RTÉ One’s Nationwide will present a special edition marking the 200th anniversary of The Battle of Waterloo tonight, focusing on the Irish involvement in the battle.
Irish native Arthur Wellesley, the first Duke of Wellington, lead the defeat of Napolean Bonaparte at the Belgian town of Waterloo on June 18 1815 and using reconstructions filmed on the battlefield itself, Nationwide reveals how Irish soldiers played key roles throughout the fighting, from the lowest privates to the highest generals.
Nationwide also looks at what became of the Irish soldiers in the years after the battle.
The seventh Coalition and a Prussian Army, commanded by Gerbhard Von Blucher, and an Anglo-Allied Army commanded by the Duke of Wellington defeated the French Empire which was led by Michael Ney and Napoleon Bonaparte.
Breakfasting on the morning of the battle, Napoleon is said to have declared: “I tell you Wellington is a bad general, the English are bad troops and this affair is nothing more than just eating breakfast.”
This special edition of Nationwide can be seen at 7.00pm.
