Book Reviews Waterloo – the History of Four Days, Three Armies, And
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BOOK REVIEWS Waterloo – The this well-illustrated book consists of History of Four a Turner painting (1833) of the battle- field, which exaggerates the depth of Days, Three Armies, the valley separating the French and and Three Battles Allied armies, but does underline the by Bernard Cornwell potential for Wellington’s favourite London: William Collins, 2014 defensive strategy of shielding his 352 pages, $24.99 troops on a reverse slope. Cornwell ISBN: 978-0-00-758016-4 (Trade beats this point home repeatedly, not Paperback) only in describing the tactic, but in Reviewed by Mark pointing out Blucher’s failure to use Tunnicliffe it, contrary to Wellington’s advice and Napoleon’s disparaging remarks he battle of Waterloo about that “tired old tactic.” Cornwell is famous for a lot of also highlights Wellington’s strong- things – not least of points (the farms of Hougoumont which are a series of and La Haie Sainte), and the critical (usually misquoted) positions they occupied in anchoring TWellington bons mots. One of these, Wellingtons right and centre positions, in a letter the Duke wrote a month although in his somewhat hagio- after the battle, noted that “The graphic description of Wellington’s history of a battle is not unlike the generalship, Cornwell does not make history of a ball. Some individuals much of the Englishman’s failure to may recollect all the little events of properly prepare La Haie Sainte as a which the great result is the battle fortified redoubt. won or lost, but no individual can recollect the order in which, or Cornwell’s account of the battles the exact moment at which, they of 16-18 June 1815 comes across as a occurred, which makes all the difference as to their value or rather English affair, leaving a reader familiar with both his books importance.” Putting together these recollections into some on the subject to wonder to what extent this history has been influ- kind of coherent account of the seminal event of the early-19th enced by his earlier novel. The missteps of the Prince of Orange Century has presented a challenge to historians and soldiers (Commander of Wellington’s I Corps, and referred to by Cornwell over the past two hundred years. Certainly, a narrative of the as ‘Slender Billy’) receive a greater emphasis in Cornwell’s histori- event, at all levels, from the personal to the strategic, has all cal account than other writers provide. The prince’s exposure of his the makings of a great plot line – portent, drama, personali- infantry to decimation by cavalry by disposing them in line on at ties, mistakes, and recovery, and perhaps most tellingly, a race least two occasions was certainly damaging, but while this event against time (or for it?). Perhaps then, on the bicentennial of was central to the story line in Sharpe’s Waterloo, it probably was the Battle of Waterloo, it is fitting that a novelist should try not as significant as Cornwell makes it out to be. Indeed, another his hand at making sense of this particular ‘ball.’ Dutchman’s disobedience probably retrieved Wellington’s situation prior to Quatre Bras. ‘Slender Billy’s’ experienced Chief of Staff, Bernard Cornwell is probably one of the best choices for the Major General Rebeque, and his second (Dutch) division com- task. Famed for novels following his character Richard Sharpe mander, Lieutenant General Perponcher-Sedlinkitsky, determined in the Peninsular War, as well as other historical series covering that the order to abandon the critical Quatre Bras crossroads was a the Hundred Years War and the campaigns of Alfred the Great, mistake, and held the position long enough to permit Wellington Cornwell has gained a large following of devoted readers. His to reverse himself and stabilize the situation – a decision briefly meticulous research into the major players, the social mores, acknowledged by Cornwell. weapons systems and tactics, and perhaps most importantly, his personal explorations of the battle sites which are the focus of his Similarly, the Prussians, largely in the form of Prussian novels, make them convincing reading. Cornwell has preceded army commander Blucher’s chief of staff General Augustus his history of the Waterloo battle with a novel in the Sharpe series von Gneisenau, come in for criticism for the latter’s mistrust (Sharpe’s Waterloo – London: HarperCollins 1990), the research of Wellington and an impression of duplicity on the part of the for which has provided him with an excellent basis for his first British that, according to Cornwell, “defies imagination.” However, essay at branching out from fiction to fact. The question for the given that the British, in the person of their rather-erratic Foreign reviewer largely becomes: How well does he manage this transition, Secretary Castlereagh, had been undermining Prussian ambitions and what does Cornwell add to the already voluminous history of at the Congress of Vienna, and had signed a secret treaty with the events of 15-18 June 1815? France to oppose Prussia, such suspicions are not at all surpris- ing. Indeed, as Gneisenau had obtained a copy of the treaty from Cornwell’s account quickly betrays his penchant for an arrested French official, and had written to Wellington, who personally studying the battlegrounds that are a focus of his writing, was to replace Castlereagh, for an explanation only a few months as well as his pro-British sympathies. Indeed, the frontispiece of before the two nations found themselves allies against the French, Vol. 16, No. 1, Winter 2015 • Canadian Military Journal 73 BOOK REVIEWS Blucher’s trust in Wellington is probably more surprising than cataclysmic event. Academic analysis is largely absent, perhaps Gneisenau’s mistrust. The political aspects of this campaign are leading to some of the omissions noted above – the reasons for not really explored in Cornwell’s account. commanders’ prejudices, the necessities of allied diplomacy, and alternative post-battle strategies – but this is probably not the intent That said, the narrative of the battles, and Waterloo in of Cornwell’s undertaking. particular, demonstrate Cornwell’s mastery of storytelling. His prose is that of the novelist, and his habit of mixing the present He brings the novelist’s approach to the battle, and this is and past tenses in a single paragraph serves to bring immediacy perhaps something by which the extensive literature on the battle to the account, or to irritate the reader, depending upon the lat- could indeed profit. As Cornwell noted in his preface to Sharpe’s ter’s preferences. His character development is that of a polished Waterloo, there is enough ‘cliff-hanging’ drama in the reality of novelist, and it also adds to the flavour of his narrative and to the the events of 18 June 1815 that no novelist’s plot line needed any rationale for the various decisions made during the press of battle. competing embellishment. For those readers wanting an academic, Cornwell’s management of the battle timeline is also both prag- analytic account of the history of one of the Western world’s most matic and a useful storyteller’s device. Instead of describing the famous battles, there are plenty of better references. For those, siege at Hougoumont, the attack on Wellington’s centre, and the however, who desire a clear, dramatic telling of the day’s events, progress of the Prussian army from Wavre as sequentially-separate Cornwell’s Waterloo is well-recommended. Indeed, one might events, as is often done, Cornwell narrates them in temporal order pose a minor quibble: the subtitle to his account might more as the day progresses. This is both a natural sequencing of events, accurately be stated as ‘the story of four days…’ rather than as and a compelling device for heightening the tension of the narrative. their ‘history.’ And if his account may appear to some readers as rather English-centric – this perspective is perhaps no less valid The book is also very well supported with period illustrations than any other view of that rather confusing ‘ball’ at Waterloo… of the major events and principal actors, which blend well with Cornwell’s narrative. Even more useful to the reader are the well Mark Tunnicliffe served for 35 years in the Canadian Navy, laid-out maps and diagrams which preface most of the chapters and another five with Defence Research and Development Canada, to aid the reader in understanding the spatial development of before retiring in 2013. He now serves as a volunteer interpreter events. It is not, however a ‘history’ written with copious foot- and researcher at the Canadian War Museum in Ottawa. notes and dry prose. Instead, individual accounts are embedded in the text as a device for bringing out the human side of a very Secret Warriors Downing sets the historical stage. Pre-War Edwardian England was not Key Scientists, the end of the ‘long’ 19th Century, not Code-breakers a time of languid summers and imperial and Propagandists pomp. It was, in fact, a time of great opti- of the Great War mism, when people believed the future held exciting new possibilities. But opti- by Taylor Downing mism was not enough. Britain was falling London: Little, Brown Book Group, 2014 behind its industrial rivals, Germany and 357 pages, £20 (cloth) the United States. The Army and the ISBN: 978-1-4087-0421-9 Royal Navy were loath to embrace tech- Reviewed by Douglas Agnew nological advances. Senior officers were educated, almost without exception, in he title of Taylor Downing’s the public schools, and shared their social latest book, Secret Warriors, class’s distain for industry and science. is slightly misleading. It is They considered themselves profession- not about intelligence officers als, and most saw little reason to change and other scoundrels play- how they did business.