"Battle of Waterloo soldier causes controversy" Topic

I have see it.

"Before World Wars One and Two when Germany pitted itself against the Allies, Germany had in fact been an ally of the British during the Battle of Waterloo in the early 1800s.

Now a preserved skeleton of a German soldier, who had been fighting with the British Allies against Napoleon's French Army, which has been on display in a museum has received calls for it to be removed and given a proper funeral…"
Full article here
link

Amicalement
Armand

I find it disrespectful that in the article, they refer to the soldier by his first name.

I also think the issue of his nationality & who he was allied with are, in this topic, irrelevant.

Newspapers!

Amazing, they raise an issue about this one man but no one sees anything wrong with the hundreds, if not thousands, of bodies dug up by archeologists which are displayed or stored in museums around the world.

The reenactment fraternity have been pretending to kill each other on the very battlefield, so I'm sure that disrespecting the remains of someone who actually did fight and die in the battle, will be OK to some of them Too!

Paul :)

Personally, I think having a German who fought on the side of the Allies against the French, shows the diversity of the period, especially when Germans and other nationalities fought with the French at times during the period. But if there are family descendants, perhaps they could or should be the ones to make the final decision?

Some people are far too sensitive. If someone finds my skeleton 200 years after I'm dead, I'll be beyond caring what they do with it….

And having his skeleton on display in a museum keeps his memory alive far more than a conventional burial. A far more dignified fate for his remains than that of many of his comrades whose teeth were removed to make dentures and whose bones were ground up for fertiliser.

Seeing the remains of this young man and reading about him will, I hope, make many vistors think more deeply about the common soldiers who, to quote Rifleman Harris, 'live and fight and die in obscurity' and sympathise with their suffering.

The display is tasteful and well done and in a section of the museum covering the casualties and aftermath of the battle. For the anniversary someone placed a poppy on the display with a note thanking him for his service and sacrifice.

Anyone who uses "end of" or "simple as" to round off an argument should lose it by default. Is that what counts as academic these days?

As for Friedrich Brandt, he will gain a touch of the immortality that's normally only reserved for more highly-ranked participants. Who would have heard of Antoine Faveau were it nor for his punctured cuirass on display at Les Invalides?

Much evidence, I gather, that it was not Faveau wearing it apparently, even though his name was inscribed. A chap of that name married shortly after the battle.

Funny enough, the officer eagle bearer slain by Ewart, also is recorded as outliving Waterloo…..

This chap seems better respected that the French hussar skeleton at Le Caillou anyway

I remember the hussar, I stared at him fir half an hour…. He had a saber gash to the forehead as I recall and his boot souls were intact. Tragic really. Then the pile of human remain at la belle alliance well that we're spilling over the edge of the lip of the well. That was in 1985. People were still putting flowers and tossing carnation into the gated shelter of the well. My girl friend and I threw a couple of white carnations into the heap. Sad really. We visited there three times over the space of three years.

If I was dying and someone told me, 200 years from now, people will still know your name and think about your life and death. I would find that a comfort(a realistic possibilty of "imortality"

After all this is what the Illiad was about, Achilles wants to be rememberd forever.

Achilles who?

(just joshing…)

But when Odysseus visited Hades and spoke to Achilles's shade, Achilles bitterly regretted choosing glory and fame over life. The message of the Illiad is, IMHO, quite the opposite of what Gunfreak suggests.

Poor Friedrich, however, probably never made the conscious choice that Achilles did; let him serve as a representative of all the men who paid the price that day of another man's desire for personal power and glory.

"Archilles Who?"

You heel…..

I do love a pun that makes me groan out loud……….one of my lads is doing Ancient History and had never heard that one either…….