The Battle of Waterloo

Start» Contemporary AgeThe Battle of Waterloo

The Battle of Waterloo was the last battle of the Napoleonic Wars in the
how the ambitions of the French emperor were crushed.
once. Despite his former brilliance in the campaign, Napoleon was
unable to defeat the allied armies, and the Prussians finished off
determine his fate by going to the aid of Wellington on June 18, instead
to retreat after their setback at Ligny.

Waterloo Data
Who: Emperor Napoleon (1769-1821) with 72,000 men of the
The French Army of the North attacked an Anglo-Dutch army of 60,000 men.
under the command of the Duke of Wellington (1769-1852), to whom he joined the
Prussian army of Prince Gebhard von Blücher that afternoon.
How: In a superb defensive battle, Wellington's army was able
to repel, with great difficulty, the disconnected attacks of Napoleon until the
arrival del army Prussian.
Where: The ridge of Mont St. Jean, near the village of Waterloo, 16 km to the
on of Brussels Belgium.
When: 18 of June of 1815.
Why: The escape of Napoleon from Elba and the restoration of the empire did not
they could be tolerated by the allies, who were trying to crush this threat
against the peace European.
Result: The defeat of Waterloo forced Napoleon to his second
abdication, after which he was finally exiled to St. Helena, in the Atlantic.
sure.
Revolutionary and then Napoleonic, France had been fighting
Great Britain and its allies for 20 years when, finally, Napoleon
he abdicated in April 1814 and was exiled to the island of Elba. However, the
discontent in France with the Bourbon king, Louis XVIII, gave rise to that
Napoleon will risk making a crossing with 1,000 men
from the island to France, where he landed on March 1st
1815. Luis was forced to flee to Belgium while the allies began to
mobilize their armies. Napoleon sincerely desired peace, but the
the other European powers would never allow it to threaten them again, and for
he was forced to mobilize eight bodies. The French were
tired of war and bloodshed, just like the
soldiers and the officers, and even Napoleon's own marshals were
reluctant to fight. This applied especially to Ney, who detested
Napoleon. Ney, who had first promised Louis to bring Napoleon from
returning in an iron cage before switching to his side, felt in the deepest part
deep down that Napoleon was an exhausted force and that France, faced with
a hostile European coalition could not prevail. Unfortunately for
Napoleon, his irreplaceable chief of staff from the old days,
Marshal Berthier had died in an accident and his replacement, the
Marshal Soult did not have so much talent. The combination of physical deterioration
and Napoleon's mental state, combined with the clumsiness of his subordinates Soult and Ney, led him

would lead to defeat at Waterloo.

The allied armies

 The 95th of riflemen On the opposing side,
Wellington didn't have it easy either. His peninsular veterans were
scattered around the world or had been demobilized. In
consequence, Wellington was reduced to fighting Napoleon with
a colorful army of Dutch, Belgian, and mercenaries
Germans (from Hesse and Nassau) and with a small force of soldiers
English. It had 68,800 infantry troops and 14,500 cavalry, which,
with other troops, it totaled 92,300 soldiers divided into three
infantry bodies under his command, that of General Hill and that of the prince.
Dutch of Orange. The cavalry was under the command of the count of
Uxbridge, who also acted as Wellington's lieutenant.
the relationship between the two was cold (Uxbridge had eloped with the sister-in-law
of Wellington) and that one had been appointed against the express wishes
of Wellington.
The allies therefore relied on the Prussians, with 130,000 men, to
contain Napoleon. His legendary commander, the field marshal and
Prince Gebhard von Blücher (1742-1819), perhaps would never have been the
greater of the strategists, but it could be trusted that he would fight against the
French and on what he would resort to in aid of Wellington, who was hoping that
Napoleon tries to drive a wedge between his separated armies.

Quatre Bras and Ligny

On June 15, Napoleon crossed the Belgian border with 123,000 men.
from his Army of the North to Charleroi, precisely where Wellington
I hadn't expected it to attack. Wellington hurried to help his...
soldiers, who contained Marshal Ney at the crossroads of Quatre Bras.
Ney had shown an unusual apathy by quitting this position.
vital, aggravating this mistake when he did not start the battle until the afternoon, and
using after 4000 cuirassiers to charge against the squares of
English infantry. Obviously Ney has completely lost his memory.
when he repeated this mistake three days later in Waterloo: charge against
intact formations of infantry without support from their infantry.
That same day, June 16, the central battle took place in Ligny.
between Napoleon's main army of 71,000 men and the
84,000 Prussians of Blücher. The Prussians had decided to disperse.
through a swampy land, but Napoleon was not at his best either
tactical moment. He postponed the battle until the afternoon, when he was forced to
stick to crushing the Prussian lines to subdue them. For almost two
hours, the savage fight continued, often hand to hand, with
bayonets and firing at point-blank range. The Prussian casualties amounted to
19,000 troops, and although Blücher left the field, Napoleon had
suffered heavy losses (about 14,000 men) that it could hardly afford.
Napoleon sent Marshal Grouchy in pursuit of the Prussians with 30,000.
men, but this one did not closely pressure the enemy and, far from
retreating back to Germany, Blücher marched west to support
a Wellington, how there was promised.
After defeating the Prussians, Napoleon headed to Quatre
Bras, where he found that the English, after repelling Ney's attacks,
they withdrew from the battlefield in an orderly manner, without any
effort by the French to pursue or harass them. In
Change, Ney and his staff sat down for dinner. Napoleon could not
believing what their eyes saw, and gave his officers a violent dressing down that,
Although deserved, it did not contribute to raising Ney's morale.

Mount St. John

The next day there was a much-needed pause while the army of
Wellington, with a number of 74,300 soldiers, was taking positions around the
Mont St. Jean farm and the village of Waterloo, where Wellington established
his headquarters. Wellington was facing a French army of 74,500.
men who had camped south of the Brussels road, while
Napoleon had established his headquarters at the inn of La Belle
Alliance.
The two armies were very evenly matched in number. This, however,
I did not take into account the qualitative differences between the two armies. The
Napoleon's soldiers were seasoned veterans, while the troops of
Wellington had recently been recruited, and only 28,000 of them were
English. Furthermore, the French not only had more cavalry and artillery, but
that they had a much higher quality than those of Wellington. Not only
the French 12-pounder cannons had greater range than the English ones.
9 pounds, but the servers who attended to them had more experience and
best controllers.
 Map of the
Battle of Waterloo

Provisions
As a battlefield, that of Waterloo, compared to that of Borodino (1812)
in Russia, it was very compact and dense, and in it, an intense development was going to take place
action in the course of a single day. A day, June 18, that would change
for always the course of the history European.
Wellington had formed his army based on distributed divisions
in three bodies. The end of its left flank was defended by the
German division of the prince of Saxe-Weimar, supported by cavalry of
Uxbridge behind him. On the opposite side was the Dutch division and
belgium of the prince of Orange, then came the division of Clinton (behind of
the road of Brainel'Allend), the Cooke division, at the confluence of the
Brussels road the division of Alten (in front of the La Haie farm) with
the reserve corps of Wellington and, finally, aligned along the
Ohain road, the division of General Picton. Napoleon's army.
it was aligned along a line parallel to that of Wellington,
perpendicular to the road from Charleroi to Brussels, with the flank
left in the road of Nivelles.
Piré's cavalry was on the far left, with the Corps of
Kellerman's Cavalry III and the guard cavalry, under the command of
Guyot, in the rear, while Prince Jeronimo's infantry
Bonaparte was in front of the walled estate of Hougoumont. The center
it was formed by the divisions of the Army Corps I of the general and count
J. B. d'Erlon, with Milhaud's cavalry behind. The right flank was
supported in the position of The Shark.
Faced with the possibility that Blücher could intervene at any moment,
Napoleon had to make the first move and achieve a quick and decisive
victory over Wellington before having to turn back and face the
Prussians. If the two armies were to meet, it would be the end, not only for their
army, but also for its restored empire. Interestingly, the plan of
Napoleon, like in Borodino in 1812, was not very imaginative and depended on
use of brute force in a frontal attack instead of trying to overcome
tactically to the allied army. Napoleon intended simply to break the
Wellington's line through La Haie Sainte farm in the center and
occupy the crossroads that was behind, continue advancing and occupy the
Mont St. Jean farm.

The battle begins

Napoleon had prepared the attack for 10:30, but it fell a
downpour during the night that left the ground too soft for
the cavalry and for the artillery fire. The main assault was postponed,
with fatal consequences, until 1:00 PM, and the French began a
preliminary artillery bombardment at 10:50 against the castle of
Hougoumont on the right of Wellington, defended by the tough soldiers
Hannoverians of the German Legion of the King and by a detachment of troops
of Nassau.
To divert Wellington's attention from his left flank, where
the main attack of Napoleon was about to be launched, he ordered that his
brother, Prince Jerónimo, attacked Hougoumont, to draw in
the reserves of Wellington. However, the prince sent wave after
wave of his infantry against the estate, firmly defended, with few
results, holding his own troops while Wellington sent only
some minimal reinforcements. He launched all four of his complete regiments and half
of the division of Foy in addition. It was vital for Wellington to defend the entire
this crucial turning point on the front line, so I sent to
his most battle-hardened soldiers, the Coldstream guards and Scots, to
back a them up German defenders.
At one in the afternoon, while Napoleon was preparing to attack,
a messenger brought the bad news that the Prussian body under the
General Bülow's command (30,000 men) was approaching from the
Wavre address. A cautious man would have withdrawn; however,
Napoleon bet that Grouchy, who was supposedly on his way to
battlefield, it would take an hour to arrive and intercept the Prussians;
took four, and by then the Prussians had helped Wellington to
defeating Napoleon. As an additional guarantee against the emergence of the
Prussians, Napoleon positioned Count Lobau, with 20,000 men, on his flank.
right, facing east and towards the Prussians. Although it was a sensible measure,
it also meant a considerable weakening of the main attack against
Wellington.

English cavalry

The attack of d'Erlon

At 13:30, about 84 cannons located at La Belle Alliance opened fire.
fire during the next half hour. As the ground was soft and
wet, this fire was ineffective because the bullets were hitting the ground
and they sank, instead of bouncing among the allied infantry. Although it
they would have done, Wellington had placed most of his soldiers
a little bit behind the ridge, instead of doing it on top of it. Until 14:00
Napoleon did not deploy D'Erlon's Army Corps I. This, hoping to break through
the allied lines by simple numerical weight formed their divisions into three
huge columns of battalions deployed one after another. Although very
vulnerable to the artillery and allied musketry in this formation, the avalanche
the infantry dressed in blue proved almost irresistible, once the assault of
Body I got underway, sweeping aside the unprotected Brigade.
1. from Holland (Dutch and Belgian) by Van Biljandt.
The center-left position of Wellington folded under this
huge wave of attacking infantry, forcing him to send all the
soldiers I could do without. The best I had was the Division
of the 5th Infantry of Sir Thomas Picton (6,745 men) formed by troops
English (Brigades 8th and 9th) and Hanoverian (Brigade 5th).
The fierce counterattacks of Picton, backed by the cavalry of
Uxbridge, including the 2nd Brigade (Union) of Sir William Ponsonby,
they contained the French; although with difficulties, and at a huge cost.
Both Picton and Ponsonby died, Uxbridge lost a leg from a
cannon shot, while approximately 40% of his men remained
dead, captive or injured. However, their sacrifice was worth it, already
that the French attack came to a sudden stop. They began to retreat, fleeing
finally leaving about 3,000 prisoners in the hands of the English. A
An hour later (around 3:00 PM) the English had defeated the first assault.
French.

The attacks of Ney's cavalry

At 15:30, Napoleon ordered his artillery to bombard La Haie Sainte and to
Ney prepared a new assault that he would lead in person. However,
Without informing Napoleon, Ney ordered 5,000 horsemen from his cavalry.
that they attacked what he believed were retreating enemy soldiers;
But Wellington was simply putting some of his units
out of artillery range and reorganizing the rest. Lacking support
from the infantry and artillery, Ney's cavalry launched its assault to
to face an artillery bombardment and heavy musket fire
point-blank. Hundreds of horsemen perished while the English infantry...
(formed into squares for their defense) repelled wave after wave of
cavalrymen, dragons and lancers coming towards them.
He withdrew, regrouped, and charged again, and he failed again in his attempt.
to break the English. At 5:00 PM, General Francois Kellerman
Union launched an attack with its III Cavalry Corps. Neither Ney nor Kellerman had
thinking about asking Napoleon for permission before launching after the
Allied troops "in retreat". The intensity of the fighting was such that Ney
lost four horses, dead under the saddle, while some of the
English squares were close to the limit after the incorporation.
from Kellerman. However, it was all in vain and by around 6:00 PM even
Ney was fed up and simply walked back to the rows.
French, after having been injured his last horse.
Napoleon could not believe what Ney had done, nor that the soldiers
"mestizos" from Wellington would have been able to withstand this attack.
To atone for his reckless action, Ney finally took La Haie Sainte.
defended until the end by the KGL. After losing the 2nd Regiment and its
commander, Baron Ompteda, could no longer take it and withdrew with the
broken 1st Hanoverian Brigade. The center of Wellington was located in
a state close to collapse, which threatened to undo everything about its
army.

Battle of Waterloo
The final attack
The Prussians had begun to appear on the edge of the battlefield.
(the Bois de Paris) around 16:00, and an hour later Napoleon found himself forced
to reinforce the VI Army Corps of Lobau (now reduced to 7,000 men)
sending 4,000 men of the Young Guard. By 7:00 PM, the I Corps
de Von Zeithen had arrived to back Bülow's men. In a
last attempt to penetrate the center of Wellington, Napoleon ordered
to the Old Guard, some soldiers who had never been defeated,
that attacked in two columns of 75 men in depth.
Once again, the English soldiers, hidden behind the ridge, were able to
surprise the columns before they could be deployed online,
and they were shattered with musket fire at close range. When the Old Woman
The guard retreated, the morale of the French army finally broke, and the
soldiers scattered and fled, shouting "Save who can!": "Save yourselves"
whoever can!» and «Trahison!»: «Treason!». Napoleon fled in a
diligence and at 20:30 Wellington met with his savior Blücher
at La Belle Alliance.

Sequelas
The French had lost 30,000 men. Wellington had lost
15,000 and the Prussians, 6,700. At 5:00 the next day, Napoleon
I was back in Charleroi, on my way to Paris. June 22.
he abdicated for the second time, fled from Paris and on July 15 he boarded in the
HMS Bellerophon in Plymouth. Four months later, it landed on the island.
from Sta. Elena, her "home" until her death.