Last of the Sharpe series (for TV anyway - there is one further post-Waterloo novel) and they all go out with a bang ! The only real way to have ended the story - a bitter, deadly but final episode.
From the other comments it's interesting how events 200 years in the past can still stir national rivalries in this day and age. For information, at Waterloo, Wellington was in command of a coalition army only the core of which was made up of British troops (the bulk of the Peninsular army had been disbanded or shipped to the colonies). The remainder (as Cornwell points out) was made up of German and Dutch/Belgian forces. Some of the German and all the Dutch/Belgian forces had been fighting for Napoleon as recently as 1813/4. There was every reason for Wellington to be cautious of them.
From the other comments it's interesting how events 200 years in the past can still stir national rivalries in this day and age. For information, at Waterloo, Wellington was in command of a coalition army only the core of which was made up of British troops (the bulk of the Peninsular army had been disbanded or shipped to the colonies). The remainder (as Cornwell points out) was made up of German and Dutch/Belgian forces. Some of the German and all the Dutch/Belgian forces had been fighting for Napoleon as recently as 1813/4. There was every reason for Wellington to be cautious of them.