Wordsworth Military Library
2 total works
Waterloo was the battle that ended Napoleon's dreams of a European empire unified under his rule. Christopher Hibbert creates portraits of Napoleon and Wellington, of the French, English and Prussian armies, and a strategical, step-by-step reconstruction of the events that led up to the battle and the battle itself. Divided into three parts, the first studies Napoleon and his rise to power, the second describes Wellington and the allied armies, while the third reconstructs the battle of Waterloo. A final summary investigates the significance of the battles on world history.
In March 1854, a British army of 30,000 men sailed for the Crimea to defend the crumbling Turkish empire from Russia. It was led by Lord Raglan, a verteran of Waterloo. The campaign quickly degenerated into a series of military disasters caused by incompetence at the highest level, bitter personal rivalries among the divisional commanders and inadequacies of transport, clothing and military and medical supplies. To enable to the British government to survive, Raglan was made the scapegoat. This text presents the story of the tragic campaign.