Introduction
No campaign has perhaps been studied as much as the campaign of 1815. Yet, even
though the number of publications about the campaign - or parts thereof - is vast,
only a relative small number of in-depth studies has been written on the subject.
This study is an attempt to write an account of the campaign which is built from
sources only from all nations involved.
This may not always have led to new viewpoints, but I yet hope they - plus new
ones - will in this way be put in a wider context.
Historiography of the campaign of 1815 is spread over at least four languages. For this study, I
have chosen for the English language, being a most international one.
Yet, in order not to compromise in any way whatsoever on their original character,
documents written during or after the campaign will be quoted in the language they
were originally written in.
While those parts covering the 15th, 16th and 17th of June have been dealt with and are
accessible, as well as some of the preambles, others are not (yet) as more chapters will be worked out, more will
be put on the web-site in time.
But even the moment all chapters will be accessible, a study like this will not be
finished.
Apart from the fact that I have not completed the study for the 100% as it is on
this web-site now, it will always be open for new viewpoints, improvements and
additions. The intention is that - unlike a book - it should be a living document.
All documents are designed as pdf.files and can accordingly be read with the Acrobat Reader.
Being a study, which I hope will be an informative one, no particular attention
has been paid to any embellishment in the style of writing.
As this study is supposed to be a comprehensive one, specific details will
sometimes be treated in separate notes, which are accessible through a separate
index.
The moment archives were consulted, not all were always properly catalogued as
they either had not been made accessible for public use at all or detailed indexes
were not present. In those cases I have compiled these indexes myself and they can
be found in the notes as well, which can be accessed through their index.
In these notes there is also a list of the abbreviations used.
The present study would not have been possible without the most helpful assistance
I received from all the people of the archives, libraries and other institutions I
consulted.
I would like to mention the following people in particular as they were so kind as to
provide me not only with source material, but also with their enthusiasm for the subject:
John Franklin , Peter Hofschroer, Ab Kuechler, Jean-Jacques Pattyn, Mike Robinson and
Geert van Uyhoven.
It is here that would like to express my sincere gratitude for their most helpful and
generous cooperation and inspiration.
A very special thanks goes to Erwin Muilwijk
whose continuous support and feedback has been, and still is, a most important contribution to
this study.
His study on the campaign, in turn, can be viewed at http://home.tiscali.nl/erwinmuilwijk/index.htm
At the same time, I would like to express my thanks to Serge Delloye, Anne
Findlay, Ian Fletcher, J.F.Hibbert, John Hussey, Alan Lagden, Tatiana Loman, Philippe de Meulenaere, Greg Pedlow, Edwin
Petterson, Francis Pousseur, Camille Pousseur, the Schellenbergsche
Verlagsbuchhandlung, William Schmidt and Michael-Andreas Taenzer for their assistance.
Pierre de Wit, the Netherlands