On 18 June 1815, the Battle of Waterloo was fought in Belgium between the French under Napoleon Bonaparte and the Anglo-Dutch under the Duke of Wellington during the Napoleonic Wars.
Why did it happen & Who was involved?
Following his defeat in 1814, Napoleon Bonaparte was exiled to the island of Elba and the French monarchy was restored in the person of Louis XVIII. However, in February 1815, Napoleon left Elba and arrived in France with 1,100 men and 4 artillery. Due to resentment over the restored monarchy, the troops sent by Louis XVIII to intercept Napoleon ended up joining him instead, and Napoleon entered Paris without a fight on 20 March. The British, Austrians, Prussians and Russians declared Napoleon an outlaw and formed a new coalition to stop him. Napoleon, who assembled a new army of loyal veterans and volunteers, gambled on an offensive against the British and Prussians in Belgium before the Russians and Austrians could arrive. He advanced from Paris unobserved and crossed the Belgian border on 15/16 June where he won the first battle of the “Hundred Days” Campaign at Ligny against the Prussians. However, this was offset by Marshal Ney’s defeat by the British and Dutch at Quatre-Bras the same day. While French forces under Marshal Emmanuel de Grouchy pursued the retreating Prussians, Napoleon followed the Anglo-Dutch army of the Duke of Wellington north towards the village of Waterloo. Wellington’s arranged his force of 68,000 troops and 156 artillery in a defensive position along a ridge, with most of his forces on the reverse slope to protect themselves from artillery fire. He also occupied the chateau of Hougamont on his right wing and the farm of La Haye Sainte in the centre. When Napoleon arrived on 17 June with 72,000 men and 246 artillery, the ground was wet after heavy rain, so he decided to wait until 18 June to begin the battle.
What happened?
At 11.30 am, Napoleon opened the battle with an artillery bombardment of Wellington’s army, which proved ineffective because most of the Duke’s soldiers were hidden by the ridge or were lying down. After about an hour, The French left-wing attacked the village of Hougomont to try and draw more of Wellington’s forces away from his centre. However, all this did was draw in more and more French troops and incur heavy casualties from the British inside the chateau. Meanwhile, between 1.30 and 6 pm, Napoleon attempted to penetrate the Allied centre through a series of infantry, cavalry and artillery assaults. Although the French cavalry was repulsed by British infantry squares and artillery, the French infantry captured La Haye Sainte. However, during this time, Prussian forces under Field Marshal Blucher, who was defeated at Ligny two days earlier, began to arrive on the French right flank. Napoleon ordered French reserves to hold the right flank, stopping him from using these reserves to exploit the breakthrough at La Haye Sainte. At 7 pm, Napoleon committed his Imperial Guard infantry in a last-gasp attack on Wellington’s line. Advancing uphill, the Imperial Guard were routed by British musket fire from fresh British troops. Sensing victory, Wellington ordered a general advance in conjunction with Prussian troops, forcing Napoleon to retreat. Casualties sustained during the battle numbered around 22,000 for the Allies and 25,000 for the French, along with 8,000 French troops captured during the retreat. In the words of the Duke of Wellington “It had been the nearest run thing you ever saw in your life."
What changed as a result?
The Battle of Waterloo was a decisive victory for the Allied forces. In military parlance, to “meet one’s Waterloo” has come to mean meeting one’s ultimate obstacle and being defeated by it. So final was Napoleon’s defeat that he would never again return to power. In July 1815, he surrendered to the British on board HMS Bellerophon where he was interred for three weeks before being exiled to the island of St. Helena in the Atlantic Ocean. He passed the time dictating his memoirs during his exile before dying in 1821. His final request, as outlined in his will, was for his ashes to be scattered on the banks of the Seine river in France. At the Congress of Vienna in 1815, the nations that had defeated Napoleon returned Europe to the rule of the old dynasties, with French power much diminished and British naval superiority unchallenged. After the Napoleonic Wars, apart from several nationalist and republican movements that challenged the status quo, there would be no major war fought between the European Powers until 1848.
Bibliography
Butler, Rupert. 100 Battles: Decisive Conflicts That Shaped the World. Bath, Parragon, 2013.
David, Saul. War: The Definitive Visual History. New York, Dorling Kindersley, 2009.
Grant, R.G. Battle: A Visual Journey Through 5,000 Years of Combat. London, Dorling Kindersley, 2005.
Regan, Geoffrey. Battles That Changed History: Fifty Decisive Battles Spanning Over 2,500 Years of Warfare. London, Andre Deutsch, 2002.