Lectures of Opportunity: "The Horrible Peace: British Veterans and the End of Napoleonic Wars"

The Horrible Peace: British Veterans and the End of Napoleonic Wars

The Horrible Peace: British Veterans and the End of the Napoleonic Wars surveys Britain’s experience in the years around 1815 from two perspectives. First, it analyzes the strategies that (eventually) brought the Napoleonic Wars to an end. In doing so, it reveals the challenges of war termination, the high costs of fighting a global war, and the ways in which both of those problems eroded British power in the decade after Waterloo. Second, it examines the experience of veteran soldiers and sailors. When did they come home? What were their expectations for peace, and how did they respond when those expectations were not met? This lecture focuses on the first perspective, and in doing so, it questions our existing conception of British power in the early nineteenth century.

About this Lecture

Lectures of Opportunity offers U.S. Naval War College (NWC) students, faculty, and staff an opportunity to learn more about national and international socio-political subjects that may be of relevance to the NWC community.