Accounts of the battle
This video describes how both official accounts of the battle and memoirs written by the soldiers who fought there can help us interpret Waterloo.
Battles are a very confused and confusing experience, and historians need to carefully evaluate and combine both official accounts and personal memoirs to build up a complete picture of what happened, when and why.
If you want to find out in detail what happened during the battle, then there are many books available – see the Extended reading step at the end of this week for a reasonably priced and well reviewed example. The BBC has produced an excellent timeline: follow the link below.
