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Waterloo

Jules Crittenden on Alessandro Barbero’s “The Battle.” The ghosts of Ia Drang and Baghdad are summoned too.

Only the faces and the names change.

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1 comment to Waterloo

  • Marianne Matthews

    One of the “museums” in London which I remember best, from our trip to England is Apsley House, the home given by the crown to the Duke of Wellington after he won against Napoleon at Waterloo. IIRC, it’s located at the entrance to Hyde Park. There, in this charming and idiosyncratic mansion filled with the detritus of many generations, is the history of the Iron Duke’s family and descendants.

    I remember particularly the dining room and the story the docent told about Wellington’s yearly dinner, often six hours in length, which he held for his headquarters staff from Waterloo. Rough and tough as the Iron Duke was, he loved his men, officers and soldiers both, in his own stern way. And he never forgot the battle, and how close the English came to losing it, if not for the courage and grit of the common soldiers and the officers. One gets a feeling of this in that old house. The best museums, to me, are small and vivid remembrances of the real people who lived and died in these family homes.

    Marianne

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