Waterloo Companion, The: The Complete Guide to History's Most Famous Land Battle [Hardcover]

Mark Adkin (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 1, 2002

There have been many books about Waterloo, but never one to rival this in scale or authority. The text, based upon extensive research, describes both the battle and the campaign that preceded it in detail, drawing upon the first-hand accounts of participants on all sides in order to give the reader a vivid feeling for the experiences of those who fought upon this most celebrated of all battlefields. The many full-color maps, all specially commissioned for the book, and the numerous diagrams and photographs, the majority in color, as well as sixteen pages of original paintings, make the book a feast for the eyes and a collector's dream.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Mark Adkin, a former army officer, is the author of several books on military history.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 448 pages
• Publisher: Stackpole Books (January 1, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0811718549
• ISBN-13: 978-0811718547
• Product Dimensions: 11.6 x 9.1 x 1.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 4.8 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (21 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #339,391 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

43 of 45 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A top notch guide to the battle of Waterloo, February 5, 2002

By 

Bruce Trinque (Amston, CT United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Waterloo Companion, The: The Complete Guide to History's Most Famous Land Battle (Hardcover)

Napoleonic land warfare is not a particularly strong interest of mine except as it pertains to the evolution of tactics used half a century later during the American Civil War. However, once in a while something on the subject will catch my eye. And extraordinarily eye-catching is Mark Adkin's "The Waterloo Companion" - over 400 large-format pages on glossy paper, a volume crammed with highly informative text and informative illustrations. Too often, the illustrations in such over-sized volumes as this seem to exist for no other purpose than to fill up space and look pretty. But this is not the case in "The Waterloo Companion." There are dozens of exquisite small-scale topographical maps depicting various critical moments of the battle. Photographs either focus in upon key terrain features or, in the case of panoramic images, are overlaid with markings to show the position and movements of troops during the battle. The course and form of the famous struggle are made very clear through such devices. Rather than employing a standard narrative structure, Adkin uses a more nearly encyclopedic approach. There are biographical essays on numerous general officers on both sides (or all three sides, if the Prussians are counted separately). Terrain features are individually discussed. Tactical methods and weapons are analyzed in depth. Army organization is examined. The battles for such key locations as La Haye Sainte and Hougoumont are presented in great detail, with multiple maps and photographs showing each phase of fighting. Orders of battle are given in a readily comprehended fashion, and the history and experiences of the various major subordinate units in all three armies are described. Physically, this is an extremely handsome volume. In terms of information presented, it is a treasure trove. For a military history buff, this is a book to provide many hours of happy browsing.

17 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Not just another Waterloo book, July 26, 2002

By 

W. B. Smith (Auckland New Zealand) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Waterloo Companion, The: The Complete Guide to History's Most Famous Land Battle (Hardcover)

This book is not just another book on the Waterloo campaign. As the author states this book is not meant as a blow by blow account of the action but rather a look at different aspects of the battle including: The campaign, Orders of Battle, Command & Control, the battlefield, the various arms of the armies, and of course the main highlights of the battle. The last section takes an impartial look at the predominate myths and controversies surrounding the battle of Waterloo and the author comes up with his own conclusions in regards to them.

The book is massive (432pages) and makes superb use of colourful maps and photographs of the battlefield which explain the battle situation at key times, the deployment and various formations of forces.

The book also provides additional curious information by the use of text boxes including some first account experiences of the battle.

All in all this is an absolutely superb book, well researched using various sources of information, beautifully presented and printed on high quality paper. I have found it hard to put down , as I keep poring over the maps and digesting all the wonderful information to found in this book. This is a must buy for anyone with an interest in the Waterloo campaign. Lets hope Mark Adkin will do the same with other Napoleonic battles.

10 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Good Introduction to Waterloo, February 19, 2004

By 

Guy Berra "guyberra" (Miami, FL USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Waterloo Companion, The: The Complete Guide to History's Most Famous Land Battle (Hardcover)

I give this book 5 stars because of it's overall unique contribution to the battle as an "all in one" volume for those who do not own (or wish to own) any of the available books on the army's, the weapons, and soldiers, and also because it's treatment of the main phases of the battle in color coded maps is essentially unbeatable. It also contains the mother of all Orders of Battle for the Waterloo Campaign. That being said the narrative of the battle is NOT for the seriously interested as it only briefly covers the highpoints of the battle very near the end of the book, and much of that in anecdotal format. The problem with Adkin's Waterloo is it's inherent omissions give the false impression that the battle was not the "damned near-run affair" that it actually was. This is found in the author's faulty statement that the height of D'Erlon's assault was the closest Napoleon ever came to winning the battle. Yet the reader is dismayed to find that excepting a goodly amount of schematic detail on the assaults against La Haye Sainte, the whole remainder of the battle (hours worth) against Wellington's lines after Ney's cavaly charge all the way to the assault by the Old and Middle Guard is all but completely omitted. The Prussian contribution, though respected, is treated as a separate affair altogether. The reader also picks up a pro-anglo, pro-Cops-of-the-World slant in the narrative too probably in part because practically all of the author's sources came from previously published works in English, and most of his sources for the stories of the battle are from the English soldiers who fought in it. Some of the personal stories quoted sound rediculous, no doubt exaggerated over the years.