The Last Thing...

Editorial

by Dave Watkins

Peter's 1815 etc., appears to be causing some controversy. Launched on the back of the idea that Wellington deliberately set up the Prussians for another kicking, it has spawned allegations that Herr Hofschröer is trying to promote a conspiracy theory. I must point out that nowhere in this book is such an allegation made. There is some circumstantial evidence, i.e. mysteriously disappeared documents and factually incorrect dispatches, that Wellington may have been a little flexible in stating his true dispositions - although there is no way of knowing whether or not the Duke knew that a division would not be where he thought it would be upon the receipt of the relevant dispatch - and that post 1815 may have attempted to cover up his errors. 1815 does go along way to correct the impression that only the Brits were involved in the campaign and the accounts of Ligny and Quatre Bras are I believe unparalleled. The level of research is truly impressive and the number and use of quotes from many and various participants - (many previously unpublished, at least in English) - equally so. It will no doubt swell Lionel Levethenal's heart and wallet to read that I recommend that you get hold of this volume as soon as possible, part 2 dealing with Waterloo and beyond will be out next year and if that is of the same quality as this volume you will have acquired an indispensable reference work on the Waterloo campaign. We at the office were a tad disappointed that we couldn't have a good knock at this book as Peter has been highly critical (often quite rightly) of other contemporary works and were eagerly waiting for his head to pop up above the parapet! Rather annoyingly he has proved his right to have done so. Hang on I've found something - many of the maps don't have scales - ha! Gotcha! FE's Web site. We have been redesigning the layout of the site hopefully this will make it easier for you to get around. Content is being increased and there are a number of visitor usable features available. What I consider to be the most important, Le Moniteur, is now starting to gain popularity and if you have access I recommend that you visit and join in with the chat. Next issue questions and answers that have been posted in Le Moniteur will be published in the magazine. A new feature will be the Notice board where you can post details of events and functions that are of interest to FE readers. Articles We need more articles on battles, the current stock pile of articles is of a high quality, but we are lacking in good blood and guts stuff. So get yer nibs out for the lads ( . . . er and lasses)! Finally . . . You may have noticed the slight change in the dating of the magazine. This has only been done to bring us in line with other magazines so that we come out a month before the cover date. There is no change to the length of a subscription nor the number of issues per year. Back to Table of Contents -- First Empire #40 Back to First Empire List of Issues Back to MagWeb Master Magazine List © Copyright 1998 by First Empire. This article appears in MagWeb (Magazine Web) on the Internet World Wide Web. Other military history articles and gaming articles are available at http://www.magweb.com