VIGNETTES
Waterloo
by Mary Jo PutneySPONSORED CONTENTBest-selling and acclaimed novelists from Kensington Publishing share intriguing
historical facts unearthed during their research, offering readers a glimpse of society,
culture, and life during their novels’ time periods.Website: maryjoputney.com | Facebook: MaryJoPutneyAuthor | Blog: http://wordwenches.typepad.com/word_wenches/AbouttheAuthor
MaryJoPutneyis a
NewYorkTimesand
USATodaybest-selling
authorwhohaswritten
morethansixtynovels
andnovellas.A ten-time
finalistfortheRomance
Writersof AmericaRITA,
shehaswonthehonor
twiceandis ontheRWA
HonorRollforbest-sell-
ingauthors.In 2013,she
wasawardedtheRWA
NoraRobertsLifetime
AchievementAward.She
livesin Marylandwith
hernearestanddearest.History looks so tidy in hindsight. In
1815, Emperor Napoleon Bonaparte liter-
ally “met his Waterloo” in a battle so huge
that the phrase has become a metaphor for
overwhelming defeat. Two of Europe’s great-
est generals faced off against each other, and
Wellington’s forces won, ending Bonaparte’s
imperial ambitions. Simple, yes?
But real history is no simpler than
current events, as I learned when writing
my October 2019 release, Once a Spy. My
research was an education in how vital gath-
ering intelligence was, and how diffi cult it
was to transmit information in an era when
everything had to travel by horse and hand.
Armies can’t turn on a dime; if the com-
mander makes a wrong guess about which
way the enemy will come, the battle may be
lost before it begins. Military commanders
were desperate for all available information.
For example, an English camp follower was
once captured by the French and questioned
to fi nd out what she knew of the move-
ments of the Allies. (I stole this incident for
Suzanne, the clever heroine of my book!)
Wellington’s victory could easily have
gone the other way. Napoleon’s army was
larger, and many of his troops were battle-
hardened veterans. Not only was Wellington’s
army smaller, but many of his soldiers were
untrained. He chose the site of the battle,
dug in, and prayed that Prussian allies would
arrive in time. They did, arriving late in the
day after a brutal march over diffi cult ter-
rain, led by 72-year-old Prince Blücher. The
Prussians made victory certain and decisive.
Interestingly, Waterloo was truly won
by an alliance of nations. The British army
comprised soldiers from all over the British
Isles, meaning many were Scottish, Irish, and
Welsh. A signifi cant number of Wellington’s
troops were Dutch-Belgian, along with mili-
tary units from various German states.
A painting shows Wellington and Blücher
shaking hands near La Belle Alliance, the tav-
ern Napoleon used as his headquarters. The
name means “the Beautiful Alliance,” a phrase
that could be used to describe the coalition
that brought down the emperor. Cooperation
was as beautiful a thing then as it is now!