Waterloo: Myth and Reality - Tapa dura

More has probably been written about the Waterloo campaign than almost any other in history. It was the climax of the Napoleonic Wars and forms a watershed in both European and world history. However, the lethal combination of national bias, wilful distortion and simple error has unfortunately led to the constantly regurgitated traditional 'accepted' version being significantly wrong regarding many episodes in the campaign. Oft-repeated claims have morphed into established fact and, with the bicentenary of this famous battle soon to be commemorated, it is high time that these are challenged and finally dismissed. Gareth Glover has spent a decade uncovering hundreds of previously unpublished eyewitness accounts of the battle and campaign, which have highlighted many of these myths and errors. In this ground-breaking history, based on extensive primary research of all the nations involved, he provides a very readable and beautifully balanced account of the entire campaign while challenging these distorted claims and myths, and he provides clear evidence to back his version of events. His thoughtful reassessment of this decisive episode in world history will be stimulating reading for those already familiar with the Napoleonic period and it will form a fascinating introduction for readers who are discovering this extraordinary event for the first time.

Gareth Glover is a former Royal Navy officer and military historian who has made a special study of the Napoleonic Wars for the last 30 years. In addition to writing many articles on aspects of the subject in magazines and journals, his many books include Voices of Thunder, From Corunna to Waterloo: The Letters and Journals of Two Napoleonic Hussars 1801-1816, Letters from the Battle of Waterloo: Unpublished Correspondence by Allied Officers from the Siborne Papers, Wellington's Lieutenant Napoleon's Gaoler: The Peninsula Letters and St Helena Diaries of Sir George Ridout Bingham, Eyewitness to the Peninsular War and the Battle of Waterloo: The Letters and Journals of Lieutenant Colonel James Stanhope 1803 to 1825 and An Eloquent Soldier.