Why Waterloo still fascinates us

... Waterloo lit the slow fuse of the horrifying force of German hypernationalism, the defeat of which required the sacrifice of the British Empire 130 years later. Although at the time the battle seemed merely like the last of a series of traditional dynastic and territorial struggles, in fact Waterloo ushered in the modern world. And as Winston Churchill predicted at the end of the 19th century: "The wars of peoples will be more terrible than the wars of kings."

Victor Hugo was trying very hard to discount the Brits. No surprise since the French started fighting the Brits even before the Brits were the nation we know today. The French (Franki/Franci) were overly used to British/Norman armies defeating them for the 750 years prior to Waterloo. Wellington knew that the French would start their attack with a classic bombardment by cannon, so he placed the bulk of his troops just behind that very muddy ridge. The cannonballs sank into the mud instead of bouncing and killing several soldiers with each round. The French then reprised their tactics at Agincourt and Crecy by charging up a muddy hill. The Rod Steiger movie showed the effects of that rather well.

One of the outcomes of the battle was that three British regiments now have uniform elements that were originally French, but picked up as souvenirs at Waterloo: The tall bearskin helmets - from the Imperial Guard. The Household Cavalry's brass breastplates? Picked up from dead French cavalry at Waterloo. And one regiment has incorporated the Imperial eagles into its uniform.

It had to be awful. There had been heavy rain and intense heat for days before and the very morning of the battle. The field was mushy and muddy with intense, sweltering summer heat lasting all day.

The battle was extremely long because it was summer with daylight in that latitude, until after 9:00pm.

Reading about that battle is always interesting... even though I have read many accounts.

One author talked about Marshal Ney’s activities during the battle. The author said he was probably suffering from what we now call ‘shell shock’ resulting from his long career, BEFORE Waterloo.

I think the author was trying to explain why the Marshal’s something like 12 successive, full cavalry charges produced no positive effect on the British squares. Anyway-just surviving that many cavalry charges against entrenched infantry is something in itself.

I have read that cavalry that made it into the squares didn’t spike the cannon…because, none of the French cavalry troops who actually GOT that far (and some DID), bothered to disable the cannon.

“Waterloo, the end of the world.” V. Hugo. It must have seemed like the end of the world for very many that day.

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