Support from readers like you keeps The Journal open.
You are visiting us because we have something you value. Independent, unbiased news that tells the truth. Advertising revenue goes some way to support our mission, but this year it has not been enough.
If you've seen value in our reporting, please contribute what you can, so we can continue to produce accurate and meaningful journalism. For everyone who needs it.
The Battle of Waterloo by Irish painter William Sadler. WikimediaWikimedia
EUROPE IS TODAY remembering one of the most significant events in the recent continent’s history. But even now, European’s are squabbling over what it all means.
Royals, diplomats and about 200,000 spectators today marked the 200th anniversary of the Battle of Waterloo.
To do so, they made their way to the fields surrounding a small town just south of Brussels to the spot where 47,000 people died and Emperor Napoleon’s ill-fated drive was halted.
Ireland is far from isolated from the events with the victorious British, Dutch and Prussian forces being commanded by Dublin-born Arthur Wellesley, the 1st Duke of Wellington.
The Duke of Wellington was born on Dublin's Merrion Street in 1769. WikemediaWikemedia
Britain’s Prince Charles is in attendance and called for unity in a “European project” as the UK prepares to vote on EU membership.
Yesterday, he unveiled a memorial at Hougoumont Farm where allied forces fought off repeated French attacks as Napoleon desperately sought to break their lines.
France and Germany sent only ambassadors to a ceremony that attracted kings and dukes from elsewhere in Europe.
This morning in France though, the battle was declared s “posthumous victory for Napoleon” by Le Parisien newspaper.
Whoops!
We couldn't find this Tweet
In Ireland, a remembrance ceremony was held at Glasnevin Cemetery where a number of headstone plaques were unveiled.
During the ceremony, attendants also paid their respects at the graves of a number of Irish officers who fought at Waterloo.
The programme showed that about one third of the Allied army at Waterloo was composed of British soldiers, and of the British soldiers, one third of them were Irish.
It also described how the Irish economy boomed during Britian’s involvement in the Napoleonic Wars. Cork, for example was huge logistics hub, navy base and shipment centre for the army.
Britain's Prince Charles and his wife Camilla attend a commemoration service. AP / Press Association Images
AP / Press Association Images / Press Association Images
The programme also looked at why Duke of Wellington, who went on to be the Prime Minister who brought in Catholic Emancipation, is not more favourably thought of in Ireland.
Advertisement
It claims that he never actually said the infamous quote that’s often attribution to him.
“Just because you are born in a stable doesn’t make you a horse,” weren’t his lines at all.
Junior Minister Simon Harris today opened the ’Wellington Exhibition’ in the Phoenix Park Visitor Centre to commemorate the bicentenary of the battle.
A plaque was also unveiled in the Royal Hospital Kilmainham last month to honour Sergeant James Graham described by the Duke of Wellington as ‘The bravest of the brave’ at Hougoumont Farm.
‘European hope’
Waterloo remains a sensitive subject, especially for France which now sees itself as a pillar of the EU alongside Germany, and whose relationship to the diminutive Napoleon remains ambivalent.
“History is behind us,” the French Defence Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian told BFMTV.
French President Francois Hollande, he noted, was due to attend a minor World War II today.
As for Napoleon, Le Drian said he recognised his great achievements but also “certain failures, this drive for power and extending borders which was not right.”
Belgium angered France this month by minting a special €2.5 Waterloo coin after France forced it to scrap a two-euro coin saying it would cause an “unfavourable reaction in France”.
Guardsmen dressed in 1815 uniform. PA Wire / Press Association Images
PA Wire / Press Association Images / Press Association Images
The absence of Hollande and German Chancellor Angela Merkel was cause for regret.
“It’s a shame,” Charles Bonaparte, a descendant of Napoleon’s brother Jerome, said Wednesday.
In a symbolic meeting yesterday, Charles Bonaparteshook hands with the current day Duke of Wellington, and Prince Nikolaus Bluecher von Wahlstatt, whose ancestor led the Prussians who saved the day for the allied forces.
The battle was a pivotal moment in European history, when around 93,000 French troops led by Napoleon faced off against 125,000 Allied forces commanded by the Duke of Wellington and Field Marshal Bluecher.
Belgian soldiers fire gun shots to being the ceremony. AP / Press Association Images
AP / Press Association Images / Press Association Images
Finally defeated by an alliance of monarchies determined to end years of European war following the 1789 French Revolution, Napoleon was exiled to the island of Saint Helena in the south Atlantic Ocean, where he died in 1821.
The victors redrew the map of Europe and the continent enjoyed almost a century of relative peace until the carnage of World War I tore it apart again.
Readers like you are keeping these stories free for everyone...
A mix of advertising and supporting contributions helps keep paywalls away from valuable information like this article.
Over 5,000 readers like you have already stepped up and support us with a monthly payment or a once-off donation.
@Aodhan Maguire: So would you be quite happy if everyone just visited all these sites without any limits and eventually leads to damage and for them to go into disrepair. If you do that’s fair enough, but don’t expect to have these sites available and maintained and then at the same time want them to be free.
Justice Minister to repeal State's counter-terrorism laws and replace Special Criminal Court
1 hr ago
781
The Morning Lead
Delay to plans to have pharmacies prescribe for UTIs, thrush, and coldsores in Ireland
Eimer McAuley
1 hr ago
1.1k
Courts
Worker at Lough Derg who duped unsuspecting women into sexual assaults to be sentenced next week
16 hrs ago
40.5k
Your Cookies. Your Choice.
Cookies help provide our news service while also enabling the advertising needed to fund this work.
We categorise cookies as Necessary, Performance (used to analyse the site performance) and Targeting (used to target advertising which helps us keep this service free).
We and our 197 partners store and access personal data, like browsing data or unique identifiers, on your device. Selecting Accept All enables tracking technologies to support the purposes shown under we and our partners process data to provide. If trackers are disabled, some content and ads you see may not be as relevant to you. You can resurface this menu to change your choices or withdraw consent at any time by clicking the Cookie Preferences link on the bottom of the webpage .Your choices will have effect within our Website. For more details, refer to our Privacy Policy.
We and our vendors process data for the following purposes:
Use precise geolocation data. Actively scan device characteristics for identification. Store and/or access information on a device. Personalised advertising and content, advertising and content measurement, audience research and services development.
Cookies Preference Centre
We process your data to deliver content or advertisements and measure the delivery of such content or advertisements to extract insights about our website. We share this information with our partners on the basis of consent. You may exercise your right to consent, based on a specific purpose below or at a partner level in the link under each purpose. Some vendors may process your data based on their legitimate interests, which does not require your consent. You cannot object to tracking technologies placed to ensure security, prevent fraud, fix errors, or deliver and present advertising and content, and precise geolocation data and active scanning of device characteristics for identification may be used to support this purpose. This exception does not apply to targeted advertising. These choices will be signaled to our vendors participating in the Transparency and Consent Framework.
Manage Consent Preferences
Necessary Cookies
Always Active
These cookies are necessary for the website to function and cannot be switched off in our systems. They are usually only set in response to actions made by you which amount to a request for services, such as setting your privacy preferences, logging in or filling in forms. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not then work.
Targeting Cookies
These cookies may be set through our site by our advertising partners. They may be used by those companies to build a profile of your interests and show you relevant adverts on other sites. They do not store directly personal information, but are based on uniquely identifying your browser and internet device. If you do not allow these cookies, you will experience less targeted advertising.
Functional Cookies
These cookies enable the website to provide enhanced functionality and personalisation. They may be set by us or by third party providers whose services we have added to our pages. If you do not allow these cookies then these services may not function properly.
Performance Cookies
These cookies allow us to count visits and traffic sources so we can measure and improve the performance of our site. They help us to know which pages are the most and least popular and see how visitors move around the site. All information these cookies collect is aggregated and therefore anonymous. If you do not allow these cookies we will not be able to monitor our performance.
Store and/or access information on a device 137 partners can use this purpose
Cookies, device or similar online identifiers (e.g. login-based identifiers, randomly assigned identifiers, network based identifiers) together with other information (e.g. browser type and information, language, screen size, supported technologies etc.) can be stored or read on your device to recognise it each time it connects to an app or to a website, for one or several of the purposes presented here.
Personalised advertising and content, advertising and content measurement, audience research and services development 177 partners can use this purpose
Use limited data to select advertising 139 partners can use this purpose
Advertising presented to you on this service can be based on limited data, such as the website or app you are using, your non-precise location, your device type or which content you are (or have been) interacting with (for example, to limit the number of times an ad is presented to you).
Create profiles for personalised advertising 101 partners can use this purpose
Information about your activity on this service (such as forms you submit, content you look at) can be stored and combined with other information about you (for example, information from your previous activity on this service and other websites or apps) or similar users. This is then used to build or improve a profile about you (that might include possible interests and personal aspects). Your profile can be used (also later) to present advertising that appears more relevant based on your possible interests by this and other entities.
Use profiles to select personalised advertising 102 partners can use this purpose
Advertising presented to you on this service can be based on your advertising profiles, which can reflect your activity on this service or other websites or apps (like the forms you submit, content you look at), possible interests and personal aspects.
Create profiles to personalise content 47 partners can use this purpose
Information about your activity on this service (for instance, forms you submit, non-advertising content you look at) can be stored and combined with other information about you (such as your previous activity on this service or other websites or apps) or similar users. This is then used to build or improve a profile about you (which might for example include possible interests and personal aspects). Your profile can be used (also later) to present content that appears more relevant based on your possible interests, such as by adapting the order in which content is shown to you, so that it is even easier for you to find content that matches your interests.
Use profiles to select personalised content 43 partners can use this purpose
Content presented to you on this service can be based on your content personalisation profiles, which can reflect your activity on this or other services (for instance, the forms you submit, content you look at), possible interests and personal aspects. This can for example be used to adapt the order in which content is shown to you, so that it is even easier for you to find (non-advertising) content that matches your interests.
Measure advertising performance 161 partners can use this purpose
Information regarding which advertising is presented to you and how you interact with it can be used to determine how well an advert has worked for you or other users and whether the goals of the advertising were reached. For instance, whether you saw an ad, whether you clicked on it, whether it led you to buy a product or visit a website, etc. This is very helpful to understand the relevance of advertising campaigns.
Measure content performance 73 partners can use this purpose
Information regarding which content is presented to you and how you interact with it can be used to determine whether the (non-advertising) content e.g. reached its intended audience and matched your interests. For instance, whether you read an article, watch a video, listen to a podcast or look at a product description, how long you spent on this service and the web pages you visit etc. This is very helpful to understand the relevance of (non-advertising) content that is shown to you.
Understand audiences through statistics or combinations of data from different sources 96 partners can use this purpose
Reports can be generated based on the combination of data sets (like user profiles, statistics, market research, analytics data) regarding your interactions and those of other users with advertising or (non-advertising) content to identify common characteristics (for instance, to determine which target audiences are more receptive to an ad campaign or to certain contents).
Develop and improve services 102 partners can use this purpose
Information about your activity on this service, such as your interaction with ads or content, can be very helpful to improve products and services and to build new products and services based on user interactions, the type of audience, etc. This specific purpose does not include the development or improvement of user profiles and identifiers.
Use limited data to select content 45 partners can use this purpose
Content presented to you on this service can be based on limited data, such as the website or app you are using, your non-precise location, your device type, or which content you are (or have been) interacting with (for example, to limit the number of times a video or an article is presented to you).
Use precise geolocation data 60 partners can use this special feature
With your acceptance, your precise location (within a radius of less than 500 metres) may be used in support of the purposes explained in this notice.
Actively scan device characteristics for identification 29 partners can use this special feature
With your acceptance, certain characteristics specific to your device might be requested and used to distinguish it from other devices (such as the installed fonts or plugins, the resolution of your screen) in support of the purposes explained in this notice.
Ensure security, prevent and detect fraud, and fix errors 112 partners can use this special purpose
Always Active
Your data can be used to monitor for and prevent unusual and possibly fraudulent activity (for example, regarding advertising, ad clicks by bots), and ensure systems and processes work properly and securely. It can also be used to correct any problems you, the publisher or the advertiser may encounter in the delivery of content and ads and in your interaction with them.
Deliver and present advertising and content 115 partners can use this special purpose
Always Active
Certain information (like an IP address or device capabilities) is used to ensure the technical compatibility of the content or advertising, and to facilitate the transmission of the content or ad to your device.
Match and combine data from other data sources 84 partners can use this feature
Always Active
Information about your activity on this service may be matched and combined with other information relating to you and originating from various sources (for instance your activity on a separate online service, your use of a loyalty card in-store, or your answers to a survey), in support of the purposes explained in this notice.
Link different devices 63 partners can use this feature
Always Active
In support of the purposes explained in this notice, your device might be considered as likely linked to other devices that belong to you or your household (for instance because you are logged in to the same service on both your phone and your computer, or because you may use the same Internet connection on both devices).
Identify devices based on information transmitted automatically 107 partners can use this feature
Always Active
Your device might be distinguished from other devices based on information it automatically sends when accessing the Internet (for instance, the IP address of your Internet connection or the type of browser you are using) in support of the purposes exposed in this notice.
Save and communicate privacy choices 90 partners can use this special purpose
Always Active
The choices you make regarding the purposes and entities listed in this notice are saved and made available to those entities in the form of digital signals (such as a string of characters). This is necessary in order to enable both this service and those entities to respect such choices.
have your say