Graeme Cooper

History

Graeme has been battlefield guiding since 1995 and now operates Cooper's Waterloo Tours, a family run business specialising in tailored tours of the Napoleonic Campaign battlefields of the Peninsular War and Waterloo for adults, and leadership training for the military. A Fellow of the International Napoleonic Society (FINS), Graeme qualified as a Waterloo Campaign Guide with Les Guides 1815 in 1998. Graeme's interest in the Waterloo Campaign was sparked during his time as a cadet at the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst by the late lecturers and renowned military historians and authors, Professor Richard Holmes and Dr David Chandler. This intrigue, kept alive by a military career, has maintained his fascination for the Campaign and a strong concern for the preservation of the battlefield, which he first visited in 1973.  In November 2002, Graeme founded The Guild of Battlefield Guides and was the Secretary up until November 2009 when he became the first member of the Guild to be elected to the Roll of Honour for his services to the Guild. Graeme is a recognised Great War and WW2 Guide, member of the Battlefields Trust and former Chairman of the British Army of the Rhine Branch of the Western Front Association. He lives in Essex, is married and has a son and daughter both commissioned in the British Army.  Graeme is proud of his association with BHTV since its formation in 2008. He believes that the Waterloo Collection is a unique and a desirable record of the Waterloo Campaign that every Napoleonic connoisseur should acquire. http://www.waterlootours.co.uk/

Movies

Cavalry Charge: La Haie Sainte & Plancenoit - The French and Prussian Attacks
Cavalry Charge: La Haie Sainte & Plancenoit - The French and Prussian Attacks
Presenter
Following on from Hougoumont and D'Erlon's Attack, Part III starts just as the great battle reaches its crisis point. Marshal Ney launched thousands of France's finest heavy cavalry against Wellington's thinning lines who had already taken a terrible battering on the Mont St Jean Ridge. Wave after wave of armoured horsemen broke against the steady squares of British, Dutch/Belgian and German troops. The crisis, however, took a further turn for the worse as the key bastion in Wellington's centre, the fortified farm of La Haie Sainte, fell to the French onslaught. The way to Brussels was now open and Wellington muttered, 'Give me Blucher or give me night'. With the situation looking bleaker by the second for Wellington and his troops, Napoleon fatefully hesitated to complete the coup de grace as the Prussians had closed in on his right flank at the Village of Plancenoit. Would the Young Guard be able to hold Blucher's men? There was all still to play for.
The Waterloo Collection: Ligny and Quatre Bras - Part 1
The Waterloo Collection: Ligny and Quatre Bras - Part 1
Presenter
This film gives an overview of Napoleons return to France in 1815 before covering in detail the Battles of Ligny and Quatre Bras. Filmed on the Battlefields in Belgium using re-enaction footage expert Presenters follow the Emperors brilliant initial plan which however soon begins to fall apart due to flaws in the French staff, Napoleons arrogance and the courage and fighting ability of the Allied Troops. Both these battles deserve to be better known but they have been overshadowed by Waterloo the culmination of the Campaign
The Waterloo Collection: Hougoumont and D'Erlon's Attack
The Waterloo Collection: Hougoumont and D'Erlon's Attack
Presenter
Following on from Ligny and Quatre Bras, Part II starts by focusing on the concentration of the Allies on the ridge of Mont St Jean and the plans of the opposing armies. While the guns of the Grand Battery thundered in the centre, French columns bore down on the Hougoumont chateau and farm complex, which protected Wellington's flank held by the Guards and their German allies. Thus began an epic 'battle within a battle' that sucked away valuable troops from Napoleon's main attack, causing Wellington to declare that 'the battle turned on the closing of the gates at Hougoumont'.Meanwhile D'Erlons Corps attempted to bludgeon its way through Wellington's centre, not knowing that the British and Dutch line was in waiting on the reverse slope. Upon seeing the French advance, the British released a disciplined volley of musket fire that checked the French. A further brilliantly timed charge by the Household and Union Cavalry Brigades finally saw the French off.
Victory and Pursuit: The Waterloo Collection - Part 4
Victory and Pursuit: The Waterloo Collection - Part 4
Presenter
This final part takes us through the dramatic events when Wellington’s Anglo-Dutch Army aided by Blucher’s Prussians defeat Napoleon. The French army was outfought and Napoleon was out-generaled by Wellington. At Wavre Grouchy beat the Prussian rearguard before retreating to France. Meanwhile, the Anglo-Dutch army counted the bloody cost of the previous days fighting while Wellington wrote his controversial Waterloo Dispatch and the vengeful Prussians pursued the French towards Paris, leading to Napoleon's abdication and the occupation of the city by the Allies.