🎧 What happened to the bones of the Waterloo battlefield?
🎧 Dan Snow's History Hit
•
38m
In June 1815 the French army under the command of Napoleon was decisively beaten by an allied army led by Britain and Prussia at Waterloo in what is now Belgium. This titanic clash took a terrible toll on both men and animals. An estimated 20,000 men lost their lives that bloody day. As archaeologists have attempted to unpick the events of Waterloo a mystery has emerged. What has happened to the remains of the soldiers who fought there?
Very few human or animal remains have been found on the site of the battle. However, an international team of archaeologists and historians have joined forces in a bid to solve this enduring puzzle. A new discovery this summer has found some astonishing evidence to now say why that is. It seems enterprising profiteers likely plundered the site for illegal bone trading, predominantly for the European sugar industry.
Joining Dan on the podcast is Professor Tony Pollard archaeological director of Waterloo Uncovered, historian and scholar Rob Schaefer and Bernard Wilkin Senior Researcher at the Belgian State Archive. They discuss their theory about the fate of the Waterloo remains and why so few have survived.
Warning: this episode contains a frank discussion of dead bodies, animal carcasses, mass graves and amputations.
This episode was produced by Mariana Des Forges, the audio editor was Dougal Patmore.
Up Next in 🎧 Dan Snow's History Hit
-
🎧 Walter Purdy: The Traitor of Colditz
In the Second World War, the Germans liked to boast that there was 'no escape' from the infamous fortress and POW camp Colditz. However, the elite British officers imprisoned there were determined to prove the Nazis wrong and get back into the war; since then the fortress became just as famous fo...
-
🎧 The Tiananmen Square Massacre
In 1989, Beijing's Tiananmen Square became the focus of large-scale demonstrations as mostly young students crowded into central Beijing to protest for greater democracy. On June 4, 1989, Chinese troops stormed through Tiananmen Square, firing into the crowds of protesters. The events produced on...
-
🎧 Mutiny on The Bounty
Numerous novels, TV shows and as many as 5 movies- including the Hollywood classic starring Clarke Gable and Marlon Brando - have immortalised the story of the Mutiny on the Bounty in the popular imagination forever. The mutiny on the HMS Bounty occurred in the South Pacific Ocean on 28 April 178...
