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

Completely wonderful.

Outstanding story and narration. Excellent historian who can express himself well. I cannot wait for Volume 2.

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.

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.