Product Details

• Format: Black & White, Color, HiFi Sound, NTSC
• Rated: NR (Not Rated)
• Number of tapes: 1
• Studio: Kultur Video
• VHS Release Date: February 23, 1999
• Run Time: 55 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• ASIN: 6305336644
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #423,707 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

19 of 20 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Interesting but incomplete version of famous battle, July 18, 2001

By 

Charles Reilly - See all my reviews

This review is from: 1815 The Battle of Waterloo [VHS] (VHS Tape)

We all know who lost the Battle of Waterloo. Yet even now, after more than 180 years, the debate still rages about who actually "won" the battle. The noted historian and former head of War Studies at Sandhurst, David Chandler, gives expert testimony to overstate the obvious: D'Erlon's thirty thousand un-used troops at both Quatre Bas and Ligny saved both the English and Prussians from certain disaster and the outcome of Waterloo was directly affected by this crucial mistake. The video also has some great scenes from the famous movie "Waterloo" from 1970 and an in-depth analysis of early 19th Century strategies (e.g. Napoleon's famous "Central Strategy" and Wellington's use of "Reverse Slopes"). The Prussian contributions are not neglected until the very end. For some reason, the makers of this video saw fit to exclude them from the final assault on Napoleon's right flank when the battle was indeed still in question. Most historians now agree that Wellington did not advance the Allied line until informed that the Prussians had arrived in strength and that Napoleon's forces were already reeling all across the battlefield. Allied mistakes are pretty much overlooked except for Wellington's famous "Humbugged, by God!" epiphet after learning that Napoleon was closing in on him. Marshal Blucher is given his due and cited for both his bravery and his determination to get to Waterloo before it was too late. All in all, this video will help a novice historian in discovering this famous battle. The narration of Robert Powell is also excellent (if a bit pro-British). Wellington and Blucher did meet and shake hands after the battle was over and congratulate each other on a job well-done. It would behoove historians on both the Prussian side and the British side to learn from that generous gesture of these outstanding commanders. It would also be well-advised to revive this gracious practice among these same "historians".

22 of 27 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars The "Grandness" of it all!, July 2, 2000

By 

Jo Stafford (New Zealand) - See all my reviews

This review is from: 1815 The Battle of Waterloo [VHS] (VHS Tape)

One of the most epic battles ever fought, This video of "Waterloo" grandstands the pageantry and pomp surrounding the inter-relationships between common man and gentry within the context of open battlefield warfare!

You can witness the colour and splendour of the uniforms in their magnificence as the Generals, like shepherds mustering sheep, herd their masses of men "to & fro" to their deaths.

Witness how the apparent flippency of these actions belie the calculation and orchestration of primal strategies relating to this era of open battlefield warfare.

This video helped place into context for me numerous events of the battle which had only been envisaged through books, such as distances between opposing lines and "flanks" and sizes and numbers of armies and cavalries etc. Also I was able to better understand the the entry of "Blucher" and his Prussian army into the battle, and more importantly the timing and effect this had on the outcome.

Awesome!