27 Feb 2009

SHOW & TELL - Tin soldiers

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When we moved to Waterloo, people started to offer tin soldiers to Mr. Gattino. In a short time he had all soldiers in their different uniforms.


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Here you can see Napoleon, he is the only one I recognize because I know nothing about the uniforms of the different countries fighting in this battle.

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The only thing I admire is their colorful outfit, what a difference to the uniforms soldiers wear today !

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To go along with the battle he also has two books which describe the uniforms in all details.

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There were 72,000 French soldiers consisted of 58,000 infantry, 14,000 cavalry, and 7,000 artillery with 250 guns.Wellington had 67,000 men: 50,000 infantry, 11,000 cavalry, and 6,000 artillery with 150 guns. Of these, 24,000 were British, with another 6,000 from the King's German Legion. All of the British Army troops were regular soldiers and 7,000 of them were Peninsular War veterans. In addition, there were 17,000 troops from the Netherlands, 11,000 from Hanover, 6,000 from Brunswick, and 3,000 from Nassau. Can you imagine how colorful the battlefield was !

Over 50 000 soldiers lost their life here in 1815.

19 comments:

  1. What a great collection of soldiers. Years ago my husband had a collection of Civil war soldiers. He ended up selling it to make room for other collections.

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  2. Very nice collection! I imagine they are tiny and you have them behind glass doors to avoid the dust... Dust is my enemy, I would need a cleaning army in my home :)

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  3. Mmmm, I agree with you, it's the colors thats make them attractive to me. OK, the history of them is fantastic too.

    Must have been a fascinating sight - and terrible with all those on the battlefield. Though wars at that time were more fair, more man against man instead of the big bombs following in later wars.

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  4. What a great collection!

    Thanks for the informative post Gattina, it made me read about Waterloo in detail...

    The British (23,000 men) together with 44,000 allied Germans, Belgians, Dutch and Prussians (and their 160 guns) fought against 74,000 members of the French Grande Armée (and their 250 guns). Approximately 141,000 men fought on the Waterloo battlefield that day.... Awesom!

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  5. Amazing!!!!! Now Bud doesn't have any of the soldier collection but he HAS the same books in our library....You know, I've told you that Napoleon is one of his favorite subjects.

    Happy Friday.

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  6. Very interesting collection...I've always loved soldiers and history.
    www.freedoms-fight.blogspot.com

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  7. Nice collection! I think my husband would like them. He is a history buff and loves war related stuff.
    Brenda

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  8. What a marvelous collection you have! You must love them all. Thanks for sharing. Happy Show and Tell Friday!

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  9. What a wonderful collection of tin soldiers and then the books to tell the various uniforms. Great show & tell.
    Susan

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  10. They are so detailed even in this mininiture form!
    Lovely collection.

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  11. I bought some soldiers when visiting Waterloo some years ago. Now if I only could remember where they are.......and I bought a gun too, maybe a subject for another friday.
    Thanks for sharing.

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  12. Wow!!! what a great collection, I know your husband has enjoyed them . You are so right the uniforms are very colorful!!! Thank you for sharing this information Blessings,
    Sue

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  13. What an interesting and nice collection! do you know many journalists see in Sarko a new Napoleon? We red several things about these last weeks. Magasines represented Napoleon on his horse with the head of kokenstein!!!!Imagine le dans la collection de Mr Gattino!!! J'arrive enfin sur mon ordi à 2 h du matin! Kalle aime beaucoup mon ordinateur!

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  14. What a neat collection. I bet the book came in handy ;o).

    Karen

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  15. Very nice collection...colorful bit of history too! My son would love this...

    Blessings,
    Susie

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  16. That's a lovely collection. I admire their colorful uniforms.

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  17. I see both you and the Lord of the Manor are obsessive collectors.

    The war you date around 1815 must be the war that was also waged here in North America. We call it the war of 1812 with the British(In Canada) fighting with the Americans. Both side like to claim victory. The British managing to set the American White House on fire I think gives them the edge. The American don't like to admit this is a war they lost.

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  18. what an awesome collection! i have some homeschool friends who are really into collecting and studying this time frame. they'd love your collection! i'll have to share your post with them :O)

    There is always room in The Shadow of the Cross. Feel free to visit anytime :O).

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  19. A wonderful collection and I can see they are very well taken care of!
    ~Kelli

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