Day of Decision: The Battle of Waterloo

On April 11th, 1814, the Treaty of Fontainebleau was concluded, ending the over twenty year war that had begun with the French Revolution. Napoleon Bonaparte, the Emperor of the French, who had conquered Europe from Spain to Russia, was exiled to the island of Elba. The last surviving Bourbon was installed on the throne of France as King Louis XVIII. On September 1st, 1814, the European powers began a diplomatic summit, called the Congress of Vienna, in order to redraw the map of Europe in the wake of the victory over Napoleon.

By the beginning of 1815, with the Congress of Vienna dragging on, Napoleon professed himself disgusted with the misrule of Louis XVIII, particularly as to the mistreatment of the veterans of Le Grand Armee, who were at the time slowly being released from captivity by Russia, Britain, Spain, and Prussia. While he was officially sovereign on Elba, he Royal Navy kept a close watch on Napoleon’s island Empire.

On February 26, when a storm had temporarily driven away the British ships guarding him, Napoleon acted. Taking the small guard of 600 men, Napoleon slipped out of Elba and on March 1st, landed in Southern France near Antibes. Napoleon was greeted as a savior, with troops sent to arrest him instead joining his swelling army. Marshal Ney was sent to retrieve Napoleon “in an iron cage”, but instead joined his Emperor with six thousand men. The story is told of Napoleon walking in between the two armies and declaring, “If any of you wish to shoot his Emperor, here I am!” The men who had followed him from Marengo to Borodino could not have done that.

On March 19th, Napoleon entered Paris in triumph, Louis XVIII having slinked out some time before. Even before this, the Congress of Vienna had declared Napoleon an outlaw. Britain, Prussia, Russia, and Austria each pledged to raise armies of a hundred and fifty thousand men to end Napoleon’s rule in France once and for all.

Despite diplomatic entreaties that he would be content with just being the ruler of France, Napoleon knew that the matter could only be decided by the sword. He decided to attack before he found himself under assault by four armies. For that purpose, he concentrated an army of about a hundred and five thousand men on the Belgium frontier, opposite where the Prussians and an Anglo-German-Dutch Army was concentrating under the Duke of Wellington.

Napoleon’s Army was divided into three, a right wing commanded by Marshal Grouchy, a left wing commanded by Marshal Ney, and a reserve army. Napoleon crossed the frontier in mid June at Charleroi, placing himself between the Prussians to the north east and the Anglo-Belgium-Dutch on the north west.

The Waterloo Campaign

Napoleon decided that he would strike at the Prussians first. Napoleon sent Marshal Ney with the left wing to secure the crossroads town of Quatre Bras, while he attacked the Prussian Army at Ligny. Ney was expected to, having secured the crossroads, swing around to the east and strike at the Prussians on their flank.

On June 16th, Marshal Ney approached Quatre Bras, finding it lightly held by Wellington’s troops. However, due to an overabundance of caution, Marshal Ney executed a lackluster attack on the crossroads town. Wellington’s troops held and even managed to drive Marshal Ney’s French troops back.

In the meantime, Napoleon defeated the Prussian Army at Ligny, driving them off the field. But because Ney was still entangled at Quatre Bras, he was unable to execute the flanking maneuver that would have dealt a decisive blow. The Prussians, under Marshal Blucher, were able to withdraw in good order. In the meantime, with the Prussians gone from his left flank, Wellington decided to withdraw his own troops from Quatre Bras and concentrate at Waterloo, a village a few miles to the north.

Because the Prussians were withdrawing toward their rally point at Wavre in parallel to Wellington, and not away to the east as Napoleon hoped, Napoleon was compelled to send Grouchy with the right wing, some thirty thousand men, to pursue Blucher’s Prussians and prevent them from joining with Wellington. Grouchy would fail in this mission and would be absent from the crucial battle. Napoleon proceeded against Wellington with Marshal Ney’s left wing and the reserve army.

The Battle

The morning of June 18th found Wellington in a strong position on a ridge line south of the village of Waterloo. In front of the ridge and to the extreme west was the country house of Hougomont. In front of the ridge and in the center was the chateau of La Haye Sainte. Both of these homes were fortified and garrisoned, the latter by light infantry of the Kings German Legion. In front of the ridge and to the east was the village of Papelotte, also garrisoned, which commanded the road to Wavre down which the Prussians would have to march. Wellington, as was his standard tactic, deployed many of his troops on the reverse slope of the ridge, which concealed them from Napoleon and protected them somewhat from the French artillery.

Because it had rained the previous night, mud hampered the movement of the French, so that it was late in the morning before Napoleon could attack. Napoleon opened the Battle of Waterloo with a diversionary attack at Hougomont, with the idea of threatening Wellington with being flanked around his lines of communication and thus forcing him to deploy forces from the center and east, opening that portion of the line to the main attack.

Prince Jerome led the attack on Hougomont at 10 in the morning. Unfortunately for Napoleon, the French became entangled at the house, with more and more troops drawn in. At one point, the French broke into the fortified courtyard, but a desperate counterattack by the British garrison threw the French out.

Because of the mud, the main attack at Waterloo did not commence until 11:30 with a bombardment by Napoleon’s grand battery. However, the effect of the bombardment was somewhat mitigated by the soft mud absorbing the impact of Napoleon’s cannon balls as well as Wellington’s reverse slope tactics.

Two hours later, the first main attack at Waterloo finally began, when Napoleon sent in eighteen thousand men in four divisions to attack the British left-center just east of La Haye Sainte under D’Erlon. The leftmost division became embroiled at La Haye Sainte, while the right most attempted to take Papelotte. The center two divisions attacked part of the British line defended by a Dutch brigade. After nine minutes of action, the Dutch gave way, retreating down the reverse slope through General Picton’s Division of seven thousand men. Picton’s men, which included battle hardened veterans of Wellington’s Peninsular Campaign, including some Highland regiments, moved to attack the oncoming French. There followed an exchange of musket fire and then a close quarters fight in which the Peninsular veterans were badly outnumbered. Picton himself was killed in the initial minutes of the action.

At this crucial juncture of the Battle of Waterloo, the Household Brigade of cavalry was ordered to charge in support of Picton’s men. The Union Brigade and the Hussar Brigade joined in the charge and swept through D’Erlon’s divisions, mauling them and rendering them unfit for further action that day. However, instead of stopping to regroup, the British cavalry charge on, sweeping through the French lines, sobering many French artillery men.

Unfortunately, by this time, the British horses were exhausted. Napoleon’s cavalry, led by the feared Polish Lancers, counter attacked. The flower of British cavalry was all but annihilated in this action. Major General William Ponsonby, commanding the Union Brigade, was killed in this action. Still, the British cavalry charge had the effect of breaking up the main French attack at Waterloo.

Meanwhile, noting that the Prussian advanced guard was beginning to arrive on the field of Waterloo from the east, Napoleon was compelled to detach Lobou’s Corps and two cavalry divisions to hold them back. Thus, except for the Imperial Guard, Napoleon had committed all of his reserves.

Meanwhile, Marshal Ney noticed a movement in the British center that he misinterpreted as being a withdraw. It was really a shifting of forces. Nevertheless, with all of the infantry committed in one way or another, Ney chose to charge with thousands of French cavalry, including Cuirassiers, heavy cavalrymen who wore breastplates and carried heavy sabers.

The French cavalry attacked over the slope and ran straight into British infantry deployed in squares. This formation was impervious to any kind of cavalry attack. Nevertheless, the French cavalry attacked the British squares a number of times and were beaten back each time with fearsome losses.

Finally, Ney withdrew and organized an attack on La Haye Sainte, eventually taking the chateau as the German defenders ran out of ammunition. With the British center finally exposed, Ney brought up artillery and began bombarding the British squares.

Meanwhile, the village of Plancenoit, behind the French right, exchanged hands between the Prussians and the French several times. Napoleon was obliged to send in some battalions of the Young Guard and then two battalions of the Old Guard. Despite the fact that the village eventually fell, the front stabilized enough for Napoleon to execute what he thought would be his knockout blow against Wellington.

With the British center savaged by artillery bombardment, Napoleon sent in the very last of his reserves, the Imperial Guard, which had never been defeated in battle. The Imperial Guard struck the British center. Despite desperate fighting by British and Dutch troops, it looked as if a breakthrough would shortly be achieved. Napoleon seemed to be on the verge of carrying the day at Waterloo.

Then 1500 men of the British Guards regiments, which had been laying down to avoid the artillery bombardment rose as one and poured musket fire into the Imperial Guard at point blank range. This was too much. The Imperial Guard at first wavered, and then retreated. The cry went up from the French troops, “The Guard retreats. Save yourself if you can!” The retreat of the Guard, coupled with the Prussian advance through Plancenoit on the eastern flank, turned the almost victorious French Army into a panic stricken, fleeing mob. The decision at Waterloo, which minutes before seemed to be going to the French, suddenly reversed and went to the British and their allies.

Wellington, seeing his moment, ordered a general advance. The entire Anglo-German-Dutch Army began to advance on the fleeing French. The Imperial Guard tried to rally, but was cut down. The fleeing French were harried by the Prussians throughout the night. But the official end of the Battle of Waterloo took place at 9 PM when Wellington and Blucher met on the field.

Aftermath

Having defeated Napoleon a second time at Waterloo, the European states made sure that Napoleon would not make it round three. They arranged for the former Emperor to spend out his last years on the South Atlantic island of St Helena, brooding over former glories and lost opportunities. Napoleon died in 1821, some historians say as the result of poisoning.

If Napoleon had won the Battle of Waterloo, and even Wellington had called it a “near run thing”, it is possible that he would have been defeated just a few weeks or months later when the Austrian and Russian Armies arrived. It is also possible that had Napoleon beaten Wellington that Europe would have been in for another twenty years of blood letting, with perhaps Napoleon consolidating his power and making his Empire permanent.

As it is, Napoleon’s defeat at Waterloo ensured that Europe would enjoy, with a few interludes, a century of peace. The peace won at Waterloo would last until August, 1914, when once again the world went to war, this time with weapons of such power that would have been unimaginable to the men who fought that June day for the future of Europe.