Mr. Cornwell,
I recently was able to obtain a first edition/printing of your “Sea Lord”, once I finish it I believe I will have read everything you’ve published. Of course I’ll have to read “Waterloo” and “The Empty Throne” once they are released in ebook.
Currently I’m attending the National War College (NWC) in DC, and although I’m not in the military I like to think of myself as an student of history, especially military history. Thus one of the main reasons I like your books. In class we just finished the Napoleonic war, and during the class we were shown a scene from a Russian made english movie on the battle of Waterloo. No one in my class had seen this movie. In the scene the French calvary charge after British infantry over a hill. The instructor froze the movie and asked the class what was going to happen? What should the British do? I alone said, “form square”. I was asked to elaborate and explain why this would work. Relying solely on your readings I did. When the scene was unfrozen I was correct. The scene was frozen again, and I was asked what the weakness of “squares” was, and I elaborated on the use of artillery. The instructed asked how I knew this, especially not being in the military or having previously studied this material, I told him I read your books.
I thought you’d like to know that your writing had an impact on at least one student, and probably helped me earn a bit of credit.
Regards,
Shawn
P.S. I wish “Waterloo” had been released a month ago.