Waterloo

Military victory and political success are separate questions in Hilaire Belloc's account of the 1815 Waterloo campaign. He begins with the aims of the opposing governments, placing Napoleon's attempt to recover power within the wider struggle over the French Revolution's legacy. The narrative then follows the advance across the Sambre, the fighting at Ligny and Quatre Bras, and the movements toward Waterloo and Wavre. This structure gives the famous battle a place within a connected sequence of decisions and operations.

Belloc's attention to command becomes especially clear in his discussion of Erlon's troops moving between Napoleon and Ney. An analogy involving a farmer, two fires and an engine makes the consequences of changing orders easier to follow. Readers interested in military history will find both an account of troop movements and an argument about how to judge a campaign: by its political purpose as well as its battlefield results.