Waterloo: June 18, 1815: The Battle for Modern Europe (Making History)

Roberts, Andrew

ISBN 10: 0060088664 / ISBN 13: 9780060088668

Published by HarperCollins, 2005

Item in good condition. Textbooks may not include supplemental items i.e. CDs, access codes etc. Seller Inventory # 00093769906

Synopsis:

The epic career of Napoleon was brought to a shattering end on the evening of June 18, 1815, when his hastily formed legions faced the Anglo-Allied armies under the command of the Duke of Wellington. It was the only time these men -- the two greatest captains of their age -- fought against each other. Waterloo, once it was over, put an end to twenty-two years of French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars, and led to a century of relative peace and progress in Europe.

When the wars of the future did come, they were fought with infinitely more appalling methods by a constantly changing balance of powers. At Waterloo, the honor of bold, lavish uniforms and, at least initially, the aesthetic beauty of battle were still intact.

With precision and elegance, Andrew Roberts lucidly sets the political, strategic, and historical scene before offering a breathtaking account of each successive stage of the battle.

He also draws on a recently discovered document from 1854 that casts new light on just how the battle was lost. It is a confession from a French officer that helps to explain why the French cavalry charged when it did -- unsupported by infantry or artillery, and headlong at well-defended British squares. It shows that accident rather than design may have led to the debacle that lost Napoleon the battle, the campaign, and the war.

Authoritative and engrossing, Waterloo is a brilliant portrait of a legendary turning point in modern history, after which the balance of world power, the legend of Napoleon, and the art of war were never the same.

About the Author:

Andrew Roberts is a biographer and historian whose books include the New York Times bestsellers Churchill: Walking With Destinyand Napoleon: A Life (winner of the Los Angeles Times Book Prize), Masters and Commanders, The Storm of Warand Salisbury: Victorian Titan(winner of the Wolfson Prize for History), among others. His most recent book, The Last King of America: The Misunderstood Reign of George III,was published in November 2021. Roberts is a Fellow of the Royal Societies of Literature and the Royal Historical Society, and a Trustee of the International Churchill Society. He is currently Visiting Professor at the Department of War Studies at King's College, London, and the Roger and Martha Mertz Visiting Research Fellow at the Hoover Institution at Stanford University.

Bibliographic Details

Title: Waterloo: June 18, 1815: The Battle for ...
Publisher: HarperCollins
Publication Date: 2005
Binding: Hardcover
Condition: Good