King’s German Legion Drum

Large numbers of the soldiers who fought in the Allied armies at Waterloo were German – not just the King’s German Legion, but also troops from Nassau, Hanover, and a large army of Prussians whose arrival in the afternoon of 18 June 1815 sealed the defeat of the French.

At time of the Battle of Waterloo, the King of England, George III, was also the monarch of Hanover, one of many German states. In 1803 Hanover was conquered by French armies under the command of Napoleon. The British immediately set up the King’s German Legion, where expatriate Hanoverians could join up to fight against the French, to free their conquered homeland. The King’s German Legion became part of the British Army, and its soldiers fought almost continuously from 1803 until the Battle of Waterloo in 1815.