This year marks the 200th anniversary of the Battle of Waterloo. Artists of the time – such as Turner and Byron – showed the full horror of its slaughter. Let’s not resort to fake empathy or cheap mawkishness now
It was a bloody national sacrifice, and we must mourn the men who gave their lives for this country. This is a year to be proud of them.
That’s the conclusion of an article about the Battle of Waterloo in the Daily Telegraph: “The bodies still lying beneath the fields of Waterloo deserve remembrance.” I hope this is not the first volley in a redcoated charge of narcissistic patriotism as we approach the 200th anniversary of Waterloo on 18 June this year.
The earth is covered thick with other clay,
Which her own clay shall cover, heaped and pent,
Rider and horse, – friend, foe, – in one red burial blent!
