View a FREE sample

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

Short Answer Questions

1. What does Sharpe do to the pistol?

2. What does Geisenau do?

3. Where does the retreating British army take up its position.

4. Of what is Sharpe convinced?

5. What does Colonel MacDonnell ask Sharpe?

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

3. What happens to the British Heavy Cavalry unit with which John Rossendale is riding?

4. What is a major failure on the French part that leads to their ultimate defeat?

5. What stops the French from pursuing the retreating British army?

6. What person and his position, provide a good example of dealing with incompetent superiors?

7. What charge of heavy cavalry is described in Chapter 15 and what two roles do the horses have?

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

9. What gross error in judgment and orders did the Prince of Orange make in Chapter 15?

10. What new weapon is used, who invented it and why did the description of it stand out among other action scenes?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

D'Alembord died of a leg wound. This was a fairly routine occurrence at that time. Choose one of the following to discuss:

1. Compare/contrast the medical remedies used in Sharpe's Waterloo to those which would be used in our modern world.

2. Many wars are partially, if not completely, determined by factors other than the actual fighting. One of those factors is disease. Research and discuss how epidemics/pandemics have influenced the outcome of three different wars throughout history.

3. Discuss why men died so readily of wounds that would be easily treated today.

Essay Topic 2

The technical account of the first use of high explosive shells, invented by a Major Shrapnel, is a fascinating detail among the description of the primitive hand-to-hand combat within the fortified chateau.

1. It has been said humans keep finding better and better ways to kill each other. Discuss what you think this means.

2. Nobel, the man who invented gunpowder in the western world, was so grieved by what his invention did to war and the history of humans that he started the Nobel Prize and other philanthropist projects to use the money he made from his invention to help mankind. Discuss your opinion of his behavior, whether you agree with it, whether he had any reason for such guilt and how you would feel if you had been him.

3. Compare the impact of the invention of shrapnel to the invention of the hydrogen bomb. Use examples to support your answer. Include whether you think more people have been harmed by shrapnel or the bomb.

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)

This section contains 1,124 words (approx. 4 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample