INTRODUCTION

The Battle of Waterloo is often said to be the event that directly caused or started the fall of Napoleon Bonaparte's empire. However, this is often debated among historians. This historiography analyzes four historical works from four different authors. Those authors are John Codman Ropes, John Gibson Lockhart, Thomas Tyler Alexander, and Shlomo Guil.

Ropes was an American historian and lawyer. He was known for his scientific approach to military campaigns, even though he was never a soldier. His work, The Campaign of Waterloo: A Military History, was used by many historians and in military academies for over a century. He wrote in the late 19th century, which meant that he was close enough to the era of Napoleon's reign.

Lockhart was a Scottish editor and writer. He was a skilled biography writer, with a style that combined deep historical research with narrative storytelling. His work, The History of Napoleon Buonaparte, is relevant to the research question "How did the loss at the Battle of Waterloo directly contribute to the end of Napoleon's empire?" because he makes many connections from the battle to the end of Napoleon's reign.

Alexander was a British writer and traveler. He was known mainly for his historical essays. His work, The Battle of Waterloo: As Viewed From the Battlefield in 1877, is valuable for his reflective, observational approach. Though it was written over fifty years after the Battle of Waterloo, his work combined the historical commentary with physical observation of the site as it appeared many years later.

Guil is an independent researcher and historical aficionado who compiled the events of the Battle of Waterloo and images to accompany different descriptions throughout his compilation. Though An Overview of the Battle of Waterloo was only written in 2024, he demonstrates a deep appreciation and love of history and draws from varying sources.

CONCLUSION

While these four authors are very different, they each provide a unique perspective on the Battle of Waterloo and its direct effect(s) on Napoleon's reign coming to an end. John Codman Ropes delivered an analytical perspective in his The Campaign of Waterloo: A Military History, using military logic to explain why tactical failures on the Waterloo battlefield led to Napoleon's defeat. John Gibson Lockhart, on the other hand, provided a more plot-driven perspective that described the Battle of Waterloo as the unavoidable pinnacle of Napoleon's ambition. Thomas Tyler Alexander, meanwhile, provided a reflective perspective, using his personal visit to the battlefield to invoke a more emotional rhetoric while observing the effects of the battle. Shlomo Guil is perhaps the most informal author, but his detailed compilation, accompanied by images, is a great resource for one who does not know very much about the Battle of Waterloo or its prior events.

Together, these four authors provide different viewpoints that can be compared and intertwined to paint a more complete picture of the Battle of Waterloo and how it directly led to the fall of Napoleon.