A review of “The Longest Afternoon” by Brendan Simms, a particular account of the Battle of Waterloo
On 18 June 1815, an allied force commanded by the British Duke of Wellington beat a French army led by the Emperor Napoleon in the Battle of Waterloo, one of the most consequential conflicts in European history. This short work, first published in 2014, concentrates on one particular geographical section of this epic event, the farm of La Haye Sainte, and on one particular unit, the riflemen of the 2nd Light Battalion of the King’s German Legion.
Using a wide range of sources, including many personal accounts, Simms tells a gripping story which illustrates great courage and heroism but also vividly describes the brutality and horror of such a fiercely-fought encounter. As he summarises the matter: “The struggle for La Haye Sainte and its environs was not merely ‘a battle within a battle’, for much of the afternoon it was the battle.” The battalion of almost 400 men suffered something like 40% casualties but held out for nearly five crucial hours.
The origin of most this defending unit, the area of Hanover, leads Simms to question whether the Battle of Waterloo as a whole was a ‘German victory’. After all, “About 45% of the men with whom Wellington started the battle spoke German of one sort of another, and the proportion increased with every Prussian formation reaching the scene.” But he opines: “It would be more accurate and more helpful, however, to describe Wellington’s army as ‘European'” and points out that 36% of the initial force was British.
Of course, after a relative peace in Europe of half a century, the French and the Germans would be back in mortal combat with one another repeatedly – the Franco-Prussian War. the First World War, the Second World War – and, in the last two of those gigantic clashes, the British and the Germans, such strong allies at the Battle of Waterloo, would be irrevocable enemies. That’s history for you.