A Desperate Business: Wellington, the British Army and the Waterloo CampaignA 'desperate business' was how the Duke of Wellington described the Battle of Waterloo following the Allied victory there on 18 June 1815. Here, historian Ian Fletcher tells the story of the Waterloo Campaign and illustrates just how desperate the battle was, with Wellington's Anglo-Dutch army hanging on grimly to the ridge at Mont St Jean until their Prussian allies arrived to put the seal on one of the most decisive victories in military history. A Desperate Business differs from many of the books on Waterloo for two reasons; first, it tells the story, not only of the three days' battle from 15 to 18 June, but of the entire campaign, from its beginning in March 1815, right up to the Allie's entrance into Paris three months later. Second, whilst acknowledging the part played by their Dutch-Belgian, Hanoverian and Prussian allies, it sets out to tell the story from the point of view of Wellington and the British Army only. Making extensive use of eye-witness accounts, the book examines how the British Army, a pale shadow of that which had served in the Peninsula, fared against the French Army in what was the first and only encounter between the two great commanders of the age, Wellington and Napoleon. |
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A Desperate Business: Wellington, the British Army and the Waterloo Campaign Ian Fletcher No preview available - 1995 |
Common terms and phrases
16 June 18th Hussars advance Allied ammunition amongst arrived ball battalion battery Battle of Waterloo battlefield bayonets began Blücher Bois de Bossu Bonaparte Bonaparte's British cavalry British infantry Brussels road Captain Cavalié Mercer cavalry charge Charleroi château Colonel column commanding comrades crossroads cuirassiers Despatches Division Duke of Wellington Dutch-Belgian edited enemy Enghien farm fight fire flank Foot Guards forward French French attack French cavalry French infantry front Genappe Gronow guns Halkett Hanoverian Haye Sainte horse artillery Hougoumont Hussars Imperial Guard King's German Legion La Haye Sainte lancers Lieutenant Light Dragoons London Matthew Clay Mont St Jean morning move musket night Nivelles officers Ompteda Peninsula Peninsular War Picton position Prince of Orange Prussians Quatre Bras quoted in Waterloo rear regiment retreat ridge Royal Sergeant shot skirmishers slope soldiers square Uxbridge Waterloo Campaign Waterloo Letters Wellington's army whilst wood wounded wrote yards