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|summary=A social, political, and military history of England in the year 1815, describing in some detail the state of the country and its people, the events leading up to Waterloo, the battle itself and its immediate aftermath

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For those of us who were brought up on a traditional diet of great historical dates, 1815 is indelibly associated with ‘that battle’. The narrative of these pages leads us there, but takes a gentle path through the state of the country first. We are brought face to face with a country that stood at the head of an empire with ever-expanding boundaries, but at the same time a country not at ease with itself. The industrial revolution was changing the face of the landscape, particularly in the Midlands and Wales where coal mines and ironworks were becoming the major source of employment. The birth of the railways was opening up a means of transport hitherto undreamed of. In the south-east, the city of London was growing apace, absorbing nearby villages and growing into a vast metropolis with a varied social mix where rich and poor lived alike – geographically, if nothing else. Reform was in the air, challenging a system of representation in which Members of Parliament were returned by virtually non-existent electorates from Old Sarum and the Suffolk coastal village of Dunwich, while expanding cities like Birmingham, Leeds and Manchester had no representation at all. Dissident political movements were being infiltrated by an anxious government which found the only way to curb free speech was ever-more repressive legislation. Some feared that an economic crisis and growing discontent on the part of the working class, combined with the spirit of revolution which had upset the status quo in France, could yet bring about a similar upheaval on the other side of the English Channel.

If this appeals, may we also recommend the life of a sometimes overlooked personality of the age, [[Sir William Knighton: The Strange Career of a Regency Physician by Charlotte Frost]], or for a portrait of cultural life during the regency, [[The Immortal Dinner: A famous evening of genius and laughter in literary London, 1817 by Penelope Hughes-Hallett]]

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