This Human Skeleton Found Beneath The Battle Of Waterloo Could Rewrite History
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- Опубліковано 14 лип 2022
- 'Incredibly Rare Battle Of Waterloo Skeleton Uncovered'
A major breaking story on History Hit.
Incredibly rare bones of men and horses have been discovered in July 2022 at the Waterloo Battlefield - and History Hit has been there to record the excavations as they unfold.
The veterans support charity 'Waterloo Uncovered' returned to the Waterloo battlefield in Belgium to conduct its first archaeological excavation since 2019, and over the past week have unearthed some fascinating discoveries - including an incredibly rare skeleton. It supports the shocking reports that most of the dead from elsewhere on the battlefield were hastily buried and then dug up and ground into fertiliser.
James Rogers is onsite for History Hit at the Mont-Saint-Jean farm excavation, a field hospital, where the skeletons of combatants and horses (as well as amputated limbs) have been found. These are incredibly rare discoveries on a Napoleonic battlefield and bring us closer to the harsh realities of the bitter fighting. James also visits the site of the famous ‘reverse slope’ where metal-detectorists are discovering musket balls and parts of uniforms.
It all helps to create a complete picture of the reality of this monumental battle that changed history - and History Hit will be there every step of the way as the story continues to unfold over the months and years to come.
#historyhit #battleofwaterloo #dansnow
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My great great great grandfather Private John Jack of the 52nd Light Infantry was at Waterloo. He also had the Peninsular Medal with 12 clasps, more than Wellington. He also had a valiant stormer's medal for being in the forlorn hope at the storming of Ciudad Rodrigo. We actually have a photograph of him which must be one of the few photos of a Waterloo private.
If true amazing story can imagine someone lile him figjtinh that day
That’s really great. Quite the soldier.
That’s quite amazing.
We actually have the original tin type photo of of our civil war ancestor Pvt. Steven Wells of company H, 13th Missouri volunteer cavalry wearing his federal issue cavalry shell jacket.
@@andrewmorton9327 very interesting
Let's see it ....if real
To throw in a little tale - on a coach trip some years ago I met an elderly German gentleman who was the great great great (great?) grandson of General Blucher. He was delighted that I immediately knew who his ancestor was, and we got on extremely well. (Indeed, we ended by duetting on 'Lilie Marlene'.) He had been captured, as a teenage conscript towards the end of WW2, kept as a POW in Scotland and decided to stay there - as he said, there was nothing to go back to in his native Prussia. He told me several tales of his experiences which, quite frankly, made it sound more like a parallel to 'Dad's Army' than a serious war! He must be dead by now. Peace to your bones, old friend.
Thanks for sharing fascinating. My childrens' great grandfather and his brother were in the Prussian army. Their grandmother told them to jump ship if they could into New Zealand or Australia ( they were heading this way in I assume Prussian or German ship). They did jump ship, one hid in the south island and one in the north island of New Zealand. family history says they never met again. Of cause they would have been shot if caught. They dropped half their surnames to Ludwig.
@Will Rose0”
@@1Polglen Wow what a story.
@@dd61125 the genetics aline, but who knows for sure. Though we've met the south island branch of the story and they have the same story.
Fantastic story about your meeting with this amazing German gentleman 👍
Thousands of men, thousands of horses dying in agony and for what, for whom? The whims and perverse ambition of evil men. It happened then and still it goes on today.
Because they were there and for each other
Yup..the end of one war is the beginning of another !!
What this brings home is that Waterloo was fought by men, individual men stood shoulder-to-shoulder with other men who all laughed, loved, had families, maybe cried but kept fighting when they saw one of their mates fall, and a lot of those individual men, with individual stories, lived individual hells before they died. Thus it has always been.
Well said
Yes…war is hell. It has always been so. Men fight and die for such pathetic reasons, over and over again. You would think we’d learn this lesson…but sadly…it seems we are doomed to repeat this cycle ad nauseam. We see so many stories about the next doomsday asteroid or volcanic eruption. I have grave doubts we will ever make till then.
@@stephentaylor1031 Or they fight and die to stop injustice, as in the American Civil War, or to stop tyrants from perpetrating further death, as in the invasion of Europe, the dropping of the atomic bombs on Japan (which arguably saved not only hundreds of thousands of Allied lives, but also millions of Japanese lives...was there a revenge factor, I'm sure that played into it, but the invasion of Japan would STILL have had to be accomplished minus those bombs), and the invasion of the Vietnamese into Cambodia in 1978-1979 (taking down Pol Pot and the Khmer Rouge). At Waterloo, they stopped a tyrant from retaking western Europe; not that Napoleon had much hope of doing it again with every country turned against him, but he could have caused immeasurable death and suffering had he NOT been stopped.
We now know that persons in battle not only live individual hell in the actual conflict but, if they do survive, are often prone to continuing that personal hell throughout their lives with what we now call PTSD. No one goes to battle and emerges unscathed, physically or mentally. It is a life-altering experience. My father came home from WW2 having flown fighters in the Royal Canadian Air Force, surely with PTSD - the results of which affect subsequent generations due to exposure to the afflicted.
@@coldlakealta4043 Yup. My father went through his in Vietnam, I went through mine in my own work when I volunteered. My own sons are (thankfully) not so inclined.
Fascinating!! but even after all these years you can still imagine the horrors of this battlefield and what soldiers and horses from both sides endured may they Rest In Peace
Walking through these sites are chilling if you are sensitive to the energy.
Tells a tale regarding supplies /vittals, cos if the lads was short theyd've had a large steweypot for the horse, never mind being shoved in the same past it pit as each other.
If you can suffer hell, then at least you are still alive.
I grew up nearby. I find interesting how oral memory was still vivid in the surrounding villages, with relics collected on the fields, family stories ( e.g. Grouchy eating strawberries on a terrace with the local notary while the batte was raging) and legends (who took the gold of Napoleon, stuck on the small bridge over the Dyle in Genappe while retreating ). The story of my grand grand grand father is not very glorious. Young student, he was helping at the French field hospital. As he started to faint when he was helping the surgeon cutting a leg from the body of a injured French Hussar, the same Hussar shouted to him to stand up and learn to become a real man...
Oh boy! Morbid humor, but it makes me laugh.
My great great great great grandfather Captain Robert Annett led a company of Welsh Fusiliers under Picton at Waterloo. Robert survived and immigrated with his family to Upper Canada in 1829. He never spoke of the battle, but his brother Samuel was killed by a French cannonball during the battle. Robert's son Philip inherited his officer's sword and it was passed down until a century ago some of our farming relatives cut it up into corn shears. Poetic but unfortunate.
Robert was from Frome in Wiltshire
Hi, I have a man ' Private Samuel Anett' who served with the 1st Foot Guards. He died of his wounds on 18th June 1815. Samuel was from Silston, Nottinghamshire, could this be your man? I can't find a 'Robert Annett' .... in fact, Samuel is the only 'Anett' on the Waterloo Roll.
Soldiers in WW2 must have been terrified by an attack by columns of tanks but to stand facing between 8000 & 10000 cavalry can not be imagined. I salute their courage and discipline in the face of death.
Fun Fact: in the 1970s film ' Waterloo' (starring Christopher Plummer as Wellington and Rod Steiger as Napoleon) they used Soviet Russian troops in the British uniforms. One of the shots is the "British squares" encircled by the French cavalry and the camera shot is from above which is very iconic shot.But, the reason why the camera pulled back was that the Soviet troops were so scared when the " French" cavalry " attacked" and ran at them - they panicked! and would not stay in formation like the actual British soldiers were expected to do!
The horses would not run over a man. They were trained not to do that. Ney just rode around the squares like Indians around a wagon train. It was not NB's best day. You win from the mistakes of the other side. Later some of these British troops under Pankhurst ? were mowed down at the Battle of New Orleans. Charging entrenched riflemen.
@@kennkid9912 No, Napoleon was defeated at Waterloo in 1815 ( well after New Orleans) by the British and her allies. It meant there was relative peace in europe for 100 years. As for the horses -yes true a horse on its own will try to avoid contact with an obstruction but in a Cavalry charge it is less likely as it is like a stampede and they will continue over the obstruction.
@@robharris8844U Peninsular vets,sorry.
@@kennkid9912 you live and learn Kid.😉
Can we just appreciate the fact that the whole process was started on the 4th of July and 2 weeks later we have an archeological documentary of this quality, delivered for free! 🤯 Thanks.
I'm wondering about the farmland and its owners. Are they being compensated? Will the land be properly replasced?
I hope you aren't applying some murican relevance to date for something that has nowt to do with murica.
Well beyond them supporting Napoleon.
@@Gambit771 Nope not at all, I live about as far from the U.S. as you can get. Was just the date that they literally mentioned starting in the documentary.
@@ItsJakeStuff It is hard to tell when it comes to that date especially as you typed it the correct way to type dates yet hardly used by Brits anymore, ironically used mostly by yanks but only for that date.
@@veramae4098 They will replace.....
Quite extraordinary... Ordinary young men thrown into such a conflict who never could have realised their exploits would ever be remembered, let alone in this detail. Seems like most of the human remains were recovered and crushed into bone-meal agricultural fertiliser for sale in later years, much going into British fields. Such was respect for lost soldiers such a relatively short time ago.
These were some of the largest battles ever. They knew they'd be remembered. And most men wanted to fight back then, they took pride in that. It's only nowadays that people has to be forced to fight
Not fertiliser... sugar processing. The vast majority of European battlefields were looted for bones to make bone char which is an essential component of sugar whitening.
The Victorian sugar industry needed tens of thousands of pounds of bone char...
The most jaw-dropping this is History Channel showing actual history...
ikr?
Not only is it a rarity to find a skeleton at the battle site, it’s even more rare because the teeth are intact. Dentures were in great demand in the upper levels of English society who could afford them, and they came in various materials but none were prized as much as genuine teeth. There was already something of a black market for teeth obtained by desecrating and robbing graves, to be sold to dental surgeons to produce expensive dentures, but many of these would be from the corpses of older people and therefore not in the best shape. Waterloo was therefore a gold mine for unscrupulous individuals who roamed the battlefield after dark, cutting out the teeth from fallen soldiers, because it provided literally thousands of bodies of young men in their prime, with relatively healthy teeth. Dentures from this source were therefore highly sought after, and their origin was clearly no secret because they were widely known as “Waterloo Teeth,” with a premium price tag.
Wow, never heard of that, how aurful.
Actually this commonly known all over Britain at the time and it’s still not unusual for someone who wears dentures to call them, Wallies. Slang for Waterloo’s .
Never heard that, ty
Yuck. Will our society seem so gross to people 200 years from now?
I've pulled out the German language obituary of my 3rd great-grandfather, Peter Adam Schumacher (1898-1883), a Rhinelander and American immigrant (1856). It describes his fighting for Napoleon at La Belle Alliance, then changing sides. He died in Milwaukee, WI, USA.
Hi Gary, i think you got his birth year wrong. I think you meant to write 1798-1883. :)
Thank you for sharing 😌
Nice to see Phil Harding back in action.I used to watch him in Time Team.
I missed that the first time and went back and looked, and you are right! That IS Phil!
I was about to say PHIL!!!
And Tony Pollard, from "Two Men in a Trench" before his work on battlefield archaeology.
Where is he? I love Phil!
@@jayanderson147 In the montage describing earlier digs. I think he's in the 2019 clip? It's a bit blink and you miss it.
The battle of Waterloo has always intrigued me since I was a child. This is an incredible find. I look forward to future updates. Fantastic work from the archaeologists.
Heartbreaking. All those lives… including the innocent horses. So unbelievably sad.
My ancestor, Ensign Charles Ewart, captured the French standard at the Battle of Waterloo. His grave was rediscovered in Salford, and his remains were re buried in a tomb on the Esplanade at Edinburgh Castle. He died in 1846.
How fascinating! Thanks for sharing!!!
Remarkable connection with famous Ensign Ewart. Thank you for posting. Just watched a video showing his memorial at Edinburgh Castle. I am from Edinburgh but did not know the French Eagle that he captured is still kept in the Castle.
And gave his name to one of my favorite pubs!
This is similar to what has been done at the Little Bighorn Battlefield, where several soldier skeletons were found during. These were respectfully reburied at the Custer Battlefield National Cemetery. I assume that the remains of this likely soldier will also be respectfully treated. This looks to be a very informative and important excavation.
The carnage and suffering of men and horses was bad enough but I never knew that their bones were dug up and ground into meal for fertilizer! Really illustrates the apathy people had for these men. Disgusting. Great video.
And the Russians Sold the bones of their KIA soldiers - littering the ground where they fell--from the Crimean war ....to be ground up, and used as fertilizer.....
It was a different time and your modern sensibilities are not applicable.
@@danielcadwell9812 Civilized humans were burying their dead respectfully for millennia. In times of plague or big war, a mass burial may have been done in haste, but even then the remains were left undisturbed out of respect for the souls of the departed.
Only the progressive "modern sensibilities" started treating human bodies like dirt. British Empire invented the modern world, including using human remains as fertilizer, an idea creatively expanded by the Germans a bit later.
BURN!
Calcium is calcium
You are correct there are many newspaper reports of horse and human bones being transported to the UK for processing...I believe the local mill at Narborough in Norfolk has evidence of human bone being processed.
They have part of a skull that predates the mill by a century
@@CeleWolf I'm sure you're right, However it is well documented and referenced by the Norfolk Industrial Archeology Society in 1981 that Narborough and KL processed from exhumed burial grounds of Northern Germany and beyond..evidence can be documentary as well as physical...
I think we would all love to see a follow up of this great discovery when the pathology has been completed. It would be fascinating to find out the nationality of the person, most probably a soldier, and the manner of his demise - if possible of course.
The soldier found in 2012 was identified as a Hanoverian soldier from coins and a uniform button found on his body, as far as I can recollect, and I hope that this man's identity can be determined in a similar fashion. Finally, I personally think that the bodies of the fallen found at Waterloo should be given a full military burial after all archaeological research has been concluded, and their bodies honourably put to rest in a military cemetery - not just presented in museums as interesting artefacts for tourists.
If it depends on the Belgians they will get that burial, see what happens to the dead of WW1 whom are still discovered.
I was excited to meet some of the Waterloo Uncovered team this year (2022) when they came to the Falklands to document some of the battle areas here. Coincidentally I had been following their work on UA-cam for some years. A wonderful idea and great continuation of uncovering our past. Thank you for these great videos. More please.
I hope there is a follow up on the human skeleton found there and possibly whether which side he was from etc. Fascinating stuff and good on you all for your dedication on such a historical important site.
The teeth, if in good shape, might possibly be examined and marrow extracted to determine DNA thru genetic material integrity. It could lead to identifying any modern day relatives.
When you think 100 years later there was an even more bloody war
Good point.
Throughout English history, there are many wars and battles annually fought around that time,
13thc, 1346 Crecy.
Agincourt 1415,
1515 ,16thc wars of the Roses.
1715, Jacobite uprising
1815, Waterloo
1915. World war 1.
This always fascinated me as a child, and seeded an interest in history, that had never left me.
I live right next to the battlefield andd I didn't know they were doing research there. Very interesting, thank you !
I visited the Waterloo site when I was 13. It was on a 10 day school tour of Belgium in 1961. I remember climbing up the hill to the memorial statue.....it was a lot of steps. Also going into the building known as the Panorama which has a 360 degree painted wall depicting the battle. I would love to go back again, it has probably changed, indeed improved a lot since 1961. Living in Australia now it's probably unlikely.
I will assume that the hill was built by men for the memorial statue after the battle. If it is , there could be bodies buried under the hill in a pit. Which could explain why bodies haven’t been found in large numbers. It’s also possible that the bones of dead enemy soldiers are the ones who were ground down into meal for fertilizer.
They use to have a Similar Memorial in New Orleans Louisiana, it's gone now, my grandmother's house was on a piece of property across the river from Chalmette where the British donated a Memorial, removed around the turn of the century. My father born in the pre war years use to tell me how his neighbors decorated the gardens with cannon balls!!! That was in the 1940's so by the 1990's ; I was told i wouldn't find much... The location of the British dead from the Battle of New Orleans remains a mystery ?Perhaps in my life we might find clues to those unfortunate soldiers. Ive marched the battle field as a Reanactor and its mud up to the Ankles so they went through a terrible morning... Cold and Wet, with a storm of lead and steel, New Orleans is far more welcoming of our British Cousins!!!
One thing is always apparent when hearing about battles, both ancient and modern, under the surface of the sea in U-boats, on the surface, and in the air, in trenches of the Somme, or phalanxes of ancient Greece, it doesn't matter where or when, war is a very dirty and incredibly unpleasant business. Nothing like how it's portrayed in 'Boy's Own' magazine. IF there was any real justice in this world, it would be the politicians who start wars, who lead the armies into battle, NOT the children who actually do the fighting and dying. The politicians who have blood on their hands figuratively should be the first to have blood on their clothes literally, and in some cases it should be their own. War is NOT fun, exciting, glamorous, or 'an adventure', it's the disciplined application of extreme violence, and as such it's VERY unpleasant!
Yes Sir. Read Erich Maria Remarque 's All Quiet on the Western Front. It reduced me to tears.
Not to rain on your parade but Boy's Own magazine ceased publication in 1967 and with it the gung-ho values it espoused. I think you would have difficulty today finding anybody who thinks war is fun, glamorous, exciting or an adventure. It's also simplistic to blame all wars on politicians. Very often politicians are forced to react to circumstances which they did not choose and did not want. I'm not talking about the Hitlers, Mussolinis and Putins of this world but ordinary people trying to do an incredibly difficult job to the best of their ability. It is fashionable to accuse Tony Blair of war crimes. Garbage! He was in a dreadful situation where a decision was needed with possibly flawed intel. Ain't hindsight wonderful? For most of us a big decision is where to go on holiday. Placed in a similar position I suspect most of us would do no better. And yes, many people enjoy war movies but I don't think most (apart from the terminally stupid) confuse Hollywood depictions with the reality of warfare.
@@clarivsmedia8697 I read it at university 50 years ago. The villain was the schoolmaster who pushed young men into joining up. He appealed to their "patriotism". You would have a hard job finding such a warmongering school teacher today.
What a very interesting video. In America when I was in public school we were not thought much about things of this nature.( at least what I can remember😊) Of course I've been out of school for way over 50 years, so I've forgotten a lot of the history that I was taught about Europe.
So , you'll just have to give this OLD MAN a break 😀
I find videos like this to be EXTERMELY entertaining and informative.
Thank you so very much.
I have been watching the progress of this for some time now and am enjoying it! Thank you for sharing it and telling the story.
Thank you for the glimpse into history, and thank you too to the commenters who have shared their family stories. We should have a way of collecting all of those before it's too late and no-one remembers the stories!
This is some great work by all involved, such a fascinating discovery! And great work by James and all for covering this.
We are coming to Waterloo this autumn, I've always wanted to visit ever since my Artillery training days at Woolwich when I was detailed along with others to help move furniture in the Officers Mess. Beguiled by the paintings and silverware on display I was told by the attending Officer that "Wellington himself dined here" at that point I was hooked on the history of our military, this new discovery has brought the battlefield back into the light of scrutiny and I hope there is much more to be learned from the battle of 1815.
Great little appetizer of a documentary and look forward to much more and of course the personal experience of visiting, regards James "Ubique"
How intensely interesting this video is!! I was gripped from start to end. Cant wait to see more on this amazing find!
I have read that the dead soldiers bones were dug up later for fertilizer and especially the teeth were acquired for use in false teeth. They were far more cavalier about death in those days than today.
I don't know about the bones thing...but it doesn't sound impossible. The teeth part is completely true, except they didn't even wait till the bodies were buried. Scavengers hit the battlefield as soon as the fighting was over, and one of the things they took were the teeth of the dead...to sell to dentist for dentures. There were so many collected from this battle that "Waterloo teeth" became a thing.
@@nevyen149 It is true, the British even raided the catacombs of Sicily for the bones.
The anglos stole bones from crypts and catacombs all over the world to fuel their fertilizer factories.
'Cavalier' or more practical? We waste so much in modern times we can not lecture anyone.
"In the midst if life we are in death"-a 19th Century clergyman.
My best mate's 3x Great Grandfather Pvt. Edward Reece of the Light Company of the 2nd Battalion 1st Foot Guards fought at Quatre Bras and Waterloo, both at Hougoumont and later against the Imperial Guard, when Wellington withdrew Lord Saltoun's light companies to reinforce his main line behind the ridge. Pvt. Reece was therefore right in the centre of the action. What a story.
The production on this so quickly is amazing. Modern investigative history.
An incredibly exciting find, for sure. But it also makes me even more thankful to have spent my youth raving in fields. History always makes me greatful for what I have and have had. Great work. Peace X
You have made a very good point. I too have never, as my grandfather in the First World War and father in the Second, had to fight. The most I ever did was camp or go to music festivals in a field.
I've always counted my blessings to have reached 50 and never had to fight and kill. Just good times. These poor kids knew no different. War really is hell. I just hope for peace and love for all. Keep on camping and dancing in fields, live that life that they fought for. Peace buddy
Well ! Well ! Well !
I am Belgian, born in June 1943, in a suburb of Brussels.
During the "preparatory studies", from 1949 (Age 6) to 1955 (Age 12), we "regularly" took a visit to the "Waterloo Battlefield", as it was only about 15 km from our school location.
Later, say from 1975 till 1980, I lived in "BRAINE L'ALLEUD", th city next to the battlefield. As a matter of fact, I lived within walking distance (+/- 1 km; 1/4 hour walking) of said battle field : the "Famous Panorama" and "Café's - Restaurant's" area.
The battle,which took place very close to the city of "Braine l'Alleud", left many, many victims, humans of various nationalities and horses. By the thousands !
We were in summer : end of June 1815. With the temperature, rather high. All these decaying bodies were going to smell horribly, and, worse, could spread epidemics, if left alone. So the "authorities" requisitioned the citizens of "Braine l'Alleud" to gather the bodies, [narchaeologist
I remember reading that Wellington, upon visiting there many, many years later, was appalled when he saw the pyramid erected as a memorial in his honor. His remark, " what have they done to my battlefield!?!" As he had spent hours studying the area where to fight and he felt that the pyramid building spoiled what there had been and what rightly was left.
Wouldn't/couldn't many of the non-buried bodies/bones be there, but terribly out of context ?
I remember from my youth in the 1960ies the tale that the artificial mountain is in fact a mass grave. It seems this is never examined.
It was not in his honor.
It was not in wellingtons honor, the dutch king Willem the 1st had it build as an honor to his son the prince of orange(who would later become king willem the 2nd) as he was wounded right on the spot where the hill was erected.
But still what you say about the landscape and wellington is very much true, perhaps rather unfortunately so
@@kylianvanhoorn2859 yes, I find it always remarkable how the brittish generally claim the victory of this battle. 😅
There was an urban legend around when I was a child , that the mound was indeed the repository of the fallen dead . My grandfather was a professional soldier in the Boer war and WW1, and I wondered if it was an army legend.
amazing to see, almost unbelievable, the various artifacts & human remains that've been laying in place since 1815...Wow! Thanks to u & ur team for what u've done & continue to do!🇺🇸
Keep your eyes on the road James
I’ve discovered my Great Great Great grandfather Christian Gade , an 18 year old Prussian was recruited by the English side and fought at Waterloo. He was the last soldier that fought at Waterloo to die in South Australia
We relied heavily on the Prussians or the battle may not have gone the way it did and could have been a defeat and the course of history would have been altered, thank you for your ancestors service, I am visiting the battlefield for the first time this autumn, if you would like me to lay a poppy for him let me know and I would be happy to do so in on honour of his memory, regards James
@@jamescrook9749 Hello James. How nice of you to offer to lay a poppy for my 3x great grandfather Christian Gade. I hope I’m not too late with this message as autumn in the Northern Hemisphere must be very close. Thanks again. I hope to meet Christian in the resurrection of the dead in the future. All the best to you 😀
The advertisements are out of control on UA-cam. Absolutely atrocious amounts of ads.
Simply jaw dropping! To learn of the numbers of human skull's found at the site of such a famous battle is astonishing. And that the distinct possible answer to this is a blood 'n' bone bonanza... !!! Chilling.
Jaw dropping. Interesting turn of phrase. You've heard of Waterloo Teeth? Interesting, rather horrid, right? If you don't know check it out yourself. They've got some people on this channel who come out with 'fairy stories'. I'm amazed at what they state, sometimes.
This is incredible !
What a terrible terrible battle.
If the person was in the horse pit, he wasn't held in high regard when buried ☹️
It could be he held the horse in high regard .
@Simon McCreath she means maybe the guy loved his horse so much he wanted to be buried with it. who knows.
If as was suggested these were French horses it may have been a French cavalryman.
You obviously didn't listen to the video. Watch it again regards how bodies were treated after battles.
@Simon McCreath
What's wrong with the way she arranged her words? Where's the error, you arrogant snob? 😠👎
Those poor horses which died in battle! Rest in peace. ❤️
Yeah right, whining for animals, while thousands of men died.. Guess who's saving your precious little azz, when things gets tough!
What about the humans you weirdo? These animals lovers bruh...
Looking forward to hearing more about this.
Its fascinating the sort of irreverence allotted the dead at Waterloo. I contrast it with the Civil War of the US where bodies were buried on the battlefield then often exhumed, identified and shipped to home towns North and South. Granted there are unidentified and hastily buried dead in the US Civl War also but there does seem to be a different ethos around handling of the fallen when compared to using them for fertilizer.
I would suggest that is a reflection of the class system at the time. The bodies dug up and used for fertiliser would not have been the entitled generals and dukes. It was the bodies of the massed soldiers who were often there because they had been pressed into it. Many of Wellingtons soldiers were ex convicts given the choice of joining the army to fight for a king who could not care less about them or possibly transportation to become a virtual slave in. a penal colony. It always stick in my gut when I hear that general this or duke this won a battle. It was the poor sods who were facing the bullies and cannonballs that won the battle.
Fifty years apart in time, coupled with differences between American and European social and military structures.
On the one hand its seems so undignified and uncaring to use human bodies in such a way. I think in another way I would like to think of my wrecked body being used to grow crops that in turn sustain life.
There was a vast religious difference in the west up until even Little Bighorn.
Bodies were simply not considered crucial to the saving of the soul and it was not considered nearly as important to recover them until WW1.
It seems odd to us today but at the time, the remembrance of a person was more important than the actual mortal remains.
It was the Belgium field not on English Soil - across the Channel , so the lack of inhumanity in a pious world made it easy to dig them up and make a profit. There was a mix of bodies of German , Dutch, Nassau , Prussian , French so Nationalism didn't matter Even teeth were being used for the Gentry time. None of the Elite and Lords of "Families" commanders would have had this done to them for sure
To the French , English , German or any soldier that fought in the battle fought a battle we salute them
The IRISH MADE UP 13 FULL BATTALIONS .OF THE REST OVER A THIRD WERE IRISH.THE DUKE OF WELLINGTON WAS IRISH.
And Scots once again over looked we are used to that you are forgiven
@@josephkeary449 The Scots were considered part of the english army, just like the Irish, Welsh and Cornish soldiers . They all contributed to the army. The Scots Greys are mentioned by name in most cases . Stop whining and do some research.
Oh iam sorry the normal response we do the dying you take the glory I know my history enough of my family have died for freedom round the world iam proud of them Al say again Scottish
@@willemventer3935
There was certainly one Irishman at Waterloo. He played a fairly important role in the battle - he usually goes by the title "Duke of Wellington".
Thanks to Dan Snow for presenting such an interesting story and James Rogers for leading us through it. As a young lad I was always interested in battles like Waterloo but I must say my romantic notions of valour and excitement was nothing like the reality, as described in this video. These sad, tragic tales of horrendous brutality have to be uncovered and told so that we never forget the other side of war. Well done to the whole team who put this together.
That was a fabulous video, so interesting & so precise, with everything explained; thank you!🇺🇸
Its truly astonishing to me how anybody involved in the actual fighting survived!
Kudos to all folks involved in this search.
My gig grandfather and his two sons fought under Prussian General Blucher. He received several medals. Wellington always takes the honor of winning this war but if it wasn't for Blucher and his troops coming to help the English the war would have been won by Napoleon.
That's right, The British wanted, needed a victory and they got a victory. Blucher was seemingly swept aside in the celebrations. Arthur Wellesley's fame continued to spiral upwardly.
Blucher and his troops didn't just turn up! Every commander had a specified part to play. Wellington was a very able (and experienced ) commander.
Amazing... Such worth while toiling... Thank You.
I can’t imagine those horses having to wait while injured and in pain for a pit of that size to be dug. Then they were having to walk into the trench before being put out of their misery. Such tragedy on every level there.
This is definitely one of the best videos you've done. It reminds me of Time Team.
Even a cheeky Phil Harding cameo. 3:21
@@CAP198462 You're SOOO right. I missed that. Thanks for pointing it out.
This was Phil's longtime dig, his team of diggers were veterans suffering with PTSD, you may enjoy viewing Op Nightingale, on various sites. Oh Phil was digging at Hugomont Farm.
Glad you enjoyed it!
We’ve all heard of the “Waterloo teeth” used for making dentures but I never knew that the bones themselves were used as fertilizer.
I doubt the "bone meal" theory. It's not even credible really. The 1850's was the era of horses. You literally have thousands of horses dying everyday and being recycled. Why would you spend a fortune digging up thirty or forty year old bones from now rock hard soil, when you can get fresh ones from the knackery or abottoir? You wouldn't even pay for the wages of the guys digging the bones up.... Just a fanciful anti English story.
@@tinkertailor7385 yeah it doesn’t really seem feasible.
No one ever found a single burial pit from Agincourt either, even though we know where the fighting was most concentrated. They’re just hard to find.
@@teutonalex Alot of times depending on soil content the bones wont survive more than a couple hundred years. Depends alot on ph levels and acidity.
Thank you for this valuable and extremely interesting topic
Great video. Thank you.
Very exciting. Can't wait to see what else they find.
Look up waterloo Uncovered and see 5 years of work done so far
I shudder at the thought of the sights, sounds and smells of the aftermath of this battle and so many other conflicts, especially those who exploited horses. Even veterans of WWII wee deeply saddened at the sight of so many dead and suffering horses!
It was dogs for me in Iraq.
Locals would routinely shoot stray dogs, and due to many of them in possession of a firearm having zero weapons handling training or skill, they would often wound the animals instead of ending them with a "clean" shot. On a nighttime you'd hear the dogs who'd been clipped suffering in the shadows outside of our perimeter, whimpering and whining. I found it more horrific than the screams of humans after an IED blast in a packed marketplace.
Probably says a lot about me I guess?
@@residentelect
They are innocent. We are not. You were amidst a people who think nothing of indoctrinating women & children to become suicide bombers. I'm with you. 🐕
It was hard for many artillery and cavalry soldiers to see the suffering of their horses. Many times a horse became a veteran in it's own right and a beloved companion. Right after the battle there must have been thousands of wounded, crippled horses wandering around the battlefield. It was probably particularly hard to see them destroyed.
No horse deserves this
My grandfather served right through the First World War. Exactly what he did will never be known as most British records of that war were destroyed in the second. But when he was dying at the age of ninety he was slipping in and out of consciousness and unfortunately was back in the trenches giving out orders. One of the last things he said was “The horses, the horses, we must save the horses.” In civilian life he was a farmer and he always made a bee-line for horses at agricultural shows.
How terrible, the poor horses. So many lives taken. Sad story, thanks for telling us !
I grew up in Warterloo in the '80s... I could see the Butte du Lion (Lion Mount) from my bedroom window. We were told that the mount was a giant grave with the dead soldiers under it, and the lion was the melted down weapons.
My 4th great grandfather was Ensign Ewart who captured Napoleon's standard at the battle of Waterloo. The flag is on display at Stirling? or maybe Edinburg's Castle (I was a wee lad when we visited) along with a bronze statue of him. The story I was told that the Frenchman would not give up the flag, and he was unarmed at the time, so he just grabbed the Frenchman up and carried them off.
Georgespence5600 above is also a descendant of Ensign Ewart. Do you know each other?
@@Sickoftheinsanity I'm afraid not, but it would be interesting to sit down with him and compare family trees. We have ours on that side of the family back to the mid 1300's
I feel sorry for all the animals that get involved through no fault of their own into human folly and evilness.
I agree, but you could also say that about most of the soldiers
@@gregbors8364 Well not really as humans CAN say no.
@@joshualifetree5398 Yes, just say NO if you are ever lucky enough to be conscripted.
@@jerk5959 My point was that humans have a choice.
Do you not have any feelings for the human lives being snuffed out by the masses? 🙄
Fascinating. It is hard to fathom human bones being used to produce food. I look forward to hearing more about this find!
Absolutely amazing thank you
The thing about scientists is, and I work with many, they tend to over complicate things at the beginning. This is probably something as simple as, corpse collection point for mass burial.
The mass graves would have been "mined", but the large number of shallow graves would have been churned over and broken up by the couple centuries of plowing the fields.
A good example are the the “bone fields” around Stalingrad where German and Russian dead are scattered by plow machines until the bones are reduced to mere fragments.
Likewise, the poem “ after Blenheim “ starts with a skull being turned up by a plough.
“ what good came of it all quoth little Perkin.
I do not know, said he, but ‘twas a famous victory “
@@teutonalex even today Russians are fertilising valuable farmland 👀🌾🌻👌
Brilliant Dan💯
Great work! Never forget! Semper Fi
3:20 Under Belgian law the French howitzer shell; although apparently empty of any explosive contents, had to be turned in to the local police who immediately summoned their "bomb squad" who blew it up as potentially dangerous. The archeologists were distraught but to no avail. Possibly the last explosion to be in some way associated with the Battle of Waterloo?
BTW-One of the :"diggers" in 2019 was Phil Harding from "TIME TEAM".
Phil Harding, I think, has been with the Waterloo Uncovered since its creation. Saw him in a previous You Tube video when he was 'digging' in the courtyard of Hugoumont.
@@arnoldgreenwood2969 Phil always looks like he has worn the same hat he has worn since1983 (not a slave to fashion).
Good to know ☺️
@@johnanon6938 actually your heroic ancestors made digging in Germany an even more deadly task! At least every week a bomb is dug out somewhere in German soil 👀☠️🤷🏼
Those archeologists will know the law concerning explosive stuff. Maybe have some common sense too.
Besides for that human skeleton they have to call the police too. A police officer will judge if the remains are recent. If not they can proceed with the excavation.
"I've just published a paper, which, to my huge surprise, garnered quite a lot of interest" is peak scientist content, exactly what a true professional would say... :)
Fascinating. My 5x great grandfather was a corporal with the3rd btn of 1st Foot guards and was at Hougemont . He made it home and lived into his 80s. His medals turned up in America a few years ago, but were priced way beyond what us mortals could afford. They consisted of the Waterloo medal and the GSM
His medals should have been returned to the family first and foremost over money
Indeed, I’d love to have them back, but there are a few branches of the family who could lay equal claim… and I could have some replacements made I suppose and they would be in some way legitimised by being owned by his family. I suspect they were sold on back in the day, possibly by himself as he reached an amazing age for the times and was also a Chelsea Pensioner according to records. Sadly, as far as I’m aware the originals may not even reside in the UK anymore. They were “reunited” in Canada and the US, where they were sold a few years ago.@@catherinedusoulier6171
Pretty sure your government would gladly retrieve those on your behalf
@@MarbRedFred our current government don’t need any encouragement to funnel money into their pal’s pockets and there are far more worthy causes that could do with £15K
Fabulous Work!
Horse bones being found near a field hospital really isn't that puzzling. They had ambulances during the Napoleonic wars. What do you suppose the chances are that a stray shell landed near the hospital and managed to kill a ambulance or ambulances and their horse teams. You could have also had the ambulance drivers killed. In the spirit of utility and speed, they were all dumped together in a sort of mass burial pit. This seems like an viable explanation.
Or injured animals being put down and used to feed troops.
@@johnanon6938 That could be as well but 4 horses was the average team for a field ambulance as well. They didn't have larger teams like supply wagons or artillery wagons, just enough horses to convey the wounded back to field hospitals. For a very reason you alluded to, the value of good horses, was why ambulances had only 4 per team. Many made due with only two. While important, ambulances were low on the priority lists for horses since it was believed that the ambulatory wounded could make their way to the rear field hospitals on foot. I also think that the location would not have been frequented by officers as they were needed on other parts of the battlefield. More likely this is an ambulance hit by a stray shell that was at or near a field hospital. Further study is going to be needed to figure out exactly why they were found where they were.
@@markwaldenberger8412 Well said Mark . Let the experts tell us . That said , I find it interesting to hear facts , from informed people , about how things were at this time , or other historical points , which help me understand the situation . I would have had no idea about how many horses were commonly used for different carriages for example. But suggesting this 'buried' body was a high level officer simply because he ( if it was a male) was found buried , for example , sounds like an unfounded political statement .
Let the evidence speak and then make a better judgement of the situation guys .
The problem is there are no mass graves in Waterloo, or surrounding, it’s a embarrassing fact that so claimed 15.000 killed soldiers disappeared like snow under the sun
If the Lions Mound is built with soil from the battlefield, it´s construction surely have wiped out traces of the battle over enormous areas, and the mound itself must contain many thousands of artifacts. I guess the teams at the site have maps of where the soil was gathered.
I, too, clicked in here for a possible Uncle Phil sighting! Great stuff is also included. Can’t wait to see the follow up! 🙌🏽
Really amazing work,congratulations
By studying and presenting this documentary you are paying tribute to those who paid the ultimately price regardess of their nationality. Thanks very much.
Yes, absolutely fascinating 👍🏾 🖤
The horrors and lessons of the past are still with us today 😔 💙💛
The reason it's rare to find bones after the battle of Waterloo, is that the battle fields of Europe became tourist attractions.
The British may have decided these gruesome tours were unseemly, however it was decide to clean up the battle fields, gathering up the bones of men and animals.
They were shipped in vast quantities to England (Hull, I think) and pounded to bone meal, the resulting product was spread across the fields of Lincolnshire, and we now have some of the World finest potatoes.
BTW, nothing new about that, after the slaughter of millions of bison, the bones were shipped East and provided Kodak and the Movie industry with enough celluloid film to carry them through to (maybe) the digital age.
Great! Thank you. Keep going!
I remember hearing about the battle. Most fortunate I missed it
Seasoned archaeologist were "shocked" to find a human skull on a known battlefield where thousands died - why? I'm not an archaeologist, but it wouldn't have shocked me at all.
Hey, maybe watch the video?
Dunno, seems like a good idea. Might tell you the reason why it's surprising
@@TheMijman I watched the video before I commented. I still think "shocked" is the wrong word. 'Expected', 'unsurprised' or 'excited' may have been more appropriate. Maybe you should watch the video to see why they shouldn't have been shocked?
@@lemming9984 there has only been one another one that's been found. The dead had been ground up as fertilizer.
@@lemming9984 So you think it's expected to find a crumpled up body, amongst 4 horses which were executed?
Because they always find the 4 headshotted horses/crumpled body combo. It's a classic right?
You still haven't watched the video have you.
Who said "shocked" anyway?
@@TheMijman Approx 10:15. Obviously I've watched this - you haven't.
I read an article which claimed the bones were ground down by local farmers and used as fertiliser, this was supposedly corroborated by the elderly relatives of the farmers who remembered stories passed down by their fathers and grandfathers.
As the guy at 1.40 said, "You just don't find bones at Waterloo." But what he didn't say was that this lack of bones was due to the fertilizer industry of the 19th century scouring the battlefield there for the remains of all of the fallen, heroes or not and regardless of nationality, creed or blood-line, to turn into money making phosphorus in the UK.
The Dutch King, soon after the battle, ordered the local Belgian farmers and peasants (their political subjects) to build the Lion Mount memorial. The earth for it was stripped from the battle site, lowering it and thus uncovering the mass burial pits. The uncovered skeletons were collected and ground up for bone meal fertiliser. A large part of it was sold to English merchants for use in British agriculture.
Oh wow interesting to know
The tale of how they disposed of the dead and wounded Cavalry horses mentioned in the videos commentary is misguided, I think, you will find Cavalry units had farriers with them and they were equipped with an implement designed to quickly despatch any wounded horses on a battlefield. If you ever watch film of Trooping the Colour in London you will see one of the few remaining Cavalry units still remaing in the British Army, the Household Cavalry. Mouted and at the rear of the formation there are always, even today, 2 Farriers. They carry an axe like instrument which at the business end there is a shiny axe blade and opposing this is a spike or poleaxe. Every service horse has a number
either burned or somehow marked on one of the hooves. When the wounded horse is despatched by a swift blow with poleaxe to the beasts forehead the axe is used to cut off the hoof, so that accurate records can be maintained of how many horses remain, to assist in maintaining horse fodder rations and saddlery equippment. The same axe blow/hoof removal is performed on the dead horses as well.
Apparently, Wellington's comment about "What have they done to my battlefield" was made on a later visit after the Lion Monument was completed. The modern day topography bears no relation to the actual battlefield he remembered.
Incidentally there are 227 steps to the top of the monument (I counted them when I visited the battlefield in 2008), so how much soil was used for this enormous monument to the Prince of Orange? How many of the bones were contained in soil used to erect the monument.
Very interesting! Keep them coming please.
I have read before about the bones of the soldiers being removed and ground up for fertiliser! I have subscribed now so i won't miss anything!👍
One story that I read, was that for years after the battle, the fields of Waterloo had the most productive wheat crops for miles around, due to the bodies acting as compost.
@@edwardbutt691 That sounds very likely and makes perfect sense!
Bone meal.
I recently visited the site of the Battle of New Orleans (1815). Out of the 2,000+ British casualties (about 300 killed and about 500 missing), to my amazement, no skeletons or graves of British soldiers were ever found. The British retreated rapidly back to their ships through dense swamps, so it is impossible to determine where, or even if, they were buried. American records are silent on the disposition of the British dead. Some sources say they were dumped in a mass grave near the battlefield, but, to date, no such grave has ever been found.
It would be interesting to see if he has living relatives via DNA testing. I am pretty sure they would love to know about him as would many of us armchair archaeologist. Records of his birth may be waiting to be found.
Cant they perform ground radar searches? That way you can see what shape objects are in the earth, as well as what sort of material the object is made of.
Could it be so that a lot of skeletons are actually inside of that big dug up hill? The one where the lion roars. What would you find if you were to tunnel to the inside of it? Its not too far fetched an idea that skeletons are collected inside a monument.
Really interesting, without archeologists you would not have such rich history books.
Thank you!
Greetings,
Jeff
I'm sure that big hill is a modern creation/monument
La butte or the "big hill" was constructed between1823 and 1828 for the Prince of Orange, to commemorate he had been wounded here. The earth was brought here from a nearby spot by "boteresses", women carrying large baskets on their back. Clean earth, no remains in the hill. Underneath ? Maybe.
Today "boteresse" is a beer too. Of course, this is Belgium.
What a taster of things to come, excellent documentary. It has me wondering what if any finds are in the pyramid of earth used to construct the monument. In any case we shall never know.
New finds is so cool its about time.fresh off a time team binge.
On a coach trip to Brussels in the 1960's we were taken to the memorial of Waterloo (the hill). We were told that the hill was built from the fields where the battle took place and contained the bones of the fallen. Fairy tales to cover up the transportation of skeletons must be assumed.
This is accurate Marilyn, the ridge was levelled as earth from it was gathered up to form the Hill. When Wellington saw what had been done he was furious decrying "what have they done to my ridge!!!".
Some bones were taken to England it seems, but not all. Many bodies were lost some buried hastily. The Belgians had a good claim to have the fields cleaned up by the combatants. I wouldn't want unwanted bodies propping up my roses either. It probably seemed like a humane solution at the time.
The majority od the corpses was incinerated. In Charleroi, in the Townhall Museum, we can find a copy of an invoice, unpaid, selling coal to the Brittish Army. A farmer from the Area of Waterloo was in charge of the transportation of tons of coal, using several carts and 20 big farm horses. The procession of cartloads in Charleroi marked the people as related in a Gazette of the time.
I used to live about 4-5 miles from Waterloo around 2005. My kids loved visiting the big "hill" and climbing to the top. (we were expats) So I find this very interesting!
Emigrants.
@@ClannCholmain We did not immigrate. My husband was there on a work visa for several years. And we lived in the area during this time. But we returned to the US after. He was head of their European operations for a chemical company.
Hi History hit.
This is right up my alley. luv it luv history. Congrats guys.great find. Well done. From UK 🇬🇧👍👍 b Safe take care where ever you are. PEACE ☮️🕊️🕊️ an old cockney gal.
Great video with amazing production this stuff is so interesting