Received Ideas

摘要

Military history is written by the victors. Economic history is written, to a degree, by central bankers. In both cases you have to take official accounts with a large dose of salt. You thought you knew that the Duke of Wellington whipped Napoleon at the Battle of Waterloo. But according to the expert on Waterloo, Peter Hofschroeer, Wellington's army of 68,000 men was locked in a bloody stalemate with Napoleon's force of 73,140 until late in the afternoon of June 18,1815. That's when Field Marshall Bluecher's 47,000 Prussian troops entered the field of battle and turned the tide. The Iron Duke's official account has Prince Bluecher failing to arrive until early evening and with only 8,000 troops. Somehow 39,000 Prussians simply vanished. As they say, the rest is history―history literally as written by Wellington.