Belgium: Napoleonic re-enactors and the Battle of Waterloo

And here come the French

Every year thousands of Napoleonic re-enactors travel to Belgium to recreate the Battle of Waterloo.

This annual re-staging of the 1815 battle that saw Napoleon Bonaparte’s French army defeated by a confederation of other European nations led by Great Britain and Prussia and commanded by the Duke of Wellington, attracts well over one thousand re-enactors dressed in brightly coloured and authentic-looking uniforms of the period.

Many of the combatants, however, are not necessarily what they seem. There are Poles taking the role of Frenchmen, Dutch playing Scots, Germans dressed as English...
Napoleonic re-enactment, it transpires, is a popular pastime across Europe and beyond, and the annual recreation of the battle of Waterloo is one of the biggest events in the calendar.

The format sees the main denouement taking place on a Sunday morning (close to the actual battle date of 18 June). The preceding day visitors can wander among the opposing sides’ bivouacs – located pretty much where their early 19th-century predecessors would have found themselves.

The French are ensconced near Napoleon’s former headquarters, while the Allied forces are in the grounds of the Hougomont farm – a place that was a key strongpoint during the actual battle and which still looks much as it would have 195 years ago.

Brightly clad troops go about their business amid rows of white tents. First impressions are somewhat peculiar; a group of Austrian grenadiers, clad in huge bearskins, are busy grilling an appetising-looking selection of very 21st-century-looking sausages.

Nearby Chris Shaw and Michael Haynes are both firmly in character as members of the 95th Rifles. Haynes, an actor by profession, sports the kind of impressive side-whiskers that would have been tremendously de rigueur in the Napoleonic period.

They both bemoan their proximity to their German allies. ‘We don’t like the Bruswickers,’ says Shaw. ‘They ate our dog.’

Thankfully, it’s a reference to a historic event, not a recent transgression. ‘We had a little dog called ‘Rifle’,’ Shaw adds, ‘Before the battle of Waterloo it wandered off towards their camp. Nobody saw it again after that.’

Re-enactors such as Shaw and Haynes want to bring the Napoleonic period to life for the many thousands of spectators who come to events such as this. This is partly because of the consequences of the conflict to Europe and partly to tell the tale of those who were involved.

The battle of Waterloo was one of the most lethal of the Napoleonic wars. It’s estimated that around 12,000 men were killed and many more wounded. The 95th Rifles, Shaw’s unit, alone sustained casualties of 400 out of a strength of 1,200.

It is easy to understand why. The battlefield has changed little in the past 195 years and it is clear that large numbers of troops would have been engaged over a relatively small area.

The re-enactment is carefully choreographed to follow the actual course of the battle, with troops advancing, cavalry galloping and cannon thundering.

After two hours of give and take, Napoleon accepts defeat, the troops form up to return to their camps and the crowd begins to disperse. Many visitors retreat to Waterloo’s extensive visitor centre, where a film show explains more about the battle and a shop sells Napoleonic memorabilia.

The French and all those others playing the part of Frenchmen haven’t managed to change the historical facts this time – as the Emperor himself could attest. But there’s always next year…

www.waterloo1815.be