The series is based on books by Bernard Cornwell, and are as historically correct as possible. The only 'author licence' is that he created Sharpe and got him 'lost' in the early part of the Wars with Spain so that he could attach him to Wellington's army. He does depict accurate events although he does sometimes swap the actual 'hero' with Sharpe. For example in Sharpe's Eagle, Sharp is shown as the first British soldier to capture a French Eagle, but at the end of the book Cornwell does put the facts right. He always adds a historical note at the end of his books to put things straight. He tries to depict how the soldiers were treated at the time in an accurate way and the BBC actually came to him to write a couple of new episodes. One book is different to the series because he did not finish in time and so the BBC made up their own ending, but he explains all this in his books. Being an ex squaddie I have quite a fascination in warfare and even managed to visit the site of Waterloo some years ago.
