William Cook

Belgium meets its Waterloo

At a re-enactment of the Battle of Waterloo, William Cook thinks that this hotchpotch nation cannot last. Two centuries on, Flanders and Wallonia feel like separate countries

issue 26 June 2010

Last weekend, on a windswept plain about ten miles south of Brussels, 3,000 grown men dressed up as soldiers to re-enact the Battle of Waterloo. Performed every five years, on the original battlefield, this noisy extravaganza attracts more than 50,000 visitors, and on Sunday I was one of them. It was an extraordinary experience, more vivid than any movie. I wouldn’t have missed it for the world. Yet what’s most intriguing about this surreal Belgian spectacle is what it reveals about our muddled idea of Europe — and the people in the biggest muddle are the Belgians themselves.

For British schoolboys of a certain age, Waterloo remains a glorious victory by Britain over France, but after a weekend in Waterloo you soon realise the past (and present) isn’t quite so clear-cut. Wellington’s army included Dutch and German troops, the Prussians saved his bacon, Napoleon’s soldiers were recruited from all over Europe and the Belgians fought on both sides — which may explain why, after all these years, they still seem rather ambivalent about the outcome.

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