The Lie at the Heart of Waterloo

The Lie at the Heart of Waterloo by Nigel Sale is not the customary eulogy but a critical analysis of what he says is the carefully engineered misinformation that has misled military historians for so long.

Using his experience as a battalion intelligence officer to interpret and evaluate the sources, and his knowledge of how soldiers respond on the battlefield, Mr Sale has shed new light on eyewitness accounts from soldiers, who were actually at the battle, to write what he claims is a more accurate representation of how the war was won.

The book exposes the 1st Duke of Wellington’s account of the Allied army’s final action in the early evening of June 18 1815 as being untrue. It also brings to life the horrifying reality of what life was like for the soldiers involved in Napoleonic warfare. It is supported by a sequence of full-colour maps, which Mr Sale created specially to illustrate the sequence of events.

Wellington claimed that the battle ended when, on his orders, the French Imperial Guard’s attack – its strength unspecified – was broken by the Third Battalion of the British First Foot Guards, followed by the Allied army’s general advance.

Mr Sale, of Underbarrow, believes the truth to be that the Foot Guards repulsed only one French battalion, the second to strike the Allied line. It was the assault by a single battalion of British light infantry that achieved the victory but Wellington chose to omit this from his accounts of the day’s events.

“Without orders from Wellington and on his own initiative, Colonel Sir John Colborne of the 52nd Light Infantry led his 1,000 men in an advance on the French Imperial Guard’s flank of 3,000,” said Mr Sale. “Colborne, who was a highly experienced officer, broke the oncoming column of six battalions and advanced at speed across the battlefield. They were joined by the rest of the Light Brigade, and routed the entire French left wing.”

This year marks the bicentenary of the victory of the Battle of Waterloo and it is expected that there will be renewed interest in what actually happened during the final half hour of the battle.

“Wellington hid the truth and told a lie which has created a mystery for 200 years,” said Mr Sale. “I expect some military academics will challenge my findings but they have been meticulously researched and I believe tell the true story of what happened on that important day, which was a glorious moment for peace in Europe that would last for 50 years.”

The Lie at the Heart of Waterloo, the Battle’s Hidden Last Half Hour by Nigel Sale has been published by The History Press. In April the book will be launched in America.