Waterloo: Sharpe's Final Adventure

Bernard Cornwell's twenty-plus (and growing!) volume Richard Sharpe series has built and built and built to the titanic battle of Waterloo. Sharpe has fought in Flanders, India, Portugal, Spain, and France, and everything in his storied career has led him to this little valley with the odd name. And it led Napoleon and Wellington there, too. Nobody denies that the world changed in the single day of battle where Wellington narrowly avoided disaster and sent Napoleon down to defeat. Trafalgar and the defeat of the Spanish Armada definitely have their roles in British military history, but it's debatable whether those two battles were more important to the future of Europe than Waterloo. Had Napoleon won, the French juggernaut could have rolled Europe up like a carpet. But Richard Sharpe and his boon companion, Patrick Harper, have little sense of history. They are pure soldiers, even if Harper has left the army and follows Sharpe to the battlefield only to "watch." Through their eyes, Cornwell paints a magnificent, horrifying you-are-there portrait of the day's carnage, complete with the dizzying stupidity of the Prince of Orange. This peacock nearly cost the British everything by stupidly ordering infantry to form in line rather than square (thereby making them easy pickings for French cavalry) not once, not twice, but three times! For Sharpe and Harper, this is too much, and they take matters into their own hands. Further complicating matters, Lord John Rossendale has stolen Sharpe's money and taken his wife, Jane. Sharpe does not lament the latter, but he rues the loss of his fortune, and he demands satisfaction. Rossendale, urged on by Jane, plots Sharpe's death on the battlefield, where there is a long tradition of soldiers settling private scores with bullets and bayonets in the back. "Waterloo" is a bit unusual for Cornwell's books in that the battle is so well-known and so vast. This is not one of those battles where Cornwell has a free canvas to let Sharpe and Harper save the day together. While they surely get a lot to do, there are many other heroes, British and French alike, who get their day in the sun. Sharpe and Harper are by no means quiet, and Sharpe gets his own version of a triumph, but this is a day for real heroes as well. Cornwell's research is impeccable, as always, and his battlefield prose sings with British pride. This is an excellent book to end the Sharpe series, and one wonders why Cornwell wrote another book after "Waterloo" (Sharpe's Devil). Where is there to go from here?

I was dining a few nights ago with - oddly enough - a German,an Englishman, and a Frenchman. The topic came around to Waterloo. The Frenchman told the table that Napoleon didn't lose. He made a strategic defeat, and anyway it was the Prussians who won the battle. The German said the Prussians won the battle, and the French were beaten spitless. The Englishman said that Wellington and his army of scum won the battle, that Napoleon ran like a rabbit, and the Prussians arrived too late to do anybody any good. Before sabres were drawn, I poured another port and laid out an excellent Blue Vein cheese from New Zealand's Kapiti Coast.No matter what Cornwell did with this Sharpe story, he was going to be in trouble. I loved the book. Great battle! It's hardly a Sharpe book at all: Sharpe's merely the device Cornwell uses to draw the battle together for the reader. But Cornwell was always going to cop it in the neck from the Dutch (What? The Dutch run? Never! ) He was always going to be mocked by the Germans (Loiter on the way to a battle? Nein! ). The French have never believed they lost the battle anyway, so Cornwell's version would have to wrong, wrong, wrong.The book's an entertainment, so let's not get our knickers in a twist about "the facts". It's Cornwell's view of the battle - accept that. And when you come to accept it as an entertainment, you'll enjoy it. This is battle on a huge scale - the largest number of men ever committed to battle at the time. And it's described expertly, with a feel for the blood, terror, glory, and unthinking heroism of the day. Deeply satisfying, dramatic, gory - with a neat wrap-up for Sharpe's adulterous [...] ex. What more could you want for a Sunday afternoon?

For anyone interested in Napoleonic history Bernard Cornwell's 'Richard Sharpe' series will amaze and delight. 'Waterloo' is a wonderful tribute to the those who fought the famous battle and a thrilling adventure for Richard Sharpe. In 'Waterloo,' Sharpe fights not only the forces of Napoleon, but the young and inexperienced commander of the Dutch troops as well as his wife's cowardly lover. From the tense moments as French troops cross the border, to thrashing of the British at Quatre Bras, to the slaughter of Ney's cavalry on the British squares, to Wellington's near-run triumph, this is a magnificent blending of historical fact and captivating fiction. 'Waterloo' may be Cornwell's best.

The most straight forward of the Sharpe's series, and by far the longest and most intense battle narrative I have ever read. I can't speak to it's historical accuracy (it being almost 30 years since my last Military History course), but the action is so well described and so vivid that I absolutely could not put the book down once the final days battle began. Of course it is far fetched to expect one soldier to have been present at so many of the battle's key points, but as a literary device to describe a major battle it is a definite triumph.

For lovers of the Sharpe series Waterloo will provide you with both a triumphant and riveting ending, and a sad farewell. For lovers of Napoleonic history, Waterloo will take you beyond the tactics and strategy and let you feel the thunder of the cannons, smell the clouds of powder smoke, and hear the cries of the dying and wounded. Cornwell places you on the ridge overlooking the valley and lets you watch the battle unfold. The book is really the next best thing to a time machine.