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Books > Humanities > History > European history > 1750 to 1900
Mercer's journal is one of the most outstanding eyewitness accounts
of the Waterloo campaign ever published. It is a classic of
military history. This new, fully illustrated edition, featuring an
extensive introduction and notes by Andrew Uffindell, one of the
leading authorities on the Napoleonic Wars, contains a mass of
additional material not included in the original.As the bicentenary
of Waterloo approaches, this beautifully prepared, scholarly
edition of Mercer's work will be essential reading for anyone who
wishes to know what it was really like to fight in the final, great
battle against Napoleon. Captain Mercer was in acting command of G
Troop, Royal Horse Artillery. His journal vividly describes the
campaign, from his landing at Ostend as Wellington's army began to
assemble, through the excitement and confusion of the battle
itself, and on to the occupation of Paris and the conclusion of the
war.His graphic account - which is just as readable and relevant
today as it was when it was written - is full of telling, authentic
detail, for Mercer was a gifted, sensitive writer and an acute
observer, and he was equally adept at capturing the scenery,
people's characters, and his remarkable experiences while under
fire.
The seven-year campaign that saved Europe from Napoleon told by
those who were there. What made Arthur Duke of Wellington the
military genius who was never defeated in battle? In the vivid
narrative style that is his trademark, Peter Snow recalls how
Wellington evolved from a backward, sensitive schoolboy into the
aloof but brilliant commander. He tracks the development of
Wellington's leadership and his relationship with the extraordinary
band of men he led from Portugal in 1808 to their final destruction
of Napoleon at the Battle of Waterloo seven years. Having described
his soldiers as the 'scum of the earth' Wellington transformed them
into the finest fighting force of their time. Digging deep into the
rich treasure house of diaries and journals that make this war the
first in history to be so well recorded, Snow examines how
Wellington won the devotion of generals such as the irascible
Thomas Picton and the starry but reckless 'Black Bob' Crauford and
soldiers like Rifleman Benjamin Harris and Irishman Ned Costello.
Through many first-hand accounts, Snow brings to life the horrors
and all of the humanity of life in and out of battle, as well as
shows the way that Wellington mastered the battlefield to outsmart
the French and change the future of Europe. To War with Wellington
is the gripping account of a very human story about a remarkable
leader and his men.
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