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Published in the 200th Anniversary year of the Battle of Waterloo a witty look at how the French still think they won, by Stephen Clarke, author of 1000 Years of Annoying the French and A Year in the Merde.

Published in the 200th Anniversary year of the Battle of Waterloo a witty look at how the French still think they won, by Stephen Clarke, author of 1000 Years of Annoying the French and A Year in the Merde.

Two centuries after the Battle of Waterloo, the French are still in denial.

If Napoleon lost on 18 June 1815 (and that's a big 'if'), then whoever rules the universe got it wrong. As soon as the cannons stopped firing, French historians began re-writing history. The Duke of Wellington was beaten, they say, and then the Prussians jumped into the boxing ring, breaking all the rules of battle. In essence, the French cannot bear the idea that Napoleon, their greatest-ever national hero, was in any way a loser. Especially not against the traditional enemy – les Anglais.

Stephen Clarke has studied the French version of Waterloo, as told by battle veterans, novelists, historians – right up to today's politicians, and he has uncovered a story of pain, patriotism and sheer perversion ...

Stephen Clarke Stephen Clarke

Reviews

“ Indeed, as Stephen Clarke demonstrates in this cheeky book, they have spent two whole centuries 'indulging in outrageous denial' ”

Daily Mail

“ Clarke’s tone is larky, but his outrageously readable work is based on extensive research, with a wealth of enticing detail. ”

Daily Mail

“ This is Waterloo as stand-up, funny and caustic by turns ”

BBC History Magazine

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Formats & editions

Also by Stephen Clarke

The French Revolution and What Went Wrong
After the War
Merde in Europe
Dirty Bertie: An English King Made in France
Paris Revealed
Dial M for Merde
Merde Happens
Talk To The Snail
Merde Actually
Merde, Actually
A Year in the Merde
See all

Recommendations

Six Minutes in May
Pride And Prejudice
The Fatal Shore
The Diary Of A Young Girl
Night
Beneath Another Sky
Waterloo
24 Hours at Waterloo
The Crimean War
Van Gogh's Ear
The Strawberry Girl
Scott on Waterloo
An Officer and a Spy
Hanns and Rudolf
The Sun King
The Blackest Streets
London In The Nineteenth Century
Pendulum Of War
Rome Or Death
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