1815: The Roads to Waterloo

The 17 months from April 1814 to August 1815 were an extraordinary period in European history—a period that saw two sieges of Paris, a complete revision of Europe’s political frontiers, an international Congress set up in Vienna, civil war in Italy, and international war in Belgium. Gregor Dallas tells the story of these days through the perspective of three very different European cities: the great metropolis of London, post-revolutionary Paris, and baroque Vienna. The writing is almost cinematic in its power to evoke the Europe of Tolstoy—the ebb and flow of power, of armies, and of peoples across Europe’s northern plains.