Skip to 0 minutes and 9 seconds CHRIS WOOLGAR: Hello. I am Chris Woolgar, and this is my colleague, Karen Robson.
Skip to 0 minutes and 13 seconds KAREN ROBSON: Hello.
Skip to 0 minutes and 14 seconds CHRIS WOOLGAR: And we’re here at the University of Southampton, the home of the first Duke of Wellington’s archive.
Skip to 0 minutes and 19 seconds KAREN ROBSON: This free online course on Wellington & Waterloo will enable you to discover one of the great events of the 19th century. The material from the Wellington archive will form the basis of your exploration of this.
Skip to 0 minutes and 33 seconds CHRIS WOOLGAR: Celebrity is nothing new. As we mark the bicentenary of the Battle of Waterloo, we have around us, still, references in popular culture to the Duke and the battle, from street names, railway stations, through to footwear.
Skip to 0 minutes and 48 seconds KAREN ROBSON: Arthur Wellesley, first Duke of Wellington, was Britain’s most successful general. And he had spent his professional career fighting the French Napoleonic forces. Obviously, he succeeds. And in the aftermath of Waterloo, he plays an important role in the settlement of Europe. So I wanted to ask you what you feel makes the Battle of Waterloo so important?
Skip to 1 minute and 11 seconds CHRIS WOOLGAR: Well, the important thing, as I see it, is that it brings to a definitive conclusion more than 20 years of warfare, warfare which has gone on around the globe. It offers an opportunity to reshape the international system, so that people put first an international interest, rather than national concerns.
Skip to 1 minute and 34 seconds So we look forward to you joining us to discover more about Wellington and the Battle of Waterloo.
