Battle, The - A new History of Waterloo

At Waterloo, on June 18, 1815, some seventy thousand men under Napoleon Bonaparte and an equal number commanded by the Duke of Wellington faced each other in a titanic and bloody struggle. In the end, as John Keegan notes in The Face of Battle, contemporaries felt that Napoleons defeat had "reversed the tides of European history." Some say the echoes of that battle can still be heard today. Historian Alessandro Barbero's new account of the historic battle gives voice to all the nationalities taking part, invoking the memories of French, Prussian, British, and other Allied Soldiers. From General Reille's early afternoon assault on the chateau of Hougoumont to the desperate last charge of Napoleon's Imperial Guard as the evening settled in, Barbero recounts individual miracles and tragedies, offers observations on weapons and strategy, and blends them into the larger narrative of the battle's extraordinary ebb and flow. The Battle is, by all accounts, a masterpiece of military history.