Waterloo: The Campaign of 1815

From Elba to Ligny and Quatre Bras Volume I

By: John Hussey

Narrated by: Ric Jerrom

The first of two ground-breaking volumes on the Waterloo campaign, this audiobook is based upon a detailed analysis of sources old and new in four languages. It highlights the political stresses between the Allies, the problems of feeding and paying for the Allied forces assembling in Belgium during the undeclared war and how a strategy was thrashed out.

It studies the neglected topic of how the Allies beyond the Rhine hampered the plans of Blücher and Wellington, thus allowing Napoleon to snatch the initiative from them. Napoleon's operational plan is likewise analysed and the way in which Soult misinterpreted it and accounts from both sides help provide a vivid impression of the fighting on the first day, 15 June. This volume ends with the joint battles of Ligny and Quatre Bras the next day.

PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying PDF will be available in your Audible Library along with the audio.

©2017 Pen and Sword Books Limited (P)2020 Audible, Ltd

Very full analysis

This is a pretty heavy academic analysis however he grabbed my interest, kept my attention and I learnt a great deal. I would recommend this two people with patience

All-round excellent piece of history.

This must be the definitive work for the 100 Days Campaign. The book is highly detailed whilst still retaining a good flow that keeps it from becoming too dry.

Excellent performance from the narrator.

Amazing work - flows from pen to voice to ear

This might be my favorite Audible title and I am true latecomer to Napoleonic’s.
The story is immense. It’s told piece-by-piece, in a fluid and luxurious narrative. There is rich detail but it doesn’t seem to bury the listener. The English and French are vibrant - Ric Jerrom’s German perhaps falls short at times but it hardly detracts from the narrative.
There are maps! The narrative calls out to the maps! They’re functional, helpful, and assist putting the countless towns, hamlets, and crossroads into the listener’s understanding.
The narrative is warm and captivating- you’re drawn deep into the tale. Ric Jerrom does an outstanding job. He’s one of those narrative voices that can draw you to a work you might otherwise skip by.
I have come back to multiple sections, most just to enjoy another listen, rarely for loss of attention. I’ve listened to this for hours, late into the night. A true “page-turner”.
The battles are not the focus here - Ligny and Quatre Bras are single chapters in the last volume. The story is how we arrive on the field looking at the Windmill of Ligny or the nondescript crossroads at Quatre Bras. Outstanding.

Great but biased

To the author, outstanding book, excellent research, well written. However, please try harder to suppress your British and specially Wellington bias. It really comes to the surface several times throughout the book and is quite annoying. Wellington was not the pure military genius you constantly portrayed him as.

Belongs Amongst The Greats

"Waterloo: From Elba to Lingy and Quantre Bras Volume I" is another "An Army At Dawn," the first book in Rick Atkinson's WWII Liberation Trilogy. It's also comparable to Shelby Foote's glorious Civil War trilogy, Ian W. Toll's Pacific War Trilogy, and the newest entry off the top of my head, Richard B Frank's "Tower of Skulls: A History of Asia Pacific War Volume 1," which is surely to be one of the best multi-volume works in historical narrative history. There's every chance I"m missing another multi volume work. But these stand out. Regardless,"Waterloo" is in incredible company. So the anticipation for Volume two is very high to say the least.

Hussey goes into such incredible detail and is able to draw it all together into an incredibly clear flowing format. There are so many elements to this story. This is perhaps the military campaign I know the least about too. So it might take another couple of listens to fully grasp it all. So pay close attention not to mention anything. Also take advantage of the PDF maps in the library section. They came in very handy. Ric Jerron's narration is perfection. It completes the first volume. So needless to say I'm anticipating Volume II.

can't wait for vol 2!!!!

I can't wait for vol 2!!!! Extremely fascinating detail about the strategic side of the Waterloo campaign. The author dispels numerous myths passed down as fact.

Excellent: Where is Volume 2

We need Volume 2, you know the volume that actually tells us about the battle of Waterloo. Why the delay, Audible?

Thank you

Unable to Follow

Without the battle map it’s almost impossible to picture the landscape and the flow of action….how each General and their required support to the audible movement.

Disappointed

Very little detail to the fighting, I was hoping for Company and Bn, however It is all ‘big picture’.

An interesting, but flawed book

This title provides interesting insights into the nature of coalition warfare, and an examination of the operational and orders planning, and diplomatic process required to defeat Napoleon. However, until listening to this title, I had no idea that von Gniesenau was, in fact, Wellington's actual chief adversary in fighting the waterloo campaign. Not Napoleon, not the French, but actually the Prussian general. I exaggerate, but it seems every opportunity is taken to cast Gniesenau in a negative light. It would seem this is done for daring to stand up to the English hero, who was himself known for his mercurial behavior. Never is this clearer than when Gniesenau is consistently judged on the basis of the outcome of an act, while Wellington is judged based upon his intent. At one point, the author even states this standard for Wellington explicitly. In warfare where winning, losing, and surviving are the only things that matter in the end, there can be no clearer indication of an overwhelming bias. In this case, painfully pro-british. Blucher, meanwhile deserving of praise, seems to have the primary good quality of being liked by his fellow British commander. This is all the more jarring when one considers that many of Gniesenau's thoughts, of which the author is highly critical, such as the fact that the British would be unlikely to able to beat the French alone without support, were in fact correct. Gniesenau was also quite correct in his assessment as to how to prosecute a campaign, as even though the waterloo campaign was defensive, the description of how the armies might best operate seems to be in line with how the author described Gniesenau's plan for advance. While the Prussian desire for revenge was not helpful, the why for the Prussians despising the French is understandable. While the overall bias does not cripple the text, it certainly makes a reader wonder whether the choices, thought process and outcomes as conducted by Prussian arms are being weighed fairly. This is unfortunate, as otherwise this book makes for a very enjoyable listen despite the obvious anti-prussian bias.