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This test consists of 5 short answer questions, 10 short essay questions, and 1 (of 3) essay topics.

Short Answer Questions

1. Where does Sharpe return to in chapter 12?

2. With what does the battle start?

3. Who is in charge of the Prussian army?

4. Where do Sharpe and Harper watch the attack by the French skirmishers?

5. What does Wellington do about the troops' baggage?

Short Essay Questions

1. What is one of the most striking differences at the end of a battle and the disposition of the dead between that era and now?

2. What is the difference between Napoleon and the Duke in how they come before their men and how their men acknowledge them?

3. What explanations about British firing techniques are described in great detail in chapter 15?

4. By the end of Chapter 10 what do each of the characters in the story face?

5. Why, on the third day, are the French still confident of victory?

6. How does D'Alembord's premonition show courage?

7. What does John Rossendale tell his fellow officers about the condition of his sword and pistol in Chapter 10?

8. What type of relationship does the contrast of the two opposing generals have to the two armies?

9. In Chapter 10, what describes a critical decision made by Wellington that ultimately leads to an Allied victory?

10. What does the author's placement of Sharpe in Chapter 14 do as a narrative device?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Though the author Cornwell may or may not have such personal views on women, the way women are characterized in his series is often less than complimentary. Discuss one of the following:

1. Present and analyze the treatment of women in Sharpe's Waterloo.

2. Cornwell is trying to be historically accurate, so is his treatment of women in his book(s) justified?

3. Is there any way Cornwell could have presented women in a more positive light and still stayed historically accurate? Explain.

Essay Topic 2

In Chapter 11, the macabre auction of the personal possessions of the dead officers is another example of the brutally simple disposition of the fallen soldiers' belongings and also their corpses. Only the most privileged soldiers and officers will have the benefit of loved ones and servants to seek them out from the vast field of dead and dying when the battle is over.

1. Do you think the treatment of dead soldiers and their possessions in this era meant that people had little value to society as a whole back then? Why or why not?

2. In terms of manpower does it seem to be short-sighted of the ruling class to pay so little attention to the wounded on the battle field? In other words, how many men may have died who could have survived to continue serving in the military? Why or why not would you consider the ruling class short-sighted in regards to wounded men?

3. Compare and discuss the difference in the way wounded are treated in war today as compared to that era.

Essay Topic 3

D'Alembord's premonition that he will be killed and his developing fear of tomorrow's events exemplifies the true nature of courage, which includes coming to terms with fear and overcoming it.

1. Discuss in detail whether courage is the absence of fear or doing a task in spite of it. Use examples to support your answer.

2. If a person runs from a battle due to fear, do you think that means he will always run from a battle? Why or why not? Use examples to support your answer.

3. If a person goes into combat with no fear and kills a significant number of the enemy and perhaps rescues other soldiers, is that person courageous? In other words, if a person acts like a hero/ine, yet truly has no fear, does that person still qualify as having courage? Why or why not?

(see the answer keys)

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