Incredibly Rare Battle of Waterloo Skeletons Discovered in an Attic

The bones of up to 10 soldiers killed at the Battle of Waterloo have been discovered - some in an attic in Belgium - the largest cache of Waterloo casualties ever found.
Uncovered by a team of Belgian and German academics, it's believed these bones belong to a mix of Prussian, French and British soldiers, all killed during the fighting on Sunday 18th June 1815. A French army under the command of Napoleon Bonaparte was defeated by two of the armies of the Seventh Coalition, leading to Napoleon's surrender and exile.
Having worked with the academics to break the story, Dan Snow made the journey from History Hit HQ to Belgium where the remains are being held. He spoke with the team leading the groundbreaking analysis and found out what the bones tell us about the regular soldiers.
At the time, the Battle of Waterloo was one of the bloodiest battles in European history, but remarkably, only two full skeletons have been discovered until now.
Join Dan as he learns about the fate of these men and their remains and uncovers the truth behind the bones in the attic.
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#historyhit #dansnow #waterloo

[@HistoryHit]

We were so lucky to have exclusive access to these bones, which really bring home the human cost of the battle...😮 If you enjoyed this, check out our video on last summer's dig with the Waterloo Uncovered team, where a full skeleton was uncovered: kzbin.info/www/bejne/Y5fSgXx4adelgLs

[@hetrodoxly1203]

Were they black?

[@rogersheddy6414]

A very interesting fact is that in the American South after the Civil War there were Northern agents who went all through the countryside purchasing Bones from Farmers which they then shipped to factories that converted them into fertilizer. The farmers would claim, as would the purchasing agents, that they were only buying up horse bones that were showing up on the battlefield. It was pretty plain, even then, that the farmers, many of whom had started out before the war being impoverished, didn't really care what the bones were from...

[@hetrodoxly1203]

@Michael Myke And?

[@EuroWarsOrg]

Please tell us you are not related to John Snow from C4?

[@vincentmcnabb939]

Why do you think it is acceptable to treat the mortal remains of these men as mere exhibits? They should be reinterred with Christian ceremony. They and their families wouldn't have wished for anything else. Human remains are sacred. The passage of time does not remove the human rights and dignity of these men.

[@StephBer1]

I'm glad to you're spending time showing the horror of war. As a kid I used to be fascinated by war and battle tactics and the heroism of it all. As I grew older I realised that every statistic was a person, a person who died or was brutally wounded for a cause, many of whom did not believe in. They gave up their lives for their countries. They left behind loved ones who mourned for them for the rest of their lives, they left behind children who will never see their fathers again. War is tragedy and monsters who start wars should never be celebrated. Thank you for treating the bones of these soldiers with such respect.

[@tim7052]

Very well said!! 👍

[@DavidSmith-ss1cg]

This is true. There's a famous image of an armor cuirass(breast-plate) worn by a French cavalryman, with a baseball-size hole in it, which obviously came from a cannonball, that gives one an idea of the horror of the Napoleonic Wars; another instance is the fate of British General Sir John Moore, who died after being fatally wounded by a cannonball striking and crushing his left chest and shoulder. Since the World War, Part One, however, most casualties are caused by shrapnel from shell-bursts; and the shell-bursts is what led to the widespread use of distinctive helmets by modern armies. Machine guns and burning people with Napalm doesn't count as innovations; we already knew that bullets and burning are bad for us. I agree with you about the horror of war; as an older military vet it's awful just dealing with the horrors of the passage of time and the poor choices our civilization encourages us to make. But when you're young and strong, you HAVE to admit that those military movers - and tanks and planes - sure are COOL....that feeling of raw power is what sells a lot of cars and trucks.

[@debbylou5729]

Freedom isn’t free

[@debbylou5729]

@@DavidSmith-ss1cgyes, napalm was an innovation. People are still talking about Greek fire. What a bunch of wusses

[@TeddyBear-ii4yc]

@@DavidSmith-ss1cg It is the mothers who pay the price of "war". No matter the side, it is they who will mourn most deeply without end. And it comes from the other direction... the last words of many young soldiers is "mother!" or of a wife. Battle and facing your death must strip all layers or the veneer of society from you and you'll speak to the very basics of your existence and what is most important... your mum!

[@ricklee6686]

In the words of Wellington, "The sadest thing next to a battle lost is a battle won."

[@jaggedskar3890]

Ironically he was very angry with the construction of that monument since it altered the battlefield topography. He felt people would not be able to appreciate the difficulties and sacrifices made since it was altered.

[@evilstorm5954]

@@jaggedskar3890 Was going to mention the same mate. Well said.

[@DaveSCameron]

In the words of Morrissey, "... With love, hate and passion just like mine, They were born and then they lived and then they died, seems so unfair, I want to cry...

[@YedolfWesler]

We love to hurt each other.

[@John-ob7dh]

@@YedolfWesler yes sadly I found that out in my 8 years of karate 1972 to 1980. Sadly got a high when I realised I had hurt the other guy .

[@larry648]

My great great great grandfather, a German from Aurich, was forced into Napoleon’s army. He fought at Waterloo. After, he fled to the United States. He is the only veteran of the Napoleonic war to settle in this area of Michigan.

[@belis35]

Why do you think that your ancestor has been forced to fight in Napoleon’s army as a German in 1815 ? after Napoleon ‘s return from exile no German territory was occupied by French army. If he was still in French army at that time it was certainly not against his will.

[@larry648]

@@belis35 well, the story is he was out “ wandering around seeing the world” and he was pressed into service. Aurich was in the first French empire 1810-1813 then part of the kingdom of Prussia from 1813-1815. He might have been part of the army before 1813, that we don’t know. When he returned to Aurich he was an outcast so he came to Michigan to be with his older brother. One of his sons was my great great grandfather. One of his other sons died in the Wheat Field at Gettysburg with the 5th Michigan infantry. My parents still live on land that was our original farm, it’s been in the family since the 1850’s. It’s all In our family bible we still have. The story is also on our county’s history book. I can trace my family back to his father in 1776. My mothers side of the family was French and were part of the first family’s to settle Detroit and Windsor Ontario. My mother can still speak French and my father is the first non Frenchman in the family. They call us muskrat French in this part of Michigan.

[@belis35]

@@larry648 👍

[@adilsonadilsonbettio1063]

Two Prussian soldiers of the Napoleon Real Guard migrated to Brasil, Rio Grande do Sul. They participated in the Russian campaing. Afther Waterloo defeat, where one of them was wounded and persecuted by Prussians, they migrated. They were caled Anton Kieling and Mathias Mombach.

[@Tobi-ln9xr]

Why wasn’t he fighting for Prussia? Aurich was a part of Prussia.

[@williambodin5359]

Uxbridge lost a leg right at the end of the battle while riding next to Wellington. Wellington dined alone in his HQ the night of the battle because his entire staff had been killed, wounded or gone missing. Don't think the generals and officers were somehow immune to all the carnage. They died just like everybody else.

[@pinchevulpes]

I’ve lost my leg sir. By god sir, you have 😢

[@76629online]

Just think, if so much can disappear in just 200 years, imagine how much has disappeared from ancient human history. We literally don't know squat.

[@suzyqualcast6269]

I've read and variously accumulated that, in the way way back, in foreign lands off the Med, Bosphorus etc, as one kingdom overcame another there was mass looting, destruction of edifices, statuary and Burning of the great libraries from, even to them, ancient times. As you say so much, heaven knows HOW MUCH invaluable 'our past', gone in a bonfire. 'We' are thick/stupid, beyond belief, or have been.

[@libbypowell4278]

I would argue that we do know squat ☺️

[@TheGnue]

Well they actually did not disappear. But was unburied. And used as fertilizer.

[@Denden971]

Countless past civilizations will remain unknown to us...

[@TheGnue]

@Denneska Well I agree to that to a certain point.. We do know alot of previous civilization until the egypt/Greek era.. before that is a bit blur

[@tancreddehauteville764]

Tragic. Respect and honour to all the men who died in this terrible battle.

[@arejaycee5704]

This adds another layer to the story of Waterloo We become accustomed to hearing about the losses both sides suffered but to see so graphically the type of wounds inflicted on either side really hits home the horror and brutality of war.

[@fosterfuchs]

The Pièce de Résistance (if you will) would be if somehow DNA could be extracted from the amputated leg. The DNA could be matched to a family somewhere in the UK. And through genealogical research, it could be determined who the leg belonged to. A man can dream.

[@Charon-5582]

Sounds rather costly

[@krashd]

Or better yet we can use the DNA to regrow the soldier like in Jurassic Park.

[@irenehartlmayr8369]

@@krashd Not possible,scientifically....!

[@marlo714]

As a French, I really love England's history, as much as French history.

[@cshartley101]

In many respects, English history is French history, and vice versa.

[@pixelpatter01]

I agree. I wonder how the world would be different if the French had won at Waterloo. A united Europe under one leader may have avoided the world wars and ushered in a golden age.

[@Berkcam]

We'll shoot you for saying that 😂😂😂🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿

[@colinglen4505]

@@pixelpatter01 I think humans would have found another way to mess up that golden age; it's what humans do.

[@flintandball6093]

@pixelpatter01 you ask the same if France had won the sevens years War in north america.

[@privateer0561]

Like our Battle of Gettysburg. Over 50,000 casualties; 7,000 killed outright, with 11,000 missing/captured, 33,000 wounded. And we have pictures since it occurred in 1863...

[@davidpowell5437]

It's not just Waterloo... They have never found the mass graves from Agincourt, Hastings, even the Battle of Shrewsbury referenced in Shakespeare. And, no doubt, many others. I reckon a lot of it is down to local farmers - bonemeal has always been valuable, and if they dig up a few of they furriners while quarrying horse bones... Things didn't really improve for the common soldier, in this respect, until WW1 with its legacy of War Cemeteries.

[@harbourdogNL]

Exactly. And some peasant being paid by the pound or hundredweight for bones isn't going to worry about whether it's a horse or a human getting loaded onto his cart. Nor would a factory owner, you can be certain.

[@rogersheddy6414]

As I recall reading from one of the chroniclers of the day, after the battle of crecy all of the Dead were crammed into a local church, around which they stacked more wood, and then set it on fire. After all, the church was a Sanctified location, and cremation was considered... Okay.

[@fleetskipper1810]

Nor did the buyers of the bones.

[@johnough4893]

referred to in Shakespeare, not referenced. Let's not use sloppy American grammar (sic) here.

[@davidpowell5437]

@@johnough4893 Lets compromise - "mentioned" 🙂

[@Frank-il3kt]

I remember watching you and your father many years ago as a kid. I’m 31 now with a PhD in history. Thank you for protecting history.

[@cliverockability3829]

I have a flintlock pistol that dates to around 1798. It is made by Henry Nock of London and has the initials JC on one side of the woodwork. Still functions. I would guess that it private purchase as it would have been expensive. To think it was around when these soldiers were alive makes you think.

[@Russia-bullies]

Kudos to the show for not sanitizing past wars & bringing the reality of past wars to us.I hope the archaeology on the Napoleonic Wars continue as a “window” to a unique & little known part of history.

[@irenehartlmayr8369]

This part of history is far from being " little known ".

[@lisaconner7609]

RIP poor souls❤️‍🩹

[@andrewhart6377]

These bones which survived obviously were missed by the British fertiliser Consortium which came over and collected every fragment they could find for processing back in Britain. Almost akin to the famous 'Body Snatchers' of a later Era.

[@garyrebholz4139]

Discovered only recently the German-American newspaper obituary for my Kölnishe ancestor mentioning his surviving the battle at la Belle Alliance.

[@WhiteCamry]

Link?

[@equarg]

Fun fact. Before the World Wars, it was common for the bones of the fallen to be ground up and sold as fertilizer. That’s why there are so few remains.

[@benburkin7942]

A fantastic, compassionate and explorative video again from History Hit 👍

[@ThehulkGreen]

I may come across as young at 43 to my close family and friends by riding bmx for 21yrs and only stopping my partying antics (drugs) recently but come across like a old man, my thirst for history never ceases. Time and history is boss.

[@MrBonebreaker99]

Great video! Fantastic look at the more personal side of the battle.

[@lisalarosa4546]

This reminds me of the history of my country, the United States, during the Civil War. I had not realized, with the Battle of Waterloo, that soooo many bodies had not been recovered. Thank you for the great historical program. It taught me a lot about the Napoleon battle, I did not know.

[@John-ob7dh]

Wellington was once asked what he thought of his troops ? . He is said to have replied . I do not know what they do to the enemy , but they scare the hell out of me.

[@gfreeman9843]

The weather was a major factor too..influenced by the eruption of mt Tambora.very wet,dark and miserable.Also influenced Byron's poem darkness and Mary Shelley's Frankenstein.Bleak period.

[@kaptainkaos1202]

I’ve read that the bones found after the battle had been broken and ground to fertilize the fields.

[@anibalcesarnishizk2205]

Matsuo Basho wrote a haiku that reads like that:Summer grass is all what remains of the soldiers' dreams.He wrote it for the soldiers of his country.It can be dedicated to another soldiers around the globe also.

[@---gk9ve]

@@kaptainkaos1202 i read they were digged out and used to make soap

[@deanharris9331]

So much carnage in such a relatively small area as battlefields go. The air must of been full of grapeshot and musket balls........I think if you survived that battle without taking some sort of injury then you were very lucky. The aftermath of that conflict must of been horrendous.

[@johnhenderson131]

Thank you, very interesting.This is the first documentary I’ve ever found of archaeology about the Napoleonic war! Fascinating and informative history, very well done Mr. Dan Snow and History Hit. We must never forget these people lived, loved and were loved and died suffering horrendous wounds under brutal circumstances. In historic terms 1812 wasn’t that long ago. I was in the military, saw combat and the most important lesson I learned is there is no glory in war just pain, suffering and misery.The best war is a war not fought.

[@robertgraves8843]

Time is taking us further away from the battle, but the discoveries are bringing us closer to it.

[@PataPannu]

Imagine loosing your life in a horriffic battle, be burried in unnamed massgrave and then dug up to be used for sugar production.

[@namcat53]

Losing, not "loosing".

[@PataPannu]

@@namcat53 Thank you, citizen, for fullfilling your duty of grammarly correction. You've truly made the comment section a safer place.

[@CharlieGeorge_]

Really appreciate the production quality of this video, it's equal to anything one might see on the TV.

[@the_birthday_skeleton]

Loving this mini series - you bring such brutal clarity to the fog of war

[@rolex0071]

Fantastic video, Dan. The loss of life in all the Wars is so sad. Eamon in Ireland 🇮🇪

[@pergustavsson2424]

About a decade ago, I listened to the BBC History Extra podcast about how the Waterloo mass graves were ransacked for fresh human teeth for use in dentures in the years afterwards. Porcelain teeth were still many years in the future and "Waterloo Teeth" were all the rage.

[@Mr-Science-Stevens]

Best episode yet, well done.

[@cultflicksymposium]

I love when you hear a professional’s passion. Great documentary all around.

[@luannnelson2825]

Thackeray’s great novel Vanity Fair is well worth reading if you want an almost contemporary account of the battle of Waterloo. If you want something written in a more modern style, I think the Georgette Heyer novel An Infamous Army is also good.

[@Mdeaccosta]

Oh, you beat me to it!! I just commented about Vanity Fair and here you are, a week ago. Love that book, especially the Waterloo scenes.

[@williamrobinson7435]

Good this! It's nice to see the people behind this archaeology.. Nice one Dan! 🌟👍

[@johncartwright8154]

I notice that the skulls shown had their teeth. Many cadavers had teeth removed to be made into dentures for the Gentry of England whose teeth decayed due to the fact they could indulge in sugar, which the 'lesser classes' couldn't afford, so their teeth were somewhat healthier. "Waterloo Teeth". The facial wound shown is horrendous. From the angle and shape, I wonder if it was inflicted by a heavy cavalry sabre.

[@sharonrigs7999]

Perhaps a P1796 Heavy

[@JelMain]

The surgeon responsible was an ancestor of mine, Claudius Ash, on my mother's side. The actress Leslie Ash and the actor Jim Dale are also descendants of his. My father apprenticed as a dental technician in the 1930s, before joining REME in 1944 (dental technicians being in a Reserved Profession), which skilled him up. After the war, he joined the Institution of Mechanical Engineers, as Frederic Lanchester's last protégé, and ended up Director of R&D, having headed the Automotive and Railway Divisions. As a materials technologist, he served on many Parliamentary Select Committees, which drew him to the attention of Prince Philip, who was in search of such an expert to create the Council of Engineering Institutions. When the Prince found he was dealing with the son of one of his own mentors as a young officer (the family's been naval engineers since the 1760s, and dates back to the ark as sailors), a friendship was formed. In particular relevance was an episode in the mid-1970s, when the possibility of hip implants was under examination. The surgical lead on the Select Committee, Professor Sir Bernard Lucas, was on the point of giving up, because the femurs kept splitting out (a shaft goes into the centre, normally full of marrow). When he asked if there were any other suggestions, Dad, having kept his council, had an opportunity to speak out, referencing Leonardo da Vinci's description of the body as "a marvellous machine", and suggesting that, rather than using surgical techniques, they use engineering ones. He was given permission to go ahead, and so had the surgeons open and close, but recruited a team from the Roehampton prosthetics centre ream out the hole, and fit the implant mechanically. The first drill was actually an electrical motorcycle cylinder reamer! Dad had next to no sleep the night vefore, but was a very happy man when it was successful. The Queen Mother was the first member of the Royal Family to receive one, and the Prince, as well. The house wasn't just full of hip implants (brilliant paperweights, massively over-engineered, the successful ones weighed about half the originals), we also had dental implants, which at first were butterfly-shaped, to lie alongside the jaw. They're now drilled into the bone. The reason Waterloo teeth were so successful is that life expectancy was about the mid-60s, as rotting teeth caused sepsis. The French reaction, when they heard what had happened, was horror: how could the dead be treated thus, at the Second Coming, they'd re-arise toothless! To this day, to call someone a tire-dents (a tooth-puller) is an invitation to settle things outside.

[@johncartwright8154]

@@JelMain Fascinating account. Thanks for taking the time to write this. My father used to attend Roehampton, having lost a leg in North Africa, May 9th 1943 just a couple of days before the Axis surrender there.

[@JelMain]

@@johncartwright8154 I'm reminded of a visit with friends to the Museum in the centre of Waterloo. One of them was the hospitality coordinator of a City bank, and I'd moved from an FT-100 Corporate Treasurer to International Diplomacy. As we were there, a Society personality we both knew (a descendant of Lord Uxbridge) wandered into the room, and pointed out, in their usual snobby way, their ancestor's false leg, in one corner. I simply couldn't resist, given the other side of the tale, the individual went white and studiously avoided me thereafter! Objective achieved.

[@reginaromsey]

The bones of the fallen were gathered up by bone pickers and sold to farmers to grind up for bone meal to fertilize their fields. The same happened to the bones of Union and Confederate soldiers which were either left where they fell and rotted feeding the animals like vultures or hogs or even placed in hastily dug, shallow graves.

[@huibertlandzaat1889]

You made a very nice video about an important topic. Thanks for uploading.

[@KHKH-os6kt]

That is why my grandfather could never take about ww1 battlefield fighting. He saw too much.

[@kennithminnich]

My Grandfather too..

[@kingmaker2865]

Iv been to Waterloo twice , a truly fascinating place. I always wondered why so few bodies had be found for such a monumental battle. Its good to draw attention and highlight the human cost and now that remains are found it brings it to a whole new perspective. Regardless of politics and nationalism.. it takes balls of steel to enter a battlefield . Fairplay to the lads 👌

[@kevfit4333]

The bodies were collected and processed into fertilizer. Teeth removed to make dentures. No joke, that's what happened, look it up.

[@MrJest2]

@@kevfit4333 Fertilizer or, as noted, a catalyst for the processing of sugar. Bodies were merely a resource to be used; it's always been that way throughout most of human existence. Only in very recent times has that changed - and only in certain places and cultures.

[@haroldrupert4957]

Thanks for sharing this great video tribute.

[@davidschlageter5962]

Horrific that those brave soldiers were dug up and used in a factory.

[@Diemerstein]

There are many acts done in the past that were normal we would consider appalling today in every country.

[@jimcronin2043]

I learned from another video that in addition to the Waterloo Battlefield skeletons having disappeared, so also did its terrain features as great amounts of earth were scraped from the surroundings to build the memorial mound and as a result the rolling countryside was turned into a flat plain.

[@terencebernard2337]

I see that also it was very good

[@davidpowell5437]

Wellington himself, in a later visit, was apalled and was reported to have said "They have ruined my battlefield!" He was concerned that future historians would be unable to properly understand his strategy and contemporary accounts of the way the battle unfolded. He was correct - you really don't have to move much soil to leave people unable to see how large bodies of men could be concealed and protected simply by being "over there"...

[@Rusty_Gold85]

There was a Huge Incline in front of the Smohain road. A lot of battle witnesses talk of this rise and moving down the slopes during Neys Cavalry Charge . The Scots Greys Charge could hardly happen as they had to traverse a W profile lump either side in the road and ride through the Scottish Regiments standing in the way

[@christianbuczko1481]

The bones were used as fertilizer.

[@kaoskronostyche9939]

@@christianbuczko1481 Yes. He glossed over it with "... dug up and disposed of." 'This was not a well-documented business, but it was reported on and became part of popular folklore. In 1822, a correspondent wrote in The Observer: “It is now ascertained beyond a doubt, by actual experiment on an extensive scale, that a dead soldier is a most valuable article of commerce; and, for aught known to the contrary, the good farmers of Yorkshire are, in a great measure, indebted to the bones of their children for their daily bread.” Source: History Extra website.

[@joshrawlings2621]

Haven’t watched this But Liked it immediately….! Looking forward to the history & How an Attic became a Tomb.

[@Rese516]

I find this all very interesting. Thank you for covering it.

[@anthonystevens8683]

Very well presented Dan and the team. We really need to learn from the horror of the battlefield regardless of when or who was involved so I have to applaud you for sharing this with us all. Nobody wants to get hurt, killed or whatever but there seems to be something within some who want to exhibit exactly that. Thank you History Hit for sharing. We really need to stop wars that result in the killing of each other. Surely we should have evolved enough to see that by now and rise above it.

[@JelMain]

The tales out of Ukraine indicate a certain army simply does not qualify as evolved. To some extent, on the other hand, we have: I'm from the team which won the 2012 Nobel Peace Prize, and part of that was the expression of exactly what you're talking about. No war has continued forever, so Clausewitz' glib Continuation of Policy is puerile. It's simply a race to the bottom, until one side exhausts its resources and loses, which doesn't address the issues unless genocide follows. I was put in a position to complete Gandhi's work, creating an understanding which made the incessant India-Pakistan war futile. That lies in the future for Ukraine, as Putin's not interested. Given that the other means is ridiculous, the time will come when wiser heads will have to take control, and I know the UN has done some planning. Peacemaking in a culture which lacks the concept can only be done by extirpating the macho culture in the raising of the very young, those whose personality hasn't yet fixed to consider whatever crazy ideology we're concerned with is normal, which happens at the end of infancy. Those aged over 7, as Loyola said, are indoctrinated for life, and so must be survived. By the time they're in their late 50s, the number of less bigoted citizens makes them less of a danger, but it does mean that peacemaking forces are a 2-generation commitment.

[@captango]

It's always the leaders who wish to start wars.

[@JelMain]

@@captango That's far too generic to be true. Does that mean Zelenskyy should have surrendered? It only takes one, and at least one war was started over a ridiculous pretext, an excuse rather than the true reason.

[@DavidSmith-ss1cg]

@@JelMain - That won't make 'those who think and feel' rest easy...Einstein said that "the atom bomb changes everything - except the way men think." The country that is the only one to have used the atom bomb - and justified using it - is the one seeming to be pushing Russia towards that "slippery slope," by making state-of-the-art weapons easily available to Ukraine and soliciting new members for NATO(remember NATO, the "He-man Soviet-Haters Club?), and calling the cold and tired Ukrainian soldiers "Freedom Fighters." Isn't it interesting that the bones of the Waterloo casualties - and their horses - were used to process white sugar, which was so important to the British Empire, and remains important to the USA today. And that not many are aware that the burning of bones is what makes your sugar white.

[@JelMain]

@@DavidSmith-ss1cg If you really want to make a fool of yourself, keep going. You're talking to the retired crisis manager from NATO's peer associate, WEU, who wrote the sources. The pressure to escalate's coming from the former Warsaw Pact, who don't relish being next on the butcher's block. Biden's trying to restrain them by not supplying the Abrams immediately, when everyone else is committing their reserves. Putin knows, from Trump, where the red lines were (they've shifted, antagonistically). Oh, I should add, we won the 2012 Nobel Peace Prize. So stuff your nonsense where the sun don't shine.

[@clintwilde1048]

In Flat Rock, NC, at the St. John's in the Wilderness Episcopal Church, located on the north side near the wall of the sanctuary is a very old raised crypt. Within in, according to the inscription, are the remains of a French solider who fought with Napoleon at Waterloo.

[@constancemiller3753]

A veteran not a casualty?

[@mrjoba3208]

I’m definitely going to get History Hit now 😊

[@Emthe30something]

Clicked right in. Halfway through, and enjoying the presentation so far.

[@harridottie]

Nothing beats watching a history documentary while hunkering down during Cyclone Gabrielle here in NZ 🇳🇿

[@stacyellis5370]

Dan's the most eloquent presenter. And not just another pretty face! He knows his stuff.

[@beagledog5094]

All I can say is WOW! I was also so shocked to hear about the vast majority of the bones being burned to aid in the production of sugar.

[@murphychurch8251]

I had to listen to that part three times to understand, as the first two times I thought I must have misheard it. 🤢🤢

[@cgnicolis]

@@murphychurch8251 in the early '90s I worked in a sugar refinery on the east coast of the US; it had been there since the turn of the century and employed both traditional and more modern techniques. One of the buildings was known as the 'char house' and had about 20 giant tanks that were used to filter the raw sugar syrup during the refining process. The tanks were filled with ground up charred bones (presumably cattle) as the filter. About 1992 as I recall they switched to a sand based system.

[@mirroredvoid8394]

@@murphychurch8251 When you die you slowly turn into plant food, fact of life. Some people had the bright idea to speed up that process.

[@murphychurch8251]

@@mirroredvoid8394 Well, with that reasoning, eating human flesh would be "speeding up the process". 😂 I consider it two different things when one body is eaten by little organisms, digested by them, turned into excrements, the excrements then acts as fertilizer for a tree and the other body is basically cremated and its ashes mixed with sugar and eaten by other humans, that's why I have some problems with this. I'm all for human rapid composting etc as new ways of dealing with corpses, no problem. But in this case the soldiers did not choose to be ground for the food industry, neither did their families who maybe didn't even find out when and how exactly their loved one's died and were buried in the first place.

[@mirroredvoid8394]

@@murphychurch8251 wait, they put their ashes into the sugar? Wtf

[@eddyd8745]

It must have been a frightening experience being involved in these gruesome events. Hopefully isotope analysis will help to identify their nationalities by determining where they grew up.

[@steven2212]

The Brits do history right, this is a fantastic example of this. Great series, great narrators and superbly presented. Thank you.

[@speakupriseup4549]

I find it impossible to comprehend how they could stoically stand in formation and see the enemy taking aim at them knowing the hail of shots they were about to receive and the carnage it causes, they were heroic men indeed.

[@Fanakapan222]

Stoic may be a better description. Whilst for the British Army at the time, conscription was not used, its certainly the case that the vast majority of the rank and file would have joined up because they lacked any other options. Life for the common man at that time was incredibly hard to extent of being a survival lottery, so for blokes that had joined the kate because of a dearth of choices, it was a lottery that for the winners promised a slightly easier life. Check out the famous painting of the 28th foot at Quatre Bras, by Lady Butler, and how she captured the emotions on the faces of the soldiers.

[@eze8970]

@@Fanakapan222 Good points. Anyone could die from disease within a couple of days back then, from commoner to royalty, I think they tended to be more fatalistic. People were dying of starvation in Britain up until WW2. Oddly enough, I had a copy of the painting you mentioned.

[@Fanakapan222]

@@eze8970 Yes, she had quite a way with the brush back in the days when the sun never set :) My favourites in that painting are the two younger guys in the front ranks who appear to be having a whale of a time.

[@tjm3900]

There was no mention of Waterloo teeth? I read that teeth from the dead had been used to make dentures. I am sure the bodies were looted. I wonder how long the battle field remained a stinking mess before the bodies were removed ?

[@eze8970]

@@tjm3900 Yes teeth were used as dentures. Bodies would have been buried as quickly as possible, so land could return to farming, & people coming along the main Capital's road wouldn't have to see the carnage. Once buried, it wouldn't have taken too long for nature to have done it's work, to allow just the bones to be taken away. I think the 'sand pit' next to La Haye Sainte farmhouse was used as a burial pit.

[@MGMan-ce7sf]

Such important, impactful history and so well filmed (as is always the case with History Hit). It's difficult to give this a "thumbs up", though. It feels banal and irreverent given what these people endured. I suppose it's just about the video itself, which deserves it.

[@mikeure1528]

so compelling. thanks for the video.

[@annnee6818]

This was fascinating thank you

[@stevenkostamo1279]

Seeing the shattered femur, and how 170 years ago the best medical practice was to amputate the leg. As I watch this documentary, while taking more prescription opiates for the pain I endure as the rain falls, My right leg was shattered not only near the same spot on the femur, but also the tibia plateau, and fibula, in one car accident, but the knee cap fractured a few years before, the tibia malus, and fibula shattered 5 years before in a plane crash that broke 35 bones and teeth all in an instant, and a fragment of bone pulled out of one of my foot bone 20 years earlier. I still walk and climb mountains every week, sometimes twice a week. I sometimes wonder if it would be better to have a prosthetic leg, and not have to deal with the pain every day. A lot of metal hardware has been put into and most has been removed, so I can still use the parts of my right leg that still works, sort of. I am amazed at how far orthopedic surgery has come in the past 170 years. My skull and jaw had more damage than either of the skulls shown in this documentary, and I am still here.

[@karlfonner7589]

You are one tough son of a gun. I hope you have good days More than bad ones

[@mortyblink8355]

God bless you, brother. Amen

[@fleetskipper1810]

What a change in medicine in so short a time. I wonder what changes the next 200 years will bring?

[@geoffbell166]

You would have died of gangrene or blood poisoning and shock back then,when they sawed your leg off,with a piece of wood to bite on ..

[@TheLasTBreHoN]

This person is lying to get replys and likes. I do it too. On another vid I commented saying I lost 400lb. What's wrong with us 😩

[@gou8147]

Vive l'Empereur! La France aurait grandement besoin d'un tel homme aujourd'hui.

[@geoffreydowen5793]

great research, credit to all involved and well delivered .

[@darrylbutt2570]

Another superb video.

[@roberthickerty390]

I have read many books, real and fictional, about the Napoleonic wars. In somany ways they are just fascinating stories. The sight of those two devastating wounds, the bayoneted skull and the shattered, amputated femur was a truly stop you in your tracks moment. The reality of what these soldiers endured and how they died drove home the true ugliness and horror of those wars. These were not fictional people but real soldiers who died in agony.

[@Mdeaccosta]

Vanity Fair, when Becky has the only horses left in town.😄 The fog of war and hysterical rumor so cynically portrayed: I love Thackeray

[@steveconway1948]

Its fantastic to see the respect shown to those that gave their lives for their country, dug up and used to make sugar from beets, truely awesome, all so some money grubbing people could make a profit. Take note brave men how much value is placed on your valour.

[@almacmathain6195]

It is a pity those that fought and their families were not show any respect. Just watched a documentary on the Highland which we’re going at the time of the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars, the Duke of Sutherland raised a regiment mainly from his tenant farmers and their sons and while they were fighting evicted their families from their homes and farms to replace them with large sheep farms which made him more money than the farmers rents.

[@Calidore1]

@@almacmathain6195 Good grief, is that true??

[@almacmathain6195]

@@Calidore1 I am sorry to say it is true. After the post-1746 ‘pacification’ of the highland the chiefs were converted into land owning aristocrats,but their estates did not produce the same level of rents that the English lords received. The emphasis had been on having as many men as your tenants who would follow the chief into battle rather rather than to get the greatest financial return from the clan’s lands. Once the chiefs no longer needed their tenants to fight in clan battles and as more of the chiefs sons came back from the English and Lowland schools they were encouraged to send them to, the chiefs families started to want to enjoy the lives that Lowland and English aristocrats were leading and sought to emulate their life styles. Unfortunately the clan lands did not produce for them the level of rent income that Lowland and English landlords were able to extract from their tenants. The solution many highland chiefs found acceptable was to evict their clansmen to either the costal areas to be fhisher/crofters or ship them off to Canada or Australia. The cleared farms were converted into large sheep walks and the clan folk replace with Cheviot sheep and a few Lowland shepherds to produce wool for sale to the Clydesdale and Yorkshire spinning and weaving mills. The tragedy was that a couple of decades on the Australian sheep farmers started to export their wool to the U.K. and the landlords who had cleared their land of tenants lost their inflated incomes, having destroyed their clans in a vainly attempting to keep up a style of living without sufficient income started to sell off their lands to English and foreign businessmen and industrialists. That’s how the Highlands, that were home to at least half the population of Scotland became the green deserts, devoid of their once plentiful population, that they are today.

[@william-alexandreclement3035]

I was there the day you took that film and was so impressed to see you that I didn't find any strength to bother you!

[@thedevilinthecircuit1414]

Truly fascinating stuff. I wonder mow much more bones there may be stashed away in attics or cellars, long forgotten as the people who know about them pass away.

[@_chaos_insurgency9546]

hello there keep up the great work

[@SoundOfOceanBlue]

I wish there was some way to do genetic matching of the remains to match the various bones to each other and because of genealogy dna records to match the remains to any living relatives and hopefully find out if any of these men survived as in the case of the amputee or allow for at least their name to be found and maybe give them a proper burial. These were fathers, brothers and sons of someone who loved them dearly. It just makes me sad looking into the empty shattered sockets of a once living breathing human being. RIP whoever you were, I hope you found peace.

[@birdinthebush]

First of all, thanks for the series. Love them! No doubt Trafalgar was a great naval victory for Britain, Nelson deservedly a national hero, just as Wellington is a national hero in Spain, ridding us of Napoleon the invader. But there is battle, not much discussed, during which Nelson received life changing injuries, but which ended in a very gentlemanly fashion. Please, look up Battle of Santa Cruz de Tenerife. Maybe because of that battle, Spanish is still spoken here in the Canaries. The battle is well documented and, in my opinion, deserves some attention. Thanks again. Best wishes. Tino González Lacoste Las Palmas de Gran Canaria

[@johncartwright8154]

@@birdinthebush Not your countries history so you are forgiven! 😁 How many Brits are familiar with your nation's history? Not many probably!

[@John-ob7dh]

In the National maritime museum in Greenwich , London Nelsons uniform is on display with the musket ball hole visible where he was shot .I have stood there looking at it a few times . He was of slight build.

[@roberthudson1959]

@@birdinthebush Thanks for acknowledging the mistake and then fixing it. I will delete my first comment.

[@irenehartlmayr8369]

The napoleonic invasion brought a lot of innovation to Spain.And educated Spaniards know that!

[@birdinthebush]

@@irenehartlmayr8369 According to that, Britain would have benefited greatly from being invaded by Napoleon, innit. Such a missed opportunity!

[@chiselcheswick5673]

If only those soldiers were to know their skulls and bones would be analysed in such detail over 200 years later.

[@Ronaldl2350]

It's shocking how they treated the soldiers remains instead of how we respect them today.

[@randomname3109]

perhaps. but to the population at large the army was generally an alternative to prison. most soldiery were probably criminal, vagrant, wanted, or otherwise down on their luck . grizzy, but they were the times

[@harrybruijs2614]

They also were not all dead, but killed by the scavengers.

[@rijamor]

@@randomname3109 Didn't Wellington refer to his soldiers as 'the scum of the earth'?

[@harrybruijs2614]

@@rijamor only after the battle of Vitoria which he lost because of the soldiers braking the ranks.

[@edwardbutt691]

Different times back then. - I suggest you read my comment in 'Northern Light' further down the page.

[@innocentbystander8038]

That bayonet thrust strait through the eyeball. Brutal.

[@mito88]

bayonet or shrapnel

[@stevenweaver3386]

Musket ball?

[@Shaylok]

The Brits that survived that battle were celebrated as heroes for the rest of their lives. As a matter of fact, there was an old saying about those veterans: "It doesn't matter what you do, if you fought in the battle of Waterloo." Meaning the courts were very lenient with them.

[@dionanderson8185]

What an amazing experience especially for Waterloo history.

[@sebastianburr7721]

I love dan so much he’s by far the best presenter ❤️❤️ such a legend

[@Ardass486]

Like his father

[@temperencebennett5669]

I actually didn’t know that sending bones to the sugar refinery was a thing throughout Europe 😮 That’s awful😢💔 It absolutely blows my mind of the history finds that are located in attics and/or are found within peoples belongings. You really don’t get that here in Australia. We are too young to have such a rich history.

[@harbourdogNL]

Indeed. That topic is worthy of a documentary of its own. And when did the practice stop?

[@beverlyanne5192]

Not quite right..Aborginal bodies were dug up and sold 😒

[@temperencebennett5669]

@@beverlyanne5192 My statement was very generalised. I also, stated “You Really don’t get that here in Australia”…This sentence allows for a few exceptions. Australia does not have 1000 plus years of history the way countries in Europe do. In England you can still find coins from the 1500s, in Australia, we are lucky to see an old 1 or 2 cent piece from the 1960s. Attics are not as common here compared to Europe and the time frame of items handed down over time throughout the generations is again massive compared to Australia’s timeframe - we cannot go back any further than 1788. (Yes, I know the Battle of Waterloo was in 1815, but again, my statement was generalised.) An episode of Antiques Roadshow can also demonstrate a wide range of historic items from peoples homes/attics. We do not have the same here.

[@lauramartin-bk9nr]

@@temperencebennett5669 Yeah no history because the Australian aborigines were considered animals and not historical figures and were subjected to a state genocide.

[@MrJest2]

@@harbourdogNL Around WWI. Until the early 20th century, most war dead were simply dumped in mass graves just to avoid the mess of decomposition and potential disease (which was largely overstated; people live near garbage dumps with no real ill effects). Later, after decomp was largely completed, the bones of war dead have often been used as "just another resource" for most of human history.

[@emilioalcazar4170]

Awesome documental..thanks to be the voice of that heroical bones..the voice of our history

[@mrpresident7121]

Magnificent, thank you very much!!!

[@DidierDidier-kc4nm]

i like Dan Snow ;i remember watching him and his father back in the day, i enjoyed a lot watching ''Britain'Battlefields'' if could History hit air them again . anyway many thx history hit an felictations de France

[@TheFunkhouser]

Its terrifying what they went through and what we as humans seem to put yourselves through! Crazy!

[@juri.limonn]

really interesting, thanks!

[@philipprichardt8057]

There is the account of a German soldier, Friedrich Lindau, who fought among the rifles of the KGL. He was one of the few survivors of the fight at La Haye Sainte. His memoirs are available in English.

[@Justin-pe9cl]

The “in an attic” part made me do a double take.

[@alitlweird]

I’ve got a few skeletons in me closet. I have no idea what’s in my attic. I won’t go up there.

[@shafur3]

Thank you great Vidieo. May they RIP🙏🙏🙏🌹

[@jimhamilton3544]

That was a very moving experience these men went through in WW2 that I will never forget their bravery and devotion to one another

[@chiselcheswick5673]

WW2?? What are you on about??

[@vollste]

Ah, these men died like 130 years before WWII.

[@harrycarter1722]

Another is to understand the human willingness to join battle, with these outcomes.

[@tomservo5347]

Didn't Wellington state "They destroyed my battlefield!" when he re-visited it years later and saw the massive observation hill?

[@lauramartin-bk9nr]

"MY battlefield"? What a narcissist. NO: it was those poor Unknown Soldier`s battlefield.

[@robertb4563]

That is what I heard as well.

[@j.harbottle8928]

Wow, great vid, always watch Dan's stuff. To actua;lly meet an actual combatant of Waterloo make one think...

[@lewismorrison4098]

Excellent 👍

[@handsfree1000]

The horror of war isn’t enough to stop war.

[@MakerInMotion]

Very considerate to Dr. Wilkin to film with him in the foreground. Since everyone who stands next to Dan Snow looks short.

[@derekstocker6661]

Well done on this one Dan. There were stories of bones being used as fertilizer by farmers on some battle sites, how true I have no idea but some have mentioned that bones from the Battle of Hastings may have disappeared from this usage.

[@katherinecollins4685]

Interesting documentary

[@thomasgumersell9607]

Great video showing the intimate details of how these Soldiers died at Waterloo. Incredible how few Skeletal remains were left on the actual battlefield. Due to the farmers helping themselves so long ago. Hopefully DNA will finally put a nationality to these human remains. 💪🏻🙏🏻✨

[@casualobserver7867]

Large scale grave robbing goes way back and forward to fairly recent times. Second world war ship wrecks have been disappearing due to metal scavengers. Any bones still on the ships (according to reports) have been thrown into mass pits.

[@liviosinibaldi3632]

Poor simple people who died even not understanding the reasons. So sad...

[@MintyLime703]

This was the early 1800s. People weren't exactly unaware of contemporary politics.

[@marycampbell3431]

The amputee mentioned at 16:16 was in the British Army but was not necessarily English. He could have been Scottish, Welsh or Irish, the last of these nationalities making up at least 30% of Wellington's army.

[@niclasjohansson4333]

There was more German and Dutch soldiers than British in Wellingtons army !

[@edwardbutt691]

Don't be so pedantic - no one is trying to insult your ancestry.

[@krashd]

@@niclasjohansson4333 No, there wasn't.

[@niclasjohansson4333]

@@krashd At the start of the battle, Wellington led an army of 68000 men. Of those the British army consisted of 25000, English, Scottish, welsh and Irish (including Wellington himself) soldiers, plus another 6000 men of the Kings German legion. The others were from the Netherlands, (17000), 11000 from Hanover, 6000 from Brunswick, and Nassau (3000). I am not sure about your math skills, so once again, THERE WAS MORE GERMAN AND DUTCH SOLDIERS IN WELLINGTONS ARMY !

[@Blend-24]

Very fascinating.

[@lizchatfield692]

Finding the remains of the lead ball in the bone was great .

[@edwardbutt691]

I suggest you read my comment in 'Northern Light' further down the page.

[@mbak7801]

The Peterloo massacre was a slaughter of innocents attending a peaceful rally in Manchester asking for representation of the cotton towns at Parliament in London. Here children, women, and at least one, probably more survivors of the Waterloo battle only four years earlier were hacked to death. Waterloo was brutal, Peterloo was sadistically murderous slaughter without any honour.

[@michellekrueger5122]

How does one find out more about Peterloo?🤔

[@krashd]

@@michellekrueger5122 One Googles.

[@irenehartlmayr8369]

@@michellekrueger5122 Better yet,read history books!

[@canaanval]

Bones have never been used to refine beet sugar, as that doesn't need to happen (although it is used for cane sugar refining) "Spodium" is latin for ash, and is used to refer to ash for "medical"/spiritual purposes...not industrial The ground up bones were used as fertilizer

[@thomaslinville1508]

Where can I follow for updates on the remains?