Waterloo

'A fabulous story, superbly told' Max Hastings

The bloodbath at Waterloo ended a war that had engulfed the world for over twenty years. It also finished the career of the charismatic Napoleon Bonaparte. It ensured the final liberation of Germany and the restoration of the old European monarchies, and it represented one of very few defeats for the glorious French army, most of whose soldiers remained devoted to their Emperor until the very end.

Extraordinary though it may seem much about the Battle of Waterloo has remained uncertain, with many major features of the campaign hotly debated. Most histories have depended heavily on the evidence of British officers that were gathered about twenty years after the battle. But the recent publication of an abundance of fresh first-hand accounts from soldiers of all the participating armies has illuminated important episodes and enabled radical reappraisal of the course of the campaign. What emerges is a darker, muddier story, no longer biased by notions of regimental honour, but a tapestry of irony, accident, courage, horror and human frailty.

An epic page turner, rich in dramatic human detail and grounded in first-class scholarly research, Waterloo is the real inside story of the greatest land battle in British history, the defining showdown of the age of muskets, bayonets, cavalry and cannon.

Short-listed for British Army Military Book of the Year 2015 (UK)

“Magnificent and magisterial - Literary ReviewA quite brilliant piece of meticulous historical detective work . . . I have no doubt that this book will become a classic - Scotland on SundayClayton makes the fog of war central to the narrative; we are pitched into the chaos and din of Waterloo . . . We experience it as Wellington or Napoleon or an ordinary soldier would have done - Daily TelegraphStirring . . . a fabulous story, superbly told - Sunday TimesTim Clayton not only gives a masterful account of the battle that changed the face of Europe but also sets it in its proper context . . . Clayton manages the difficult trick in military history of providing a blow-by-blow account without losing the flow of the narrative - Express”

Magnificent and magisterial - Literary Review

A quite brilliant piece of meticulous historical detective work . . . I have no doubt that this book will become a classic - Scotland on Sunday

Clayton makes the fog of war central to the narrative; we are pitched into the chaos and din of Waterloo . . . We experience it as Wellington or Napoleon or an ordinary soldier would have done - Daily Telegraph

Stirring . . . a fabulous story, superbly told - Sunday Times

Tim Clayton not only gives a masterful account of the battle that changed the face of Europe but also sets it in its proper context . . . Clayton manages the difficult trick in military history of providing a blow-by-blow account without losing the flow of the narrative - Express

Tim Clayton was educated at Cambridge University where he specialised in the graphic satire of James Gillray. He is the award winning and bestselling author of a number of books on naval and military history, including the winner of the 2008 Mountbatten Literary Award, Tars, and the critically acclaimed Trafalgar. Tim is also an Associate Fellow of the University of Warwick and a Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries. He is currently working at the British Museum as co-curator of the exhibition Bonaparte and the British, which will be shown in 2015 to mark the 200th anniversary of the Battle of Waterloo.

'A quite brilliant piece of meticulous historical detective work . . . I have no doubt that this book will become a classic' Scotland on Sunday Over four days in June 1815 three battles were fought near Brussels that settled the destiny of Europe and sealed Britain's place as the dominant world power. In this compelling and definitive narrative, Clayton gives an unforgettable impression of the frantic marching, extreme weather, brutal fighting and extraordinary courage of those caught up in the last great battle of the age of horse, musket and cannon shot. 'Clayton makes the fog of war central to the narrative; we are pitched into the chaos and din of Waterloo and, crucially, the three days of manoeuvring and fighting that preceded it. We experience it as Wellington or Napoleon or an ordinary soldier would have done: a series of isolated, terrifying events, shrouded in smoke and confusion' Telegraph ' An incisive analysis of how the battle unravelled and why' The Times

' A fabulous story, superbly told ' Max HastingsThe bloodbath at Waterloo ended a war that had engulfed the world for over twenty years. It also finished the career of the charismatic Napoleon Bonaparte. It ensured the final liberation of Germany and the restoration of the old European monarchies, and it represented one of very few defeats for the glorious French army, most of whose soldiers remained devoted to their Emperor until the very end. Extraordinary though it may seem much about the Battle of Waterloo has remained uncertain, with many major features of the campaign hotly debated. Most histories have depended heavily on the evidence of British officers that were gathered about twenty years after the battle. But the recent publication of an abundance of fresh first-hand accounts from soldiers of all the participating armies has illuminated important episodes and enabled radical reappraisal of the course of the campaign. What emerges is a darker, muddier story, no longer biased by notions of regimental honour, but a tapestry of irony, accident, courage, horror and human frailty.An epic page turner, rich in dramatic human detail and grounded in first-class scholarly research, Waterloo is the real inside story of the greatest land battle in British history, the defining showdown of the age of muskets, bayonets, cavalry and cannon.

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