Students and veterans bring Battle Of Waterloo to life
Wednesday 24 January 2018
THE BATTLE of Waterloo has been brought back to life thanks to a group of students working alongside military veterans and archaeologists.
The University of Salford students have created a series of interactive applications recreating what it would have been like to have been a soldier fighting in the 1815 battle.
This includes a mobile phone app and a simulation enabling users to move around the battlefield.
The students worked alongside Waterloo Uncovered, a British charity which runs a world class archaeology project on the Belgian battlefield site and supports military veterans.
The former soldiers bring their own perspective to the archaeological digs, as well as learning new skills to help them transition into civilian life and helping them recover from injuries and post traumatic stress disorder.
New discoveries
The project began digging at the site to mark the 200th anniversary of the battle, in which Prussia and a British-led coalition defeated Napoleon’s French Empire, ending two decades of conflict across Europe.
They made new discoveries and approached the University to find new ways of communicating their finds to the public.
Military veterans and archaeologists from the project spent two days working alongside students studying Animation, Digital Media, Film Production and Computer And Video Games at the University’s MediaCityUK campus to create the work.
The University’s own academics in archaeology and military history also attended the two-day event to add their own expertise.
Steven Dewirst, a serving soldier with the Royal Signals who works with Waterloo Uncovered, talking to Computer and Video Games student Luke Shelton
Juan Hiriart, Lecturer in Computer and Video Games at the University of Salford, said: “While the battle of Waterloo has been widely represented in traditional oil paintings, and many historians have written detailed accounts, none of these representations are truly capable of giving us an idea of what it was like to be there.
“New immersive and gaming technologies bring us new possibilities, furthering our understanding of historical events in ways we couldn’t do before."
"Fresh perspectives about the connections between the past and present."
“Our students used their creative and technical skills to propose new ways to visualise and make sense of the battle. Their work not only is based on the latest findings, but also working alongside veterans with experience in real conflicts has given them fresh perspectives about the connections between the past and present.”
Dr Stuart Eve, Archaeology Director of Waterloo Uncovered, said: “The students took this data and seamlessly blended it with the stories of both the modern and historical veterans to produce narratives and experiences that transcend the temporal divide of 200 years and really bring the battlefield to life in new and innovative ways.
“A truly astounding and inspiring event, if they can do this in just 48 hours it is very exciting to see what they will achieve once they graduate!”
Watch a video showing one of the apps below.
Find out more
Conrad Astley
+44(0) 161 295 6363 / +44(0) 7535 103 663
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