I am not an expert in battle history nor even early modern world history. That said, I’ve always been fascinated by Waterloo due to its appearance in many familiar novels that I’ve enjoyed such as Les Miserables and Vanity Fair. Waterloo seems to have been a defining moment for European history, and Waterloo by Alan Forrest does an amazing job of explain just why it has become so.

Alan Forrest’s Waterloo is not a strict history of the battle itself. Rather, Waterloo examines how Napoleon got to Waterloo, what happened during the battle itself, and then what the impact of Waterloo has been since that time. Only one single chapter discussed the battle itself! Because so much of the book was about the impact, I really enjoyed reading the book.

I had been afraid it was going to be too technical. But it was not. The book does assume a basic understanding of the events in the years before and after the battle. Although I was not familiar with all of these significant event in history, I did not get lost in the book as I read it. I just took it in the context it was given in and enjoyed what I read.

Waterloo by Alan Forrest is a part of the Great Battle series. I have not read any others in the series, but if the others are as succinct about the battle and as clever in detailing the impact of the battles as a whole, then I suspect I’d enjoy them just as much!

Note: I received a digital copy of the book from the publisher for review consideration.