wellington’s army and to Wavre by Blücher’s Prussians. The Waterloo battlefield and its associated buildings are examined in pictorial detail, as are the locations which marked the pivotal moments of the battle. The sites of the corresponding battle at Wavre are also shown, as well as the pursuit of the two wings of beaten French Army, including the sieges of the fortresses by the British army, before Paris was finally reached. The uprising in the Vendée and the last clashes of the campaign before Napoleon’s abdication are also featured. The book closes with Napoleon’s journey from Paris to St Helena via l'Île d’Aix and Plymouth. Headquarters buildings, observation posts, monuments and memorials, bridges and battlefields, and the principal locations of the campaign are portrayed in unique photographs – and behind every plague and place is a tale of political posturing, military manoeuvring, sacrifice and savagery. Together these images tell the story of Napoleon’s greatest gamble, and we know that a picture is worth a thousand words!
Author
JOHN GREHAN has written, edited or contributed to more than 300 books and magazine articles covering a wide span of military history from the Iron Age to the recent conflict in Afghanistan. John has also appeared on local and national radio and television to advise on military history topics. He was employed as the Assistant Editor of Britain at War Magazine from its inception until 2014. John now devotes his time to writing and editing books.
Petra, I see your point. I suppose the analogy is that you are watching the ballet for the story, whereas I’ve turned up to analyse the choreography! Tom’s right though, many of us come to military history via the ‘gateway drug’ of wargaming. When we start to look beyond the dice roll, we discover ordinary flesh and blood people, doing extraordinary things. The pretty uniforms and heraldry are still part of the fun though, as well as the snapshots of the locations this book promises. For some of us though, it also goes beyond a hobby interest. Many of us have studied historical battles professionally. We have looked at the tactical, operational and strategic lessons. We have put our belt buckles on the ground. Read the terrain. Examined the pressures of time and motion. For practical reasons, so that we can apply them in the profession of arms. What is surprising is that once you take out the technological differences there are real lessons. Someone out there is preparing to defend a Hougoumont, except it’s perhaps a factory rather than a chateau. Someone is sheltering their defenders from direct fires on a Wellingtonian reverse slope. Someone is needing to time their armoured counter stroke with the precision of an Uxbridge. Someone out there has their back to the wall, praying to be given a relief force like Blucher’s or night. For them, the music and the dancing is the point, the storyline of the ballet is of secondary importance.
Everyone comes to study the era from different starting points but wargaming or figure painting is often the key. My interest came from an interest in the Revolution (it was the 1960s). Unfortunately when PCs took off there was no Robespierre Series or Danton Series. 😎
Although I’ve tramped the battlefields a fair bit (with the resulting images) and love the photo’s in Mark Adkin’s Waterloo Companion, I shouldn’t ‘need’ this book. However, will I buy this book? Without a doubt, it’s release date is six days before my birthday. It’s a shadowy world, where secretive figures pick over obscure bookshops. The Waterloo junkies shuffle along, desperate for their next £25-£45 deal. We left the soft backs years ago, only hardbacks will do now. When does an author become an addict’s ‘dealer’? John, Pierre, Andrew, Gareth et al, you know who you are!