I appreciated this as a window on the famous 1815 battle, with Sharpe a Zellig-like figure at key turning points. However, I missed Sharpe’s personal story as the main focus of the narrative rather than getting a sense of him being used as a tool to illustrate historical events. If you have read any of the Sharpe series on the British army during the Napoleanic Wars, you will want to read this out for a sense of completion, with this being the penultimate volume. He still thinks of himself as a rifleman, but his capacity to lead men leads him to advance to become a competent officer. In the brief peace he has taken up the life of a country farmer with a French woman in Normandy and is now a father, leaving his wife back in England to squander his modest estate and pursue her own lovers. As the book opens, his need for money has led him to assume a post as a brevet colonel in the Dutch forces led by of the young, inexperienced Prince of Orange. Along with their allies in the so-called Seventh Coalition, the Prussians and Wellington’s international army are defending Dutch Belgium against a likely incursion by Bonaparte. In the three months since escaping Elba, he has won over the French army and state, and Sharpe is a witness of the advance dragoon scouts leading the invasion by an army of 125,000. His skills in combat by gun and sword are rusty, but he still has the right stuff in mano-a-mano action.Sharpe has been dreading the fulfillment of orders from the Prince to show up at a grand ball in Brussells, so it’s perfect for him to show up all grotty and bloody. The plan of Napolean to divide the forces of Wellington and the Prussians is close to being completed, and the warnings Sharpe tried to send did not reach the allied command. Rallying to the defense of a key crossroads becomes an emergency objective for the allies. Sharpe’s old sergeant, the Irishman Harper, is now a bar owner and dealer of stolen horses, but chooses to join him on location, despite lack of a commission. There they learn what a dangerous, pompous idiot the Prince is, ordering his men to deploy in lines for musketry attacks and leaving them vulnerable to decimation by the cavalry. As we learn later, the formation of battalions into squares with a wall of bayonets protecting concentrated firepower was the critical strategy to defeat cavalry charges. Harper pegs the Prince as a “silk stocking full of shit”, and discussion of fragging him becomes a serious topic.Illustration of a British deployment in the square formation at the battle of the Quatre Bras crossroads.Because his scattered forces have not had time to coalesce, Wellington is forced into a strategic retreat. His choice of a site for consolidation and defense, a ridge near Waterloo flanked by a solid farm house and a chateau, was critical to his success. Yet he counted on the Prussian army joining the fray, and they were very late in arriving after their bludgeoning at Ligny. Sharpe and Harper get to play a role in a miraculous beating off a nearly successful takeover of the farmhouse fortress. From this point on, Cornwell’s version of the battle gives emphasis to mistakes made by the French. Their poor coordination between infantry, artillery, and cavalry is covered. The French sending a huge cavalry force about a dozen times alone against the allies in square formation is a big focus of the narrative. Later, when the superior numbers of the French seems to have prevailed, Napolean sends the glorious, undefeated Imperial Guards, all dressed to the hilt in frippery, to deliver an expected final blow. But their keeping to orderly columns diminished their firepower. It was cool to get to experience Sharpe and Harper rallying the ragged and nearly officerless forces of their old regiment, the Prince of Wales’ Own Volunteers, to outflank and rout the Guards. (It should be noted that this regiment is fictional with a home base in South Essex instead of South Lancashire for the historical regiment).The British Recoats fighting at the gate to the strategic farmhouse redoubt at the beginning of the Waterloo battle.Map of action showing the French in blue dividing the Anglo-Dutch (red) and Prussians (black), defeating the latter at Ligny and the former at the crossroads of Quatre Bras, then facing Wellington near Waterloo, 10 miles south of Brussels.As usual, Cornwell walks the line between showing the brutal and tragic realities of war and the uncaring, blind ambitions of most commanding officers while at the same time revealing the heroism and resourcefulness of many common soldiers and lesser officers. Again, Sharpe wins our hearts with his balance of irreverent cynicism and brilliant actions on behalf of the success of his fellow soldiers. If you have not read Sharpe tales, you would do best not start to with this one. But if you want to read it for a gritty, bloody profile of this critical battle, that would work fine. Cornell’s afterward makes it clear that the history of the battle suffers from very limited accounts from Wellington and likely bias from versions told from the French perspective.When I read the excellent Wikipedia account, I learned how the engagement by the Prussians under Blücher near the end is considered another critical factor for the outcome. Cornwell takes pains to present evidence that Blücher delayed his arrival on purpose, so I don’t blame him for putting the British directed actions on center stage. Regardless, this definitive defeat of Napolean’s dream of empire was achieved though the highest butcher’s bill in history at the time: about 15,000 dead or wounded for Wellington’s army, 8,000 Blücher, and 25,000 for Napolean. It would be another 50 years for the Battle of Gettysburg to supersede that level of slaughter and another 50 years for the Battle of the Somme to supersede that.
WaterlooBernard CornwellRichard Sharpe Adventure SeriesWe are almost there. My husband's and my marathon attempt to read every Richard Sharpe novel in chronological order is nearly at an end. Waterloo is the second to last, at least at this date. So far it is easily my favorite, but then I have become fond of the battle for some reason and even written a bit about it myself.. nothing published yet. We only have Sharpe's Devil to go. We've read it, but we will read it again, almost next.In spite of his promise to Lucille Our Hero heads to Belgium when he hears that Boney has escaped Elba and is apparently still able. The allied armies are ready, sort of, to face l'Empereur but do not actually expect him any time soon. They are getting ready for the ball of the season in Brussels when Sharpe, of course, is the one to alert Wellington to the advancing army. "He's humbugged me!" Wellington admits. The battles at Quatre Bras and Waterloo ensue, the British losing the first and nearly losing the whole enchilada during a novel that spans only a few days. It is a highly documented battle, and Cornwell does justice to the complexity of the events.By the way, if you saw the TV movie first, forget it. The two bear only a glancing resemblance. The book, as usual, takes the prize.Undercurrents include Jane Sharpe and her lover Lord Rosendale showing up in Brussels, where Sharpe confronts the shaking Rosendale, says he can "keep the whore" but he wants his money. Jane tells her lover that he should kill Sharpe during battle so they can marry. Rosendale doesn't know she has an urgent need as she is now pregnant. Another more satisfying undercurrent is Harper's arrival at Sharpe's side. Although a civilian now, Harper has accepted Sharpe's invitation to join him to catch sight of Boney. Perhaps the most historically ambiguous subplot is Sharpe's attachment to the retinue of the Prince of Orange, called "Slender Billy" and "the Young Frog", a Dutch prince whose youthful arrogance is only matched by his criminal ineptitude. One wonders why he has not been shot by his own side.. or perhaps he will.Cornwell as usual weaves his familiar and beloved characters in and out of a well dramatized historical event, going farther to give the reader an understanding of why Napoleon, with fresher and larger forces, managed to get beaten. It is absolutely fascinating. And, of course, Sharpe is responsible for the most decisive action of the war, effectively winning the Battle of Waterloo.Jim read the book to me over successive nights. We plan to follow our tradition and read my latest novel now that it is in print, then on to Sharpe's Devil, looking forward someday to reading the Sharpe novel Cornwell reportedly plans for the near future.
What do You think about Waterloo (2001)?
I'd suspected that SHARPE'S WATERLOO, the penultimate Sharpe adventure and the culmination of his adventures in the Napoleonic War, could be nothing but a triumph. After all, it's a novel dedicated to one of the biggest, most-remembered battles in all of history, so how could Cornwell get it wrong? He built to it for a decade, honing his craft with more minor (but no less gripping) stories before finally sitting down to tackle it.Needless to say, I loved everything about this story. It's a massive, epic-feeling book, one that exhausts and moves you and makes you feel like you're a spectator in the battlefield. Cornwell admits in his foreword that he tried to combine the story of the battle with a plot before giving up on the latter, which was the right decision: Waterloo is the story in itself. This is the most ferocious, bloody and terrible battle of Sharpe's entire campaign.SHARPE'S WATERLOO is one of the longer Sharpe stories, clocking in at over 400 pages, but it feels like one of the shortest because the pages fly as you read. I knew very little about Waterloo itself before I started this, and I'm left feeling like, perhaps not an expert, but somebody who knows a great deal more. I'm wanting to find out more, too, which can only be a good thing.Just one more to go now, SHARPE'S DEVIL. It's been a long old slog, but this will be the year I finally finish the series. It's going to be a bittersweet close - one of the reading joys in my life was always knowing I had a new Sharpe novel waiting for me whenever I chose to look at it!
—Graham
So Richard Sharpe, a man who kills and shags his way through France, Portugal and Spain during the Peninsular War. Actually it goes back farther to the Raj. when he was a young soldier, possibly shagging and killing his way through India too and afterwards, I don't know where he goes afterwards, but I suspect that, without a doubt, he ends up killing or shagging something there too. So I sat down a prepared for Sharpe to insert his sword and his phallus into some poor Frenchman and woman (respectively, remember this was the 18th/19th century, times where different back then)Well, there was lots of killing. As with any Napoleonic Battle if you wore a red or blue coat, then you were effectively resigned to die. How you die is a completely random moment but Bernard Cornwell doesn't shy from describing that from lung's punctured by musket balls to horses biting off the heads of some infantry unfortunate who was forced to fight under pain of death.I sometimes find the main characters a little cardboard at times, they're either a good strong bunch of misfits or ugly loathsome monsters. This book doesn't really change that. Sharpe is sexy as per bloody usual. As a skinny, pale, "flight rather than fight" individual, I really wonder if I've have a chance compared to this rugged, muscular fighting man. The one good thing is, he is a work of fiction, so f**k you Richard Sharpe!...Ha!Surprisingly, there's so much death and destruction, that Cornwell has seemingly forgotten to add any sex into the bargain. I can't say I'm not happy about that either. In the end, I wanted to read a historical fiction, describing closed house status of social status, the plight of the poor man and the sheer vulgarness of off duty officers who never really grew up and this strict orthodoxy of Sir Arthur Wellesley, the Duke of Wellington. Every time, there was an allusion to Sharpe getting his end away recoiled me into a fit of anger which could only be qualmed with a particular bloody battle. Obviously though, I can't say Sharpe's personal life doesn't get in the way. Which is very unprofessional, Sharpe! And his old lover is back out to smite him with some Tool she has found amongst the officer classes.I applaud Cornwell for his use of real battles and his research has proved boundless for describing such scenes. This book being one, Voltaires, Hussars, The Rifles all pictured into my mind perfectly. This book also see's off some much loved characters too, and I would suggest for the full emotional impact, that you read a few set before this to get a feeling of loss. I did enjoy the book, and I'll always enjoy Sharpe, mostly for the historical settings rather than the individuals. That said, I do like the nice characters in Sharpe, saving the whole labido waving about like a rampant wildebeest, and I do hate the bad guys. Sometimes, it's worth just switching off that inhibitor and enjoy a bit of good ole blood lust.
—Sylvian
I have read a number of Bernard Cornwell's 'Sharpe' series of books over the past few years. Although I have skipped over a few, I have largely tried to follow it in order. As a whole, the series never fails to hit the mark but after reading so many I was beginning to find them a little stale.Waterloo however is easily one of the strongest in the series. This is partly due to the rich source material from a truly incredible few days in modern day Belgium, but also due to some excellent work by Bernard Cornwell.One of Cornwell's strengths is his rich descriptive work. He is an author who really does his research and his genuine interest and knowledge of history comes out strongly here. The book is well-paced with battle scenes running at a frenetic, page-turning speed. He recreates the horror and frenzy of early 19th century battle, yet expertly finds a way to pierce the tension with some brilliant humour. He also sticks closely to the real version of events and doesn't overexert his artistic licence. A good balance often hard to achieve.Overall, Waterloo reinvigorated the series for me and shows Cornwell at his finest.9/10
—Alexander Coleman
