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Books > Humanities > History > European history > 1750 to 1900
In the maelstrom of Napoleonic Europe, Britain remained defiant,
resisting French imperial ambitions. This Anglo-French rivalry was
a politico-economic conflict for preeminence fought on a global
scale and it reached a zenith in 1806-1808 with France's apparent
dominance of Continental Europe. Britain reacted swiftly and
decisively to implement maritime-based strategies to limit French
military and commercial gains in Europe, while protecting British
overseas interests. The policy is particularly evident in relations
with Britain's 'Ancient Ally': Portugal and, by association, her
South American empire, which became the front line in the battle
between Napoleon's ambitions and British maritime security.
Shedding new light on British war aims and maritime strategy, this
is an essential work for scholars of the Napoleonic Wars and
British political, diplomatic, economic and maritime/military
history.
William Clarke of Prestonpans, Scotland, joined the 2nd Royal North
British Dragoons, the Scots Greys, in 1803\. Clarke had risen to
the rank of sergeant by the time the regiment was ordered to
Belgium on the news that Napoleon had escaped from Elba. Forming
part of what became known as the Union Brigade, the Scots Greys
played a key role in Napoleon s defeat at Waterloo. The John
Rylands Library, Manchester, recently acquired William Clarke s
600-page, hand-written memoir describing his enlistment and
military career, the highlight of which was the Waterloo campaign,
which he describes in unusual detail in the vernacular of the day,
presented and annotated by the renowned historian Garth Glover.
Thanks to this rare discovery, the reader can follow the movements
of the Scots Greys at every stage of the action throughout the
three days from Quatre-Bras to that climatic encounter on the Mont
St Jean. Clarke naturally portrays the charge of the Union Brigade
in dramatic and heroic terms, but he claims that the man who led
the charge, Major General William Ponsonby, was killed by a musket
ball and not cut down by French cavalry, as is usually stated, for
recklessly charging too far. After the battle, Clarke was part of
the Burial Party. He then graphically describes the sad scene as he
does the trail of the defeated French army as the pursuing
Prussians cut a merciless path on their way to Paris. A Scots Grey
at Waterloo provides the reader with an exceptionally in-depth
account of the actions of the cavalry at Waterloo that will mark
this memoir out as one of the most significant to have been
published in the last 200 years.
This volume traces the political history of Finland from 1809 to
1998, a history that has been dominated by the country's
geopolitical situation as a country that lies between Eastern and
Western Europe.
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