Wellington's Dutch Allies 1815

About half of Wellington's army at Waterloo, 1815, was made up of Dutch and Belgian troops. After Napoleon's first defeat in 1814 the Allied powers formed a new (and short-lived) 'kingdom of Holland and Belgium' under the house of Orange. The joint army was a mixture of patriots who had rebelled against Napoleon's occupation; and recent ex-troops of Napoleon's army; the Dutch and Belgian units were mutually suspicious, and were kept entirely separate; most officers had served Napoleon in Russia and Germany. This book shows that despite criticism from the British, many units fought extremely well at Quatre Bras and Waterloo defending some decisive points.

About the Author
Ronald Pawly, born in Antwerp, Belgium, and still living and working in that city, is a member of several Napoleonic societies and an expert on 19th century military portraiture. He is the author of the monumental 'The Red Lancers: Anatomy of a Napoleonic Regiment '(Crowood Press, 1998), and of a study of Napoleonic veterans' tombs in Belgium as well as other major reference works in French. Patrice Courcelle was born in northern France in 1950 and has been a professional illustrator for some 20 years. Entirely self-taught; he has illustrated many books and magazine articles for Continental publishers, and his work hangs in a number of public and private collections. Patrice lives a few miles from the battlefield of Waterloo with his wife and son.