In association with the National Army Museum, well known military historians, journalists and broadcasters Peter and Dan Snow tell the story of one of the world's most famous and important battles. The Battle of Waterloo Experience provides what no other book on the battle contains – removable facsimiles of historic archival documents. Readers can relive this extraordinary moment in history by holding and examining rare or previously unpublished sketch maps, letters, orders, official papers and proclamations held by the National Army Museum and other archives and museums around Europe.
Peter and Dan Snow examine the strengths and weaknesses of the leaders, the armies and their weapons. Like all the greatest battles, Waterloo is steeped in controversy – the battle ended in decisive victory, but it might so easily have turned out differently. The Snows explore all the questions the battle raised. Who made mistakes? Whose victory really was it? Would Wellington have won without Blücher and his Prussians? What was the main cause of the French defeat?
The Battle of Waterloo Experience contains 20 rare or previously unpublished removable documents of historic importance, 80 period paintings, etchings and illustrations, 20 colour photographs of Waterloo militaria from the National Army Museum's unparalleled collections and a removable booklet featuring 6 specially commissioned full-colour battle and campaign maps. It puts history in your hands.
20 REMOVABLE DOCUMENTS INCLUDE: • A campaign journal of a colonel of Hussars • The Duke of Wellington's handwritten orders to the commander defending the farm of Hougoumont • The poignant letters written to family and loved ones by officers and men shortly after the battle • The paybook of a soldier of Napoleon's Imperial Guard • The Times of 22 June 1815, containing a complete transcript of Wellington's renowned Waterloo Dispatch.
Table of Contents:
Background • The Hundred Days • Napoleon and His Army • The Allied Commanders and Their Armies • Ligny and Quatre Bras • The Battle Begins: The Fight for Hougoumont • D'Erlon's Infantry Attack and the British Cavalry Charge • The Great French Cavalry Attacks • The Arrival of the Prussians • Wellington's Crisis: The Fall of La Haye Sainte • The Charge and Repulse of the Imperial Guard • The French Rout and the Human Costs • The End for Napoleon: Aftermath.
Includes 20 removable documents.
About the Author :
Peter Snow is a highly respected journalist, author and broadcaster. He was ITN's Diplomatic and Defence Correspondent from 1966 to 1979, and presented Newsnight from 1980 to 1997. An indispensable part of election nights, he has also covered military matters on and off the world's battlefields for 40 years.
Dan Snow is an historian who has researched, written and presented several documentaries and appears regularly on the BBC's One Show as their 'History Man'. His writing has appeared in The Times, the Sunday Times, the Guardian, the Daily Express and BBC History Magazine. Educated at the University of Oxford, he has joint British and Canadian citizenship. Together they presented the BAFTA award winning Battlefield Britain and wrote the accompanying bestselling book.
