"A radical re-assessment . . . This is fascinating stuff . . . a most useful addition to the Waterloo—and indeed Napoleonic—bookshelf."—Military Modelling MagazineMore has probably been written about the Waterloo campaign than almost any other in history. It was the climax of the Napoleonic Wars and forms a watershed in both European and world history. However, the lethal combination of national bias, willful distortion and simple error has unfortunately led to the...

Sharpe and his adventures has made the 95th Foot renowned again and the discovery of an unpublished diary by an American from Charleston South Carolina who served, despite his father’s objections, as an officer in this elite regiment has caused great excitement.James Penman Gairdner was born in Charleston, South Carolina, but he was sent back to the ‘Old Country’ for his education, receiving his schooling at Harrow. After school, rather than joining his father’s merchant business h...

Lieutenant Charles Crowe's journal of the 27th Foot (Inniskillings) of the final campaign of Wellington's army is a rare work for many reasons. It is, perhaps surprisingly, the first memoir about this campaign from this famous regiment to be published.Crowe wrote a daily journal at the time, which practically guarantees the authenticity and accuracy of his account. But what makes it special is that Crowe was extremely well read and was an accomplished writer, so that when he wrote up his j...

"Takes a look at the life of Napoleon Bonaparte through using 100 objects . . . an entertaining method of presenting a biography." — Battles and Book ReviewsFor almost two decades, Napoleon Bonaparte was the most feared, and revered, man in Europe. At the height of his power, the land under his control stretched from the Baltic to the Mediterranean, and encompassed most of Western Europe.The story of how a young Corsican, who spoke French with a stra...

"A comprehensive look at the Mediterranean and adjacent territories, a largely 'forgotten' theatre of the very long Anglo-French war." — New York Military Affairs SymposiumThe campaigns fought against Napoleon in the Iberian Peninsula, in France, Germany, Italy and Russia and across the rest of Europe have been described and analyzed in exhaustive detail, yet the history of the fighting in the Mediterranean has rarely been studied as a separate the...

Captain James Stirling's journals offer a firsthand account of the 42nd Regiment's actions during the Peninsular War. For such a famous regiment as the 42nd Regiment of Foot (The Black Watch), the number of published memoirs is surprisingly low. The discovery of the three hand-written journals in the collection of the National Library of Scotland covering the period from August 1808, when the regiment left Gibraltar for Lisbon until the end of 1813, are therefore of significant importance ...

This groundbreaking historical study resolves a hotly debated conundrum with a newly uncovered firsthand account of the Battle of Waterloo.As the battle reached its momentous climax, Napoleon's Imperial Guard marched towards the Duke of Wellington's thinning red line. Having never before tasted defeat, it was now sent reeling back in disorder. The British 1st Foot Guards were honored for this historic victory by being renamed the Grenadier Guards. But while the 52nd...

The Author wrote numerous letters home from the campaigns that he fought with Wellington in the Peninsular when he was commanding his Regiment. He was therefore in a senior position and privy to secrets of the war. He is often caustic regarding his superiors including The Iron Duke himself. He packs his letters with interesting descriptions of the life and his surroundings.Once Waterloo was won and Napoleon defeated and captive, Bingham was selected to accompany him on his journey on HMS N...

The Napier family are famous for their military exploits in the Peninsular War. Charles served in the 50th and 102nd Foot, George in the 52nd and 71st Foot and William (the famous historian of the Peninsular War) who served with the 43rd Foot. Two or three of them were always serving in the Peninsula at any given time and all suffered a number of severe wounds.William has a basic biography written of him and his famous History of the Peninsular War is littered with his per...

Originally published in 1900, this book features excerpts from Alexander Cavali Mercer's account of the battle of Waterloo. As an artillery officer at the sharp end, this is his eye-witness account of the events that lead to Napoleon's final defeat in June 1815. This is the contemporary view of how the events were conveyed to the public of Great Britain. Featuring original engravings from the Illustrated London News and the Graphic, and many paintings from the era, this book was written du...

No other regiment in Wellington's Peninsular army can compare with the 95th Rifles. Even before Bernard Cornwell's Sharpe novels and television series, the Rifles were the most famous of all the British Army's fighting formations. Unlike the red-coated regiments of the Line, the Riflemen were trained to act with a degree of independence, selecting their own targets in battle. As a result, a number of the officers and some of the men were more literate than their counterparts in the Line, o...

The Light Division is rightly regarded as the most famous force within Wellington's army in the Peninsular War. Often the first into every battle and the last to withdraw, the men of the Light Division were trained to act independently and think for themselves as well as operating in their battalion formations. The regiments which comprised the Light Division were present at almost every battle, large or small, throughout the Peninsular War. Many people, however, associate the Light Divisi...