[C19fan]

Nice overview of how the French Revolution and Napoleon changed warfare. The article mentions a book "The Pursuit of Glory: Europe 1648-1815" by Tim Blanning. I recently read it and highly recommend. One side note is one of the reasons Napoleon was able to march 20+ miles a day which was unheard of at that time was the improvement of the roads and network during the 18th century; Blanning devotes a chapter to.. For comparison Marlborough's march to the Danube in 1704 averaged 10 miles a day and was lauded as one of the greatest feast in military history.

[The Duke]

Wellington made extensive use of the “reverse slope defense”. I suggest that it would be a good idea to become familiar with that strategy.

[2banana]

The age of Monarchs and Kings and their empires died that day.

And the GERMANS saved the BRITISH!

[Sans-Culotte]

Still, the march by Marlborough was totally unexpected and against orders. The amazing thing about it was that he did it at all.

I may have to get that book mentioned in the article. I've got a ton of Napoleonic books. Haven't seen a good new one for awhile. "The Pursuit of Glory" might be a tad similar to the excellent "The Age of Battles" which covered the same period, so I think I'll get it.

[Leaning Right]

an allied army of British, Prussian, and Dutch troops under Wellington’s overall command

Certainly the British and Dutch troops were under Wellington's command. But the Prussians?

[Ruy Dias de Bivar]

A fine epic film is WATERLOO. Rod Steiger and Christopher Plumber.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Waterloo_%281970_film%29

[DoodleDawg]

Interesting bit of trivia: When Wellington was returning to Britain in 1804 after service in India his ship stopped briefly at the island of St. Helena. Wellington spent the night in the same building that Napoleon would later use temporarily during his exile to St. Helena until his permanent house was ready.

[Robert A Cook PE]

Ordered. We will be in Waterloo in August.

[Rockingham]

Napoleon was also the representative of and the driving force by which the meritocratic and modernizing policies of the French Revolution were extended throughout Europe -- policies that were implemented through force and destruction. When Napoleon won and took over a region or a country, his armies and political agents destroyed the old order. They expropriated property, persecuted and imprisoned opponents, limited political and economic freedoms, voided titles of nobility, and implemented French-model laws, political structures, and directives.

The victory at Waterloo of the British and their allies thus marked not just Napoleon's final defeat, but also a victory against the destructive energies unleashed throughout Europe by the French Revolution. In the ensuing decades, Europe's best minds and statesmen restored and renovated traditional political structures and practices. They turned away from revolutionary agitation and pursued practical reforms and innovations. The result was almost a century of peace and prosperity, coupled with increasing freedom and dramatic advances in science, technology, and the arts.

Waterloo thus marked the beginning for Europe of a long Burkean era of peace and conservative reform and progress. So celebrate Waterloo as being a conservative victory, just as, in the long sweep of history, the American and Allied landing at D-Day was the beginning of the recovery and restoration of European peace and freedom.

[beaversmom]

Waterloo ping.

[recumbentibus]

some Waterloo veterans