Battle of Waterloo

I

Introduction

Battle of Waterloo, final action of the Napoleonic Wars, that decisively ended French domination of the European continent and brought about drastic changes in the political boundaries and the power balance of Europe. Fought on June 18, 1815, near Waterloo, in what is now Belgium, the battle ranks as a key turning point in modern history.

II

Background of the Battle

After raising France to a position of pre-eminence in Europe from 1804 to 1813, Napoleon had been forced to abdicate in 1814 by a coalition of major powers, notably Prussia, Russia, Great Britain, and Austria. He was then exiled to the island of Elba, and Louis XVIII was made ruler of France. In September 1814, the Congress of Vienna, with delegates from most of the powers of Europe, convened to discuss problems arising from the defeat of France. On February 26, 1815, however, while the congress was in session, Napoleon escaped from Elba and returned to France. There many veterans of his former campaigns flocked to his standard, and on March 20, 1815, he entered Paris and seized the throne in the short period of rule known as the Hundred Days. The Congress of Vienna, alarmed by Napoleon's return to power, had reacted quickly to the crisis. On March 17 Austria, Britain, Prussia, and Russia each agreed to contribute 150,000 troops to an invasion force to be assembled in Belgium near the French border. A majority of other powers present at the congress also pledged troops for the invasion of France, which was to be launched on July 1, 1815.

III

Mobilization and Strategy

In Paris, Napoleon, learning of the invasion plan, quickly determined to attack the allies on their own ground before their army could take shape. With characteristic energy and decisiveness, within two months he mobilized an army of 360,000 trained soldiers. He deployed half of these troops within France as a security force and grouped the remainder into attack units. On June 14, 1815, Napoleon, moving with the utmost speed and secrecy, reached the Franco-Belgian border with 124,000 of his troops. Another 56,000 men were left behind in secondary or supporting positions.

Napoleon's grand strategy for the coming campaign was typically audacious. Facing him beyond the Belgian border were two separate allied armies. The larger army, a force of 116,000 Prussians and Saxons, led by the Prussian field marshal Gebhard Leberecht von Blücher, was based at Namur. Advance elements of Blücher's army were stationed as far west as the towns of Gilly and Charleroi. A force of 93,000 British, Dutch, and German troops was based at Brussels, with an outpost in the village of Quatre-Bras. The leader of this army, the British general Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington, was also commander-in-chief of the allied forces. Napoleon planned to attack both armies with the aim of splitting and destroying them. He intended then to deal with Russian and Austrian armies approaching France from the east. To carry out this plan he divided his forces into two attacking wings and a strategic reserve, which consisted of trusted veterans known as the Old Guard.

On June 15, 1815, Napoleon moved across the Belgian frontier, and his sudden arrival caught the allied command unprepared. After crossing the River Sambre, the French routed a Prussian advance guard at Charleroi. Napoleon then ordered his left wing, under Marshal Michel Ney, to attack a brigade of Wellington's cavalry at Quatre-Bras, 19 km (12 mi) north of Charleroi. He next ordered the right wing, under General Emmanuel de Grouchy, to move east against a Prussian brigade stationed in the town of Gilly. By late afternoon on June 15, Grouchy had completed his mission and pressed forwards to a point near the village of Fleurus, where a corps of Blücher's men was concentrated. By nightfall on that first day of fighting, Napoleon's armies held the strategic advantage. The emperor had succeeded in placing his army between the advance elements of the armies of both Wellington and Blücher, and his main force was in a position to swing either left against the Anglo-Dutch army or right to engage the Prussian forces.

On June 16 Napoleon moved with his reserve from Charleroi to Fleurus. There he assumed command of Grouchy's army and easily defeated the Prussian corps. He then drove north to the Ligny area to engage Blücher, who with his army had hurried west from Namur hoping to intercept the French.

IV

Ligny and Quatre-Bras

In the action at Ligny, Napoleon's strategy was to coordinate his attack on Blücher with Ney's offensive at Quatre-Bras. The reserve would then swing east or west to aid either wing as circumstances dictated; if all went well, the reserve would finally march north-west, join Ney at Quatre-Bras, and advance on Brussels to split the two allied armies.

Early in the afternoon of June 16, Napoleon heard the sound of Ney's artillery at Quatre-Bras. He then brought his force of 71,000 into action against Blücher's army of 83,000. After an hour of bloody and inconclusive fighting, Napoleon dispatched an urgent message to Marshal Ney ordering him to send his First Corps, a force totalling 30,000 men, to the battlefield at Ligny. Instead of delivering the order through Marshal Ney's headquarters, Napoleon's courier took it directly to General Jean-Baptiste Drouet, comte d'Erlon, the First Corps commander. D'Erlon left immediately for Ligny. When Ney later learned of d'Erlon's departure, however, he dispatched a message ordering the corps back to Quatre-Bras. The message was delivered to d'Erlon just as he reached the Ligny battlefield. Again d'Erlon obeyed instructions, with the result that he took part in neither of the battles. Napoleon was able, however, to defeat Blücher after a sanguinary action lasting three hours. At twilight the Prussians withdrew, leaving 12,000 troops dead or wounded. Because of d'Erlon's failure to enter the fighting, however, the main body of Blücher's army, about 70,000 men, was able to retreat in good order.

Meanwhile, at Quatre-Bras, Ney had unaccountably waited several hours to begin his attack on the Anglo-Dutch position, a delay that enabled Wellington to reinforce Quatre-Bras with several divisions of cavalry and infantry. Ney finally attacked at 2 p.m. but was sharply repulsed. Successive onslaughts on the Anglo-Dutch positions were similarly unsuccessful; throughout the afternoon Ney was severely handicapped by the absence of d'Erlon's corps. At about 7 p.m. Wellington counter-attacked vigorously and drove Ney back to the town of Frasnes, a few miles south of Quatre-Bras. Ney lost 4,300 troops and Wellington 4,700 in the action. D'Erlon, however, joined Ney in Frasnes at 9 p.m.