"Relevant Lessons on fighting with a Multinational Coalition " Topic

The Battle of Waterloo on its 200th Anniversary.

"While lessons learned from the Battle of Fallujah, December 2004, have replaced the lectures on the Battle of Waterloo, June 1815, in the halls of the Army General Staff College, its relevance in interacting with multinational coalitions during joint operations remains pertinent. On its 200th anniversary, Waterloo should be a critical piece in the education of today's US Army Officer corps as they prepare for joint and multinational service. The former British Chief of Defense Staff Field Marshal Lord Bramall called Waterloo the "first NATO operation."[1] Studying this joint operation imparts four basic lessons to the modern Army Officer: the need for coalition support; the inherent difficulty of fighting using a multinational coalition; the constant need to be careful of biases in multinational operations; and the necessity of obtaining and studying objective lessons learned.

There is a vast literature surrounding Waterloo; in fact, according to former British Officer and military historian Nigel Sale, it is one of the first battles "…in recorded history about which a large number of private accounts were written and published…"[2] Two hundred years after the battle, the plethora of scholarly work may make it seem that everything important about that day in June 1815 has been written, but Waterloo has historically been dealt with in tactical win/lose terms and often in Wellington/Napoleon comparisons. This article analyzes the successful and unsuccessful lessons from the Allied Anglo-Prussian side's coalition operations, lessons that need to be imparted to today's leaders as they prepare for joint and multinational service…"
Full article here
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