Chelsea House - Waterloo

FIRST BATTLE OF THE MARNE
GETTYSBURG
HASTINGS
MARATHON
MIDWAY
NORMANDY
SARATOGA
TENOCHTITLAN
TET OFFENSIVE
WATERLOO
WATERLOO
SAMUEL WILLARD CROMPTON
CHELSEA HOUSE PUBLISHERS

PHILADELPHIA
Frontispiece: The map shows the dispositions in the morning hours. The
British, in red, are drawn up on the slopes that lead to Mont St. Jean, and the
French are deployed on a wide front, with their center at La Belle Alliance.
The British defenses were formidable, and Marshal Soult recommended a
maneuver around them, but Napoleon refused.
CHELSEA HOUSE PUBLISHERS

EDITOR IN CHIEF Sally Cheney
DIRECTOR OF PRODUCTION Kim Shinners
CREATIVE MANAGER Takeshi Takahashi
MANUFACTURING MANAGER Diann Grasse
STAFF FOR WATERLOO

EDITOR Lee Marcott
PICTURE RESEARCHER Pat Burns
PRODUCTION ASSISTANT Jaimie Winkler
SERIES DESIGNER Keith Trego
LAYOUT 21st Century Publishing and Communications, Inc.
2002 by Chelsea House Publishers,
a subsidiary of Haights Cross Communications.
All rights reserved. Printed and bound in the United States of America.
http://www.chelseahouse.com
First Printing
1 3 5 7 9 8 6 4 2
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Crompton, Samuel Willard.
Waterloo / Samuel Crompton.
p. cm. (Battles that changed the world)
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 0-7910-6683-5 ISBN 0-7910-7110-3 (pbk.)
1. Waterloo (Belgium), Battle of, 1815 Juvenile literature. 2. Napoleon I, Emperor of
the French, 17691821Military leadershipJuvenile literature. 3. Wellington, Arthur
Wellesley, Duke of, 17691852Military leadershipJuvenile literature. 4. Napoleonic
Wars, 18001815CampaignsBelgiumWaterlooJuvenile literature. 5. Armies
EuropeHistory19th centuryJuvenile literature. I. Title. II. Series.
DC242 .C955 2002
940.2'7dc21
2002000605
TABLE OF
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
CONTENTS
THE CORSICAN RETURNS

WELLINGTONS INVINCIBLES
PRUSSIAN HUSSAR
NAPOLEON STRIKES!
QUATRE-BRAS AND LIGNY
FIRST PHASE
SECOND PHASE
THIRD PHASE
THE AFTERMATH
THE RESULTS
TIMELINE & CHRONOLOGY
FURTHER READING
INDEX
7
17
29
37
49
59
69
77
87
95
101
107
108
The Corsican Returns
1
Napoleon bade farewell to his
Imperial Guard at Fontainebleau
in April 1814. The Emperor and
his hardy followers were commemorated in this painting by
Horace Vernet, done between
1814 and 1825.
Soldiers! I heard your call while I was in exile. I have come,

despite every obstacle and every peril.
Napoleon Bonaparte
he first of March in 1815 was like any other day on

Frances Mediterranean coast. Gentle waves caressed the
empty beaches around the towns of Nice, Cannes, and
Monaco. Clouds drifted overhead, indicating late winter
snows in the mountains. Some time early that afternoon, a
large group of men disembarked from a series of long boats,
and occupied the beach known as Golfe Juan. Their leader was
Napoleon Bonaparte, and they were about to commence the
WATERLOO
action known ever since as the Hundred Days.
On the beach, Napoleon issued a manifesto, addressed
to the veterans of his many campaigns.
Soldiers!
We have not been defeated. Two men left our
ranks and betrayed their fellows, their Prince,
their benefactor . . . .
Soldiers! I heard your call while I was in
exile; I have come despite every obstacle and
every peril.
Your general, called to the throne by the choice
of the people, and elevated by you, has returned,
come and join him.
Bring back the colors that the nation has proscribed, and which, for 25 years, served to terrify the
enemies of France. Bring back the tricolor, that you
carried in those great days!
You have been asked to forget that you are
the Master of Nations, but we cannot forgive
those who meddle in our affairs. Who pretends to be your master? Who has such power?
Take back the Eagles you carried at Ulm, at
Austerlitz, at Iena, at Eylau, at Friedland, at
Tudella, at Eckmuhl, at Essling, at Wagram, at
Smolensk, at Moskow, at Lutzen, at Wurchen,
at Montmiral.
Signed, Napoleon.
Having made this dramatic proclamation, Napoleon
marched north from Golfe Juan, located very close to the
town of Cannes on the French Riviera.
It was a daring gamble, even for this man who was
known for his belief in Destiny, and his willingness to
risk a roll of the dice.
Born in Corsica in 1769, Napoleon had left home to
In late February 1815, Napoleon took the biggest risk of his career. He and
several hundred loyal followers embarked from Elba, headed for the south
coast of France.
attend military school in France at the age of nine. He

had risen slowly in the ranks until the French
Revolution of 1789, which had afforded him opportunities to display his genius for war. He had risen to
10
WATERLOO
general by 1796, first consul in 1800, and emperor of
France in 1804. It was a stunning rise for someone who
was not French, but from the island of Corsica which
had been conquered by France in 1768, one year before
his birth.
In March 1815, Napoleon had been in exile for the
past 10 months. Defeated by the allied governments of
Britain, Prussia, Austria, and Russia, he had abdicated
his throne in April 1814. Loud had been the cries of
Hang Bonaparte, but Czar Alexander of Russia had
persuaded the other allied leaders to allow Napoleon a
comfortable exile on the island of Elba, located between
the west coast of Italy and the east coast of Corsica.
There the former Emperor could rule, with about 1,000
of his trusted Imperial Guardsmen.
Napoleon had gone to Elba in April 1814; in that
same month, King Louis XVIII had returned to Paris
to rule as the restored Bourbon monarch. The king
returned a stranger to the Parisians, and indeed to the
nation as a whole. He was the younger brother of King
Louis XVI who had gone to the guillotine in 1793
(Louis XVI and Marie Antoinettes son had died in
prison, creating the space between Louis XVI and
Louis XVIII).
Having spent most of his life as a political exile in
England, King Louis XVIII wanted to create as fresh
a start as possible. He disregarded the advice of his
younger brother, who wanted to return everything to
the way it had been prior to the French Revolution of
1789. Louis XVIII granted a Charter (constitution)
to the French people. He governed with a two-house
legislature, modeled on the British Parliament,
although the right to vote was severely restricted, limited to men of wealth and property. Most important,
Louis XVIII abolished the conscription that had been

so important to the armies of the French Revolution
and Napoleon. This move was the most popular of
Louis XVIIIs reign.
Meanwhile, the diplomats and leaders of the allied
nations met at the Congress of Vienna. They settled on
peace terms that were quite lenient. France had to
withdraw to its boundaries of 1792that was all.
There was no indemnity and no punishment for the 20
years of warfare that had begun in 1793. The reasons
for the lenity were twofold. First, Czar Alexander of
Russia insisted that it would be unfair to blame a
nation for the actions of one man; second, the French
foreign minister, Talleyrand, artfully conspired to
divide the Allies amongst themselves. He had succeeded by the start of 1815, and there was every reason
to expect that Europe would settle into a long period of
peaceful recovery.
Then Napoleon landed at Golfe Juan.
He had only about 1,000 men. King Louis XVIII
had a regular army of about 120,000. If ever a revolt
or an uprising should have been suppressed, this
was the one. But such numerical calculations do not
take into account the brilliant gamble Napoleon
played, or his consummate skill in winning men
over to his cause.
The news reached Paris on March 5. The king
hardly believed what he was told, but he summoned his
military leaders, among whom there were several of
Napoleons former marshals. Marshals MacDonald and
Soult reaffirmed their allegiance to the new Bourbon
government. Marshal Michel Ney went so far as to vow
he would bring the former emperor back to Paris in an
iron cage.
Two days later, on March 7, the news reached
Vienna, where the Congress was in session. Klemmens
11
12
WATERLOO
von Metternich, the Austrian prime minister, swiftly
obtained pledges of fealty from each one of the allied
governments; they would not rest until the usurper
Napoleon was defeated. Even Napoleons wife, the
Empress Marie-Louise, issued a statement that she
had no wish to return to her husband or to France.
Her son, Napoleons only child, was taken away from
his French nurse, and kept a virtual prisoner at the
palace of Schonnbrunn.
Everyone waited to see what would happen. Would
Napoleon fight a battle against the best of his former
marshals?
One of the most dramatic events in French history
took place on the afternoon of March 7. On the same
day that the allied powers swore to defeat Napoleon,
the adventurer and his group met a column of French
army troops, of the Fifth Regiment, in a mountain pass
north of Grasse, in southern France. Napoleon had
known this moment would come, and he was ready. As
the two groups approached one another, Napoleon
ordered his men to keep their guns at their sides and
wait, while he walked forward, alone. As he came
within range of the men sent to arrest him, Napoleon
called out:
Soldiers of the Fifth, do you recognize me?
They did. Ignoring the orders of their officers, the
soldiers threw their guns aside and shouted Vive
LEmpereur! In one stunning encounter, Napoleon
had defeated the hopes of those who supported the
Bourbon cause.
From there he went from strength to strength. He
entered Lyons, the second largest French city, on March
10. Three days later, he sent a short message to Marshal
Ney, encouraging him to desert the Bourbon ranks
and bring his men over to Napoleon. Remarkably this
Soldiers were sent to arrest Napoleon. He met them with Here is your
Emperor, shoot if you will! They flocked to him and his contingent.
too occurred. The Napoleonic magic was too strong

to resist.
King Louis XVIII learned of Neys defection on
March 17. His only comment was Is there no more
honor? The aged, infirm monarch knew he was about
13
14
WATERLOO
Napoleons Family
Carlo and Letizia Bonaparte were members of the Corsican nobility.
They had eight children, the second oldest of whom was Napoleon.
Once he became emperor of the French in 1804, Napoleon began to
award titles and lands to his siblings.
The eldest in the family, Joseph, became king of Naples, then king
of Spain. Louis Bonaparte, nine years younger than Napoleon, was
made king of Holland. The youngest of the brothers, Jerome, became
king of Westphalia, which was carved out of Prussia, in 1807.
Nor did Napoleon neglect his sisters. Pauline, who was 11 years
younger than Napoleon, became duchess of Guastalla in northern Italy.
Caroline, who was the sibling most akin to Napoleon in terms of
ambition, became queen of Naples in 1808. Eliza became grand
duchess of Tuscany in 1809.
One of the most astute comments concerning queen Caroline of
Naples came from the French diplomat Talleyrand. Looking at the nude
done of Caroline by the artist Canova, Talleyrand remarked, The head
of Cromwell on a pretty woman! A dangerous combination indeed.
By about 1810, virtually all members of the family had been provided for. Father Carlo had passed on, but mother Letizia was still
the leader of the family. When Napoleon boasted and strutted his
performances on the world stage, she usually responded, If it
lasts! If it all lasts!
As we know, the Napoleonic dynasties did not last. Napoleons
Russian campaign in 1812, and his defeat at Leipzig in 1813 signaled
the end of his fortunes. By the time he abdicated in 1814, virtually all
his brothers and sisters had lost their crowns and titles as well.
But it was not the end of the Bonapartes, not by a long shot. In 1848,
Louis-Napoleon, son of the man who had been king of Holland, won
election as the new French president. His name recognition was
enough to win him 5.5 million votes out of a total of 8 million cast.
Louis-Napoleon was president of the French Republic from 1849
until 1851, when he carried out a military coup. In 1852, he became
emperor, and named himself Napoleon III (the second had been
Napoleons son, who had died in 1831).
Napoleon III ruled France from 1852 until 1870, when France lost
the Franco-Prussian War. He went into retirement in England and died
soon after.
Little known, today, is the Bonaparte branch that came to America.
Jerome Bonaparte, the king of Westphalia, had married an American
woman and had a child before Napoleon forced the younger brother to
have a divorce. Jerome Bonaparte II grew up in Baltimore. His son,
Charles Joseph Bonaparte, was born there in 1851. Charles became a
lawyer and a civil servant whose major interest was in civil service
reform. He became good friends with Theodore Roosevelt and when
Roosevelt entered the White House in 1901, he made Bonaparte first
one of the Board of Indian Commissioners, then secretary of the U.S.
Navy, and finally U.S. attorney general in 1906. One of his most enduring legacies was the creation of the new Bureau of Investigation which
later evolved into the F.B.I.
to commence once more on the travels and exile that

had been the dominant feature of his adult life. On the
morning of March 19, the king and his entourage fled
Paris for the Belgian border; one day later Napoleon
entered Paris in triumph.
Napoleon had escaped Elba and reached Paris with
hardly firing a shot. The Bourbon rule had collapsed as
the emperor moved north and reclaimed his domains.
There was at least some truth to the Napoleonic claim
that the nation welcomed him. It may not have invited
him, but it accepted his reappearance.
15
The Duke of Wellington, painted around

1815. The pose, posture, and facial
expression are all meant to convey
that this man was cool, calculating,
and in control. This painting of Britains
foremost hero is in the Victoria and
Albert Museum in London.
Wellingtons
Invincibles
It is for you to save the world again.
Czar Alexander of Russia
he average British subject was enjoying a well-earned period of

rest in the early spring of 1815. Then he or she opened the
newspaper on Saturday, March 11.
Early yesterday morning we received by express from

Dover, the important but lamentable intelligence of a
civil war having been again kindled in France, by that
wretch Buonoparte (sic), whose life was so impoliticly
spared by the allied sovereigns. It now appears that the
17
18
WATERLOO
hypocritical villain, who, at the time of his
cowardly abdication, affected an aversion to
the shedding of blood in a civil warfare, has
been employed during the whole time of his
residence at Elba, in carrying on secret and
treasonable intrigues with the tools of his former
crimes in France.
The London Times, March 11, 1815
At such a time, the British public and the British
government were accustomed to relying on the cool
and calm manner of the Duke of Wellington. Britains
greatest soldier, however, was not in the home land. He
was in Vienna, serving as the emissary to the Congress.
On March 7, 1815, members of the Congress of
Vienna learned of Napoleons escape from Elba.
Consternation prevailed among the delegates. One of
the crowned heads of state, Czar Alexander of
Russia, placed his hand on the shoulder of the Duke
of Wellington, and said, It is for you to save the
world again.
Arthur Wellesley was born in Dublin, Ireland, on
May 1, 1769. He was just three and a half months
older than Napoleon Bonaparte, but the two were
born into very different circumstances. Wellesley
belonged to the Anglo-Irish aristocracy which owned
most of the Irish land, and represented that country in
the British Parliament.
Wellesley joined the British army in 1787. He began
as an ensign, and was promoted to lieutenant that same
year. He took time out from the army to serve as a
member of Parliament for Trim, Ireland, in 1790, but
returned to military service within one year.
The British army that Wellington entered was not
in one of its finer moments. The British had suffered
some humiliating losses during the American War for
Independence (American Revolution), and the British
leadership still employed the same type of thinking that
had prevailed for about a century. Until he sailed for
India in June 1796, Arthur Wellesley seemed likely to be
one of those leaders who continued the old fashions,
rather than shape new ones.
In 1796, India was partially under British control,
but it was not officially part of the British Empire. The
British possessions in India were governed and managed by the East India Company rather than the crown.
Like many officers before and after, Wellesley had to
cooperate with merchants and officials of the East
India Company in order to fulfill his military duties.
The situation did not change until 1859, when India
officially entered the British Empire.
As lieutenant colonel of the Thirty-Third Regiment,
Wellesley entered a new and unfamiliar world in India.
The British sections of that land were menaced by native
revolts, some of which were engineered by French sympathizers. France and Britain had been at war since France
had beheaded King Louis XVI in 1793, and part of
Wellesleys efforts in India would be part of the worldwide
war between those nations.
During eight years in India, Wellesley became a
seasoned commander. He led combinations of British
and native troops, and won the majority of his battles.
When historians are pressed to elaborate on the reason
for Wellesleys success, they usually turn to two things:
supplies and terrain. Wellesley was active in managing
the delivery of supplies; therefore his men believed that
he cared for them. He was even more involved in
selecting the ground on which they would fight, and
therefore he began most battles with the advantage of
knowing the terrain better than did his opponents.
19
20
WATERLOO
Wellesley returned to England in 1805, just weeks
before Admiral Nelson won the naval Battle of
Trafalgar. This battle ensured that Napoleon would
not be able to invade England, but how could the
British strike against Boney, considering that his was
the largest and best army in Europe? The answer came
in 1807, when Napoleon invaded Spain and placed his
brother Joseph on its throne.
The British government decided this was the time
to mount an expeditionary force against the French.
When British troops landed in Portugal in 1808,
Wellesley was second in command to Sir John Moore,
a brilliant and dedicated soldier. The British won
some initial victories, but then were chased to the port
of Corunna, where Sir John Moore died in the fighting. The British were evacuated by sea, and with
Moore gone, Wellesley was the natural choice for the
new commander.
Wellesley landed in Portugal in 1809 as the commander in chief. He made an alliance with the Portuguese
who detested Napoleon, and he prepared to move into
Spain when it was possible. Prior to that, however,
Wellesley fortified a series of mountains across the
whole of southern Portugal, which gave him a virtually
impregnable fortress from which to work. Secure in this,
he was able to go to battle knowing he had an excellent
place to which he could retreat.
Far away in Paris, Emperor Napoleon did not take
the threat of the British or of Arthur Wellesley very
seriously. He sent one marshal after another over the
Pyrenee Mountains into Spain, telling each one to clean
up the British and Portuguese. It took some time, but
each marshal returned in succession, with his head
hung low. The lack of supplies, the poor road system,
and the use of guerrilla (the word entered the English
language as a result of this very war) warfare by the
Spanish ground the French forces down. When they did
meet Arthur Wellesley in battle, he nearly always
defeated them through his selection of the terrain, and
his keen direction of the battles progress. By early 1812,
the situation had become critical for the French; they
were being pushed back toward France itself.
Meanwhile, many British soldiers and officers had
made names for themselves. One was Peregrine
Maitland. Born in Hampshire County, England, in
1777, Maitland joined the British Grenadier Guards in
1792, just one year prior to the outbreak of the
Revolutionary Wars. He rose rapidly from ensign to
lieutenant colonel in 1803. He landed with the first
British forces in Spain and earned a medal for his
performance at Corunna in 1809. Maitland was second
in command in the British attack on Seville, and
commanded the first brigade of Grenadier Guards at
the Battle of Nivelle, in the operations before Bayonne.
He became a major-general in 1814.
The climactic battle of the Peninsular (Spanish) War
was fought at Vittoria on June 21, 1813. Wellington
smashed the French army and captured most of their
baggage and equipment. King Joseph of Spain,
Napoleons older brother, fled across the Pyrenees into
France, and the long, grueling Spanish campaign was
finally over.
Wellesley was rewarded. King George III made
him the Duke of Wellington, and he was acclaimed as
Britains greatest soldier, and the great rival to
Napoleon Bonaparte. The two men had not yet met on
the field, but public perception was that they were the
greatest military leaders of the day.
Early in 1814, Wellington crossed the Pyrenees and
invaded southern France. At the same time, Austrian,
21
22
WATERLOO
Fought in 1813, the Battle of Vittoria was the culmination of all that the
Duke of Wellington had tried to achieve in Spain. His victory that day
raised him to a level where only one living soldier could be compared
to him: Napoleon.
Prussian, and Russian armies invaded France from the

east. Faced by this massive coalition of foes, Napoleon
Bonaparte abdicated his throne in April, and was
exiled to the island of Elba.
Wellingtons services remained very much in
demand. In the autumn of 1814, the British government asked him if he was willing to go to North
America, to serve as commander in chief against the
Americans, who had declared war on Great Britain in
June 1812. This war, known in America as the War of
1812, had been a sideshow for the British till now, but
with Napoleon defeated, they wanted to see the
Americans humbled. The British ministry promised
Wellington all the support in men and material he
might need.
To the great surprise of the government, Wellington
turned the request down. He was too good a soldier to
say no to his government, but in a long letter he made
it plain that he believed the war against the Americans
was unwinnable. As long as Britain lacked naval superiority on the Great Lakes (Lake Ontario in particular),
Wellington believed any future campaigns there would
be ineffective.
Impressed by the assessment of their best soldier,
the British leaders decided to come to terms with
their former colonists. The peace treaty of Ghent was
signed on December 24, 1814, bringing the War of
1812 to an end.
News traveled slowly in those days. The British
ship that carried the good news of the peace treaty did
not reach New York City until about February 10, and
Washington D.C. until two days later. Meanwhile, the
last battle of the war had been fought. General Andrew
Jackson had led the American defense of New Orleans.
The British, led by General Pakenham who was
brother-in-law to the Duke of Wellington, attacked the
American defenses on the morning of January 8, 1815.
Safe behind their earthworks, the American riflemen
devastated the British, causing nearly 2,000 casualties.
23
24
WATERLOO
On January 8, 1815, British soldiers attacked entrenched Americans

outside of New Orleans. The carnage was fearful; nearly 2,000 British
soldiers were killed, wounded, or missing. Sir Edward Pakenham, the
British leader, was killed early in the fighting. He was the brother-in-law
of the Duke of Wellington.
The British then withdrew, leaving the field and the city
to the Americans.
It is a tragedy that so many men lost their lives
needlessly in the Battle of New Orleans. The great
losses suffered that day, and the fact they might have
King George III

Americans remember him primarily as the king who lost the
colonies, but many Britons recall him as the king who presided over
the start of the Industrial Revolution, and whose reign witnessed the
defeat of the Corsican tyrant Napoleon. He was long lived, and it is
sometimes difficult to remember that this king took the throne in
1760 when there were still 13 American colonies, and passed away in
1820 when there were 18 American states.
Born in 1738, George was 22 when he succeeded to the throne in
1760. For the next 20 years he made what are considered to have
been poor choices in his prime ministers, and by 1783 he had to
acknowledge the former American colonies as free and independent
States. His reign, however, was not even half over.
During the decade of the 1790s, King George alternated between
the leadership and the policies of Charles James Fox and William
Pitt the Younger. The nation was well governed during these years,
and Britons enjoyed a new camaraderie as they faced their old
enemy, France.
Napoleon won the Battle of Austerlitz in 1805, and William Pitt the
Younger died the next year. Not only did the British leadership exhibit
serious weakness over the next five years, but King George himself
fell into what has been called the Royal Malady. He was pronounced
insane in 1811.
While King George was under the care of numerous doctors, his
oldest son, George, took the leadership as prince regent. The sons
flagrant spending and dissolute habits worked to ensure the continuing popularity of his mentally ill father. The British people began to
forget some of the mistakes George III had made, and chose to
remember his sterling character, faithfulness to duty, and sober
habits. Then came the second war with the Americans.
In June 1812, the United States declared war on Great Britain over
matters which revolved around British impressment of American
25
26
WATERLOO
sailors. King George had nothing to do with the British response.

Indeed, the entire British government was in disarray, because Prime
Minister Spencer Perceval had been assassinated in the House of
Commons one month earlier (it was the first assassination in
British history).
The war against the United States was very popular in Britain,
because the British believed the Americans had stabbed them in the
back while they were fighting Napoleon. Consequently, King George
IIIs popularity increased during the war, while his son fell more and
more into disrepute.
The war against the Americans ended officially on Christmas Eve
1814, and the Hundred Days campaign of Napoleon ended in July
1815. Britons settled down to a well-deserved period of rest.
King George III died in 1820, and was succeeded by his son, who
became King George IV. Both George IV and William IV who succeeded
him were seen as failures in the monarchy, and only when Victoria
took the throne in 1838 did the British people start to believe once
more that they had a monarch in whom they could believe.
been prevented, is one reason why historians sometimes

call the War of 1812, the War of Faulty Communication.
News of the disaster at New Orleans reached
London about the first of March, 1815. The British
were indignant and upset, but one week later they
read the much more distressing news that Napoleon
Bonaparte had escaped from Elba and was about to
threaten the peace of Europe for a second time. As
Czar Alexander said to the Duke of Wellington, It is
for you to save the world again. We have no record
of Wellingtons reply, but we can imagine that he
might have thought it was not only up to him, but also
up to the men who had soldiered so well under him in
Spain, and who would have gone to America. They
were the veterans of the campaigns in Portugal and
Spain, and they called themselves Wellingtons
Invincibles.
27
Prussian Hussar
3
The turning point in Napoleons
career was his retreat from Moscow.
Were it not for the heroics of Marshal
Ney, even fewer of the French would
have survived the disastrous retreat.
Napoleons failure to defeat Russia
caused other nations, Prussia in
particular, to rise up against him.
It is the greatest piece of good luck.

Field Marshal Blcher
uring the night of March 8, 1815, a 72-year-old man was wakened

from his sleep by an aide who told him Napoleon had escaped
from Elba. One might expect the old soldier to be dismayed,
but Field Marshal Blcher replied:
It is the greatest piece of good luck that could have happened
to Prussia! Now the war will begin again! The armies will fight and
make good all the faults committed in Vienna!
Difficult news had never swayed Blcher. Those who knew
him best declared he had never turned back from a fight in his life.
29
30
WATERLOO
Gebhard Lebrecht Blcher was born in Rostock, Prussia,
on December 16, 1742, making him 26 years older than both
Napoleon and Wellington. Blcher was the eighth of nine
sons in the family; all the sons joined armies when the Seven
Years War broke out in 1756, but not the same ones.
Although they were a Prussian family, the Blcher sons
lent their services to several different armies and kings.
Gebhard joined the army of the king of Sweden in 1757,
and wound up fighting against the Prussian army led by
King Frederick II (later known as Frederick the Great).
In 1759, Blcher was captured by a unit of Prussian
horsemen known as the Black Hussars. The Hussar commander recognized Blcher, and asked him to change sides,
to fight with the army of his fatherland. Blcher agreed, and
by 1760 he was a captain of the Hussars, with an excellent
fighting record.
Prussia was fighting for her life against France, Austria,
Russia, and Sweden, but she had a genius in her leader. King
Frederick held out just long enough, so that he was saved by
a surprise. Czarina Elizabeth died in 1762. Czar Peter II, her
successor, was a great admirer of Frederick the Great. The
Russians pulled out of the war, and the other enemies folded
up from exhaustion. In the peace treaty of 1763, Prussia
remained an important force on the map of Europe.
Blcher remained in the Hussars until 1773. Upset
because a junior officer was promoted over him, Blcher
resigned that year and married the daughter of a prominent
farmer. Within two years time, the rambunctious cavalryman had become an excellent family man and a fairly good
gentleman farmer. He did not return to military service
until 1787 after the death of Frederick the Great.
Prussias great king had been deeply irritated by
Blchers resignation, and he refused all requests from the
aging soldier to be reinstated. But Frederick died in 1786
and his son took Blcher back as a major in the Black
PRUSSIAN HUSSAR
Hussars. He was now about 45 and much older than most
cavalrymen, but Blcher never let age slow him down. He
became a demanding but popular leader in the regiment.
Prussia went to war with Revolutionary France in 1792.
Both Prussia and Austria hoped to squelch the Revolution
and put King Louis XVI back on the throne. Instead, the
king was guillotined in 1793, and both Prussia and Austria
were hard pressed to defend themselves from the fury of the
Revolutionary armies.
We tend to think of the armies of Napoleon and the
Revolution as professional ones, but the real genius of the
Revolutionary forces was their spirit. The French recruits
flowed around their more static foes, outmaneuvered them,
and were better at getting food from the countryside (we
could say they were better at stealing from the peasants!).
For all these reasons, the French defeated many of their
enemies, and truly professional soldiers such as Blcher
were astonished by their success.
Prussia withdrew from the war in 1795. Blcher
remained in uniform and he rose to the rank of general by
1800. Again, he was much older than his peers, but his early
service under Frederick the Great and his keen eye for a
battlefield made him one of the most valued officers in
Prussia. It was, after all, a country with a great military
tradition. The French philosopher Voltaire had once
described Prussia as an army that has a country, rather
than the other way around.
That tradition and pride were deeply wounded when
Prussia declared war on Napoleon Bonaparte in 1806.
Napoleon had provoked the declaration, using excuses to
seize sections of Prussian land, and Prussia was in for the
worst licking of her life. In the summer of 1806, Napoleon
defeated two separate Prussian armies at the Battles of Iena
and Auerstadt. Blcher was among the defeated and he
surrendered to become a French prisoner.
31
32
WATERLOO
A portrait of then-General Blcher painted in about 1802. His

moustache, sword, and Iron Cross all indicate Blcher is part
of the famed Prussian Army. This painting was made before
the disastrous campaign of 1806, in which Napoleon defeated
the Prussians and imposed harsh terms of peace upon them.
In 1807, the Prussian prisoner met Napoleon Bonaparte

for the first time. Blcher was brought to Napoleons
headquarters at Kirkenstein castle. The Frenchman
thrust out his hand and announced he was pleased to
meet the bravest Prussian general. Blcher responded
PRUSSIAN HUSSAR
with warmth, and the two men sized one another up.
Despite his strength and vigor, Napoleon was a small
man. Blcher towered over the Frenchman, who was 26
years younger. The two may have recognized something
similar in each other. Both men were relentless fighters,
always optimistic, even when the odds were against them.
Had Napoleon been able to win Blcher to the French cause,
military history might have taken a very different course.
But Blcher went home in a prisoner exchange that
same year, and King Frederick William of Prussia signed
an alliance with Napoleon in 1812. To the shame of Blcher
and other patriotic Prussians, the treaty required Prussia to
contribute men to Napoleons planned invasion of Russia.
The only consolation Blcher had that year was his promotion to lieutenant general.
In June 1812, Napoleon invaded Russia. His 600,000man army was composed of Frenchmen, Austrians,
Prussians, and others. The Grand Armee moved across
great swathes of territory and reached Moscow in
September. Napoleon hoped that Czar Alexander would
then sue for peace, but the Czar was adamant; he would not
negotiate while there was one Frenchman left on Russian
soil. Making matters worse, there was a severe fire in
Moscow. Many buildings were destroyed, and Napoleon
was thereby deprived of safe winter quarters. He turned his
army for home.
The long retreat across the Russian and Polish plains
was a catastrophe for Napoleon and his men. Only about
50,000 of the 600,000 men who had left home in the spring
of 1812 ever returned.
Napoleon quickly raised another army, and fought on.
By now, though, his enemies and even his former enemies
had taken heart from what had happened in Russia. King
Frederick William broke the terms of his alliance, and
declared war on Napoleon. So did the Austrian emperor.
33
34
WATERLOO
Suddenly Napoleon was on the defensive against all of
Central and Eastern Europe.
General Blcher played a key role in the many battles of
1813. He led the Prussians at the Battle of Leignitz in April,
and again at the Battle of the Nations in October. The
second battle, fought near a town called Leipzig, was the
decisive one of the campaign. The combination of Russians,
Austrians, and Prussians overwhelmed Napoleon and
broke his power in Central Europe.
Blcher led the Prussians in their last campaign, the
invasion of France in 1814. By now Blcher was seen as the
preeminent general on the allied side; his advice was sought
by his king and by Czar Alexander as the allied armies
entered France, and approached Paris.
Napoleon abdicated his throne in April, a few days after
Blcher and the Prussians entered Paris. As he went off into
exile, Napoleon remembered that Blcher had been one of his
most implacable enemies. The Prussian and Frenchman had
met only once in person but they had clashed on the battlefield nearly a dozen times. Now Blcher, along with the
other Allies, celebrated while Napoleon was sent to Elba.
When the war finally ended, Blcher was showered
with honors. King Frederick William made him a Prussian
field marshal. This was the highest achievement any
Prussian soldier could attain; it placed Blcher among the
great leaders who had served King Frederick the Great
during his glory years. The king went even further and
made Blcher a Prussian prince. This did not make him
one of the royal line, but was a dignity far above that
reached by most soldiers.
Surprisingly, the 11 months between Napoleons abdication and his escape from Elba were not comforting ones for
Blcher. As he learned the news of the Congress of Vienna,
particularly its territorial decisions, he declared that France
had escaped too lightly. She should be made to pay more for
PRUSSIAN HUSSAR
General Blcher shown in about the year 1810. Blcher appears

in civilian garb that makes him look more like a Prussian philosopher than a Prussian general. At this time, Napoleon dominated
Europe, and Prussias King William willingly accommodated the
Corsicans demands.
her depredations (it was true that France had not even been
required to return the art treasures her soldiers had stolen
from other European nations). Therefore, he was pleased to
hear Napoleon had escaped and the wars had begun once
more. It was, he said, The greatest piece of good luck.
35
This painting by Horace Vernet shows

Napoleon, Marshal Murat, and Marshal
Berthier on horseback in 1806. Murat, in
a red cavalrymans outfit, was the most
dashing and daring of the marshals, and
one of the best cavalrymen of any time
period. Berthier was the coordinator of
Napoleons plans, and his death in June
1815 was a serious loss to Napoleon in
the Waterloo campaign.
Napoleon Strikes!
Napoleon has humbugged me, by God!
Duke of Wellington
apoleon made short work of King Louis XVIII and the

restored Bourbon administration. Landing in southern
France on March first, Napoleon made his way north
and on March 20 he entered Paris in triumph. The emperor
had returned.
Napoleon professed to want peace, but the allied powers
would have none of it. On March 28, Britain, Prussia,
Austria, and Russia signed the Treaty of Chaumont, in which
they swore to rose an allied army of 600,000 men and crush
37
38
WATERLOO
Napoleon before he had time to rebuild his strength
at home.
Three different armies participated in the campaign
that ended at Waterloo. Napoleon led a French army
that was relatively homogeneous. It was composed of
many veterans of his earlier campaigns with a sprinkling of new blood. Wellington commanded an army
very different from what he had led in Spain. There he
had led a homogeneous British army; now he had a
mixed army of British, Dutch and Belgian troops to
lead. For the sake of convenience, they are collectively
called the Anglo-Dutch army. Blcher, like Napoleon,
commanded a homogeneous army, but he encountered
great difficulties in obtaining money supplies because
Prussia was drained from years of warfare. Together these
three armiesFrench, Anglo-Dutch, and Prussian
would contest the fields of Quatre-Bras, Ligny, Wavre,
and Waterloo.
Each of the three armies was made up of the same
rough deployment that had prevailed on European battlefields since the time of the duke of Marlborough, 100 years
before. Horse, foot, and guns were the simple way of
expressing this disposition; the more sophisticated words
are cavalry, infantry, and artillery.
The foot soldier comprised the heart of any army.
His willingness to stand and receive fire, or advance
with the bayonet, usually determined the outcome of
any battle. The British, French, and Prussian soldiers
of the day fought with the same types of muskets they
had 50 years earlier; the Brown Bess musket of the
British army had first been issued in 1745.
The artillerymen played a secondary but vital role.
Only 30 years earlier, cannon had been too heavy and
unwieldy to use effectively on the battlefield. But
Napoleon, who had trained as an artilleryman, had
NAPOLEON STRIKES!
pioneered the use of mobile, horse-drawn cannon that
could be deployed to great effect. Better than any
other commander of the day, Napoleon understood
the vital importance of cannon. Consequently, the
French army in Belgium deployed more guns than
either of its foes.
Cavalry would seem to be doomed as a battlefield
formation, but the Napoleonic Wars had actually seen
a resurgence of the use of mounted men. Napoleon had
added Polish lancers to his cavalry, and the lance had
made a comeback since about 1800. Just the same, every
top commander knew that infantry deployed in hollow
squares could repel almost any cavalry assault. A wise
commander kept his cavalry for a key moment when,
seeing signs of an enemy weakening, the horses could
break a line, and allow for a decisive action.
All three commanders had their areas of specialty.
Although he understood a battle and its sequences better
than anyone, Napoleon probably placed more reliance on
his artillery than the other two segments. Wellington,
who understood a battlefield (the terrain) better than
anyone else, placed his reliance on the thin red line of
British infantry. Blcher, who inspired his men to greater
heights than any other leader of the day, had been a
hussar since 1760, and the cavalry was naturally his
favorite wing in the army.
Three armies, three sections of each army, and three
brilliant leaders clashed on the Belgian fields in the late
spring of 1815.
Everyone expected that Napoleon would have to fight
defensively on this occasion. The forces that gathered
against him were large, even overwhelming. Between
them, Britain, Prussia, Austria, and Russia pledged to
raise 500,000 men to bring down the Corsican. No one
accepted Napoleons earnest protestation that this time
39
40
WATERLOO
he meant to rule in peace; the Allies were determined to
bring him down.
France had fought great odds before. In 1793,
Revolutionary France had declared the levee en masse,
which meant that each and every member of French
society had to contribute something to the military
effort. But that was 22 years ago, and France was weary
of sacrifices. The best Napoleon could manage was to
put together about 120,000 men, meaning that he
would eventually face odds of about four-to-one.
Numbers never tell the whole story however. Napoleon
was able to recruit these men in about one month, while the
Allies, especially far-off Russia, would require months to
bring up their full strength. Even more important,
Napoleon was able to quickly consolidate the hard core
of his army from battle-hardened veterans. Best of all, he
was able to persuade nearly all of his former Imperial
Guardsmen to the fight. By early June, Napoleon had
the makings of one of the most cohesive armies he had
ever commanded.
The marshals were another story. Some, like Marmont,
stayed in the service of King Louis XVIII. Others, such
as Ney, were allowed to serve, but were under a cloud
because of their former loyalty to the king. Still others,
such as Massena, professed their renewed loyalty to
Napoleon, but begged off from active service, alleging
physical infirmities.
On April 17, Napoleon awarded the baton of a marshal
of France to Emmanuel, Marquis de Grouchy. He was
the 26th man to be so honored, and he would be the
last. Grouchy had served with the Revolutionary and
Napoleonic armies for nearly 20 years, and he had been an
excellent cavalry leader in the Russian campaign. But he
was unpopular with his fellow marshals, many of whom
questioned the need for another to join their ranks.
NAPOLEON STRIKES!
41
A conscription scene typical of the years 1813-1814 when men were enrolled into
the military service for the Napoleonic Wars.
42
WATERLOO
The greatest loss by far was that of Marshal Berthier,
Napoleons longtime chief of staff. Berthier, whose career
had begun in 1780, serving with the French army during
the War of the American Revolution, was a peerless coordinator. He was able to interpret Napoleons orders and
distribute them with precision and speed. Berthiers
demise was reported in The London Times of Saturday,
June 17, 1815:
Respecting the death of Prince Berthier, private
letters from Bamberg communicate the following: At the moment when a Russian division
was passing through Bamberg, the Prince came
to a window in the attics of the palace, and
found there a lady in the suite of Princess
Wilhelmma of Bavaria. He asked her whether
she did not wish to have a nearer view of the
fine troops that were passing. The lady had
scarcely left the room, and proceeded to a
gallery with this view, when the Prince shut the
door, threw himself out of the window, and was
killed on the spot.
Time was clearly against Napoleon. Given enough
weeks and months, the Austrians and Russians would
mobilize vast numbers of men who would grind him
down to the dust. But if he could score a lightning-fast
victory, reminiscent of his former glory, perhaps
Austria and Russia could be persuaded to make peace.
Therefore, Napoleon decided to strike fast and strike
first, against the British and Prussians.
The Duke of Wellington did not return to England
once he learned of Napoleons return; there was no
time for a visit home. Instead, Wellington made his
way across Western Europe and reached Belgium,
where he, like Napoleon, began to consolidate an army.
NAPOLEON STRIKES!
Unlike Napoleon, Wellington was unable to put
together the best of his former armies. Some regiments
were still in North America; others had been sent to
India; and still others had to recruit to reach their
full strength. So, although he had staff and supply
masters from the Spanish campaigns, Wellington
had to fight without most of the men who had been
his Invincibles between 1808 and 1814. Wellington
put together a mixed army: there were British, Dutch,
Belgian, and even a few German soldiers. Remarkably,
he was able to weld them together in the few weeks
that remained to him. Wellington had no illusions
about them men he commanded. On May 8th, he wrote
a letter to Lord Stewart, who had been his adjutant
general in Spain:
I have got a very infamous army, very weak and
ill equipped, and a very inexperienced staff. In
my opinion they are doing nothing in England.
They have not raised a man; they have not
called out the militia either in England or
Ireland; are unable to send me any thing; and
they have not sent a message to Parliament
about the money. The war spirit is therefore
evaporating as I am informed.
Blcher, in Prussia, had a different set of problems.
Prussia was a country that depended on its army at all
times, and as such, forces were seldom disbanded.
Within two weeks of learning of Napoleons return,
Blcher had put together one of the best Prussian
armies to date, numbering about 107,000 men.
Common sense seemed to indicate that Napoleon
should fight a defensive campaign, centered on a ring
of forts around Paris. He had fought just such a
campaign in the early spring of 1814, and had inflicted
(continued on page 46)
43
44
WATERLOO
The Marshals of the Empire

Napoleon liked to claim that every one of his soldiers carried what
was potentially a marshals baton in his backpack. While there was
some exaggeration employed in the expression, it is certain that the
Napoleonic armies were open to, and receptive of, talent wherever
it might be found. A striking case is found in the men who were
made marshals of the Empire: many of them came from humble or
middle-class backgrounds.
Between 1804 and 1815, 26 men were raised to the rank of marshal
of the French Empire. They were, in the order of rank: Berthier, Moncey,
Massena, Murat, Jordan, Augereau, Bernadotte (who later became king
of Sweden), Brune, Mortier, Lannes, Soult, Ney, Davout, Kellermann,
Bessieres, Perignon, Lefebvre and Serurier (all raised to marshal in
1804); Perrin (1807), Macdonald (1809), Marmont (1809), Oudinot
(1809), Sucet (1811) St. Cyr (1812) Pontiatowski (1813) and
Grouchy in 1815.
The marshals played a vital role in the Napoleonic armies.
Napoleon was famous for his ability to size up a situation and
issue the general commands. Alexander Bethier, first man raised to
marshal in 1804, was Napoleons indispensable chief of staff;
Berthier issued the commands and sent post riders with dispatches to different parts of the battlefield. Once those messages
were received by the different marshals, they then implemented
them. It was a system that worked remarkably well from about
1796, when Napoleon first took command in Italy, until about 1810.
During those 14 years, Napoleon seldom lost a major battle, and
his marshals were both inspired by him, and lent confidence to the
men below them.
Then something happened. The failure of several marshals in
Spain weakened the confidence in the overall system, and in the
Russian campaign of 1812, Napoleon seemed strangely listless.
NAPOLEON STRIKES!
Rather than perform intricate maneuvers, he preferred simple but

deadly frontal assaults such as the one that cost so many French
and Russian lives at Borodino.
One brief moment of shining glory remained to Napoleon and the
marshals. In the spring of 1814, as they defended the homeland of
France, Napoleon and his marshals performed feat after feat of
logistics and morale. With barely 200,000 men, they nearly
stopped the allied 500,000. But it all came to naught when, in
April, Napoleon abdicated the throne.
When King Louis XVIII returned to Paris in 1814, he announced a
general amnesty for those who would swear allegiance to him.
Many came forward, Marshals Ney, Massena, and Macdonald
among them. The former Napoleonic marshals were treated with
dignity, and given important positions in the new Bourbon army.
Then came the escape from Elba.
Massena prevaricated until Napoleon was back in power. Ney
told King Louis XVIII he would bring Napoleon back to Paris in a
cage, but Ney then went over to his old chief. Macdonald
remained loyal to the king. Most tragic of all was Marshal
Berthier. Worn out from more than 30 years of campaigning, he
left France and was in a German town when he fell to his death
on June 1, 1815.
After the defeat at Waterloo, most of the marshals endured minor
persecutions until a general amnesty was proclaimed in 1819. The
major exception was Marshal Ney. The bravest of the brave was
placed up against a wall and shot, as a reminder to any who might
seek to revive the Napoleonic legend in the future.
Most fortunate of all the marshals was Bernadotte, who became
King Charles XIV of Sweden in 1815. The new king pioneered a peaceful course for Sweden, which lasted through and beyond his reign.
45
46
WATERLOO
(continued from page 43)
heavy casualties upon the enemies before he had been

forced to abdicate. But this time would be different.
Rather than wait for the coalition of Allies to surround
him, Napoleon went forward to the attack.
By the first week of June, Napoleon and 110,000
Frenchmen were crossing the border from France into
Belgium. They entered the Low Countries by crossing
the Sambre River, and collided with Prussian forces
at Charleroi.
The duchess of Richmond gave a splendid ball in
Brussels on the evening of June 15. The duchess had
inquired of the Duke of Wellington whether it was
proper for her to do so in the situation; Wellington had
replied that it was safe, proper, and good for morale.
Wellington was there that night, and enjoyed himself
as much as anyone until about 10 oclock when a
messenger brought news: Napoleon had crossed the
Sambre and attacked the British posts near Quatre
Bras. Indeed, the French assault seemed on the verge of
splitting the British and Prussian armies away from
each other.
Eyewitnesses later recalled that Wellington became
pale and drawn. He hurried to a map room with the
duke of Richmond, where Wellington exploded,
Napoleon has humbugged me, by God! He has stolen
24 hours march on me! That, of course, was what
Napoleon had been famous for doing for the past 15
years, but the duke of Richmond did not point out the
fact. Rather, he inquired where Wellington would fight
the French.
First gesturing, then pointing to the map, Wellington
replied, I have ordered the army to concentrate at QuatreBras; but we shall not stop him there, and if so, I must fight
him here, pressing his thumbnail over the position of
Waterloo. Clearly, Wellington had reconnoitered well and
NAPOLEON STRIKES!
had seen that the low hills of Mont St. Jean gave him
the best chance to replicate the type of victories he had
won over the French in days past in Spain. But Wellington
had to make great speed to reach his rendezvous
with Bonaparte.
47
Quatre-Bras
and Ligny
5
Wellington and his men hurried
to the battlefield at Quatre-Bras.
Napoleon had indeed humbugged
them, and if they did not make
haste, they would be completely
split off from their Prussian allies.
Robert Alexander Hillingford painted
this portrait of the British Army
in motion.
Perhaps the eyes of the three greatest commanders of the age were
directed on one another.
he sky was bright and clear on the morning of Friday, June 16.
Three armies converged on two small villages in southern
Belgium, with the fate of three nations at risk: France, Prussia,
and Britain.
Having indeed stolen a march, and 24 hours on his foes,
Napoleon now wanted to deal a death blow. From the beginning
of the campaign, his intention had been to drive a wedge
between the British and Prussian armies, and cause each of them
49
50
WATERLOO
to fall back in the direction of their supply lines. For the
British that would mean an orderly retreat toward the
English Channel; for the Prussians it meant a retreat
toward the Rhine River. In either case, Napoleon was
confident that he could choose which of his two foes to
pursue, and utterly destroy him.
Up to the morning of June 16, Napoleons maneuvers
had been as close to perfect as he could have hoped. But
he could not be in two places at one time; therefore
Marshal Ney would lead the assault on the British at
Quatre-Bras, while Napoleon would deal a heavy blow
against the Prussians at Ligny.
Shown on a map, the military situation resembled a
triangle. The British-Dutch forces were spread from
northwest to southeast, with their southeast line
anchored on Quatre-Bras. The Prussians extended more
east to west, with their western line anchored at Ligny.
Napoleon had cleverly come between them, and was
planning blows at the connecting sections of the triangle.
If he was successful, the enemy would fly off in retreat:
the triangle would not hold.
Napoleon planned a devastating attack, based on the
concept of the center. This meant that he would use his
army, in the central position, to attack the two allied
armies simultaneously, but that the right wing of
Marshal Neys section would swing over to Napoleons
left at midday and help complete the destruction of the
Prussians. Neys right was commanded by General
dErlon.
Before the battle began, the Duke of Wellington rode
to the Prussian lines to assure Marshal Blcher that the
British would come to his aid. As he arrived, the duke
witnessed the heart of the Prussian army being led onto
the slopes that faced south, toward the enemy. This
deployment ran contrary to everything the duke had

practiced in India and Spain; he urged Blcher to alter
the disposition, and to place the men on the reverse
slope, where they would be protected from French
cannon fire. Blcher declined to do so, perhaps because
the French were about to begun their assault.
A Prussian lieutenant colonel, standing close to
Wellington and Blcher, observed that in the distance a party of the enemy, and Napoleon was clearly
distinguishable in the group. Perhaps the eyes of the
three greatest commanders of the age were directed
on one another.
Wellington rode back to his own lines. Long before
he reached them, he heard cannon fire in his rear. The
twin battles of Ligny and Quatre-Bras had begun.
Much as historians like to praise Marshal Ney
(bravest of the brave), there is no doubt he let
Napoleon down on the 16th of June. The British-Dutch
at Quatre-Bras numbered only about 8,000 men, but
Ney was uncharacteristically cautious that morning.
Conferring with his staff, Ney voiced the opinion that
Quatre-Bras might be a Spanish-type battle with the
best British troops ensconced on the other side of a hill.
Fearful over Wellingtons tactical skill, Ney waited until
two in the afternoon before launching his assault.
Napoleon meanwhile, had waited until he heard the
thunder of cannon from the west, indicating that Ney
had begun his attack. Napoleons forces turned on the
Prussians with a savage attack, but were met by the
Prussians who fought with vigor and determination. All
afternoon the battle raged back and forth, with the
French often gaining ground, but usually yielding some
of it to cavalry counterattacks. Blcher himself led one
of the Prussian cavalry charges.
The 72-year-old marshal led his Hussars in a downhill charge against the French. As he neared the bottom
51
52
WATERLOO
This cavalry officer is typical of those Imperial Guardsmen who

made the charge that won the Battle of Ligny, late in the afternoon.
In campaigns fought across the continent, the Imperial Guard had
never been known to retreat once it was committed to battle.
of the hill, Blcher had his horse shot from beneath him,
and the aged marshal wound up just feet from being
trampled to death by his own cavalry. But cooler heads
saved the day, and Blcher was hurried to the back of

the Prussian lines, not a moment too soon.
If personal valor could have won the day at Ligny,
then Blcher and the Prussians deserved to win, but
Napoleon had plans and counterplans ready for them.
The battle was still a rough stalemate at about six that
evening, when Napoleon sent in 14 battalions of the
Imperial Guard against the enemy.
Imperial Guardsmen were tall men, capped with
bearskin hats. They tended to be drawn from all the
other regiments after being cited for bravery and skill.
Once a man entered the Imperial Guard, which was
divided into the Young Guard, Middle Guard, and
Old Guard, he did not hope for a peaceful retirement.
Like the Sioux warriors of the Great Plains of North
America, Imperial Guardsmen expected to die on
the battlefield.
The Imperial Guard swept over the Prussians like a
firestorm, breaking their last defenses. The battle was
won by seven oclock, and had Napoleon committed his
entire army to the chase, the Prussians might have been
finished off that night. But both sides had taken heavy
losses (12,000 French casualties and 16,000 Prussian) and
Napoleon was ready to celebrate his victory. One leg of
the allied triangle had been forced and its members sent
off in retreat.
Because Blcher was temporarily out of commission,
leadership of the Prussian army fell to his chief of staff,
Gnesieau. Few generals and chiefs of staff worked together
as well as these two, but they had decidedly different
thoughts about the state of the campaign. Worried over his
supply lines, Gnesieau wanted to retreat towards the
Prussian lines at Liege, which would do exactly what
Napoleon had set out to accomplish. Gneseaiu had the
temporary command, but when Blcher came to, he
insisted the Prussian retreat be north, towards Wavre. By
53
54
WATERLOO
heading in that direction, the Prussians retreated on a line
parallel to Wellington and the British, as they marched
toward Mont St. Jean.
Not only had Marshal Ney commenced his attack at
two oclock in the afternoon; he had countermanded an
order from Napoleon which had disastrous effects upon
the French plans.
From the start, Napoleons plan had been to use the
central position to throw men as a fulcrum against the
Prussian left. General dErlons corps, which formed the
right flank of Neys force, had been ordered to do this
and had actually started marching when Marshal Ney
countermanded the order and required them to return
to Quatre-Bras. Furious, Napoleon sent another set of
orders but it was too late. DErlons corps, which might
have provided the finishing blow either at Quatre-Bras
or at Ligny, was available to neither Ney nor Napoleon.
What might have been a stunning French victory turned
into a draw at Quatre-Bras and an incomplete victory
over the Prussians at Ligny.
Wellingtons men retired in good order and made for
the hills at Mont St. Jean. Perhaps they had been knocked
about by Neys attacks, but it was nothing like what the
Prussians had endured at Ligny.
Napoleon rose early on the morning of June 17. He
spent two hours inspecting the previous days battlefield. What he saw convinced Napoleon that his plan
had succeeded. By occupying the central position, and
striking hard at the Prussians, he had sent them flying
eastward to the Rhine. He had indeed knocked the
stuffing out of the Prussians the day before. Thousands of
Prussian prisoners were brought forward; their muskets
were taken, and they were sent to the rear.
Marshal Grouchy asked the emperor for orders, but
received a brush-off. Napoleon wanted Grouchy to keep

tabs on the retreating Prussians, to harass them if necessary. But to Napoleon the situation seemed better than
it really was. Thinking that the Prussians would retire
due east, he thought he could now give all his attention
to the British.
Napoleon began his pursuit of the British at midday.
The French now had the advantage of numbers and
momentum; the Anglo-Dutch forces were in an orderly
but clear retreat to the north. Had Napoleon and Ney
been able to fall upon them in the retreat, the French
might have wrecked havoc on their foe, but Napoleon
and Ney could not work miracles. They made slow but
steady progress that day, and in the late afternoon came
a series of powerful thunderstorms that delayed the
French further. Clearly, the momentous battle would
have to wait for at least one night.
Meanwhile, Wellington had led the Anglo-Dutch
troops to a series of gentle slopes in an area called Mont St.
Jean, about two miles south of the dukes headquarters,
which were in a small hamlet called Waterloo.
Wellington had carefully chosen this ground. He
knew that morale would plummet if Napoleon entered
Brussels, it was necessary to stop him here. The duke had
chosen a fine defensive position. The low ridges around
Mont St. Jean afforded his men protection from French
cannon fire; his army stood astride the crossroads of the
two roads intersecting in the town; and there were two
manmade obstacles in the way of any French assault: a
chateau and a farm, each of which could be garrisoned by
Anglo-Dutch troops.
The only significant drawback to Wellingtons position
was that retreat would be hazardous at best. Only one road
led away to the north, and just two miles north of Mont St.
Jean it passed through the town of Waterloo. Just beyond
Waterloo lay the Forest of Soignes which would make a
55
56
WATERLOO
Field Marshal von Blcher lost his horse, and nearly his life, in the evening
at the Battle of Quatre-Bras. The old cavalry commander impulsively led a
charge of his Prussian dragoons, and was nearly killed when his horse was
shot from under him. Had Blcher perished, the outcome of the campaign
might have been quite different.
mass exodus nearly impossible. For this reason, some planners believed Wellington had made a mistake, but there
was some precedent for his action. In 1781, during the
American Revolution, General Daniel Morgan had
arranged his men in a defensive line at Cowpens, North
Carolina, with a river directly at their back. Their pursuer,
Colonel Banastre Tarleton, had risked everything on a
frontal assault, and had been completely broken by the
mixture of militiamen and Continental soldiers under

Morgan. Cowpens had been one of the shortest (one hour),
bloodiest (for the British), and decisive battles of the
Revolutionary War.
Whether or not he knew of Cowpens, Wellington
had chosen the ground and would make his stand on the
gentle slopes of Mont St. Jean.
57
First Phase
6
Drawing by W. Heath shows British
and French soldiers fighting during
the Battle of Waterloo near a farmhouse known as La Haye Sainte.
Had it not rained on the night of the 17th of June, 1815, the
future of Europe would have been changed. A few drops of
water more or less prostrated Napoleon. That Waterloo should
be the end of Austerlitz, Providence needed only a little rain, and
an unseasonable cloud crossing the sky sufficed for the overthrow
of the world.
Victor Hugo, Les Miserables
he 18th of June was a Sunday. Light dawned over soggy, wet

soldiers on all three sides. British troops rose early and went
to breakfast over the fields at Mont St. Jean; French soldiers
59
60
WATERLOO
did the same not one mile to the south; and Prussians
packed up nearly eight miles away at Wavre. The armies
of three nations were ready for the most important day in
their campaign.
Napoleon breakfasted with a group of officers at a farm
called Le Caillou. From this, his headquarters, Napoleon
could see the allied defenses, just atop the nearby ridge,
and could make his estimate of them. But Napoleon
waited to hear from his top officers.
Marshal Soult, who had fought the British in
Spain, suggested the French might maneuver to force
Wellington off his defensive line on the ridge. Other
officers cautiously put forth the same opinion, to
which Napoleon replied:
Because Wellington has beaten you, you think he is
a great general. I tell you Wellington is a bad general, the
English are bad troops, and this affair will be no more
difficult than eating ones breakfast. The emperor
proceeded to eat his potato and eggs, and his officers
scattered to their posts. Napoleon had spoken; there
was nothing more to be said.
One mile to the north, the Duke of Wellington made
his preparations in solitude. One of the characteristic
aspects of the dukes leadership was that he surveyed
the ground beforehand, made his decisions, and handed
them out to subordinates without much discussion of
the matter. Like Napoleon, Wellington was a supreme
egotist, confident in his superior mental powers. But
unlike Napoleon, Wellington had the good grace not to
appear that way in public.
Only eight miles to the east, Field Marshal von Blcher
and 70,000 Prussians began making their way toward the
fields of Waterloo. The ground was soft and wet, the wagons would not make it through the mud so the exasperated
Prussians had to haul virtually all the equipment by hand.
FIRST PHASE
Somewhere south and east of the Prussians was
French Marshal Grouchy with 33,000 men. He had
lost contact with the bulk of the Prussian army, and
by now he realized that the Prussians were somewhere between him and Napoleona very dangerous
situation. Dispatch riders were quickly sent to
Napoleon, who would receive the bad news around
12 oclock noon.
On the fields of Waterloo, Napoleon delayed the
French attack for two hours. He wanted the ground to
dry out and become firm, so the French cannon balls
would take their maximum effect on the enemy lines. On
dry ground, cannon balls bounced and sprayed, taking
immense toll on enemy lines. But in the mud, as on the
morning of June 18, cannon balls came to an abrupt stop
limiting their effectiveness. Napoleon was also unaware
that Wellington had already taken important precautions. Many of the allied troops were lined up on the
reverse side of the ridges, so they would not be harmed by
cannon fire. Wellington would not be drawn into the
type of trap that Blcher had stumbled into at the Battle
of Ligny.
During the late morning, Napoleon held a grand
review of his army, in full view of the Anglo-Dutch
foe. French battalions marched and countermarched;
bearskin caps were in evidence; and the bands played
Partant pour la Syrie! (Leaving for Syria!).
The Battle of Waterloo began at about 20 minutes
past 11 that morning. A thunder of French cannon was
heard, and powder and shot began to spray from both
armies. The final decision had been made; the battle
was on.
In between the French and allied positions lay a
chateau named Hougoumont and a farm called La
Haye Sainte. The chateau lay on the French left; the
61
62
WATERLOO
farm was on their right. Napoleon knew that both
these positions were important, but he judged the
chateau as of more consequence, and the first wave of
French infantry attacked La Hougoumont at half-past
11 oclock.
Colonel Macdonnell commanded the British
defenders of the chateau. So fiercely did the British
fight that what seemed as if it should fall within one
hour took all afternoon. Napoleons younger brother
Prince Jerome was one of the thousands of French
troops who milled about the Chateau, firing at the
windows, but were unable to force the issue. Once, an
immense French sergeant, aptly named The
Enforcer, pushed his way through the main gate, but
he and the men who followed him were killed
instantly by British musket fire. For the moment, the
Chateau held.
Just before he launched the central part of his
attack, Napoleon caught a glimpse of dust four miles
to his right. His experienced eye had noticed something that his marshals and generals had not. When he
called upon Soult and others to confer, they tended to
dismiss it as an act of nature (a dust storm), but
Napoleon knew better. The wet conditions of the
previous night would not permit such a freak of
nature; it had to be a column of troops. What neither
Napoleon nor his staff could determine was the
nationality of those men. The French leaders hoped it
was Marshal Grouchy and his 33,000 men, but
Napoleon knew it was unlikely the marshal could have
advanced so far that morning. The likelihood was that
it was the Prussian enemy.
It was Prussians indeed, General Bulows corps,
which formed the advanced part of Blchers army.
All morning, Marshal Blcher had incessantly
FIRST PHASE
admonished and encouraged his men. They must reach
the battlefield in time to assist Wellington. No matter
that the road was soaked from the previous nights
rain, or that the men were exhausted from two days of
fighting and marching. They must reach the duke on
the heights of Mont St. Jean.
At one oclock in the afternoon, Napoleon launched
the central part of his attack. The corps commanded by
Count Drouet dErlon advanced up the middle part of
the slope, with the chateau to their left and the farm on
their right. It was a mass of infantry, marching in their
traditional columns, with the men shouting Vive
lEmpereur. Any of the British and Dutch defenders
who had not previously faced the French must have been
quite affected by the shouts.
One of the British soldiers prepared to receive this
assault was Captain James Mercer of the Royal
Artillery. Not long after the battle, he composed a
memoir which is considered one of the single best
accounts of Waterloo. As a disclaimer, Mercer penned
the following lines:
A scientific relation of this great struggle, on which
the fate of Europe hinged, I pretend not to write.
I write neither history, nor Memoirs pour servir a
lHistoire, etc. etc., but only pure gossip for my own
simple amusementjust what happened to me and
mine, and what I did see happen to other about me.
Depend upon it, he who pretends to give a general
account of a great battle from his own observation
deceives youbelieve him not. He can see no farther
(that is, if he be personally engaged in it) than the
length of his nose; and how it he to tell what is passing two or three miles off, with hills and trees and
buildings intervening, and all enveloped in smoke?
63
64
WATERLOO
Marshal Blcher encourages his men to make haste as they move to join
Wellington and the British. Though the 72-year-old Blcher had taken a fall
at the Battle of Ligny, he was back in the saddle, and only he could push his
Prussian troops to make the effort to reach the British in time to prevent a
Napoleonic victory.
What Mercer did see, and what he and his fellows

experienced, was the force of the French assault.
These were veterans of many battles, men who had
been tried and tested in the French column strategy.
FIRST PHASE
They hit the Anglo-Dutch line with a resounding
thud, and seemed close to breaking through. Mercer
recounted:
It might have been about two oclock when
Colonel Gould, R. A., came to me, perhaps a
little later. Be that as it may, we were conversing
on the subject of our situation, which appeared
to him rather desperate. He remarked that in the
event of a retreat, there was but one road, which
no doubt would be instantly choked up, and
asked my opinion. My answer was, It does
indeed look very bad; but I trust in the duke,
who, I am sure, will get us out of it somehow or
other. Meantime, gloomy reflections arose in my
mind, for though I did not choose to betray
myself (as we spoke before the men), yet I could
not help thinking that our affairs were rather
desperate, and that some unfortunate catastrophe was at hand. In this case I made up my mind
to spike my guns and retreat over the fields,
draught-horses and all, in the best manner I could,
steering well from the highroad and general line
of retreat.
Things looked black for the allied army until
someone gave an order to four brigades of British cavalry. It is unclear today whether Lord Ponsonby gave
the order or whether the duke sent a message, but
suddenly about 2,400 British and Scottish horsemen
came over the ridge and crashed into the French lines,
wielding sabers.
Normally, European infantrywhether they were
British, French, or otherknew how to repel a cavalry
charge. On an order, the infantry would form a hollow
square and use musket fire and bayonets to stop the
65
66
WATERLOO
foe. But there was no time to form squares; dErlons
men had crested the ridge in column formation, and
they were too compacted already to change their formation. For one of the few times in the Napoleonic
Wars, a cavalry assault had a large body of infantry at
its mercy.
The British and Scottish cavalrymen did their
work efficiently and with a vengeance. In less than
half an hour they mauled dErlons infantry. Two
thousand French were taken prisoner and two Napoleonic
eagles were seized by the British. Just half an hour
after cresting the ridge, the remains of dErlons men
were back in the lowland between the two lines in
full retreat.
Again, no one knows who gave the order, but
the allied cavalrymen took up the shout, Scotland
forever! and charged after the retreating foe. So sudden
was the charge, and so demoralized were the French
that the cavalry caught up with the foe and reached
the ridge where 70 of Napoleons prized cannon lay.
The cavalrymen gleefully began to spike the guns,
and any neutral observerthere actually were
nonemight have thought the day was won for the
allied army.
Napoleon struck back. He had 30,000 men held
in reserve, but it only took sudden charges by his
own cavalry to send the allied horsemen reeling.
The British and Scottish horses were winded from
their exertions; the French mounts were fresh and
eager. Within 15 minutes, the gallant Allies cavalry
was sent back to its own slopes, with about half of
the number that it had begun the action. But the
cavalry intervention had been crucial; dErlons
assault had been broken and the left center of the
allied lines had withstood.
FIRST PHASE
Direction of the French attack now shifted to Marshal
Michel Ney, who commanded the French left and whose
men were still battling furiously in an effort to capture the
Chateau of Hougoumont. By this time, over 10,000
Frenchmen had been drawn into what should have been a
sideshow to the main effort.
67
Michel Ney, the son of a cooper (barrel

maker), was indeed the bravest of the
brave. His performance at Waterloo was
marred by a series of impulsive decisions,
brought on perhaps by the incredible stress
and fatigue he had suffered in the Russian
campaign two and a half years earlier.
Second Phase
None of your furious galloping charges was this, but a deliberate advance, at a deliberate pace, as of men resolved to carry
their point.
Captain James Mercer
ime had shownand Waterloo would prove once more

that Michel Ney was indeed the bravest of the brave. The
son of a cooper, Ney was born in 1769, the same year as
Napoleon and Wellington. He had joined the French hussars in
1788, and then become a soldier in the Revolutionary armies. He
had been one of the first marshals of the Empire, created in
1804. Ney had fought brilliantly in the 1805 campaign that
culminated in Napoleons greatest victory at Austerlitz. He had
69
70
WATERLOO
fought gallantly, but without success, against Wellington
in Spain. More than anything else, though, men remembered Neys bravery in the terrible campaign in Russia
during 1812-1813. There had been times when Ney and a
handful of elite grenadiers had stopped whole Russian
units at bridges, thereby allowing the main part of the
retreating French army to escape. Throughout that terrible
winter, Ney had braved death time and again; bullets
seemed to miss him when they should have skewered
him. Now, on June 18th, Ney directed the left center of
the French lines and Napoleon allowed him a free hand
in his dispositions.
Furious over what he had witnessed of dErlons
repulse, Ney ordered his own cannon to redouble their
bombardment of the allied lines. Here, the French cannon
took a heavy toll of the Anglo-Dutch defenders, and by
about three oclock, Ney saw something that made him
catch his breath; he witnessed British troops being
marched to the rear and replaced by fresher units.
This type of rearrangement was Wellingtons specialty.
The duke understood the value of rotating his men in
position, and as a consequence, his men were often able to
deliver a greater performance. Seeing the toll taken by the
French bombardment, Wellington now undertook one of
his classic shifts.
Ney, who had fought against Wellington in the
past, should have seen this movement for what it was.
But throughout the battle, Ney displayed a fury that
overrode his thinking. Seeing the British withdraw led
to a feeling of elation. Ney believed the allied line was
quivering, and that one decisive smashing blow would
yield the result for which he longed. Acting quickly, he
summoned his entire cavalry reserve, roughly 5,000
men, forward.
They made the most spectacular sight yet seen that
SECOND PHASE
day. There were French cuirassiers and Polish lancers,
brightly outfitted and shiny. Of the three sections of the
army (infantry, artillery, cavalry) the horsemen were by
far the most dramatic in appearance. Napoleon had
always had a good cavalry, but in his campaigns in
Poland he had recruited Polish lancers who had added
to the size and splendor of his mounted horse brigades.
What they were about to engage in was more reminiscent of medieval warfare than the 19th century.
Led by Ney himself, the French cavalry moved up
the slope toward the waiting British. The French came
on not with a rush, but at a canter, and Captain Mercer,
still with his cannon, recounted what he saw:
We were still talking on this subject, when suddenly
a dark mass of cavalry appeared for an instant on
the main ridge, and then came sweeping down the
slope in swarms, reminding me of an enormous
surf bursting over the prostrate hull of a stranded
vessel, and then running, hissing and foaming, up
the beach. The hollow space became in a twinkling
covered with horsemen, crossing, turning, and
riding about in all directions, apparently without
any object. Sometimes they would come near us,
then would return a little. There were lancers
amongst them, hussars and dragoonsit was a
complete melee.
From his position, Mercer could not see the infantry
squares quickly form on the crest of the ridge. As the
French and Polish horsemen came over the top, they saw
British infantry drawn up in hollow squares, with musket
and bayonet pointed outward.
The cavalry charged the squares. Fire and smoke
bellowed from the squares, and dozens of mounts lost their
riders in a matter of seconds. No matter, the horsemen
71
72
WATERLOO
The battle was approaching its crisis point. All of Wellingtons positions
still held, but the Chateau Hougoumont would eventually fall, and there
was a real possibility that Napoleon would unleash the Imperial Guard
who might sweep the entire British position as they had done to the
Prussians at Ligny.
charged round and round the British squares, seeking a

breakthrough. Perhaps 10 minutes elapsed before
Michel Ney led his horsemen off the ridge and back to
the plateau.
Half a mile off, at La Belle Alliance, Napoleon
observed the charge with consternation. It was unheard
SECOND PHASE
of for a commander to loose his cavalry upon infantry
unless he had infantry or artillery support of his own.
Turning to Marshal Soult, Napoleon commented:
This is a precipitate action that may ruin the day. It
comes an hour too early, but we must support what has
been done. Kellermans infantry was ordered forward
to support Neys cavalry.
Why did Napoleon not act to reverse Neys commands?
This has been one of the most debated questions of the
Waterloo battle. The first cavalry charge had occurred
without any consultation, and could not be halted, but
surely Napoleon could have prevented any further such
actions. Instead he glowered into his field glass and let
the action continue.
Aside from the unlikely idea that Napoleon had lost
his gift for command, two possible answers present
themselves. First, the emperor was not well. He suffered
from hemorrhoids and stomach cramps, and seemed
particularly unwell that day. Second, perhaps more
important, his mind was diverted by the increasing
sound of gunfire to his extreme left, the east. Blue
Prussian uniforms were starting to emerge from the
woods, and cause Napoleon grave concern. They were
still two miles away, but their position threatened to
undo all he had planned.
Whatever the reason, Napoleon stayed his hand and
allowed Ney to determine events on the center left of
the battlefield. As he came down from the ridge that
first time, Michel Ney must have had some doubts as to
whether he could break those solid infantry squares.
But issuing a challenge of that type was like waving a
red flag in front of the man who had dared death a
dozen times in the Russian campaign. Ney waited only
a few minutes, reformed his cavalry, and charged up
once more.
73
74
WATERLOO
What followed was an exact repeat of what went
before. The French gained the ridge, came over the crest,
and milled about in the center of the British infantry
squares. Here and there a cavalryman managed to reach a
line, to hack with his saber, but most of the casualties were
French. Riders and mounts fell everywhere. Again, the
words of Captain Mercer:
The column now once more mounted the plateau,
and these popping gentry wheeled off right and left
to clear the ground for their charge. The spectacle
was imposing, and if ever the word sublime was
appropriately applied, it might surely be to it. On
they came in compact squadrons, one behind the
other, so numerous that those of the rear were still
below the brow when the head of the column was
but some 60 or 70 yards from our guns. Their pace
was a slow but steady trot. None of your furious
galloping charges was this, but a deliberate advance,
at a deliberate pace, as of men resolved to carry
their point.
No one knows exactly how many times the French
cavalry charged that afternoon. Estimates run as high as
12 charges, some as low as eight. In either case, Ney and
the cavalry established without the slightest doubt both
their courage and the futility of their attacks. By five
oclock, the French cavalry was a spent force. Those men
and horses who remained alive had no energy left to give
to the battle.
Back at La Belle Alliance, Napoleon saw a battle scene
that gave him deep concern. The Prussians were forcing
back his right flank more by the minute, and the village of
Placenoit had fallen to their advance. Prussian cannon near
the village were sending round shot that crashed around
Napoleons encampment, and it looked as if any type of
SECOND PHASE
75
Marshal Ney led his cavalrymen in charge after charge up the slopes. Three
horses were killed under him, but the relentless Ney continued to pound at
the enemy.
retreat he might envision would be thwarted. From his

vantage point, Napoleon witnessed the wreckage of his
magnificent cavalry, and the continued fruitless efforts of
Marshal Ney. It was time for a decision.
To disengage would be discouraging to his men,
disheartening to his cause. Napoleon decided to fight the
battle out. He sent for the leaders of the Young Guard.
La Marseillaise was the theme song of the

French Revolution and is today the French
National Anthem. First sung in 1792, the
song inspired its listeners to fight for the
Motherland against the monarchical armies
of Prussia, Austria, and Britain. Ironically,
La Marseillaise was also used by Napoleon,
who had himself become an Emperor.
Third Phase
Up Maitland, nows your time!
Duke of Wellington
he Imperial Guard was the core of the Napoleonic Army.

Composed strictly of hardy veterans of his earlier campaigns, the Imperial Guard was divided into three sections:
the Old Guard, the Young Guard, and the Middle Guard. As
expected, the Old Guard was composed of those who had
fought with Napoleon the longest. Among their leaders was
Baron Cambronne, who had accompanied the emperor into
exile on Elba. The Middle Guard was composed of men who
had served with distinction over the past five or six years, and
the Young Guard was made up of the most promising of the
77
78
WATERLOO
younger soldiers in Napoleons army.
Seeing how Ney was blocked by the British infantry,
and that the Prussians threatened to overwhelm his right,
Napoleon ordered in three battalions of the Middle
Guard. True to form, those trusty soldiers swept into the
village of Plancenoit and evicted three times their number
of Prussians in record time. By six oclock, the situation on
Napoleons right had stabilized enough that he could
examine the situation with a clear head.
Just then, a messenger arrived from Marshal Ney,
asking for more troops with which to push home the
attack on Mont St. Jean. Despite the horrific losses
experienced by his cavalry, Marshal Ney had continued
the attacks with cannon fire and infantry attacks, and
once more he believed he was on the verge of breaking
through the Anglo-Dutch foe. The message asked for
more men to push home the final blow.
All the chroniclers of Waterloo agree that Napoleon
frowned in a most awful manner and answered: Troops?
Where does he expect me to find them? Does he think I can
make them? The answer, in the negative, was sent to
Marshal Ney.
The Bravest of the Brave had made numerous mistakes during the battle and during the entire campaign.
This once though, he probably had it right. Wellingtons
center and left center were crumbling under the pounding of French guns, and one determined effort with all
the French reserves would probably have carried the hill
and the day. Napoleon, however, aware of Neys earlier
miscalculations, was not ready to entrust his Imperial
Guard to the marshal; Napoleon waited between half an
hour and 45 minutes before he decided to commit his last
reserve to the battle.
During that half hour, Wellington rearranged his
troops for the last time. Believing that the final attack
THIRD PHASE
would come slightly left of center (from the French view),
Wellington placed about 3,000 grenadiers there under
command of General Peregrine Maitland.
At nearly seven oclock, Napoleon led nine battalions
of the Old Guard forward. He left three battalions of the
Middle Guard at La Belle Alliance, and one battalion of
the Old Guard to fend off any threat from Plancenoit,
but the rest, all 4,500 of them, he led forward. Napoleon
marched at their head until he met Marshal Ney outside
of Chateau Hougoumont, which had finally fallen about
an hour earlier. There, in front of the Chateau,
Napoleon remained with his staff while the Guard filed
past him. They were silent, the men of the Guard, and
their silence betokened a savage desire to overcome the
foe. At the last moment, as they approached the ridge,
the Guardsmen were informed, Soldiers, here comes
Grouchy! Hands were pointed to a cloud of dust which
actually betokened the close arrival of Field Marshal von
Blcher and the rest of the Prussian army. It mattered
not to the men of the Guard who made their quiet
march up the slope.
Waiting on the other side were the Duke of Wellington
and about 3,000 well-concealed British troops, commanded
by Major General Peregrine Maitland. Born in Hampshire
County, England, in 1777, Maitland was an experienced
leader of the Grenadier Guards. Wellington and Maitland
both knew what was coming. Even if their experienced
eyes had not caught the telltale signs of French columns,
a French deserter had arrived breathlessly minutes before
with the word that Napoleon and the Imperial Guard
were on their way.
Four thousand five hundred Frenchmen were in
those columns, but due to their depth, only about 300 of
them actually crested the ridge at the same moment. At
that very second, the duke cried out, Up Maitland,
79
80
WATERLOO
La Marseillaise, also known as the Departure of the Army in 1792,

is also the name for a relief sculpture by Rude that appears on the
front of the Arc de Triomphe in Paris.
nows your time! and 3,000 British soldiers leaped up

from their positions. Three thousand muskets fired as
one, and the first line of Imperial Guardsmen disappeared
in a cloud of smoke.
Had the Imperial Guard been able to form into ranks
THIRD PHASE
on that plateau, and fight their foes one-to-one, the
contest might have been equal. Instead, the Guards
were simply blown away by the concentrated British
musket fire. For nearly five minutes, the Imperial
Guard stood and received the worst punishment it had
ever endured from any foe, and then, remarkably, the
Imperial Guard wavered and broke. Minutes later,
Napoleons best troops were in full retreat down the
ridge, and those who could spare a look to the east
could see that those men approaching were blue-coated
Prussians, intent on their destruction. Grouchy had
never materialized.
It was about quarter to eight in the evening. An hour
of daylight remained. The Duke of Wellington took off
and waved his hat, the sign for a general advance all
along the line. By eight oclock, the situation on the
battlefield had become the complete reverse of one hour
earlier. The French were in full flight, pursued by
exhausted British and Dutch troops, and energetic and
vengeful Prussians.
As bad as things were for France, things might have
been even worse. The early cry of Le Guard recule! (The
Guard retreats!) was followed by the more disastrous Save
qui peut! (Every man for himself!). The entire French
army might have been cut to pieces were it not for the
heroic stand of three battalions of the Old Guard on the
road by La Belle Alliance.
Led by Baron Cambronne, the three battalions
formed squares and performed feats as heroic as those
of the British infantry earlier in the day. Three battalions of the Old Guard held the road, and the AngloDutch army for nearly an hour, while Napoleon, his
staff, and some 40,000 survivors made their way to
relative safety.
British voices called on the Guard to yield: Brave
81
82
WATERLOO
There is no denying that Arthur Wellesley, the Duke of Wellington, was cool
and collected in battle. Part of the mystique that grew up around him was
from his imperturbable appearance. Here he rallies his men for the last,
supreme effort at the Battle of Waterloo.
Frenchmen, surrender! Baron Cambronne gave the answer,

La Guarde meurt et ne se rend pas (The Guard dies, but
does not surrender).
Blcher and the Duke of Wellington met in front of
La Belle Alliance between nine and 10 oclock that night.
THIRD PHASE
The Prussian suggested that La Belle Alliance would make
an excellent name for the battle, but Wellington already
had his own thoughts on the matter. Throughout the long
war in Spain, the duke had made a practice of naming
battles after the place where his headquarters was, and
from which he wrote his final dispatches. This would be
no exception. Although the battle was fought on the
slopes around the village of Mont St. Jean, and although
there were other, colorful names available (Hougoumont,
La Belle Alliance, and La Haye Sainte all come to mind),
Wellington named the battle for the hamlet of Waterloo,
two miles north of the battle site.
Prussians joined with a regiment of Highlanders and
sang Heil dir im Siegerkranz, which was to the melody
of God Save the King. The opening lines are:
Heil dir im Siegerkranz
Herrscher des Vaterlands!
Heil Konig, dir!
Fuhl in des Thrones Glanz
Die hohe Wonne ganz
Liebling des Volkszusein
Heil Konig, dir.
(Hail to you in the victors crown
Lord of the Fatherlands
Hail to you Leader
From your splendid throne, feel
The total high rapture
For you are loved by the People
Hail to you, Leader.)
As things turned out, Blcher had more important
things to do than quarrel over names. Fifty years as a
cavalryman had taught Blcher the importance of following up a victory with speed and decision. What was more,
83
84
WATERLOO
The Duke of Wellington and Field Marshal Blcher meet in front of La Belle
Alliance late in the evening. Blcher suggests that the farmhouse name be
given to the Battle, but Wellington had made a practice of naming battles from
the location of his headquarters, which gave the name Waterloo to the battle.
his Prussian soldiers ached for revenge for what had

happened at Ligny three days earlier. The whole of the
19th and much of the 20th of June were spent in full
pursuit by the Prussians, attempting to run down and
kill French soldiers in retreat.
THIRD PHASE
Battle Songs
Songs and ballads have long been important in military history. Where
would the early American military have been without Yankee Doodle, or
the British Navy without Hail, Britannia! The Hundred Days campaign and
the Battle of Waterloo were no exceptions to the general rule; in fact, the
French, Prussians, and British men may have sung even more than most
armies, due to the recent innovations in military bands and parades.
The primary British song was God Save the King. Written by Henry
Carey, it had first been performed in 1745, the year that Bonnie Prince
Charlie invaded Scotland and attempted to overthrow King George II. 1745
was, incidentally, also the year that the Brown Bess musket became
standard equipment for British infantrymen; it remained so through the
Napoleonic years.
Prussians had a wealth of songs and ballads to use, because the uprising
against Napoleon in 1813 and 1814 had created an immense body of poetry,
prose, and song concerning the German people and their destiny. One of the
most popular German songs was Heil dir im Siegerkranz (Hail to You, the
One with Garlands), but there were many others, including a number written
by Prussian poets who took up soldiering for a time. Foremost among these
was Korner, who died at the Battle of Liepzig in 1813, but whose journal and
song record became venerated shortly after his death.
The French had one song that took precedence over all others. La
Marseillaise is both one of the most dramatic and chilling of all national
songs; to hear it makes one feel inspired and endangered at the same
time. First sung around 1792, it represents the fury and terror of the French
Revolution during its early years.
The Anglo-Dutch army, by contrast, needed rest. As

Wellington said later to friends, Never did I see such a
pounding match. Veterans of the dukes Spanish campaigns, and even Napoleonic veterans of campaigns in
Prussia and Russia claimed they had never witnessed such a
shocking display of violence in one compact day. Waterloo
dwarfed even Borodino, in Russia, three years before.
85
The Aftermath
9
Napoleon fled into the night as his
army dissolved on the battlefield.
Never before had the Emperor
been so badly beaten; this would
be the last of forty battles.
Our capital is intoxicated with joy.

Berlin newspaper, June 1815
ews of Waterloo reached London four days after the battle:
The Duke of Wellingtons Dispatch, dated Waterloo the

19th of June, states, that on the preceding day Buonoparte
(sic) attacked with his whole force, the British line, supported by a corps of Prussians; which attack, after a long and
sanguinary conflict, terminated in the complete Overthrow
of the Enemys Army, with the loss of 150 pieces of cannon
and two eagles. During the night, the Prussians under
87
88
WATERLOO
Marshal Blcher, who joined in the pursuit of the
enemy, captured sixty guns, and a large part of
Buonapartes (sic) Baggage. The allied armies continue to pursue the enemy. Two French generals
were taken.
Such is the great and glorious result of those
masterly movements by which the Hero of Britain
frustrated the audacious attempt of the Rebel Chief.
Glory to Wellington, to our gallant Soldiers, and to
our brave Allies! Buonapartes (sic) reputation has
been wrecked, and his last grand stake has been lost
in this tremendous conflict. Two hundred and ten
pieces of cannon captured in a single battle, put to
the blush the boasting column of the Place de
Vendome. Long and sanguinary, indeed, we fear,
the conflict must have been; but the boldness of the
Rebel Frenchmen was the boldness of despair, and
conscience sat heavy on those arms which were
raised against their Sovereign, against their oaths,
and against the peace and happiness of their country.
We confidently anticipate a great and immediate
defection from the rebel cause.
The London Times, Thursday, June 22, 1815
Reports of the battle reached Berlin on June 24.
Our capital is intoxicated with joy. The previous
news of the first attack of Napoleon, and of the
undecisive actions of the 15th and 16th, of course, as
in a large city, spread considerable alarm; so much
the greater, therefore, was the exultation of to-day,
when Lieutenant Nernst brought the glorious dispatches from Prince Blcher. He was preceeded by
30 postilions blowing their horns, and surrounded
by an immense population.
THE AFTERMATH
Prince Blcher, we understand, has written that
even the battle of Leipsic can scarcely be compared
to that of the 18th of June. At the departure of the
Courier, 23,000 Frenchmen lay on the field of battle.
Our loss, also, was not inconsiderable. Colonel Count
Schwerin was among the killed. Generals Thieleman,
Jurgas, Kraft, Holzegdorfz, and Colonel Watzendorff
were wounded.
Lieutenant Nernst made his journey in the captured carriage of the duke of Bassano. Besides
Buonapartes (sic) carriage, seven other carriages
were captures. The Prussian soldiers who made this
boast were laden with Napoleons dor.
Berlin newspaper, translated and
quoted by The London Times
The speed with which Napoleons army disintegrated
was remarkable. At seven oclock he seemed ready to punch
through with the Imperial Guard and win another great
victory. At eight oclock, his Guards reeled under the
impact of musket fire from Maitlands Grenadiers. At nine
oclock, Cambronne and three battalions of Imperial
Guardsmen were all that stood firm of the French army. By
ten oclock, Cambronne and his men had perished, and
what was a defeat became an utter rout.
Blcher had been a cavalryman for about 55 years.
He knew the importance of following up a win with a
powerful pursuit. All that night and well into the next
morning, Prussian cavalrymen chased French foot soldiers,
cutting them down in fields, on roads, even pulling them
out of trees they had climbed. What had been the most
devastating loss of Napoleons career now became an utter
catastrophe, with no semblance of order or discipline
remaining to his men. The morning of June 19th showed
89
90
WATERLOO
British and Prussian soldiers entered Paris early in July. The victors
conducted themselves well enough that the Parisians, while not
welcoming them, received them cordially. The Napoleonic Wars had
cost many Frenchmen their lives, and many people were delighted
to see the end of many years of war.
a battlefield of corpses, and the dispositions of three

armies. Wellingtons Anglo-Dutch men remained on the
field at Mont St. Jean; the Prussians were scattered everywhere in a mass pursuit; and the Frenchwell there
hardly seemed to be an army at all. Rather there was a
stream of individual refugees, in complete flight.
THE AFTERMATH
Not once in the history of the Napoleonic Wars had
an army been so thoroughly broken in one battle. Even
the Austrians and Russians had extricated themselves
from the Battle of Austerlitz in better fashion than the
French after Waterloo.
Why, one wonders, did the French unravel so quickly
and completely? The answer is twofold. Until seven oclock
in the evening, the French army retained its composure and
discipline through what had been a frightful day of pounding and casualties. When the Imperial Guard failed to
break through on the ridge and was instead sent in retreat,
the exhaustion of the day and the bewilderment at seeing
the Guards in flight combined to undo the French resolve.
Making things much worse, Blcher and his cavalrymen
broke through the French right at almost the same moment
that the Guard failed on the ridge, turning a defeat into a
catastrophe. If there is a lesson to be drawn from the last
hours of the Battle, it is that a pounding offensive must
succeed in its late stages, or the men who attempt it will be
exhausted and demoralized.
That of course begs the question: Could Napoleon
have withdrawn from the battle prior to sending the
Imperial Guard?
Probably not. After a day of such fierce combat, had
Napoleon pulled back at six or seven oclock, his men must
have been dismayed. They might have been able to disengage, even to dig in for a defense of their own, but any
thoughts of winning the campaign would have ended.
Therefore, Napoleon the gambler threw his last dice, and
this time they came up short. The only question was: Did
the gambler have one last set of die in his pocket?
Napoleon believed so. He hastened back to Paris after
the defeat, where he found over 100,000 Frenchmen under
arms. The potential threat to the homeland and the capital
city rallied the French in a way like no other. Napoleon
91
92
WATERLOO
hoped he could be the point around which these men could
rally, but he was severely disappointed by the response of
the French legislature. The Corps Legislatif, led by the aged
Marquis de Lafayette, called on Napoleon to abdicate for
the second and final time. Try though he might, Napoleon
could not persuade them otherwise, and on June 22 he
submitted his final abdication.
Knowing that Marshal Blcher and many others
thought he should be shot, Napoleon hastened to the
French coast, and requested permission to come aboard a
British ship. He wrote an emotional letter in which he
asked to come to warm himself at the fireside of his onetime foes. The British took him aboard, but no promises
were made as to what would become of him.
Meanwhile, Wellington and Blcher approached Paris.
The Allies were wary in their advance, for they knew the
advantage the French would hold in fighting battles on
their own soil. Marshal Davout, who had proved on the of
most trustworthy of the marshals, led the defense, and there
was every reason to expect a bloodbath as the Allies
attempted to force the city.
Surprisingly, a convention or armistice was reached on
July 3. Under its terms, the French army withdrew from
Paris and moved south of the Loire River, while Wellington,
Blcher, and their armies moved into the city on July 6.
Just one day later, King Louis XVIII arrived and took his
place at the Tuileries Palace; critics charged he had arrived
in the baggage train of the allied armies.
If there is any such thing as an amicable occupation, it
might be said to have been the allied occupation of Paris.
Wellington, hailed by friend and foe alike, was notable for
his generous approach to the defeated enemy. Blcher, on
the other hand, wanted vengeance for the many humiliations Prussia had suffered after its defeat by Napoleon. Most
important, Blcher intended to blow up the Pont DIenna
THE AFTERMATH
(Jena Bridge) which had been built to commemorate the
French victory over the Prussians at Jena in 1806. Blcher
went so far as to have explosives placed, but was stopped by
a fortunate combination of the duke of Wellington and
King Louis XVIII.
By the end of July 1815, the entire campaign had ended.
Nearly 800,000 allied soldiers had been mobilized from
the plains of Russia to the downs of England, but only
about 230,000 of theseWellington and Blchers men
had played a real part. Between them, the British duke
and the Prussian marshal had brought down the emperor
and his marshals.
93
Napoleons remains were entombed in

the circular crypt at Les Invalides in Paris.
Les Invalides began as a military hospital,
and gradually became the showpiece for
French military history. It stands on the
south side of the Seine River.
10
The Results
That day, the perspective of the human race changed. Waterloo is
the hinge of the nineteenth century. The disappearance of the great
man was necessary for the advent of the great century.
Victor Hugo, Les Miserables
ime has not removed the glow, the glory, or the despair that men
felt on the battlefield of Waterloo. It remains one of the most
important, and among the most studied of all military subjects.
Even today, the visitor can peer in the windows of the Chateau de
Hougoumont, stroll by La Belle Alliance, or climb the enormous
mound constructed to honor the men who fought and died there.
95
96
WATERLOO
Was Victor Hugo correct? Did Napoleon have to disappear so that a new age and a new world could begin? Those
questions too, have been discussed and debated ever since.
Napoleon was, without doubt, the most significant
national leader in Europe from 1820, when he became
first consul, until his defeat at Waterloo. For the six years
remaining to him, he composed his memoirs, and even
after his death, the Napoleonic legend grew with the
passing years. To a Frenchman such as Victor Hugo,
there was no doubt that Napoleon was the great man of
his era.
But Victor Hugo published Les Miserables in 1862, the
same year that Union and Confederate soldiers faced each
other at Antietam, the year that Abraham Lincoln issued
the Emancipation Proclamation. The passing of 140 years
since allows us a fuller vision of Napoleon, his times, and his
importance to them.
Without question, Napoleon spread the message of the
French Revolution to other European nations. Though he
was a dictator at home, and though he longed to impose his
will on all of Europe, the ideas of Liberty, Fraternity, and
Equality nevertheless went across Europe with his armies.
At the same time, Napoleons style and attitude resembled
that of King Louis XIV who said LEtat, cest moi (I am
the State). This absolutist idea and approach belonged to the
late 17th and early 18th century rather than the 19th. In terms
of government, Napoleon was a throwback to an earlier time.
The overthrow of Napoleon was followed by a long
period of political reaction. Conservative leaders such as
Klemmens von Metternich and Czar Alexander dominated
the European scene for the next generation. Not until the
great revolutions of 1848 did the common people of Europe
burst through to the center stage once more.
Finally we might ask: What was the result of Napoleons
career on Britain?
THE RESULTS
It would be reasonable to suppose that Britain might be
exhausted and weakened by 20 years of struggle, but the
opposite is true. The Napoleonic Wars actually enhanced
Britains standing among the nations; she enlarged her
navy, her commerce, and her colonies during this period.
After Waterloo, Britain stood on top of the world for the
next 50 years.
So much for nations and policies. What about the leaders?
The Duke of Wellington became the toast of England,
and indeed of all Europe. No British commander since the
duke of Marlborough had won so many victories, and none
since Marlborough had gained the trust and belief of so
many of his men. Wellington had once more earned the
trust shown him by Czar Alexander, who had urged him to
save Europe again.
Wellington went on to become the most trusted public
servant in the first half of the century. He served twice as
prime minister, and was one of the most valued advisers of
Queen Victoria. When he died in 1851, the British public
mourned in a way that was not seen again until the death of
Winston Churchill in 1965.
Prince Blcher was the toast of all Germany, and was
briefly lionized in England as well. Stories spread of
Blchers legendary willpower and energy, how he had
survived the fall from his horse at Ligny, and come back
to complete the destruction of Napoleon. Numerous
poems and songs were composed in his honor. Following
Blchers desire, the poets and songwriters wrote of
Blcher and the Battle of Schnbund, the German word
for La Belle Alliance. Enormously popular at home,
Blcher came to be distrusted in other countries for his
vengeful approach to France and the French.
Napoleon fared poorly. He made overtures to the
British government, asking to be taken in as a refugee, and
given asylum in the land he had done so much to oppose,
97
98
WATERLOO
but the British government, headed by the prince regent,
firmly refused. Napoleon was indeed taken aboard the
British man of war H. M. S. Bellerophon, but he was taken
first to Portsmouth, and then to the remote island of St.
Helena in the south-central Atlantic Ocean. There would
be no repeat of the escape from Elba.
Napoleon died on St. Helena in 1821. For many years
his remains were kept there; the British feared even a
return of his bones to the soil of France. But in 1840, the
son of King Louis-Philippe was permitted to travel to St.
Helena and bring the remains back to France. They
were interred at Les Invalides in Paris, in a tremendous
ceremony, and the resting site is one of the most visited
places in France today.
Marshal Ney fared even worse than his chief. During the
last phase of Waterloo, Ney was seen brandishing his sword
and shouting, Come and see how a marshal of France dies!
But as Victor Hugo later wrote, Unhappy man! thou wast
reserved for French bullets! Ney was captured after the
battle, and tried by the French House of Peers for treason
against King Louis XVIII. Even the king lamented that Ney
had been caught, but justice was served. On December 8,
1815, the prince of the Moskawa, the leader of the French
throughout most of the battle of Waterloo, the Bravest of the
Brave was lined up against a wall and shot.
Marshal Grouchy had failed in everything he had
been assigned to during the Hundred Days, but it had
not all been his fault. Remarkably, he did manage to
extricate 33,000 men from the wreckage after Waterloo,
and he guarded the French border for the next crucial
days, preventing a full Prussian invasion. Grouchy lived
until 1847.
Marshal Soult had been a failure as Napoleons chief of
staff, but then he too had been put in the wrong position.
Soult was a brilliant marshal, but did not have the expertise
THE RESULTS
99
Napoleon spent the last six years of his life in exile on the island of St.
Helena, in the middle of the South Atlantic Ocean. It was a tough ending
for the former Emperor to endure, but he wrote his memoirs, and took
many walks.
or the thoughtfulness which had distinguished the former

marshal, Alexander Berthier. But Soult went on to become
the most successful of the marshals after Napoleons second
fall. He continued as a marshal of France in the army of
King Louis XVIII, King Charles X, and even King Louis
Philippe. In 1847, Soult was created a marshal general of
100
WATERLOO
France, a distinction achieved by only four soldiers in the
long military history of France. Soult died in 1851.
General Cambronne fared better than anyone might
have expected. Last seen on the battlefield at Waterloo, he
had shouted Le guard meurt and ne se rend pas. But
Cambronne survived that awful night, and was taken to
England as a prisoner, where he was treated with great
honor. Repatriated to France, he served again in the
armies of King Louis XVIII, and died in 1842 in his
hometown of Nantes, on the Loire. A bronze statue was
erected to him there six years later. Because of the long
debate over what he had shouted that night at Waterloo,
Cambronne entered the French language. Throughout
the 19th century and well into the 20th, Cambronne,
meant an insult.
General Peregrine Maitland of the Grenadier Guards
fared well. He married Lady Sarah Lenox just weeks after
the Battle of Waterloo; she was one of the Richmond family
that had thrown the ball in Brussels on June 15. Maitland
served as lieutenant governor of Upper Canada (which
meant Toronto and Ontario), lieutenant governor of Nova
Scotia, and commander in chief of the British army in
Madras. He became a full general in 1846, and died in
London in 1854.
The tens of thousands of men who fought and died at
Waterloo had their memorial in the form of an earthen
mound, erected by the Belgian government. The men
who survived, especially on the Anglo-Dutch side, were
showered with honors. The French survivors did less
well. They returned to a country rent by 20 years of war
and the enormous sacrifices made by them and their
countrymen. It is a testimony to the fortitude of the
French people that the indemnity of 700,000,000 francs
was paid within three years, and the armies of occupation
were removed by 1818.
THE RESULTS
Napoleons Resting Place

Napoleon died of stomach cancer on St. Helena in 1821, six years after
the Battle of Waterloo. His last words were Chief of the army.
The Europe of 1821 was very different from what it had been in
1800 or 1810. The ideas and ideals of the French Revolution were in
disrepute, and monarchs such as Czar Alexander and politicians such
as Metternich the Austrian prime minister were determined not to
allow any repeat of the Revolutionary or Napoleonic experience. The
British government was only too happy to concur with its Continental
allies, and for many years Napoleons remains stayed on the
windswept island where he had spent his last years.
France underwent yet another revolution in the summer of 1830.
The Parisian crowd overthrew King Charles X, who had succeeded
Louis XVIII, and many called for a new French Republic. The liberals
were disappointed when the aged Marquis de Lafayette announced
he favored a new, more liberal monarchy instead. Largely because
of Lafayettes announcement, the Parisians accepted LouisPhilippe of the house of Orleans (cousins to the Bourbons) as their
new king. He promised to rule as a citizen-king and to abide by
constitutional principles.
The Napoleonic legend grew during the 1830s, and King LouisPhilippe decided to harness that legend for his own benefit. He
petitioned the British government, and in 1840 received permission
to bring Napoleons remains home to France. That year, the Prince
de Jonville, oldest son the King Louis-Philippe, went to St. Helena
and brought back to Paris the earthly remains of Napoleon
Bonaparte, which were housed at Les Invalides on the south bank
of the Seine River.
Napoleon thus achieved legendary status among the French people.
Among the many ironies of his career is that he was at heart a
Corsican, an Italian really, though he espoused the glory of France.
His tomb at Les Invalides is one of the most visited tourist attractions
in Paris, and he remains, along with Charlemagne, Joan of Arc,
Marshal Conde and others, one of the embodiments of the French
military tradition.
101
102
CHRONOLOGY
1742
Blcher born.
1745
God Save the King performed for the first time.
1756
At the beginning of the Seven Years War, Blcher enlisted in the

army of the king of Sweden.
1759
Captured by the Prussians, Blcher changed sides and became a

Prussian hussar.
1760
George III became king of Great Britain.
1769
Napoleon, Wellington, and Ney born in the same year.
1770
Cambronne born.
1774
Louis XVI became king of France.
1777
Peregrine Maitland born.
1778
Napoleon arrived in France and began military school.
1783
Cavalie Mercer born in England.
1789
The French
Revolution
begins
1790
1804
Napoleon crowns himself
and Josephine emperor
and empress
1810
1812
Napoleon invades
Russia in June
Timeline
1814
Napoleon
abdicates the
throne and
is given the
island of Elba
CHRONOLOGY
1789
French Revolution began.
1792
La Marseillaise sung for the first time.
1793
King Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette executed.

The Revolutionary Wars, between France and most of the other
European powers, began.
Heil dir im Siegerkranz, composed by Heinrich Harries, to the
melody of God Save the King.
1795
Napoleon dismissed the Paris crowd with a whiff of grapeshot.
1796
Napoleon took command of the French army in Northern Italy.

Wellington sailed for India.
1799
Napoleon carried out a military coup and became first consul.
1804
Napoleon crowned himself and Josephine emperor and empress.

Napoleon raised 18 men to the rank of marshal of the Empire.
October 17, 1815

Napoleon arrives at
St. Helena Island,
where he will spend
the rest of his life
March 28, 1815

Britain, Prussia, Austria, and
Russia renew the Treaty of
Chaumont, which is directed
against Napoleon
February 26, 1815
Napoleon leaves
Elba with 600
members of his
Imperial Guard
July 6, 1815
The allied armies
enter Paris
1815
1816
June 16, 1815

Battles are fought at
Quatre-Bras and Ligny
June 18, 1815

The Battle of
Waterloo rages
June 22, 1815

Napoleon abdicates
the throne
103
104
CHRONOLOGY
1805
Napoleon and his marshals won their greatest victory at Austerlitz.

Wellington returned from India.
The British Navy won its greatest victory at Trafalgar.
1807
Napoleon placed his older brother on the throne of Spain.
1808
The Duke of Wellington landed with British troops in Portugal.
1812
May
British Prime Minister Spencer Perceval assassinated.
June
The United States declared war on Great Britain.

Napoleon invaded Russia.
September Napoleon entered Moscow.

October
Napoleon retreated from Moscow.
1813
Napoleon fought on the defensive, lost the Battle of Leipzig.
1814
Napoleon abdicated the throne, was given the island of Elba.

The Congress of Vienna convened to redraw the map of Europe.
Peace between the United States and Great Britain is signed on Christmas Eve.
Blcher is made a Prussian field marshal and a Prussian prince.
1815
January 8
Andrew Jackson defeated British at Battle of New Orleans.
February 26 Napoleon left Elba with about 600 members of his Imperial Guard.
March 1
Napoleon landed at the Golfe de Juan, very close to Cannes.

He issued a Proclamation to the French people.
March 7
News of Napoleons escape reached the czar, the Austrian emperor,

and the Prussian king in Vienna.
March 11
The British people received the news of Napoleons escape in

The London Times.
March 20
King Louis XVIII fled Paris in the morning. Napoleon entered Paris
that evening, to a tumultuous welcome.
March 28
Britain, Prussia, Austria, and Russia renewed the Treaty of Chaumont,

directed against Napoleon.
April 17
Napoleon made Emmanuel Grouchy the 26th marshal of the Empire.
June 1
Marshal Alexander Berthier, who had been Napoleons chief of staff for
nearly 15 years, fell to his death in the German town of Bamberg.
June 15
The French Armee du Nord crossed the Sambre River and engaged
Prussian troops.
CHRONOLOGY
105
June 16
Battles fought at Quatre-Bras and Ligny, about five miles apart. The
French defeated the Prussians at Ligny; the Battle of Quatre-Bras was a
draw between Ney and Wellington.
June 17
The Prussians withdrew to Wavre. The Anglo-Dutch army withdrew to

Mont St. Jean.
June 18
Battle of Waterloo raged from 11 in the morning till nine in the evening.
By its end, the French are routed, and their remnants are pursued by
Prussian cavalry.
June 19
Learning of the Battle of Waterloo, Marshal Grouchy extricated his

33,000 men from the area.
June 20
Napoleon was back in Paris.
June 22
Napoleon abdicated the throne. He retired to Malmaison.
June 29
Napoleon left Malmaison, just ahead of Prussians in pursuit.
July 3
A convention was agreed to between Marshal Davout, the Parisian

commander, and the allied armies.
July 6
The allied armies entered Paris.
July 7
King Louis XVIII returned to Paris.
July 15
Napoleon boarded H.M.S. Bellerophon as a captive.
October 17
Napoleon arrived at St. Helena Island, where he spent the remainder

of his life.
December 9 Marshal Michel Ney executed in Paris.

1820
King George III died in London. He was succeeded by his son,

King George IV.
1821
Napoleon died on the island of St. Helena.
1824
King Louis XVIII died in Paris. He was succeeded by his younger

brother, King Charles X.
1830
King Charles X overthrown in a three-day revolution carried out in Paris. He

was succeeded by one of his cousins, who became King Louis-Philippe.
1838
Victoria became queen of England. Several French leaders were present

at the ceremony: among them Marshal Soult.
1840
Napoleons remains were brought from St. Helena to France.

They were interred at Les Invalides in Paris.
1842
General Cambronne of the Imperial Guard died at Nantes, France.

A bronze statue was erected to him in 1848.
1847
Marshal Soult, who had been the chief of staff at the Battle of Waterloo
was made a marshal general of France. In her long military history,
France has had only four with this title.
106
1848
CHRONOLOGY
King Louis-Philippe, who had reigned since 1830, was overthrown in
a swift revolution.
The Second French Republic was declared.
Louis-Napoleon, a nephew of Napoleon I, was elected president of the
Second French Republic.
1851
Louis-Napoleon conducted a military coup that made him emperor of

the new Second French Empire.
Marshal Soult died.
Charles Joseph Bonaparte born in Baltimore, Maryland.
1852
Marshal Marmont, oldest and last of the imperial marshals, died.

The Duke of Wellington died in London.
1854
Peregrine Maitland, of the Grenadier Guards, died in London.
1862
Victor Hugo publishes Les Miserables.
1868
Captain Mercer died near Exeter, England.
FURTHER READING
107
Brett-James, Antony, editor, The Hundred Days: Napoleons Last Campaign from
Eyewitness Accounts (St. Martins Press, 1964).
Lord Chalfont, editor, Waterloo: Battle of the Three Armies (Alfred A. Knopf, 1980).
Connelly, Owen, et al., Historical Dictionary of Napoleonic France, 1799-1815
(Greenwood Press, 1985).
Grand Dictionnaire Universel Du XIX Siecle.
Henderson, Ernest F., Blcher and the Uprising of Prussia Against Napoleon 1806-1815
(G.P. Putnams Sons, 1911).
Hugo, Victor, Les Miserables (first published in 1862).
MacDonell, A.G., Napoleon and His Marshals (The Macmillan Company, 1934).
Mercer, General Cavalie, Journal of the Waterloo Campaign, Kept Throughout the
Campaign of 1815 (London, 1927).
The London Times: Various dates throughout the year 1815.
Saunders, Edith, The Hundred Days (Longmans, 1964).
Siborne, Captain W., History of the War in France and Belgium in 1815 (1848).
Stirling, Monica, Madame Letizia: A Portrait of Napoleons Mother (Harper & Brothers,
1961).
Thornton, Michael John, Napoleon After Waterloo: England and the St. Helena Decision
(1968).
Treitschke, Heinrich von, History of Germany in the 19th Century. Translated from the
German by Eden and Cedar Paul (London, 1916).
108
INDEX
Alexander, Czar of
Russia, 10, 11, 18, 26,
33, 34, 96, 97
American Revolution, 19,
56-57
Anglo-Dutch army, 38,
50, 51, 55, 61, 63-65,
70, 78, 81, 85, 90, 100
See also Britain
Artillerymen, 38-39, 71, 73
Auerstadt, Battle of, 31
Austerlitz, Battle of, 69, 91
Austria
and abdication of
Napoleon, 21-22
Napoleons defeat by,
10, 33-34
and Napoleons escape
from Elba, 11-12
Napoleons strike
against, 37-38, 42
and Treaty of
Chaumont, 37-38
Berthier, Marshal, 42, 99
Blcher, Lebrecht
Gebhard
army of, 38, 43
birth of, 30
and early military
career, 30-31
and entry into Paris, 92
as French prisoner, 31,
32-33
and invasion of France,
34
and Ligny, 50-54
from Elba, 29, 34-35
as prince, 34
strategy of, 39
after Waterloo, 97
and Waterloo, 60, 61,
62-63, 79, 82-84,
88-89, 93
and Wellington, 50-51

Britain
and American
Revolution, 19,
56-57
army of, 37-39, 42-43,
65-66, 71-74, 93
10
from Elba, 17-18,
26-27
and Napoleons exile to
St. Helena, 92, 96,
97-98
and Quatre-Bras, 38, 39,
46, 49-50, 51, 54, 55
and results of
Napoleons career,
97
and Treaty of
Chaumont, 37-38
and War of 1812, 23-24,
26
61, 62, 63-66, 70-74,
78-83, 85, 87-88,
89-90, 100
See also Wellington,
Lord
Cambronne, Baron, 81,
82, 89, 100
Cannon, 38-39, 66, 70, 78
Cavalry, 39, 65-66, 71-73,
74, 75
Chaumont, Treaty of, 37
Congress of Vienna, 11-12,
18, 34
Corsica, 8, 10
Cowpens, Battle of,
56-57
DErlon, Drouet, 50, 54,
63, 66, 70
Elba
Napoleons escape from,
7-8, 11-12, 15, 17-18,
26-27, 29, 34-35
Napoleons exile to, 10,
22, 34
Frederick the Great of
Prussia, 30, 31, 34
Frederick William, King
of Prussia, 30-31, 33, 34
George III, King of
England, 21
Ghent, Treaty of, 23
Gnesieau, 53
Golfe Juan, 7, 8, 11
Grouchy, Emmanuel, 40,
54-55, 61, 79, 81, 98
Haye Sainte, La, 61, 62, 63
Houghoumont, 61-62, 63,
67, 79, 95
Hugo, Victor, 96, 98
Hundred Days, 8, 98
Iena, Battle of, 31
Ienna, Pont D, 92-93
Imperial Guard, 10, 40,
53, 75, 77-78, 79-82,
89-91
India, 19-20
Infantry, 38, 65-66, 71-73,
74, 78
Jackson, Andrew, 23
Joseph, King of Spain,
20, 21
La Bell Alliance, 72-73,
74, 82-83, 95
Lafayette, Marquis de, 92
Leignitz, Battle of, 34
Ligny, Battle of, 38, 39,
49-50, 51-55, 61, 84
INDEX
Louis XVIII, King of
France, 10-11, 13, 15,
37, 40, 92, 93, 98, 100
Louis XVI, King of
France, 10, 19, 31
MacDonald, Marshal, 11
Macdonnell, Colonel, 62
Maitland, Peregrine, 21,
79-80, 89, 100
Marie-Louise, Empress,
12
Marmont, Marshal, 40
Massena, Marshal, 40
Mercer, Mercer, 63-65,
71, 74
Metternich, Klemens von,
11-12, 96
Middle Guard, 53, 77,
78, 79
Miserables, Les (Hugo), 96
Mont St. Jean, 46-47, 54,
55-57, 59, 63, 78, 83, 90
Moore, Sir John, 20
Morgan, Daniel, 56-57
Napoleon
army of, 10, 11, 12-13,
31, 33, 38-39, 40, 42,
46, 54-55, 62, 65-66,
67, 69-71, 74-75. See
also Imperial Guard
birth of, 8
and early military
career, 9-10
and entry into Paris,
12-13, 15, 37
and escape from Elba,
7-8, 11-12, 15, 17-18,
26-27, 29, 34-35
evaluation of, 95-96
and exile to Elba, 10,
22, 34
and exile to St. Helena,
92, 96, 97-98
and final abdication, 92

and first abdication,
10, 22, 34
illness of, 73
and Ligny, 38, 39,
49-50, 51-55, 61, 84
and marshals, 11, 12-13,
40, 42, 50, 51, 54-55,
60, 61, 62, 67, 69-75,
73, 78, 79, 92, 98100
and Proclamation to
French people, 8
Prussia defeated by,
31-33
and Quatre-Bras, 38, 39,
46, 49-50, 51, 54, 55
Russia invaded by, 33,
40, 70
and Spain, 20-21
strategies of, 50, 54, 60,
63-65, 70-71, 77-78
and strike against
Allies, 37-40, 42-43,
46-47, 49-57
and Waterloo, 59-60,
61-62, 63-67, 70, 7175, 78, 79-82, 89-92,
98, 100
Nations, Battle of the
(Leipzig), 34
Nelson, Admiral, 20
New Orleans, Battle of,
23-24, 26
Ney, Michel, 11, 12-13, 40,
50, 51, 54, 67, 69-71, 75,
78, 79, 98
Old Guard, 53, 77, 79, 81
Pakenham, Sir Edward,
23
Paris
allied occupation of,
92-93
109
Napoleons entry into,

12-13, 15, 37
Peninsular (Spanish) War,
20-21, 26-27, 27, 70, 83
Poland, 71
Portugal, 20-21, 26-27, 27
Prussia
and abdication of
Napoleon, 22
army of, 37-39, 43, 93
and defeat by
Napoleon, 31-33
and Ligny, 38, 39, 4950, 51-55, 61, 84
10, 33-34
from Elba, 29, 34, 35
and Treaty of
Chaumont, 37-38
and Waterloo, 60-61,
62-63, 73, 74-75, 78,
79, 81, 82-84, 88-90
See also Blcher,
Lebrecht Gebhard
Quatre-Bras, Battle of, 38,
39, 46, 49-50, 51, 54, 55
Russia
and abdication of
Napoleon, 22
and Czar Alexander,
10, 11, 18, 26, 33, 34,
96, 97
army of, 37-38, 39, 40
10, 34
and Napoleons exile
on Elba, 10
Napoleons invasion of,
33, 40, 70
Napoleons strike
against, 37-38, 39,
40, 42
110
INDEX
and Treaty of
Chaumont, 37-38
Soult, Marshal, 11, 60, 62,
73, 98-100
Spain, and Peninsular War,
20-21, 26-27, 27, 70, 83
St. Helena, 92, 96, 97-98
Talleyrand, 11
Trafalgar, Battle of, 20
Vittoria, Battle of, 21
Voltaire, 31
War of 1812, 23-24, 26
Waterloo, Battle of, 38
aftermath of, 87-93
and battle songs, 83
beginning of, 61
and Britain, 59, 60, 61,
62, 63-66, 70-74, 78-83,
85, 87-88, 89-90, 100
and choice of location
of, 46-47, 55-57, 83
and disintegration of
Napoleons army,
89-91
end of, 81-85

first-hand account of,
63-65, 71, 74
first phase of, 59-67
memorial to, 100
and name choice, 83
and Napoleon, 59-60,
61-62, 63-67, 70, 7175, 78, 79-82, 89-92,
98, 100
and Prussia, 60-61, 6263, 73, 74-75, 78, 79,
81, 82-84, 88-90
results of, 95-101
second phase of, 69-75
and size of allied army,
93
third phase of, 77-85
Wavre, 38, 53, 60
Wellington, Lord
and Czar Alexander,
18, 26-27, 97
and American
Revolution, 23
army of, 38, 42-43
and ball of duchess of
Richmond, 23
and becoming duke, 21
birth of, 18
and Blcher, 50-51
and early military
career, 18
and entry into Paris,
92
and India, 19-20
and invasion of
France, 21
and location of Battle
of Waterloo, 46-47,
55-57, 83
and Peninsular
(Spanish) War, 20-21,
70
and Quatre-Bras, 46-47,
54
strategy of, 19, 39, 70
after Waterloo, 97
63, 70, 78-79, 82-83,
85, 87, 93
Young Guard, 53, 75,
77-78
PICTURE CREDITS
111
page:
2:
6:
9:
13:
16:
22:
24:
28:
32:
35:
36:
41:
48:
Historical Picture Archive/Corbis

Archivo Iconografico, SA/Corbis
Hulton Archive by Getty Images
Victoria and Albert Museum,
London/Art Resource, NY
Erich Lessing/Art Resource NY
Giraudon/Art Resource, NY
Giraudon/Art Resource, NY
Christies Images/Corbis
Cover: Gianni Dagli Orti/Corbis
52: Archivo Iconografico, SA/Corbis

56: General Research, The New York
Public Library; Astor, Lenox, and
Tilden Foundation
58: Hulton Archive by Getty Images
68: Reunion des Musees Nationaux/
Art Resource, NY
72: Historical Picture Archive/Corbis
75: Bettmann/Corbis
90: Bettmann/Corbis
94: Robert Holmes/Corbis
SAMUEL WILLARD CROMPTON is a historian and

biographer with a long list of publications to his credit. He is
the author or editor of nearly 20 books, with titles that range
from 100 Battles that Shaped World History to Pillar to Post:
Odysseys in Revolutionary America. Mr. Crompton teaches
both Western Civilization and American History at
Holyoke Community College. He has long held an interest
in French military history, and earned a certificate in historic
conservation and presentation from the Historic Fortress of
Louisbourg on Cape Breton, Nova Scotia. He has twice
served as a Writing Fellow for Oxford University Press in its
production of the 24-volume American National Biography.

Chelsea House - Waterloo

Uploaded by

Copyright:

Available Formats

Chelsea House - Waterloo

Uploaded by

Document Information

Original Description:

Copyright

Available Formats

Share this document

Share or Embed Document

Sharing Options

Did you find this document useful?

Is this content inappropriate?

Copyright:

Available Formats

Chelsea House - Waterloo

Uploaded by

Copyright:

Available Formats

What battle is mentioned on page 2?

What battle is mentioned on page 2?

What is the name of the book being discussed?

What is the name of the book being discussed?

FIRST BATTLE OF THE MARNE

CHELSEA HOUSE PUBLISHERS

CHELSEA HOUSE PUBLISHERS

STAFF FOR WATERLOO

THE CORSICAN RETURNS

The Corsican Returns

Soldiers! I heard your call while I was in exile. I have come,

he first of March in 1815 was like any other day on

THE CORSICAN RETURNS

attend military school in France at the age of nine. He

THE CORSICAN RETURNS

THE CORSICAN RETURNS

too occurred. The Napoleonic magic was too strong

THE CORSICAN RETURNS

to commence once more on the travels and exile that

The Duke of Wellington, painted around

he average British subject was enjoying a well-earned period of

Early yesterday morning we received by express from

Prussian, and Russian armies invaded France from the

On January 8, 1815, British soldiers attacked entrenched Americans

King George III

sailors. King George had nothing to do with the British response.

been prevented, is one reason why historians sometimes

It is the greatest piece of good luck.

uring the night of March 8, 1815, a 72-year-old man was wakened

A portrait of then-General Blcher painted in about 1802. His

In 1807, the Prussian prisoner met Napoleon Bonaparte

General Blcher shown in about the year 1810. Blcher appears

This painting by Horace Vernet shows

apoleon made short work of King Louis XVIII and the

The Marshals of the Empire

Rather than perform intricate maneuvers, he preferred simple but

heavy casualties upon the enemies before he had been

QUATRE-BRAS AND LIGNY

This cavalry officer is typical of those Imperial Guardsmen who

QUATRE-BRAS AND LIGNY

QUATRE-BRAS AND LIGNY

QUATRE-BRAS AND LIGNY

he 18th of June was a Sunday. Light dawned over soggy, wet

What Mercer did see, and what he and his fellows

Michel Ney, the son of a cooper (barrel

ime had shownand Waterloo would prove once more

charged round and round the British squares, seeking a

retreat he might envision would be thwarted. From his

La Marseillaise was the theme song of the

he Imperial Guard was the core of the Napoleonic Army.

La Marseillaise, also known as the Departure of the Army in 1792,

nows your time! and 3,000 British soldiers leaped up

Frenchmen, surrender! Baron Cambronne gave the answer,

his Prussian soldiers ached for revenge for what had

The Anglo-Dutch army, by contrast, needed rest. As

Our capital is intoxicated with joy.

ews of Waterloo reached London four days after the battle:

The Duke of Wellingtons Dispatch, dated Waterloo the

a battlefield of corpses, and the dispositions of three