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Brendan Simms

The Longest Afternoon: The 400 Men Who Decided the Battle of Waterloo Hardcover – February 10, 2015

by Brendan Simms (Author)

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From the prizewinning author of Europe, a riveting account of the heroic Second Light Battalion, which held the line at Waterloo, defeating Napoleon and changing the course of history.

In 1815, the deposed emperor Napoleon returned to France and threatened the already devastated and exhausted continent with yet another war. Near the small Belgian municipality of Waterloo, two large, hastily mobilized armies faced each other to decide the future of Europe-Napoleon's forces on one side, and the Duke of Wellington on the other.

With so much at stake, neither commander could have predicted that the battle would be decided by the Second Light Battalion, King's German Legion, which was given the deceptively simple task of defending the Haye Sainte farmhouse, a crucial crossroads on the way to Brussels. In The Longest Afternoon, Brendan Simms captures the chaos of Waterloo in a minute-by-minute account that reveals how these 400-odd riflemen successfully beat back wave after wave of French infantry. The battalion suffered terrible casualties, but their fighting spirit and refusal to retreat ultimately decided the most influential battle in European history.

Print length

208 pages
Language

English
Publisher

Basic Books
Publication date

February 10, 2015
Dimensions

5.8 x 0.9 x 8.3 inches
ISBN-10

0465064825
ISBN-13

978-0465064823
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Editorial Reviews

Review

"Simms tells the story of the combat for La Haye Sainte with the rich, gritty, eyewitness detail that it deserves.... Simms' engaging narrative is one of bravery, terror and suffering.... Simms offers a reminder that Waterloo was not fought just between the British and French, but was very much a European battle."
―New York Times Book Review

"Mr. Simms's fluent and meticulously researched narrative nonetheless provides enough context to engage not only specialists, but also readers unfamiliar with the broader historical background. By focusing upon a particular episode, rather than the bigger picture, Mr. Simms manages to reflect the grim reality of Waterloo better than some more comprehensive surveys."
―Wall Street Journal

"A superb little book that is micro-history at its best."
―Washington Post

"An hour-by-hour, blow-by-blow account by Brendan Simms of one particularly hard-fought segment of the battle...which achieves the difficult feat of looking from a fresh, useful angle on a subject that is among the most minutely scrutinized in European history...[a] vividly told story...[with] a pacy narrative that evokes the smoke, heat and confusion of battle"
―Financial Times

"Simms writes from the perspective of the mud-caked battlefield. As a result, Wellington's victory is presented in all its savagery, vainglory, and desperation.... [I]t would seem that Waterloo was fought by soldiers who were tortured by right and wrong alike, men who intended to accomplish far more than killing."
―Battles and Book Reviews

"Through his clever ability to entwine first-person accounting with historical narrative, Simms allows the reader to explore the many facets of the battle in detailed depth and vivid focus...This is a very authoriative piece. Between the number of powerful first-person accounts and detailed historical events, the book reads as a minute-by-minute eyewitness accounting. The deliberate story line and powerful detailing leaves little room for question...The greatest attraction of this book is its ability to tell the story of the battle in a very realistic sense...The reader is drawn into the history and given insight to feel the accountings in a very real and pragmatic fashion."
―Military Review

"Simms recounts the fight from a fresh angle, delivering a thoroughly satisfying addition to a vast genre.... Aided by a surprising number of letters, memoirs and commentaries from participants, Simms write a vivid account even readers familiar with Waterloo should not pass up."
―Military History

"A vivid and compelling account of a fight that for much of the afternoon was not merely a battle within a battle but was the battle itself."
―Evening Standard, UK

"Short but action-packed book...patient readers will be rewarded by the meticulous way Simms assembles the pieces of an enormously complicated jigsaw puzzle."
―Weekly Standard

"This tight, vivid account brings the reader into the heart of the epic conflict.... [A] gripping and original account of men in battle."
―Washington Independent Review of Books

"[Simms] brings his readers into the mud and blood, into the near constant shelling, the cries of the wounded and dying. We are with these soldiers before the battle, hung over, hungry and soaking wet, and during the seemingly endless succession of infantry and cavalry charges."
―Providence Journal

"Told in clear, concise and colorful prose. The rich details and Simms' ability to breathe life into primary source documents make this an exceptional war story."
―Roanoke Times

"Simms brings the life the intensity of war on a 19th-century battlefield, and the depth of bravery in both ranks."
―Washington Times

"Narrative and microhistory at its best."―War on the Rocks

"An important and interesting perspective on a battle.... An overview of battle often dehumanizes, describing units of men as mere chess pieces. This book joins many others that attempt to remedy that. There is so much more to be said about Waterloo, how it came to happen, its grand strategic impulses and consequences, Napoleonic warfare in general etc. But as a battle itself is performed by numerous actors in various positions, to be able to see one segment with such accuracy is instructive. Brendan Simms has done an admirable job."
―Armchair General

"Simms does an admirable job of showing that stories do still count. This thoroughly engrossing account will thrill all history lovers."
―Library Journal, starred review

"For history readers who appreciate grainy, detailed battle accounts, this fine book concerns the carnage, heroism, and occasional stupidity that occurred around a single Belgian farmhouse at the center of the battlefield at Waterloo during a few hours in 1815.... A remarkably detailed book."
―Publishers Weekly

"[A] gripping account of the bloody, heroic defense of La Haye Sainte...Simms takes advantage of abundant letters and memoirs to deliver an engrossing, often gruesome nuts-and-bolts description of that afternoon."
―Kirkus

"Very engaging"―Spectator, UK

About the Author

Brendan Simms is a professor in the History of International Relations and fellow at Peterhouse College, Cambridge. He is the author of eight previous books, including The Longest Afternoon: The 400 Men Who Decided the Battle of Waterloo and Europe: The Struggle for Supremacy, from 1453 to the Present, shortlisted for the Lionel Gelber Prize. He lives in Cambridge, UK.

Product details

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Basic Books; First Edition (February 10, 2015)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Hardcover ‏ : ‎ 208 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0465064825
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0465064823
Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 11.2 ounces
Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 5.8 x 0.9 x 8.3 inches

Best Sellers Rank: #835,558 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #55 in Belgian History
- #230 in Napoleonic War History (Books)
- #1,389 in French History (Books)

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4.5 344 ratings

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Theodore A. Rushton

The few, the proud, the brave men who stopped tyranny

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on February 23, 2015

Verified Purchase

The history book on the shelf is always repeating itself.
- - Abba

Why read yet another "history" about the Battle of Waterloo? Well, Abba's wail repeats like an old scratched vinyl record stuck in a groove. History is different.

Amost every history book is new because instead of repeating the same old tunes, every writer sifts through old papers to uncover new ideas to affirm the new author's original brilliance. For example, consider Wellington's asssertion that the Battle of Waterloo was "the nearest run thing you ever saw in your life."

Simms concisely proves Wellington's comment.

In most battles between matched forces, the outcome is due to a crucial tipping point. Bunker Hill in the American War of Independence "taught" the British to be so unduly cautious that they lost the war; the Plains of Abraham and Lundy's Lane shaped Canada; Little Round Top was the crucial U.S. Civil War battle; Bastogne was the rock that broke the last gasp of the Wehrmacht.

At Waterloo, the only major battle ever fought by a de facto 'NATO' army (long before NATO was formed), the crucial hinge was La Haye Sainte farm held by the 2nd Light Battalion of the King's German Legion, a regular British army force formed by German volunteers who fled Napoleon's tyranny.

Wellington's main force of 73,200 men was 36 percent British (i.e. English, Scots, Welsh and Irish), 10 percent King's German Legion, 10 percent Nassauers, 8 percent Brunswickers, 17 percent Hanoverian, 13 percent Dutch and 6 percent Belgian. It's how the British preferred to fight land battles, by hiring others to handle actual combat.

In 1815, Germans had much more at stake in defeating the 77,500 soldiers of Napoleon's main force than Hessians had in beating Yankees in the 1770s. The 368 men of the 2nd Light Battalion, sent to La Haye Sainte farm on the road from Quatre Bras to Brussels, blocked the French advance through the center olf the British line.

The battalion had 40 percent casualties; the French lost at least 2,000 men in and around La Haye Sainte. At the end of the day, Blucher's Prussians arrived and Napoleon's last dream of conquest collapsed as his army fled.

As at Bastogne almost 130 years later, La Sainte Haye was a rock that could not be moved. This well told story is how a handful of men who fought for honour and freedom changed the coarse of history. From Thermopylae on, it reminds us of what people motivated by love of country and freedom can accomplish.

An excellent book, even though it suffers from the lack of detailed maps of La Sainte Haye area.

17 people found this helpful

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Gary B

Great historical work that reads like an adventure novel

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on July 10, 2015

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Highly recommended not just for students of history but to those who like a good historical action-adventure novel. This wonderful book reads like a movie script, the narrative is so well-written. Rather than starting out with the background history of this unique unit comprised mostly of displaced Hanoverian Germans in the British Army, the action begins the night prior to the battle, to suck you into the narrative. Author Brendan Simms then introduces just enough background to appreciate the action taking place. Easily read and understood, the events of that long afternoon at Waterloo are both remarkable and thrilling. Simms then concludes with a mature, balanced ending which thankfully includes what happened to his protagonists as they either perished or lived out the rest of their lives in history. Never dull, every paragraph on point, this is one of the best books I have read in a long time, and the quality of the writing reminds me of Shelby Foote's magnificent The Civil War: A Narrative. I sincerely wish someone would make a movie of it like the 1964 film Zulu (although that movie has some historical flaws) or with the high quality of the fictional 2003 film Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World. Alas, the movie industry is interested in other topics now...

If I have one critique, it is the length versus the price. This is very short book at only 128 pages or so of reading material. The fact that it's such a great read of a fascinating subject however more than makes up for the length. Well worth your time and money.

11 people found this helpful

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John

La Haye Sainte

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on December 12, 2022

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It gave me an insight of the KGL why it was started and the battle itself, how it help the allies defeat the Napoleon.

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George R Dekle

How British Soldiers Who Didn't Speak English Helped Win the Battle of Waterloo

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on December 9, 2016

Verified Purchase

There is an old saying that the Battle of Waterloo was won on the playing fields of Eton. The battle was really won in the muck and the mud surrounding La Haye Sainte and Hougoumont, two strongholds on the battlefield which stymied the French attack, delaying it long enough to allow the Prussian army to arrive and take Napoleon in the flank.

This book is the story of the 400 men of the King's German Legion who held La Haye Sainte against repeated assaults by thousands of Napoleon's soldiers. I would rank their gallant defense on a par with the more famous defenses of Thermopylae, the Alamo, and Rorke's Drift.

The King's German Legion were expatriate Hanoverian soldiers who fled their country for England when Napoleon was rampaging through Eastern Europe. They fought in the service of England throughout the Napoleonic Wars and acquitted themselves with distinction throughout. The assault on La Haye Sainte was probably their finest hour.

11 people found this helpful

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ellgee

A Well-Researched, Well-Detailed Look at the Battle Within the Battle

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on February 18, 2016

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A strong effort about the defense of La Haye Sainte. I have read many books on Waterloo and the battles within the battles but this is easily the most detailed and devoted I've seen to La Haye Sainte.
I have seen people irate that Waterloo has been treated as an English victory or as a French loss, but the German effort is an afterthought. That is not the case here, as the book gives excellent detail to the King's Legion and their resolve to hold the farmhouse against overwhelming odds.
It's a quick read, but a lot of ground is covered. It combines the big picture of the battle while painting a picture of the men who were fighting at La Haye Sainte, and how they survived or died.

6 people found this helpful

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George Popovich

Heroic stand

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on May 28, 2021

Verified Purchase

A stirring account of the defense of Le Haye Sainte at the battle of Waterloo. A must read for anyone interested in Napoleonic warfare.

One person found this helpful

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Nebo Jones

and the story should read like a great thriller

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on October 17, 2015

Verified Purchase

This book is about the riflemen from the Kings German Legion who held up Napoleon's troops at Waterloo for almost the whole day by holding and defending the Haye Sainte farmhouse out in front of the British main line. The story is exciting, the performance of the men of the unit heroic, and the story should read like a great thriller. I would like to have rated this book 4 1/2 stars; unfortunately, the author gets a bit too scholarly at some points, and the story drags a bit. Still, it's one of the best books on Waterloo that I have read.

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Stephen N. Prince

Excellent !

Reviewed in Germany 🇩🇪 on August 4, 2021

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A long overlooked and overdue homage to those brave and tenacious German soldiers in the British Army, the men of the King's German Legion who defended the critically important La Haye Saint farmhouse literally to the last bullet at Waterloo. Their tenacity and sacrifice may well have saved the battle for Wellington, as the author points out so well in this excellent book.

One person found this helpful

Olaf Meuther

Napoleons Niederlage bei Waterloo

Reviewed in Germany 🇩🇪 on February 12, 2018

Verified Purchase

Ein gut lesbares Buch über die entscheidende Schlacht gegen Napoleon bei La Hayes. Es fesselt einen von der ersten Zeile an

One person found this helpful

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Mr. G. Jarvis

Band of brothers hold Hougoumont against impossible odds.

Reviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on June 16, 2017

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Was able to live the life of an early 19th century foot soldier and their officers in the days before and including the Battle of Waterloo. We travelled through Nivelles and Genappe, arriving at a crucial point at the battle at Quatre Bras and was able to help to shore up the defensive action there which held up the French advance under Marshall Ney, allowing the allied army to retreat in relatively good order to the ridge at Mont St. Jean. Following the dreadful trudge through the storm on the night of the 17th the troops, rather than being able to put down their knapsacks and catch up on sleep, were told that our responsibility was to defend the army's right flank at Hougoumont. I then felt every long minute of the 18th as if I actually stood at Macdonnell's shoulder. The bravery of both officers and men is nothing short of unbelievable. But for their courage and determination to hold Hougoumont and therefore not to let down the rest of the allied army, the battle could surely have been lost. I am in awe of what they did for 8 hours or so. Churchill's words " Never in the field of human conflict was so much owed by so many to so few" must surely apply to this band of brothers!!

5 people found this helpful

Mr. Thomas R. Johnston

However the detail and the manner in which the book is written makes it very easy and very enjoyable to read whilst at the same

Reviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on February 15, 2016

Verified Purchase

I read reviews of this book before purchasing as I already have a fairly extensive collection of books about Waterloo. This book seemed to offer a more detailed account of a very specific area of the battle - La Haye Sainte and promised first hand accounts of those who were there. It is a relatively small book and therefore not a daunting read. However the detail and the manner in which the book is written makes it very easy and very enjoyable to read whilst at the same time providing a lot of detail. The style in which it is written makes the reader feel as if they are actually in La Haye Sainte on 18th June 1815. I could not put the book down and thoroughly enjoyed reading it in one day. SInce then I have dipped into it regularly and again it lends itself to this means of reading also. I am so glad I bought the book and fully commend the author.

5 people found this helpful

Prinz Eugen

An excellent little book

Reviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on June 18, 2016

Verified Purchase

An excellent little book, which barely contains 100 pages in which the story is told, plus 30 pages of notes and index, plus 12 EMPTY pages...Apart from that a great story about 400 GERMAN soldiers who played a vital part in the fighting around La Haye Sainte. Great maps, great info, but a subject worth more pages. But definitely worth the money and a valuable addition to anyone's library on the battle of Waterloo.

2 people found this helpful

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