I have become increasing interested in Waterloo and why the Old Guard admired him (Napolean) so.

NOTE: this has nothing to do with the movie (if that matters).


Thank you in advance!

Because they were almost all picked by Napoleon himself to be in the Guard, based on their bravery and loyalty.

Waterloo:

Adkin's Waterloo Companion
Chalfont's Waterloo
Keegan's Face of Battle
Hofschoer's 1815: The Waterloo Campaign

Guard (the definitive work):

Lachouque and Brown, The Anatomy of Glory

The Napoleonic soldiers were no doubt the best dressed era of warfare, so if you like looking at pretty uniforms:

Ryan's Napoleon's Elite Cavalry: Cavalry of the Imperial Guard, 1804-1815: The Paintings of Lucien Rousselot

That is great...will jump on a few of those suggestions.

I particularly like the title "Anatomy of Glory".


Thank you BQ 78!

"La garde meurt mais ne se rend pas !"

The Guard dies, it does not surrender

I always thought that if I wanted to hold a position I would want the Old Guard

If I wanted to take a position I would want the Young Guard

Of course the Middle Guard would be a nice hybrid to do either.

Until the oh sh8t moment when someone said...

"La Garde recule. Sauve qui peut!"

Or Cambronne supposedly replying "Merde" when asked to surrender.

For those that don't parlez the French, Merde = ****

The 1970 movie "Waterloo" with Rod Steiger and Christopher Plummer was one of my favorite movies as a kid.

Hougoumont, La Hay Sainte, Papelotte, Plancenoit; any of these could be a movie by itself.

Sharpes Waterloo by Bernard Cornwell is a damn good read if you like historical fiction. I'm pretty sure the back ground stuff happening is all fairly accurate.

A small group of reenactors at Waterloo. By far the most telling battlefield tour I've been on. The ground from Wellington's perspective was clearly and obviously in his favor. But from Napoleon's perspective the ground and swales and undulations are not as obvious. Deceiving even. Fantastic museums and monuments and battlefield tours there.