Howdy Otterites! After a brief hiatus, Francis is back here for another Francis Friday posting.
Today is the perfect day to talk about victories. The first is that we at Snakes and Otters have now surpassed 1000 downloads! Hurrah, Hurrah!
The second is that this very day, June 18th, is one of those days I always remember year to year as it is the anniversary of one of the biggest turning points in Western history – the Battle of Waterloo. Yes, 206 years ago this very day, Napoleon Bonaparte got his “butt kicked real good” (as John Cleese would say) and in so doing, set the course of Western history in concrete for everything that came after. Historians will argue with me saying that Waterloo itself was merely a footnote and that Bony had already put that future in place long before this one day, and yes, I will not argue that. I believe that Waterloo simply showcases the point in a digestible fashion.
Think about it. The lust for conquest that Bonaparte brought to reality from the ashes of the French Revolution sets the stage for the national and ethnic hatreds which would persist throughout the next century. The Germans hate the French as do the Russians, although the Russians eventually fear the Germans and switch sides. Britain is the strong man of Europe despite being one of the smallest of the nations, in many ways due to the performance of one Arthur Wellesley, Duke of Wellington, on this date in 1815. World War I in many respects was setup by the hatreds generated by Bonaparte and which were paid forward over the following 100 years.
I’m a big believer that due to the importance of this event, studying it in greater details should be mandatory for anyone who believes in the rhythms of history and how they affect us even centuries after the fact. With this in mind, I have some recommendations for you, dear otterites . . .
The first is the amazing 1970 motion picture Waterloo. It was filmed using nearly 15,000 extras, mostly Soviet soldiers actually, and was directed by the brilliant Russian Sergei Bondarchuk, produced by Dino De Laurentiis and was a co-production between the Soviet Union and Italy. Filmed in Ukraine, it stars Rod Steiger as Napoleon Bonaparte and Christopher Plummer as the Duke of Wellington with a cameo by Orson Welles as Louis XVIII of France . The movie is actually a bit obscure in America, and Bondarchuk’s style of directing often seems odd when watching it, but the accuracy that went into the film, as well as it’s intense and lavish battle scenes make it a good primer as to what actually happened. Steiger and Plummer were both perfectly cast and carry the dramatic portions of the film perfectly. It’s just over two hours, with the first half being the setup and the last hour the battle itself. The score of the film is amazing as well, composed by Nino Rota, and is available on YouTube.
As for the books to read, my two favorites are both by the same author, the incomparable Bernard Cornwell. On the fictionside is the original final book in Cornwell’s awesome Sharpe series, about the adventures of British Rifleman Richard Sharpe, entitled Sharpe’s Waterloo. Cornwell has his character of Sharpe at various pinch-point locations on the battlefield, keeping the story personal and at ground level. Sean Bean did an amazing job paying Sharpe in the British TV Series and the adaptation of the book is excellent if you can catch it. (Fun Trivia Fact – the role of the Prince of Orange in that movie was played by actor Paul Bettany, most recently the Vision in the MCU. It was Bettany’s first ever film acting role.)
The final book is Cornwell’s own non-fiction work about the battle entitled Waterloo: The History of Four Days, Three Armies and Three Battles. It is Cornwell’s only non-fiction book (and the only one he says he will ever do) and is amazingly readable, covering all the details leading up to the battle as well as the events of that one day of June 18th. I blew through the book in only a few days and will reread it again and again I am certain. It’s that accessible.
And believe it or not, the entire movie of Waterloo is available on YouTube in its full remastered glory. I had the guys over several years ago to watch it with me and plan on doing it again soon. It’s one well worth coming back to . . .
And if you feel the need to watch Sean Bean at his finest (and let’s face it, he’s one of the very best), here’s Sharpe’s Waterloo as well:
