Wellington and the Battle of Waterloo (FutureLearn)

Sources from the battle itself — from official despatches to soldiers’ journals — will help you consider how different interpretations arise. You also will learn about the immediate consequences of the battle and its longer-term place in British culture.

What topics will you cover?

• Placing Waterloo in context: the Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars, the conclusion of a world war and the settlement of 1814.
• The road to war: Napoleon’s dramatic return from exile, the Congress of Vienna and urgent preparations for further European war.
• The forces that fought at Waterloo, how they were deployed and commanded.
• Interpreting accounts of the battle, from official despatches to soldiers’ memoirs.
• After the battle; the occupation of France by the Allied Powers and the exile of Napoleon.
• How the battle was commemorated in the years immediately after 1815, from monuments and banquets to museums and battlefield tourism.
• How the battle was depicted in popular paintings and literature, and how Wellington was depicted through sculpture and publication of his correspondence.
• Wellington’s later life, his grand state funeral and his enduring place in British culture.

< b>What will you achieve?

• Explore the background to the Battle of Waterloo, accounts of the battle, its immediate aftermath and its longer-term impact on British culture.
• Discuss different accounts of the battle and how they have arisen.
• Evaluate original documents to see how they were written and what they tell us about the politics of the time.
• Debate the ways in which wars are commemorated.