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Quote: Hamish
I believe that the articles found with him may well suggest he was British. I think that anti British sentiment is quite unjustified. Although there was a major contribution made by Wellingtons allies to the victory at Waterloo, there can be no doubt that the victory could never have been accomplished without the defensive qualities of the British infantry, who made a contribution far above their numbers at Waterloo. Despite recent attempts to down play this by German and Dutch historians this remains a fact. Without the presence of the Brigade of Guards, the 27th, theb 52nd and the Scottish regiments Waterloo would have been lost. We must acknowledge the contribution made by the allies, but it we must not dismiss the decisive contribution made by the British contingent.
I'm British - well English actually - and my devil's advocate side is inclined to agree with Hamish. BUT the reality is that, as a student of the battle of Waterloo for many years, I do recognise Waterloo as one of the very best examples in military history of a team effort victory. It is futile to pretend or contend that any one nation 'won' the battle; the only definite here is that the French lost it. The battle would not have been won without the Nassauers at Hougoumont, the Dutch Belgians at various key points in the battle on 18th June, and of course the numerous Hanoverians, not least the KGL which performed magnificently throughout the battle. Oh, and without the Prussians there would have been no victory for the Allies to celebrate, since Napoleon would have won.
I have to say that there is something faintly Monty-Python-esque about one or two of the comments in this thread, along the lines of 'It wasn't just the British who deserved to die a gorey death at Waterloo, you know. The Dutch/Germans/Belgians/Prussians etc etc had just as much right to do so as well....' I can just imagine Eric Idle or Michael Palin, old stalwarts of the Python team, shouting this on a TV set surrounded by gun smoke and dying French, dressed of course in a suitable costume..Duke of Cumberlands hussars perhaps??!!
Respectfully,
Bagration
