Tuesday, February 28, 2023

Models¹

Sir Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington
Francisco Goya
The history of a battle, is not unlike the history of a ball. Some individuals may recollect all the little events of which the great result is the battle won or lost, but no individual can recollect the order in which, or the exact moment at which, they occurred, which makes all the difference as to their value or importance. - The Duke of Wellington

There are, to my knowledge, two, rather large, terrain models of the Battle of Waterloo on display to the public, one at the Royal Green Jackets (RJG) Museum in the UK (website here) and the other at the National Army Museum, also in the UK (website here). Both are pretty big and both are, in my opinion anyway, pretty cool.

The model at the RJG Museum is on a larger scale (figure-wise, think HO) and was put together in 1970, the other was put together by a serving British officer (Captain William Siborne) in the 1830s. Both give a nice picture of the terrain and various stages of the battle. (All taking place at the same time, an anachronism but saves having to build multiple models!)

A portion of Capt. Siborne's model
(Source)
The detail of the terrain is striking, one of the motivators for the project was the Dutch tearing up a large section of the field to build the Butte du Lion. The thought was to build a model of the field before those who had fought there forgot the details.

For the most part Siborne succeeded, though he went broke working on it. Also the Duke of Wellington didn't like it at all. (That opening quote might give us a hint as to why. Also Siborne's model depicts events at around 1900 on the day of the battle, just when the Prussians were throwing their forces in. Wellington, it is speculated, didn't like the idea it gave that the Prussians sealed the victory. Though in this man's view, they did indeed seal the win!)

A portion of the model at the RGJ Museum
(Source)
In the photo above there is a lot going on, seemingly at the same time, but in reality the attack of D'Erlon's corps came first, followed by the charge of the British heavies. The French cavalry charges took place much later.

Fighting around Hougoumont was continuous, the fighting around La Haye Sainte ebbed and flowed until it was captured by the French late in the afternoon or early evening. (The defenders, a German rifle battalion, had run out of ammunition. Legend has it that their sole ammunition cart had overturned on its way to the field. No doubt apocryphal, most battalions had more than one vehicle for ammunition. But they did indeed run out of ammunition for their Baker rifles.)

As the video at the RGJ Museum site wouldn't load for me, I reproduced it here (found it on YouTube) -



I highly recommend reading the stories at the links under the photos, interesting reading (though the one from the Daily Mail gets a lot of it wrong.)

'Tis all I have for now, long day at the mines of Moria, didn't see the balrog today but those bloody drums were pounding down in the deep.²

Ciao!



¹ No, not that kind of model ... (For those of you expecting a Victoria's Secret post. Won't ever happen here.)
² Tolkien reference, of course. I am such a bloody nerd.

20 comments:

  1. You Shall Not PASS! Seems that was the theme back in 1815 also (apologies to Hollywood/Tolkien). Hmmmm.....more links to peruse, thanks Sarge.

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    1. Those links should keep you busy for a little while. 😎

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  2. Sarge -Thanks for sharing. These sorts of thing always fascinate me (although I would never have the patience to make such a thing). Sort back through maps for my Old English project, it is amazing how much seeing locations or terrain makes a difference (and how much we have forgotten about that in the modern world where everything is a flat electronic map and done by car or airplane).

    Ultimately, we all have a slightly different view of events on how we experience it. Those of great heart can accept their part and the fact that their part might not have been what they thought it was; others insist events conform themselves to their perceptions.

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    1. Got a lot of that going on today. Nothing worse than skewed perceptions based on ideology.

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  3. I sit here learning more and more about a battle fought over 200 years ago in a place I've never been and enjoying it! Thanks.

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  4. These things ... I can spend hours looking at them. The stories they tell, the art and craft and patience, all draw me into a different world. A static form of theater, I suppose, and storytelling.

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  5. Crusty Old TV Tech here. So, where is the Lion's Butt on that diorama? :-)
    You know, if I knew in 1983 what I know now, I would have spent more of my limited off-duty time whilst TDY in Blighty around the IWM and the museums you mentioned. Learning a lot from this Waterloo thread, keep it up!

    As it was, I got to go through a real live leftover WW2 ready room "Quonset hut" at RAF Woodbridge (or was it Bentwaters, they merge together in me old noggin). Most of the buildings on those former WW2 RAF bases were like that, little time capsules sort of hidden in nooks and crannies.

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    1. Seeing those old Quonset huts would be awesome!

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    2. Wouldn't those have been Nissen huts? The Quonset hut was evolved from the Nissen, but, being American, was larger.

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    3. Nope, check your sources, you have the derivation backwards. Nissen hut was developed by the Brits in WWI, the Quonset hut is American.

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    4. I never said the Nissen hut wasn't British, I just wrote a clumsy sentence. But the Nissen was the father of the Quonset.

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    5. Ah yes, I read that wrong. Sorry, StB.

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  6. Before one scorns, the Univ of ND had "temporary" Quonset huts built in WW2 were kept as married student housing into the early 1980's (the "Tin Huts"). Ugly, awkward inside, but safe, warm, and inexpensive. Allowing to them to afford an education.

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  7. The guy at the top. Man, he looks a lot like Horatio Hornblower's brother in law!

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    1. I did not know that. Of course, Wellington was a real guy.

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  8. Those dioramas took an immense amount of talent, and patience.

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