Historical Skullduggery Revealed by a Model Maker

There aren't many great summer reads connecting model makers and skulduggery. For those who love military models, this is the ultimate treat. Peter Hofschröer's book Wellington's Smallest Victory: The Duke, The Model Maker and the Secret of Waterloo, examines the story of how a dedicated researcher and model maker found the truth about a battle which remains in dispute to this day.

In setting out to create a great scale model to commemorate the Battle of Waterloo, Captain William Siborne developed new surveying, mapping, and modelling techniques. He also began a Victorian fad for accurate model soldiers, and with his painstaking research inadvertently called into question the battle accounts of the Duke of Wellington.

Almost two hundred years on, Siborne's model is still on display in a modified version which shows just how small a victory the Iron Duke was determined to win.