In one slim, richly illustrated volume the reader gets three competing views of one of the most famous battles in European history. So much has been written about the battle, but for a reader of English the preponderance of the available works emphasize the role of English troops under Wellington's command. The result is an extremely lopsided view of the battle. This book nicely intersperses chapters by the three authors (representing the three major armies present on the battlefield) to give a balanced coherent account of the contributions of each of the three armies to this very confusing battle. They also make vividly clear just how different from present day armies, in make-up, training, leadership, equipment, indeed all things military, were the armies of the early 19th century. Each author contributed his own final 'Conclusion' chapter, while the editor, Lord Chalfont, summed things up in his 'Epilogue'. The overall effect of the book is to remind the reader of, in Wellington's own words, just what "a near run thing" the Anglo-Dutch/Prussian victory over Napoleon was, and to reinforce the realization that the side that wins most battles and probably all wars is the one that screws up the least or the one that gets the biggest lucky breaks.

For the illustrations, maps, appendices, and bibliographies alone, this is a useful reference to keep on hand when reading other books, whether fiction and non-fiction, on the endlessly fascinating subject of The Battle of Waterloo. ( )