Wellington's Rifles: Six Years to Waterloo With England's Legendary Sharpshooters

A nineteenth-century Band of Brothers

The 95th Rifles was one of history's great fighting units, and Mark Urban brings them and the Napoleonic War gloriously to life in this unique chronicle. Focusing especially on six soldiers in the first battalion, Urban tells the Rifles' story from May 25, 1809, when they shipped out to join Wellington's army in Spain, through the battle of Waterloo in June 1815. Drawing on diaries, letters, and other personal accounts, Urban has fashioned a vivid narrative that allows readers to feel the thrill and horror of famous battles, the hardship of the march across Europe, the bravery and camaraderie of a nineteenthcentury Band of Brothers whose innovative tactics created the modern notion of infantryman.

Mark Urban is the Diplomatic Editor of the BBC's "Newsnight" and a former defense correspondent for the Independent. He is the author of The Man Who Broke Napoleon's Codes. He lives in London, England.