Battle of Waterloo
| Battle of Waterloo | |||||||||||||||||
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| Conflict | Napoleonic Wars | ||||||||||||||||
| Date | June 18, 1815 | ||||||||||||||||
| Place | Waterloo, Belgium | ||||||||||||||||
| Result | Anglo-Allied/Prussian victory | ||||||||||||||||
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The Battle of Waterloo, fought on June 18, 1815, was Napoleon Bonaparte's last battle. After his exile to Elba, he had been restored to the throne of France for 100 days. During this time, the forces of the rest of Europe converged on him, including the United Kingdom's Duke of Wellington, and Prussia's Gebhard Leberecht von Blücher.
"The nearest run thing you ever saw in your life" – the Duke of Wellington
Prelude
The Anglo-allied and Prussian armies were separated by previous engagements on June 16 1815 -- a French and Anglo-Allied stalemate (Battle of Quatre Bras) and a French victory over the Prussians (Battle of Ligny) -- but ambiguous orders by Napoleon on the 17th to his subordinate Grouchy to pursue the Prussians with 30,000 men contributed to Napoleon's eventual defeat. Grouchy, being a late riser, started the pursuit late on both the 17th and the 18th. On the 18th, with the French III and IV corps at his disposal, he engaged elements of the Prussian army near Wavre.
In the night of the 17th/18th, the Prussian army was reinforced by the arrival of von Bulow's IV corps, which had not been present at Ligny.
After the Prussian defeat at Ligny, Wellington's position at Quatre Bras had become untenable. On a rainy 17th, Wellington withdrew his army to the previously reconnoitered position at Waterloo, followed by the French Marshal Ney.
Battle
At Waterloo, Wellington had the reinforced farm Hougomont anchoring his right flank, and several other farms on his left. Napoleon faced his first major problem even before the battle began. Unsure of the Prussian Army's position since its flight from Ligny two days previously, Napoleon was all too aware of the need to begin the assault on Wellington's positions with the most feared weapon of the era, the French field artillery. This baptism of fire was delayed for hours until the sodden ground from the previous night's downpour had dried out sufficiently to take the weight of the French ordinance. The mud also hindered infantry and cavalry as they trudged into position. When the French artillery eventually opened fire on Wellington's ridge at around 11.35am, the expected impact on the Allied troops was diminished by the soft terrain that absorbed the impact of many of the hurtling cannon balls.
A crucial element of the French plan of battle was to draw Wellington's reserve to his right flank in defense of Hougomont, but French attacks on the farm were eventually unsuccessful, even after one point when they succeeded in breaking into the farm's courtyard before being repulsed. Hougomont became a battle within a battle and, throughout that day, its defence continued to draw thousands of valuable French troops into a fruitless attack while all but a few of Wellington's reserves remained in his centre.
At 1:30pm, Napoleon ordered Marshal Ney to send D'Erlon's infantry forward against Wellington's centre left passing to the east of La Haye Sainte. The attack shook the allied lines with the brunt being borne by the Highland regiments, some of the few battle-hardened veterans from the Peninsular campaign that remained with Wellington's British contingent at Waterloo. The French assault was eventually repelled by the British Heavy Cavalry and the famous charge of the Scots Greys. Such a spectacular event also cost the cavalry so dearly that, collectively, they played little part in the remainder of the battle.
When Napoleon unexpectedly left the field in the early afternoon, Ney, the epitome of French elan, mistook an Allied manoeuvre to reposition further back from the ridge as a general retreat. With no consultation, he ordered one regiment to advance, then another, then another until a massed assault of over 5,000 cavalry was thundering - and struggling - up the steep slope. The attacks were repeatedly repelled by the solid Allied infantry squares (four ranks deep with fixed bayonets vulnerable to artillery or infantry but deadly to cavalry) , the harrying fire of British artillery as the French cavalry recoiled down the slopes to regroup, and the decisive counter-charges of the British Light Cavalry regiments whose effectiveness that day has generally gone unnoticed.
After numerous attacks on the Allied ridge, the French cavalry was effectively destroyed. The Prussians were already engaging the Imperial Army's right flank when La Haye Sainte fell to the French in the early evening. With Wellington's centre exposed, Napoleon committed his last reserve, the undefeated Imperial Guard which, after marching through a blizzard of shell and shrapnel, was devastated by the rapid fire of British Guards infantry volleys from in front and to the side. The Imperial guard fell back in disarray, and with them, the remnants of the French army.
Conclusion
Wellington's hotch-potch command consisted of British, German, Dutch and Belgian troops. Some of these were of very poor quality (some were even sympathetic towards Napoleon), and ran away before the battle began. However, there were several highly capable foreign regiments, most notably the crack King's German Legion, who defended the farm La Haye Sainte until they ran out of ammunition.
Wellington and Blücher met at the inn 'La Belle Alliance', headquarters of Napoleon. Shortly after the French defeat, Napoleon lost his throne and was exiled to Saint Helena, where he spent the rest of his life.
Summary details
Armies participating in the campaign
- Anglo-Allied Army - 106,000 men of mixed quality (British, Dutch/Belgian, and minor German states)
- Prussian Army - 128,000 men of mixed quality
- French Army (Armee du Nord) - 128,000 men of good quality.
- Imperial Guard of 25,000, a formidable élite group of units.
Armies participating in the battle of Waterloo
- Anglo-Allied Army - 67,000 men of Mixed quality (British, Dutch/Belgian, and minor German states)
- Prussian Army - 25-60,000 men of Mixed quality (numbers depend on the way of counting, as the Prussians arrived in the afternoon, some divisions arrived on the field but did not really participate)
- French Army (Armée du Nord) - 73,000 men of good quality.
Commanders
- Field Marshal Gebhard Leberecht von Blücher (1742 to 1819), age 72.
- Field Marshal Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington (1769 to 1852), age 46.
- Emperor Napoleon Bonaparte (1769 to 1821), age 46.
Timing
The battle commenced at about 11:20 in the morning and concluded at about 22:00 that evening when General Cambronne surrendered to Col Halkett.
Casualties
Casualties are estimated at 25,000 men killed and wounded and 9,000 captured among the French forces. Wellington's casualties were 15,000 and Blücher's about 8,000.