The Battle of Waterloo was the last battle of the French Emperor Napoleon Bonaparte, which took place on June 18, 1815 near the small Belgian settlement of Waterloo.
This battle is one of the most famous in the history of mankind, because it is the end of one of the greatest commanders in world history - Napoleon Bonaparte.
Reasons for the battle
It is known that Napoleon managed to escape from his first captivity and return to France. All the hostile monarchs of Europe responded to this, thereby creating the Seventh Anti-Napoleonic Coalition.Napoleon tried to regain his former success and correct his mistake in the war against Russia. Entering Paris, he saw the rejoicing of the French - their leader returned at a difficult moment for the country - the Bourbon monarchy again took power.
A huge army with a total number of at least 700 thousand soldiers was immediately assembled against Bonaparte; the coalition participants planned to increase its number to a million soldiers. The great commander could field about 130 thousand soldiers loyal to him against his enemies. The only chance of victory was to try to defeat all your opponents before they united into one army.
Carrying out his plan, Napoleon defeated the Prussian army at Ligny, but not the entire army was destroyed, which then affected the outcome of the Battle of Waterloo; Napoleon was not mistaken in this. Napoleon then sent Marshal Grouchy to pursue the Prussians, and he himself moved towards Brussels, on the way to which the British army stood. Field Marshal Wellington took up positions on the Waterloo Hills, where Napoleon's path passed.
The next day the Battle of Waterloo began.
Strengths of the parties
NapoleonThe great emperor himself commanded at Waterloo, as well as his loyal Marshal Ney (Bonaparte’s most faithful, experienced, brave follower, and friend). Napoleon's army numbered about 69 thousand soldiers, of which: almost 50 thousand infantry, about 15 thousand cavalrymen and more than 200 guns (including several thousand artillerymen).
Great Britain
The British were commanded by A. Wellington, having at his disposal 67 thousand soldiers, including 50 thousand infantry, 11 thousand cavalry and 150 guns. It should be noted that this army consisted not only of the British, it included: the Dutch (17 thousand), Hanoverians (11 thousand) and other less numerous units.
Prussia
At first, the Prussian army numbered more than 50 thousand soldiers, but then, in the evening, a second army arrived - approximately 30 thousand soldiers. The Prussians were commanded by Field Marshal Blocher, who had escaped from Napoleon the day before.
As we see, Napoleon was in a difficult situation, since he had an army twice as numerous as the enemy. But Napoleon’s army was not green recruits; it included his personal guard, which marched with him from Italy, Egypt, all of Europe and to Russia.
Progress of the Battle of Waterloo
Napoleon mistakenly assumed that the threat of Prussia had disappeared, and he was confident in covering the rear; this was his fatal mistake, as it turned out later.The first move in the Battle of Waterloo was made by Napoleon, who did not want to wait for the unification of the British and Prussians. French infantry began to attack the castle of Hougoumont. This attack was intended as a diversion; he hoped that Wellington would send reserves here, but this ploy failed, and the French lost many soldiers during the storming of the castle. The battle for this castle lasted all day, but the castle was not the target of this attack; Napoleon was interested in the forest surrounding it and the road, the occupation of which would help to get behind the British's rear.
Wellington understood the importance of holding the position at Hougoumont, so he sent the best units of the English army and a larger number of artillery to defend it. During the battle, the position was passed from hand to hand. This attack was planned as a diversion, but developed into a fierce battle, where almost 30 thousand soldiers took part (12 thousand British and 15 thousand French). Thanks to the strong walls, the elite units of the British withstood the attack of the French line infantry.
Having sent troops to Hugumont, Napoleon saw the Prussian army approaching and sent 10 thousand soldiers to detain them. Now there were fewer French than the British, but Napoleon still believed that he had a chance.
To defeat the British before the arrival of the Prussian army, he needed time, but Napoleon had no more than three hours. Napoleon decided not to hesitate and began a powerful bombardment of enemy positions. Then the infantry, numbering 16 thousand soldiers, went into battle. The British successfully fired back at the French from cover. Then Napoleon threw another 14 thousand people into battle. Wellington's left wing practically fell, many units left the battlefield and were defeated, and many British officers were killed. The situation was corrected by British heavy cavalry. If the cavalry had not arrived, the British infantry would certainly have fallen and Napoleon could have defeated Wellington.
The cavalry was able to push back most of the French and rushed at parts of the French army, which they regretted; Napoleon successfully repelled the attack and many English officers were killed. Despite the fact that the cavalry was defeated, it saved the left wing from complete destruction. The attack by the English cavalry also took away valuable time from Napoleon, and there was little time left before the arrival of the Prussian army.
Marshal Ney saw suspicious movement in the center of Wellington's army and rallied his cavalry in a powerful attack. Napoleon considered this a mistake, but could not do anything. The British were surprised that the cavalry went on the attack without cover, especially since the French infantry failed to break Wellington's defenses. Marshal Ney attacked with nine thousand cavalry.
In response to this, the British managed to form a square. The cavalry broke into the British defenses and broke through the square, but suffered heavy losses, and retreated after a counterattack by the English cavalry. Ney was preparing his forces for a second attack, but at that moment he heard shots - the Prussian army approached.
Then Ney carried out three more cavalry attacks, as a result of which he lost many soldiers, but he managed to overthrow the British positions, and in addition, he forced many enemy units to desert and sowed panic in the ranks of Wellington.
Napoleon could have retreated, now his victory seemed almost impossible because of the Prussian army, but he continued to fight. The Emperor ordered the capture of a farm in the center of the British positions - an important strategic point, and he succeeded, and Wellington lost an important position in the center.
Napoleon did not lose hope and decided to send his last reserve into battle, the best units of his army - the Imperial Guard. With this attack he hoped to break through the center of Wellington's army and put the British to flight before they united with the Prussian army.
It is interesting that Napoleon, turning to his soldiers, personally stood in the first column of attackers and led his soldiers behind him. The army, seeing that their emperor was standing in the front row, cast aside all doubts, although they knew that defeat awaited them, the elite units could not withstand so many enemies surrounding them. But loyalty to the emperor forced them to follow him. Marshal Ney then joined the attack.
The British met the attacking French with a powerful artillery salvo, but this did not stop the attack. The French, despite the heavy fire, continued to attack and the center practically trembled. The only thing that saved the British from defeat was the 52nd Infantry Regiment, under its fire the guard began to retreat. At this moment, the French forces began to surround parts of the Prussian army, seeing this, Wellington ordered all his forces to attack.
The Guard was surrounded, but they refused to surrender. The guard lined up for defense and the commander of the guard regiment, Pierre Cambronne, prepared for the final defense. The British shouted to the French: “Brave French, surrender!”, to which they heard Cambronne’s answer: “The Guard is dying, but does not surrender!” Then the British opened powerful shrapnel fire on the guards.
At this time, the Prussian army was pressing the right wing of the French army and, thanks to its numerical advantage, overturned it. The French retreated, and the Battle of Waterloo was lost for Napoleon. But, even despite this, he gathered a small army, numbering only 3 thousand soldiers, but it was not able to change his fate.
Aftermath of the Battle of Waterloo
Napoleon was completely defeated and captured, and then exiled to St. Helena, where he spent his last days. Many of his officers were killed and the rest were taken prisoner. His most talented marshal, Ney, was captured and shot. One fact should be cited here. Ney personally commanded his executions, since none of the generals dared to judge him; they were even ashamed to look him in the eyes. It is interesting that the soldiers who shot at him also turned their eyes away; they could not even kill him, but only seriously wounded him.Upon learning of Ney's death, Napoleon wrote: "I bet those who condemned him did not dare look him in the face."
After the defeat at Waterloo, Napoleon's "Hundred Days" ended and the Bourbon monarchy reigned again in France. The emperor himself died six years later on the island of Helena; presumably, he was poisoned with arsenic for a long time, fearing his return.
All the commanders who met Napoleon on the battlefield said that they had never met a more talented commander. Many enemies have repeatedly said that they were ready to give everything to at least once again see the maneuvers of Napoleon’s armies.
The Battle of Waterloo is one of the most famous to all of humanity, even among those who are practically unfamiliar with history. The battle was Napoleon's last attempt to turn the tide of the war. Many generals say that if he had a little more time or a little more strength, nothing would have saved Europe from Napoleon.
Waterloo, Battle of(Waterloo, battle of) (June 18, 1815), decisive battle between the French. army and Anglo-Prussian troops near Bela, the village of Waterloo, which took place at the end of the Hundred Days period. The army hastily assembled by Napoleon numbered 72 thousand people, and the army of the Allies led by Wellington - 68 thousand (consisted of English, Dutch, White, and German units). However, during the battle the allies were joined by Prussian troops in number. 45 thousand people The night before, a severe thunderstorm broke out, and Napoleon postponed the attack until noon so that the ground could dry out. By two o'clock in the afternoon the first Prussian contingent arrived and attacked Napoleon from the right flank. At 6 o'clock. In the evening, Marshal Ney ordered a general offensive and captured La Haye Sainte, a farm in the location of the Allied troops. Then the French artillery began shelling positions in the center of their battle formations. At 7 o'clock In the evening, Napoleon brought his famous “old guard” into the battle, trying to defeat Wellington’s weakened infantry. However, at that moment Blucher and his main team arrived at the battlefield. Prussian forces and hit Napoleon in the flank, and Wellington gave the order for a general offensive. The French fled for the claim. guard, who resisted to the last. According to Wellington, winning this battle was the most difficult imaginable. On June 22, Napoleon signed his second and final abdication.
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Battle of Waterloo
1815) At the beginning of March 1813, news spread across Europe that on March 1, a small detachment led by the former Emperor of France Napoleon I landed in Juan Bay. After 20 days of a triumphal procession across the country, Napoleon entered Paris. Louis XVIII, restored to the throne in 1814, fled abroad. Napoleon's famous "hundred days" began. Under the slogan of peace and the introduction of a constitution in the country, Emperor Napoleon again reigned in France. It was with a proposal for peace that he turned to Russia, England, Austria and Prussia - peace. However, members of the Congress of Vienna reacted sharply negatively to the return of the “Corsican monster”. On March 13, the heads of European governments adopted a Declaration outlawing Napoleon. For France, such a step meant war with all of Europe. On March 25, the seventh coalition was legally formalized. In the spring of 1815, the position of France was threatening. Its military forces were exhausted in previous campaigns. The emperor had only about 130 thousand men with 344 guns directly at hand, while the Allied forces could field about 700 thousand men at once, and by the end of the summer another 300 thousand, hoping to move an army of more than a million against France. The Allied plan was completely simple: to encircle and crush the French troops, taking advantage of their numerical superiority. Napoleon faced two options in determining further actions. Firstly, he could wait until the allied armies invaded France, thereby revealing themselves as aggressors. According to this plan, it was supposed to wait until the Allied armies were drawn into the space between the French fortresses and penetrate the area of Paris and Leon. After this, quick and decisive action had to be taken against the enemy. An alternative plan involved seizing the initiative and attempting to defeat the enemy on his territory. It also seemed quite profitable, because it solved several military and political problems at the same time. At the end of May - beginning of June, Napoleon settled into the background. On June 11, he went to the troops, intending to defeat separately two enemy armies: the Anglo-Dutch, under the command of A. Wellington, and the Prussian, under the command of Blucher. Two more armies were rushing to the supposed theater of military operations: the Russian - Barclay de Tolly and the Austrian - Schwarzenberg, but they were still far away, and therefore the French had a chance to defeat the scattered forces of the enemy. On June 15, the French army crossed the river with a powerful throw. Sambre at Charleroi and wedged between the armies of Blucher and Wellington. On the same day, Marshal Ney received orders from the Emperor to attack the British at their position at Quatre Bras in order to push them back onto the Brussels Highway. “The Prussian army will perish if you act decisively. The fate of France is in your hands,” Napoleon told Ney. However, the “bravest of the brave” failed to cope with the task assigned to him. He failed to completely defeat the English army. He hesitated on the way, acted sluggishly, and there was no decisive victory. Wellington retreated, maintaining full combat capability. On the morning of June 16, Blucher's Prussian army moved towards Napoleon. A few hours later, Ney, who was fighting with the British at that time, received an order to allocate forces to encircle the Prussians. The bloody battle at Ligny lasted several hours, the emperor kept reserves in anticipation of Ney's reinforcements in the rear of Blücher. However, Ney again fails to cope with the responsibilities assigned to him. Drouet d'Erlon's corps did not arrive in time to the battlefield, which is why Blucher's defeated army was able to retreat to Liege. The Prussians were defeated, but not destroyed. The campaign started well for Napoleon, but there was still no complete victory over the enemy. In order to prevent the remnants of Blucher's army from uniting with the British, Napoleon sent 35 thousand of his soldiers, led by Marshal Grouchy, after her, and he himself turned his forces against Wellington, who took up a position on the Mont Saint-Jean hill, not far from the Belgian village of Waterloo. By the end of June 17, Napoleon approached the plateau with his troops and saw the English army. The Duke of Wellington took up a position in front of Soigne Forest, forming his troops in a square and sheltering them from French artillery fire behind the hillsides. The outposts of the English army were set up along the line: Ugumon castle (Gutumon) - La Haye Sainte farm. French troops settled on the nearby Belle Alliance plateau. By the beginning of the battle on June 18, Napoleon had approximately 72 thousand people with 243 guns, Wellington had 68 thousand with 156 guns (Harbottle T. Battles of World History. M., 1993. pp. 99–100.). Both commanders were awaiting reinforcements. The Emperor was waiting for Marshal Grouchy with his 35 thousandth corps; Wellington hoped for Blucher, who after the battle of Ligny had about 80 thousand people, of which about 40-50 thousand could approach the battlefield. The Battle of Waterloo was supposed to begin with a French attack in the morning, but on the night of June 17, a rain washed out the roads and the emperor ordered to wait for time. At 11.30 in the morning, it seemed to Napoleon that the ground had dried up and the battle could begin, and so the “last soldiers of the last war” began to attack the English positions. The first French diversionary attack was aimed at Wellington's right flank against Ugumoy Castle. The French troops, having passed through the forest on the outskirts of the castle, rushed to storm it. But the walls of the fortifications turned out to be too high and impregnable, and the British artillery and infantry fired murderously at the attackers. After some time, the small operation turned into a separate fierce battle. At this time, Napoleon was preparing the main attack of his forces against the left wing and center of the British. On the right flank of the French positions, he installed a battery of 80 guns, which opened deadly fire on the British troops. At this moment, in the northeast, near the Saint-Lambert forest, the vague outlines of moving troops appeared. The opinions of Napoleonic commanders were divided. Some claimed that these were Grusha's troops, others were of the opinion that this was Blucher's army. However, at about two o'clock in the afternoon, Napoleon ordered Ney to launch a massive offensive. Erlon's four infantry divisions moved into the attack to the beat of drums. Foot to foot, bayonet to bayonet, they climbed the slippery steep slopes of Mont Saint-Jean, breaking through the thick fire of English grapeshot. In the end, the thinned columns ascended the hill, but then a barrage of Scottish cavalry rushed at them. The Scottish cavalrymen crashed into the dense mass of the French divisions and cut down part of their strength. The French retreated. The left wing of the English army could not be broken. Then the emperor changed the plan and transferred the main blow of his forces to the center and right wing of the British. While Erlon's corps was going on the attack, Napoleon received terrible news - Blucher had bypassed Grushi and was moving at full speed to the battlefield. Immediately 10 thousand people of the Young Guard were thrown against the approaching Prussians. Napoleon's headquarters were moved deeper to the rear of the French so that the commander could keep both operations under control. Napoleon was sure that Grouchy would come after the Prussians, that Blucher did not have enough strength for a serious battle, and therefore turned all his attention to Wellington. At 3.30 in the afternoon, Erlon captured a powerful British stronghold - the La Haye Sainte farm; the Hanoverian soldiers defending this section of the defense retreated. The tricolor French banner fluttered over the farm. The loss of La Haye Sainte exposed Wellington's central position dangerously, and French artillery soon rained grapeshot down upon his ranks. At the same time, Napoleon gave the order to Ney to make a hole in the English ranks. 40 squadrons of French cavalry formed at the foot of Mont Saint-Jean and rushed forward. The ground trembled under the hooves of the cuirassiers' horses, hundreds of lancers and horse guards rangers rushed after them. All this lava flew up to the top of the hill in one unstoppable stream. The English light artillery has been captured, the gunners are fleeing, victory is near, but squares of English infantry have risen in front of the cavalry. Volley after volley mowed down hundreds of horsemen. The British shot at the horses and finished off the fallen riders with bayonets. In a rush of battle, the French rushed about in the smoke of rifle fire, unsuccessfully trying to break through the ranks of the enemy bristling with bayonets. But the British forces were also running out. Wellington threw his last reserves into battle; he was informed from all sides about the impossibility of containing the enemy. “In that case, let them all die on the spot?!” “I no longer have reinforcements,” answered the commander-in-chief. His task was to hold out no matter what until Blucher's approach. The famous Soviet historian A.Z. Manfred gave the following description of the Duke of Wellington: “Wellington was not a military genius, as he was later portrayed... But he had a bulldog’s grip. He bit into the ground, and it was difficult to dislodge him from the positions he occupied.” (Manfred A.Z. Napoleon Bonaparte. Sukhumi, 1989. P. 664.) The French generals saw that the English line was ready to waver, they asked the emperor to give them a guard. In the imperial reserve there were still 8 intact battalions of the Old Guard and 6 battalions of the Middle Guard. At 8 o'clock in the evening it was still light, and the last onslaught of the guards could decide the outcome of the battle in favor of the French. However, Napoleon's positions were already under threat, the Prussians on the right flank were pushing back the battalions of the Young Guard, the French flank was bypassed, and the threat loomed over the rear. Finally, Napoleon formed 11 battalions of the Guard in a square on the Brussels road. 2 battalions drove back the Prussians near the village. Plancenoit, and the remaining 9 under the command of Napoleon himself moved towards Wellington. All generals. Ney and L. Friant walked ahead. The British met the Guard with terrible artillery fire from the front and from the flank. The soldiers fell in dozens, but did not slow down, only closing their ranks more tightly and shouting even louder: “Vivat imperator!” Finally, two battalions reached the top of Mont Saint-Jean, and in front of them stood a wall of close ranks of English guards made of tall ears of wheat. The first salvo mowed down several hundred people - half of two battalions, the second salvo, the third. The French guards stopped, mixed up, and began to retreat. There was a cry: “The guard is retreating!” Wellington ordered a general attack. At the same moment, Blucher's corps left the Ojai road and began to smash the French on the right. The French soldiers ran towards Belle Alliance, and the English hussars and dragoons rushed behind them, cutting down the retreating ones as they galloped. The unexpected retreat turned into a flight. The imperial army crumbled right before our eyes, and the enemy, hot on its heels, cut into pieces its surviving remnants. (Desmond Seward. Napoleon's Family. Smolensk, 1995. P. 345.) Napoleon tried to organize a defense in order to cover the fleeing army. The last three battalions of the Guard formed a square with the Emperor in the middle, from where he personally tried to command the defense, with the secret hope of finding death on the battlefield. Here, not far away, Marshal Ney was rushing about in a whirlpool of running people. Wounded, with a face black from gunpowder, in a uniform torn by bayonets and bullets and with a fragment of a sword in his hand, he tried to organize a retreat. The guard slowly retreated, trying to break through the ranks of the advancing enemy. The British were delighted with the courage and resilience of these people. Their ranks were always tightly closed, their faces were calm, their steps were measured and clear. One of the squares, under the command of General P. Cambronne, was asked by an English colonel to surrender. “The Guard dies, but does not surrender!” - Cambronne exclaimed. The French guards preferred death to captivity. Dusk was gathering over the field, the Battle of Waterloo was lost. 25 thousand French and 22 thousand British and Prussians died on the battlefield killed and wounded. Napoleon's army, as an organized force, ceased to exist. Almost all the artillery was lost, the spirit of the army was broken, and there were practically no fresh forces. The defeat at Waterloo meant the defeat of the entire campaign, the defeat of France in the war with the coalition. It led to Napoleon's repeated abdication of the throne (June 22), to a change in political power in France, and subsequently to its occupation by the allied armies and the restoration of the Bourbons. This was the final point in the history of the Napoleonic wars. List of recommended literature and sources 1. Military encyclopedia: In 8 volumes / Ch. ed. commission P. S. Grachev (pres.). M., 1994. - T.2. - P. 22. 2. Military encyclopedia. - St. Petersburg, Ed. I. D. Sytina, 1911. - T.5. pp. 257–260. 3. Zykov S. Military-historical review of the campaign of 1815 - St. Petersburg, 1860. 4. History of France: In 3 volumes / Editorial Board. A. Z. Manfred (ed.). - M., 1973. - T.2. - WITH. 174–176. 5. Kavtaradze A. G. Waterloo // New and recent history. - 1972. - No. 1. - P. 158–164. 6. Klembovsky V. Review of the 1815 campaign in the Netherlands. - St. Petersburg, 1889. 7. Levitsky N. A. The military leadership of Napoleon. - M., 1938. - P. 250–258. 8. Leer G. A. Complex operations. - St. Petersburg, 1892. 9. Manfred A. Z. Napoleon Bonaparte. - 4th ed. - M., 1987. P. 749–751. 10. Mikhnevich N.P. Military-historical examples. - Ed. 3rd revision St. Petersburg, 1892. pp. 1–3, 94–97. 11. Tarle E. V. Napoleon. - M., 1957. S. 408–413. 12. Charas J. F. A. History of the campaign of 1815 - Waterloo; - St. Petersburg, 1868. 13. Encyclopedia of Military and Marine Sciences: In 8 volumes / Under the general. ed. G. A. Leer. St. Petersburg, 1885. - 1.2. - pp. 51–52.
"General Forward" saves the coalition. On the night of June 16-17, defeated, demoralized and leaderless, the Prussian troops faced a painful choice: abandon the British allies to the mercy of fate and escape (General Gneisenau was inclined to such a decision in the absence of Blucher) or regroup and re-engage in battle with Napoleon. Only late at night did the half-dead Blucher reach the location of his army. The undaunted field marshal, having surprisingly quickly recovered his health with the help of a tried-and-true and favorite remedy - juniper vodka with garlic, immediately began to develop a disposition. For reasons of honor, Blücher rejected the shameful proposal to abandon the allies. The warlike spirit that prevailed in the German commander-in-chief saved not only the “Iron Duke” with his troops, but also the entire coalition.
Napoleon's vain self-confidence. Napoleon expected that the opponents would need considerable time to unite. On June 17, it was pouring rain all day, it seemed that nature had given his army a day of respite, because there was no way to attack through the muddy mud. The emperor himself stayed overnight in a castle near Fleurus, a village near which in June 1794 French troops won one of their most brilliant victories. Napoleon saw this as a good sign.
On the morning of June 17, Napoleon was in high spirits. He was sure that the defeated Prussian army, led by its field marshal, was retreating to Liege; Ney has probably already occupied Quatre Bras, and Wellington is hastily retreating to Brussels. Self-confidence played a cruel joke on the genius of strategy: he did not send reconnaissance either after the Prussians or to Quatre Bras. Napoleon was finally reassured by the news that thousands of Prussians were retreating towards Liege. These were deserters, numbering about 9 thousand people, but not Blucher’s army. Having learned that Wellington's army was still in Quatre Bras, the French commander did not give the order to Ney to pin down the British forces in order to hit them in the rear. This was another, but not the last, mistake of Napoleon. Only at 11 o'clock in the afternoon did Napoleon give the first orders, preparing to attack the British. The main role here was assigned to Ney.
Fatal delay. Unlike the French commander-in-chief, the Duke of Wellington sent reconnaissance in the morning to find out about the results of the battle of Ligny. Having received a report of the defeat and retreat of the Prussians, he immediately ordered preparations for retreat. If Ney had guessed at least at noon to attack the troops of the “Iron Duke,” then the Allies’ cause would have been lost, but the French marshal gave the British a chance for salvation, which they did not miss. Napoleon, rushing to Quatre Bras at one o'clock in the afternoon, was furious at Ney's amazing and inexplicable passivity. There was an order to immediately rush after the enemy, but the delay was fatal. It is possible that Napoleon, who personally led the pursuit, would still have been able to catch up with Wellington and force a battle on him, but the pouring rain turned the entire area into a muddy swamp. The French cavalry only managed to engage in battle with the escaping rearguard of the British, but it was already at the end of daylight and further pursuit turned out to be pointless. At about two o'clock in the morning, Napoleon received a message from Grouchy, who correctly determined that Blücher was retreating to Wavre. It has long been noted that in his last campaign the famous French commander strangely combined bouts of frantic energy with periods of inexplicable apathy, which was previously completely unusual for him. If Napoleon had immediately given the order to Grouchy to pursue and engage the Prussians in combat, perhaps the outcome of the Battle of Waterloo would have been different, but such an order came only at ten in the morning.
Napoleon determines the disposition of the allies. The night before the decisive battle, the French emperor slept poorly. He was very worried that the enemy had left. Wanting to make sure that Wellington's army was in place, he ordered a reconnaissance in force. The roar of dozens of guns convinced him that the enemy was preparing for the morning battle. However, at one in the morning, in the pouring rain, the emperor walked out to the guard line, peering intently into the hundreds of battle fires of Wellington's army. Napoleon was satisfied: the British had fallen into a trap from which there was no way out. “It rained like buckets. Several reconnaissance officers and secret agents who returned at half past three at night confirmed that the Anglo-Dutch troops did not even think of moving... The commander of the enemy army could not do anything more contrary to the interests of the cause and his country, the whole mood of this campaign and even just the basic rules of war than to remain in the position he occupied. He had the Soigny forest defile behind him, and in case of defeat his withdrawal would have been impossible,” - this is how Napoleon himself defined the disposition. In all likelihood, the French commander was firmly convinced that the Prussian troops were far from the site of the upcoming battle, and Wellington was in a hopeless situation. Moreover, the French army outnumbered the enemy in numbers and artillery: 74 thousand people and 250 guns against 70 thousand people and 170 guns.
In positioning his troops, the Duke of Wellington clearly hoped for the timely arrival of Field Marshal Blücher's corps. It was for this reason that the bulk of his troops were concentrated on the right flank, while the left flank was open to the Allied approach. According to eyewitnesses, Napoleon, before the start of the battle, highly praised his enemy’s army: “Magnificent troops, but in half an hour I will chop them into pieces.”
Location of enemy troops. Wellington positioned his troops behind a ridge of hills that crossed a field near the Belgian village of Waterloo. The English positions, full of red uniforms and dotted with batteries, froze in wary silence. On the other side of the shallow valley were the French. The cavalry was located in front: huntsmen, lancers, carabinieri, mounted grenadiers, hussars. Behind the cavalry were twelve regiments of the "old guard", veterans of many battles in long blue greatcoats and tall bearskin hats. To the right stood the “young guard” and Labo’s sixth corps. On the right flank were Marbo's hussars and Jacquinot's lancers.
However, the start of the battle was delayed for a long time, since the ground washed out by rain did not allow cavalry and artillery maneuvers. This was Napoleon's fatal mistake. Even if he had used only infantry in the initial phase of the battle, then in this case, most likely, he would have completed the outcome of the battle in his favor.
The battle begins. So, the main events of June 18 unfolded on the Waterloo field, near Mont-Saint-Jean. At 11.30 am, the division of Napoleon's brother, Prince Jerome, attacked the Allied positions. This action was planned by Napoleon's headquarters as a diversion; it was important for the French to force the transfer of troops to the right flank, in order to then break through the center of the allied forces. Unfortunately for Napoleon, his brother, overwhelmed by ambition, in violation of all instructions, got involved in a difficult battle. Trying to knock the enemy out of their positions, Prince Jerome stubbornly threw his division into frontal attacks, while suffering heavy losses. “Thus,” comments a modern historian, “from the very beginning the French battle plan was jeopardized and disrupted by the claims of a division commander who was unable to really understand his task. The first serious tactical mistake of the day had already been made.”
Battle of Waterloo, 19th century engraving
French artillery could not inflict significant damage on the enemy either; Wellington made clever use of the terrain, hiding most of his troops behind the high embankments and crest of the Mont Saint-Jean hill. The soft soil, in which cannon balls literally sank rather than ricocheted, further reduced the effect of artillery shelling. To all these troubles, another one was added: at one o’clock in the afternoon a message arrived that General Bülow’s 30,000-strong corps was approaching the right wing of the French line. This was already a very serious threat, but Napoleon did not lose either his composure or hope for ultimate success. He immediately sent a messenger to Grouchy with the order to break through to join the main forces of the French army.
Strange actions of Grusha. Many contemporaries and historians call Grusha’s actions on the eve and day of the Battle of Waterloo strange, mysterious and even treacherous. On the eve of Waterloo, June 17, his troops set out on the campaign only at 2 o’clock in the afternoon and advanced with great respite and extremely slowly. Having stopped in the town of Gembloux, the French marshal received accurate information about the advance of the Prussian troops, but did practically nothing to stop them, although he undoubtedly had such chances. On the morning of June 18, already on the day of the Battle of Waterloo, Grushi gave the order to advance only at 8 o’clock in the morning. At ten o'clock in the morning, Grusha's breakfast was interrupted by cannonade heard in the distance. General Gerard sharply but rightly reproached his commander for inaction and suggested immediately going to the sound of battle (this was the beginning of the Battle of Waterloo). If Grouchy had accepted this reasonable proposal, he would undoubtedly have caught up with the Prussian troops, but he, citing Napoleon’s order (which arrived late and therefore actually outdated), insisted on pursuing Blücher’s army. Time was lost, and at the same time the French army’s chances of victory were disastrously diminishing.
General d'Erland's mistake. Meanwhile, while Napoleon’s marshal was committing his, to put it mildly, rash actions, the emperor himself gave the order to transfer 10 thousand infantry to the right flank, and Ney to begin an attack on the enemy’s left center. And then another absurdity occurred, one of those that literally haunted Napoleon all these days. General d'Erland, executing Ney's order, committed an action that to this day cannot be interpreted either from the standpoint of military art or from the point of view of common sense. Instead of forming his troops into shock battalion columns, he deployed his battle formations into a line of battalion ranks. This meant that, under deadly enemy fire, the French troops had to advance in dense ranks one after another, presenting an excellent target. One of the regimental officers who participated in this “maneuver” recalled: “The third division, to which my regiment belonged, had to advance, like the others, in the formation of deployed battalions, where only four steps separated one battalion from another, a strange battle formation, which cost us dearly, since we could not form a square against cavalry attacks, but the cores of enemy artillery plowed their way through this formation to a depth of twenty rows.” With great difficulty, overcoming hurricane gunfire, the French soldiers climbed the slope to the crest of the ridge, where the Allied troops were located. It is very likely that it was precisely this extreme tension that did not allow d’Erland’s soldiers to hold back the unexpected attack of the Anglo-Scottish cavalry. At the same time, the dashing cavalrymen, in the heat of battle, rushed through the valley straight to the French artillery brigade, where they were attacked and defeated by French cuirassiers and lancers. Most of the allied cavalry was completely destroyed. However, the first large-scale attack by Napoleonic troops was repulsed.
Cavalry attack of French cuirassiers. By three o'clock in the afternoon, Napoleon had strong suspicions that Grouchy would not appear at the battlefield. At 3.30 Ney received a categorical order from the emperor to take La Haye Sainte at any cost. “The bravest of the brave” took the order literally and brought at least 5 thousand cavalrymen into the attack. This was another recklessness of the Napoleonic marshal. The cavalry attack unfolded along the mountainside, under open fire from Allied artillery, not supported either by the fire of their own guns or by the actions of the infantry! The massive cavalry charge was one of the greatest spectacles of the Battle of Waterloo. An English ensign testified: “Not a single person who was present and survived could forget the terrifying magnificence of this attack to the end of his life. We saw something in the distance that seemed like a huge moving line, which, as it approached, sparkled like a powerful sea wave reflecting the sun. This cavalry rushed closer and closer, until the earth itself began to shake from this thunderous stomp. It seemed that nothing could withstand the pressure of this terrible rolling mass. These were the famous cuirassiers - mostly old soldiers who distinguished themselves in almost all the battles in Europe.
Incredibly quickly, they were already within 20 yards of us, deafening with cries of “Vive l’Empereur!” The command sounded: “Get ready to meet the cavalry!”; every soldier in the front rank took a knee, and in front of the enraged French cuirassiers a wall appeared, bristling with steel bayonets...” The frantic impulse of the French cavalry crashed against the composure and courage of the British infantry. The British commander, to support the infantry, ordered his cavalry to counterattack the enemy. Many batteries ended up in the hands of the French several times, but the lack of infantry negated all the heroic efforts of the cuirassiers. There was no one not only to rivet the guns, but even to simply take away the banners. The entire assault was planned and carried out extremely poorly. The discarded French cavalry reorganized and again rushed to the enemy positions, but with the same result. According to an eyewitness, “the French cavalry made the bravest attacks I have ever seen... never has cavalry so fearlessly fulfilled its duty or been so fearlessly repulsed by infantry.”
Losses. Corpses literally littered the hillsides. As one British officer recalled: “It was impossible to step a single yard without stepping on a wounded comrade or the body of a dead man. And the loud groans of our wounded and dying instilled horror in our souls.” Napoleon was extremely dissatisfied with Ney's actions, but in order to support him, he ordered a cavalry advance by the forces of Flahaut and Kellermann. The latter requested confirmation of the order. But before the requested confirmation had time to reach the addressee, the division commanders from Kellerman’s corps voluntarily rushed into a desperate attack, dragging with them the remnants of the guards cavalry. However, this crazy impulse was stopped. By six o'clock in the evening Napoleon had lost his entire cavalry reserve. He could only, paraphrasing the Roman emperor, repeat: “Ney, return my legions!” But the allied troops were at the limit of their human strength, suffered heavy losses, and the British cavalry ceased to exist.
Actions of Marshal Ney. Having assessed the situation, Napoleon repeated his order to Ney: take La Haye Sainte. At seven o'clock in the evening, Marshal Ney launched an offensive, organized, for the first time in a day, tactically competent, with the participation of all branches of the military. Having captured the positions of the Royal German Legion, Ney immediately positioned a battery there and opened destructive gunfire on the center of Wellington's positions. For a complete victory, he lacked the reinforcements he requested from Napoleon. Victory was really close, but the emperor refused the marshal, who had let him down so many times. Moreover, a sudden threat to the French arose on the right flank, where the Prussian General Bülow arrived in time. Eleven battalions from the emperor's reserve were transferred to the right wing of the French army and leveled the situation. Now Napoleon's attention again focused on the central area, where Michel Ney fought. Wellington was on the verge of defeat. True, he managed to transfer fresh forces from the right flank to the center and thereby patch up the holes, but the French commander also found a worthy answer.
Napoleon at the head of the attack. At seven o'clock in the evening, Napoleon gave the order to advance and personally led nine battalions of the imperial guard, which he kept in reserve until the last moment, in a decisive attack. The outcome of the battle was to be decided by the best parts of the emperor, tested in dozens of battles. It was truly a formidable weapon. At this climax, in the ensuing darkness, vague silhouettes of the advancing troops appeared to the northeast of the battlefield. The agonizing wait continued for some time: “Blücher or Grushi? French or Prussian? Napoleon, in order to support the hesitant young soldiers, announced that Pear's troops were approaching. But the enthusiasm that gripped the French soon turned into horror when the roar of artillery cannonade was heard in their rear. “General Forward” managed to arrive before the slow Marshal Grusha.
The crushing fire of the British. Meanwhile, the imperial guard, to the sound of drums, advanced on Wellington's positions. Shortly before this famous attack, a deserted French officer gave the British the direction of movement of the guard, which the allied troops met fully armed. The guard moved in one close column, supported by a battery of horse artillery. It is still unknown why Ney gave the order to divide a single column into several parts, but this mistake was already irreparable. True, then Ney tried several times to lure his units into battle, shouting: “Look how the marshals of France are dying!” Several horses were killed under him, but the bullets did not touch him.
The British troops made excellent use of the natural cover that abounded on the Mont Saint-Jean hill. Most of the French troops did not even have time to deploy into battle formations before cannon and rifle fire fell on them. It was beyond human strength to withstand this barrage of fire.
Retreat of Napoleon's Guard. Wellington threw 40 thousand soldiers at the French, and the guard retreated. This retreat led to a general flight. Napoleon did everything to organize the remnants of the demoralized army. The remnants of the guard showed boundless courage and perseverance. General Cambronne went down in history, who, in response to an offer to surrender on honorable terms, swore and uttered his famous phrase: “The Guard dies, but does not surrender!” The Young Guard on the eastern flank held the road to Charleroi until 9 pm to allow the remnants of the army to retreat. The Old Guard on the northern sector of the front led a perfectly organized retreat in the face of a numerically superior enemy.
The collapse of last hopes. At Waterloo, French troops lost 25 thousand people; allies - 22 thousand people. Napoleon himself was in one of the squares, almost being captured by the Prussians. Napoleon's hopes of gathering his troops in Genappe did not materialize. At Philippeville he handed over command to Soult and departed for Paris. Judging by Napoleon's correspondence, at that moment he did not yet consider everything lost. In addition, the incompetently organized pursuit of the French army ended in defeat for the allies, and Grouchy retained his troops (more than 20 thousand people) and brought them to Philippeville, although a day late.
Napoleon signs the abdication. Apparently, a turn in Napoleon’s consciousness took place on the way to Paris, where he arrived on June 21. He indifferently accepted the demand for abdication from the deputies of both chambers, the proposal of his closest advisers to continue the fight, and the support of the masses calling for the defense of Paris. He correctly assessed the hopelessness of his situation. Fresh Austrian troops were approaching the borders of France at full speed; the Russians were to be expected after them. Napoleon could, of course, raise another army and win a battle or two or three against the coalition. But in the end, a united Europe would still crush him, and he had neither the strength nor the desire to raise all of France for a new revolutionary war. On June 22, the emperor signed the abdication manifesto for the second time. He was surprisingly calm. When the British denied him the opportunity to emigrate to America, he rejected all options offered to him to escape.
On July 15, Napoleon, accompanied by a very small group of close people, boarded the English ship Bellerophon and departed for the island of St. Helena, where he died on May 5, 1821, in the fifty-second year of his life.
The collapse of the empire. Waterloo meant the final defeat of Napoleon and the collapse of the Napoleonic empire. France was unable to maintain its dominant position on the European continent.
The defeat in the 1812 campaign at Borodino and subsequent military failures could not but undermine Napoleon's authority and he was simply forced to abdicate the French throne so as not to irritate the public beyond measure.
The participating countries of the so-called Sixth Coalition, which included the Russian Empire, Prussia, Great Britain, Austria, Sweden and several other countries, demanded not only Napoleon’s resignation, but also his expulsion to the island of Elba. Despite his status as an exile, Bonaparte received at his disposal a small contingent of 1,000 soldiers from among the Old Guard.
While the former emperor was settling into his new place of residence, the Bourbon dynasty was restored in France and Louis XVIII ascended the throne, who did not inherit the best political and economic inheritance.
Initially, the restoration of royal power was greeted by the general public with almost joy. However, after a very short time, moods began to change for the worse. The Bourbons carried out several reforms that had a negative impact on public opinion, and the old aristocracy demanded the return of their former land holdings.
All this led to a fairly rapid spread of Bonapartist ideas and sentiments among the peasantry. Demobilized soldiers, who also found themselves in a very disadvantageous position, recalled their former life almost with nostalgic warmth. Soon Bonaparte became for many French practically a symbol of equality and prosperity, and the times of the First Empire became the “good old days.”
Napoleon, while in exile on Elbe, oddly enough, was aware of what was happening on the continent: many employees of the previous administration and military officials ended up in the service of the Bourbons and, for various reasons, supported the disgraced emperor. As a result, at the beginning of 1815, Napoleon Bonaparte decided to attempt to overthrow the Bourbons and regain power in the country.
The campaign began on February 26, 1815, when Bonaparte, at the head of his small garrison of one thousand soldiers and with four guns, accompanied by the generals Cambronne, Drouot and Bertrand, left the island and sailed towards France. On March 1, Napoleon landed at Cape Antibes, near the city of Cannes. 
Napoleon moved to Grenoble, the first meeting with the royal army took place 15 km south of the city. There was no battle: Napoleon addressed the regiments with a short but very convincing speech and they went over to his side, and in Grenoble Bonaparte was greeted with jubilation.
Louis sent one of his former comrades, Marshal Ney, to meet Napoleon, who on March 14 at Auxerre, instead of fighting as he promised the king, joined Bonaparte’s troops. Hysteria literally began in the royal chancellery: panic orders to take the usurper into custody, troops were sent to meet, joining the units that had already supported Napoleon.
Louis fled to Belgium, and on March 20, Napoleon, at the head of the assembled garrisons, entered Paris and occupied the Tuileries Palace. Napoleon Bonaparte's final Hundred Days as Emperor of France had begun.
Opponents of Napoleon
Being a fairly far-sighted politician, Bonaparte understood that his return to power would inevitably entail further military action, so he made an attempt to resolve the conflict peacefully. It didn't work out. While Napoleon was marching towards Paris, on August 13 in Vienna, representatives of the anti-Napoleonic coalition outlawed him and declared war. However, they decided to fight not with France, but with Bonaparte personally.
On March 25, the signing of the next agreement completed the creation of the Seventh Coalition. The number of coalition troops amounted to half a million soldiers, of which 150 thousand were soldiers of the British Empire.
Bonaparte's main opponents were a combined contingent of military personnel from Great Britain, Belgium, the Netherlands, Hanover and Nassau. The Duke of Wellington commanded the troops, and Field Marshal Blücher commanded the Prussian units of the Army of the Lower Rhine.
Napoleon's Army
Until April 8, 1815, Napoleon did not take any decisive action, but news of the creation of the Seventh Coalition gave him a certain freedom: mobilization was announced, and the fighting itself was presented as aggression against France. Despite this, the country was completely unprepared for war.
The number of Napoleonic troops was only 200 thousand people, while the enemy forces were at least twice as large. The start of the 1815 campaign was not the best for Bonaparte. The Allies planned an attack from five different directions, the eastern border was practically undefended.
The actions of the coalition forces almost completely crushed all resistance of the French units and Bonaparte was forced to choose between defense and offensive. Both of these options had both strengths and weaknesses. In the first case, Bonaparte had the opportunity to train recruits and even achieve the conclusion of a peace treaty on fairly favorable terms, but the second option, if successful, would have made it possible to defeat the coalition and finally unite the country. Napoleon decided to take a risk and marched to the Belgian border, where British and Prussian units were stationed.
Battle of Waterloo
The Anglo-Dutch-Belgian army had a gun fleet of 160 units, and the total number of garrisons was 80 thousand people. The bulk were British units, which showed high combat effectiveness in this campaign, while Allied units could not always boast of discipline and other positive characteristics. The Prussian Army of the Lower Rhine at the beginning of the campaign numbered up to 130 thousand people with more than 300 guns.
The northern units of the French army numbered up to 128 thousand soldiers and officers, and the gun fleet consisted of 366 guns. Napoleon personally led the troops in anticipation of a general battle. The Battle of Waterloo did not come as a surprise: several events led to it, without which the battle would not have happened at all.
The Battlefield of Waterloo is a valley separating two plateaus: Belle Alliance to the south and Mont Saint-Jean to the north. The Battle of Waterloo was initially seen by the opposing sides as decisive, and neither opponent even considered the possibility of defeat.
However, today the result of this general battle is known to everyone: Napoleon’s troops were defeated, and his subsequent attempts to organize resistance failed. He was forced to renounce any claims to power in France, and indeed in Europe in general. The Duke of Wellington once again confirmed his reputation as a tenacious and strong-willed commander, and Field Marshal Blucher proved himself to be an outstanding commander.
Wellington's victory at Waterloo prevented further development of the conflict and saved Europe, exhausted from decades of endless wars, from several more tens of thousands of completely meaningless victims.
- Beshanov V.V. "Napoleon's Sixty Battles"
- Saunders E. "One Hundred Days of Napoleon."
- Chandler David. "Waterloo. Napoleon's last campaign."
- Kuriev M.M. "Duke of Wellington".
The battlefield near the village of Waterloo, located 20 kilometers from Brussels, was a valley, 3-4 km long and just over 1 km wide, which separated two plateaus: Belle Alliance in the south and Mont Saint-Jean in the north. On each side of it, chains of low hills stretched parallel to each other. In the center of each plateau were the villages of the same name, Mont-Saint-Jean and Belle-Alliance, respectively. The Charleroi-Brussels highway crossed the valley from south to north. It was according to this that Napoleon planned his advance.
Napoleon on the Field of Waterloo
Lionel Noel Royer
But upon approaching Waterloo, Napoleon discovered that the main forces of the English army had taken positions on the Mont Saint-Jean plateau.
British army before the Battle of Waterloo. Night of June 17, 1815
William Holmes SULLIVAN
Most of Wellington's army arrived and settled on the plateau before the weather finally turned bad, thunderstorms broke out, rain began to pour and strong winds blew. The soldiers settled down for the night and lit fires while the ground was dry, fortunately there was plenty of brushwood. But in the afternoon the abysses of heaven have opened, turning the land and roads into a continuous mess in which people, horses, and artillery were stuck. Thus, the British rearguard and imperial troops appeared at Waterloo when the ground resembled a swamp after summer showers. And the French and English armies spent the entire night in positions under the rain and hurricane winds, which began to subside only at dawn.
Dawn on the Field of Waterloo
Elizabeth THOMPSON, Lady BUTLER
On the morning of June 18, the opponents began to prepare for battle. The English soldiers, after drinking a portion of rum, ate oatmeal, but the officers preferred to wait for the meat, which had not yet had time to cook. But then the order came to march, and they were left slurping... Lord Wellington fortified himself in a very favorable position in the north along the ridge of the Mont Saint-Jean plateau, without deviating from his old principle from the time of the Peninsular War, placing most of the units behind the ridge, on the reverse slope of the hill, thus hiding them from the eyes of the enemy and direct artillery fire.
On the right, the allied army was protected from a flank attack by the village of Braine-l'Alle and the ravine. The right flank was at the castle of Hougoumont, the center at the farm of La Haye Sainte, the left at Smoen; relative cover on the left was provided by two small villages - La-E and Papelotte, located in the lowlands just ahead of the troops of the British left flank. The entire future battlefield was covered with various buildings, which the Allies quickly adapted for defense. In the Duke’s rear there was a large forested area of Soigny, which completely cut off the retreat, which threatened inevitable defeat if his army was defeated. 13 km from the battle site in the area of \u200b\u200bTubiz and Halle, Wellington stationed the 17,000-strong corps of Prince Frederick of the Netherlands, which was intended to prevent a deep outflanking of the left flank of the allied army. But on the day of the battle, the commander-in-chief forgot about him and these troops, without firing a single shot, stood motionless.
Napoleon was already on his feet at dawn, but could not launch an attack due to the soil being very wet from heavy rains. He did not give any answer to a letter from Grusha delivered to him at night, not even informing him that the French army was stationed in Belle Alliance opposite Wellington’s army and was preparing for battle. The messenger Grusha, who was trying to get an answer for the marshal, was sent home.
Waterloo. Morning at Napoleon's headquarters. Patrick COURCELLE
At 8 o'clock at breakfast in the circle of headquarters officers at the Le Caillou farm, at a table served with imperial silver, Bonaparte made forecasts for the future battle: ... there are about 90 chances in our favor, and the remaining ten are not against us, ...The die is cast, and it is in our favor. And Marshal Soult, who was trying to draw the emperor’s attention to the fact that the Duke of Wellington was an intelligent and formidable opponent, and who advised Marshal Grusha’s troops to be returned to the battlefield, retorted: You consider Wellington a strong commander only because he was able to defeat you. But I tell you that he is a weak commander and that the British have a bad army. We'll deal with them quickly. The battle won't be any more difficult than this breakfast. And in order to cheer up the army, at 10 o’clock in the morning the emperor held a review, which, by the will of fate, became the last in his life. And he was very pleased with the reception he received from the troops, the fighting spirit and enthusiasm of his soldiers. And only after the review Soult sent Marshal Grouchy a response to the report he had written in Jeanblos: ...The Emperor has instructed me to inform you that His Majesty is currently preparing to attack the English army, which has taken up positions at Waterloo near the forest of Soigniers. Accordingly, His Majesty wishes you to go to Wavre, so that you can again approach us, act in concert and maintain communication, moving in front of you the Prussian corps, which also chose this direction and could stop at Wavre, where you should arrive as soon as possible quicker...(Grusha received this letter at 4 o’clock in the afternoon)
Wellington, on the contrary, tried to hide the number and location of his troops. And the balance of forces was as follows: about 67 thousand soldiers with 156 guns for the British and more than 74 thousand people with 266 guns for the French.
Morning Waterloo. June 18, 1815 Ernest CROFTS
French troops were positioned in the southern section of the valley parallel to the English on both sides of Belle Alliance, the central part of the French position. On the left flank, facing Ugumon, the corps of General Reilly was located, on the right - Drouet d'Erlon, in the center there was powerful artillery to support infantry attacks. Both opposing sides concentrated their artillery on the heights, from where it fired intensely at the enemy throughout the battle, infantry and whose cavalry fought in the valley. Napoleon tactically did not reinvent the wheel, but decided to act traditionally: he ordered to initially destroy the enemy center, relying on massive artillery fire, a frontal infantry attack followed by a cavalry strike. This was supposed to exhaust the allies and exhaust their reserves , demoralize the soldiers and force the commander, Duke Arthur of Wellington, to abandon his position and then attack the flanks.
Wellington at Waterloo
Ernest CROFTS
Wellington chose his command post near a huge elm tree (nicknamed Wellington tree), standing in front of the Mont-Saint-Jean mill at the intersection of the Brussels road and the Auin lane. He spent most of the battle here.
Bonaparte watching the attack of the Imperial Guard, Waterloo, 18 June 1815
gavure by Matthew DUBOURG and after the original by George HUM
Napoleon watched the battle first from the La Caillou farm, then from the garden of his guide Decoster, and in the evening from a high hill between Belle Alliance and La Haye Sainte.
Battle of Waterloo
William SADLER
By eleven o'clock the soil began to dry out and the emperor decided to start a battle. Who carried out the first attack on Wellington’s position and at what time is still debated by historians. Therefore, I will start with the corps of General Drouet d'Erlon, who in previous battles never managed to enter the battle. At about 11:30 in the afternoon, twenty-four 12-pounder French cannons located at the forefront of d'Erlon's corps began shelling the Allied positions. However, the bulk of Wellington's infantry, which skillfully exploited the terrain, was hidden behind the high ridges and embankments of the Mont Saint-Jean plateau and did not cause much concern to the Allies. At the forefront was only the small artillery brigade of General Van Bylandt, which was located in an open place on the hillside and the French artillery concentrated its fire on it. The Allies did not remain in debt; their artillery immediately began to batter the French positions with return fire, and a fierce artillery duel ensued.
Ugumon
engraving by William Miller after watercolor by Joseph Mallord William TURNER
Almost simultaneously, or even somewhat earlier, the French launched demonstration attacks on Hougoumont, a large Flemish rural farm, the assault of which became one of the key moments of this battle. It was a former ancient castle (it is said that it was the family nest of Victor Hugo) with outbuildings and a beech grove. Before the start of the battle, the allies tried to strengthen it as much as possible. The Hougumon garrison was international under the overall command of Lieutenant Colonel James McDonnell.
Attack on Ugumon
The French hoped that with their diversionary maneuver they would draw the Allied reserves to defend Hougoumont, weakening the center located at the La Haye Sainte farm, where they would then deliver a decisive blow. But it was not an easy walk. The stubborn resistance of the Allied forces confused all of Napoleon's calculations, and the fighting in this sector continued almost the entire day. General Honoré-Joseph Reil, having launched an attack with insignificant forces, was eventually forced to use his entire army corps.
Waterloo. Defense of Ugumon
The first attack on Hougoumont by the 1st Brigade of General Pierre-François Baudouin and the 6th Infantry Division of Prince Jerome Bonaparte ended in failure: the attackers drove the Hanoverians and the Nassau battalion out of a small forest area to the south of the estate, but devastating British fire from behind the walls of the farm forced them to retreat, General Baudouin died.
French infantry attack on Hougoumont castle
French infantry from Jerome Bonaparte's division storm the castle of Hougoumont
Timothy Mark CHARMS
Attack of the French Grenadiers
Chris COLLINGWOOD
During the next attack, the French occupied a small part of the garden, but were unable to gain a foothold there. From secure shelters, British guardsmen calmly shot at French infantrymen who were unable to respond with aimed fire. Attempts by Jerome's soldiers to climb the walls were also neutralized: the Allies fired at them from the front and from the flanks, and those who managed to climb the wall were thrown down with bayonets. Soon Jerome Bonaparte's entire division was drawn into battle. The commander of the II Corps, General Reil, realizing that the assault on a well-fortified castle would lead to senseless casualties, gave him the order to stop the offensive, but the emperor’s brother ignored the instructions of his commander, trying to knock the enemy out of their positions, stubbornly throwing his division into frontal attacks, while suffering the heaviest losses.
Waterloo. Defense of the Ugumon Farm Gate
Storming of the northern gates of the castle of Ugumon by Lieutenant Legros at the head of soldiers of the 1st light regiment
Kate ROCCO
Assault of the northern gate of the Ugumon castle by Lieutenant Legros (fragment)
Kate ROCCO
The 1st Light Regiment, under the command of Colonel Despana-Cubier, made a roundabout maneuver from the west and attacked the northern gate of the castle. At the head of a small group of soldiers, the commander of the regimental sappers, Sub-Lieutenant Legros, managed to break the gate with a sapper's ax, after which the French screamed Vive l,Empereur! They burst into the courtyard of the building and entered into a mortal battle with the English guards.
The fight for Ugumon
Chris COLLINGWOOD
Waterloo. Defense of Ugumon
Chris COLLINGWOOD
British guards close the gates of Hougoumont
Robert GIBB
British guards close the gates of Hugumon (fragment)
Robert GIBB
At that moment, when the light French infantry in large forces was ready to break into the courtyard, Lieutenant Colonel McDonnell with a group of officers and Corporal James Graham, at the cost of incredible efforts, managed to close the gate with rifle butts and bayonets, blocking three dozen carabinieri, led by Legros, who had broken through in the courtyard. All the French who fell into the trap died; they fell in hand-to-hand combat (one young drummer survived) with the Coldstream Guards. Four companies of the regiment launched a counterattack and not only forced the French to move away from the castle, but drove them out of the forest. As the Duke of Wellington later said: The success of the battle was determined after the closing of the Ugumon gates.
Attack on Ugumon
Bernard COPPENS, Patrick COURCELLE
Infantry of Prince Jerome Bonaparte's 6th Division in the attack on Hougoumont
Jean OJ
Defense of Ugumon
Defense of Hougoumont Castle by the Coldstream Guards
Dennis DAYTON
But Prince Jerome did not calm down, around noon he made a third attempt to take possession of Hougoumont - this time the infantry went around the farm on the eastern side, occupied the garden and tried to attack the northern gate again, but was repulsed by a counterattack of two companies of the 3rd Guards Regiment. After this, the French moved a howitzer battery to the edge of the forest and began intensive shelling of the farm's courtyard (all buildings except the chapel were destroyed); on the shoulders of the retreating grenadiers, the French again burst into the garden, but were stopped by the English guards and rolled back to their previous positions.
Battle of Waterloo
Carl Vernet
And at this time, artillery cannonade thundered over the entire battlefield. Forty 6-pounder guns of the I Corps and twenty-four 12-pounder guns of the Guard were added to the guns of General d'Erlon on the front line, after which the number of artillery increased to 88 guns. However, such a massive bombardment again did not give the desired effect, since the sodden soft During the explosion, the soil absorbed most of the fragments and absorbed the energy of the shock wave, the cannon cores ricocheted weakly. At the beginning of the second afternoon, the main French offensive began on the center and left flank of the allied armies, under the general command of Marshal Ney. General D'Erlon led the attackers directly into battle. Four infantry columns were formed (under the command of Generals Quio, Donzelot, Marcognier and Durotte) with a total number of up to 18 thousand soldiers, with the support of the cavalry division of General Francois Etienne Kellermann.
Waterloo. Assault on La Haye Sainte
Pamela Patrick WHITE
In front of the very center of the British positions was the La Haye Sainte farm, with a gravel pit adjacent to it from the north. Massive buildings with thick stone walls, a high stone fence, and a surrounding garden made the farm extremely convenient for defense. In addition, they also tried to strengthen it with the Allied troops stationed in it. It’s no wonder that this point also became one of the key points in the battle. La Haye Sainte, unlike Hougoumont, was much smaller; it could accommodate about five hundred people inside, approximately the same number as its defender, the German Major Baring, had. It was here that Keogh's brigade from General Allix's division rushed into its first attack.
Waterloo. Defense of La Haye Sainte
Pamela Patrick WHITE
The French drove the Allies out of the quarry, captured the La Haye Sainte orchard and began to fiercely attack Major Baring's Germans, who had retreated to the farm. The defenders retreated inside the building, holding back the powerful onslaught of the enemy. However, Keogh’s brigade failed to occupy the farm, since the defenders, hiding behind its powerful walls, successfully fired back.
Interrogation of a captured Prussian hussar at Waterloo
Robert Alexander HILLINGFORD
At the same time, Napoleon noticed the accumulation of a large group of troops far on the horizon. He assumed that it was the corps of Marshal Grusha approaching. However, it turned out that this was not the case. The captured Prussian hussar, who was taken to the emperor’s headquarters, confirmed his worst fears: the 30,000-strong corps of the Prussian Field Marshal Karl von Bülow was moving towards the battlefield to help Wellington. Napoleon Bonaparte, in order to secure his right flank, was forced to send two cavalry brigades and the VI Corps of General Lobau (10,000 people) towards Bülow. Another dispatch from Marshal Soult flew to Grouchy, in which the marshal was ordered to fight his way to join the main forces of the French army: ...General Bülow is going to attack us on the right flank. We believe that these are the troops now visible on the hills of Saint-Lambert. Therefore, without wasting a minute, come to us and destroy Bülow, you can capture him flagrante delicto.
Attack of General D'Erlon's corps at Waterloo
Jean OJ
At about 13:30 Drouet D'Erlon sent the remaining three divisions (about 14,000 men) forward against Wellington's left flank. They were opposed by the 2nd Dutch division of Van Bylandt in the first row and the Anglo-Hanoverian detachment of Thomas Picton, already quite weakened after the battles of Quatre Bras, in the second, behind the ridge. In total there are about six thousand bayonets.
The French attack developed successfully. Van Bylandt's Dutchmen who remained on the open slope trembled at the sight of a cloud of enemy infantry moving like a solid wall. The brigade, having lost almost all its officers, hastily left the battlefield. The French, inspired by the flight of the Allies, decisively climbed the slopes of the hills to the ridge, where they were met by the British infantry brigades of Park and Kempt, led by the division commander, General Thomas Picton, who became famous during the Peninsular Wars in Spain.
British infantry in battle
Kate ROCCO
Battle of Waterloo
Clive UPTON
The English infantry lay down in the roadside ditches behind the hedge at the top of the back side of the slope. General Donzelot's division, having reached it, stopped and tried to change formation and turn around to attack in line (but due to lack of space, nothing came of it), some of the soldiers began to climb over the fence. And then Picton (who in total had only about three thousand personnel), becoming the head of Kempton’s brigade, commanded: Get up!. He raised the brigade, which stood in close formation in two lines and moved forward to the edge of the ridge. This was followed by the order: Volley, and then - forward! At a distance of about 30-40 meters, the British fired a volley at the tightly packed front ranks of the nearest French column and with a loud Hooray! rushed into a bayonet attack. The next moment, General Picton was struck by an enemy bullet, which pierced his temple. This death did not stop the British and they rushed at the enemy with even greater fury. The French, crowded together, tried to fight off the suddenly arriving British, but retreated in disarray. The infantrymen of Pak's division were able to stop two other columns, which, having overtaken Donzelot's mixed division, tried to continue the attack. And only General Durott was able to occupy the villages of Papelotte and La-E, forcing the troops of Prince Bernard to retreat.
Scottish Grays and Gordon Highlanders at Waterloo
Of course, it was incredibly difficult for the British infantry to hold back the enemy's almost three times superior force. In some areas the British began to lose ground. And at this time, by order of the Duke of Wellington, Lord Uxbridge threw into battle the cavalry brigades of Lord Edward Somerset and Sir William Ponsonby, located on the top of the hill. The first brigade consisted of guards cuirassiers and royal guards dragoons, the second, the so-called Commonwealth Brigade was composed of English (1st Royal), Irish (6th Inniskilling) and Scottish (2nd Royal North British, nicknamed Scottish Grays) heavy dragoon regiments. This attack, which began on the slopes of the Mont Saint-Jean plateau, became one of the most famous in the history of British cavalry.
Capturing the Banner. Waterloo
William Holmes SULLIVAN
Close cavalry battle. Waterloo
Kate ROCCO
Just as unsuccessful as the attacks on this sector by the French infantry were the actions of the French cavalry, which was advancing east of the road to Charleroi. A brigade of Somerset's Royal Guards cavalry, located to the right of Picton's division, attacked General Traver's French cuirassiers, and a fight ensued between two heavy cavalry units. Everything was mixed up: dashing grunts and powerful horses rushed at each other, a desperate confrontation developed into a bloody close combat, in which cavalrymen of approximately equal training and courage fought.
Life Guards cavalry regiment attacks cuirassiers at Waterloo
Carl KOPINSKI
Opponents on both sides who were not involved in the battle observed the duel and noted with admiration that It was a fair duel between two magnificent units of heavy cavalry. But this time the British turned out to be stronger, the French cuirassiers were defeated, only a few horsemen managed to escape, hot on their heels by the desperate British guards. However, the British were unable to consolidate their success, since the battalions of generals Quio and Bachelu, whom Ney had transferred from Les Hayes Saintes, hastened to help Traver.
Charge of the Commonwealth Brigade at Waterloo
Timothy Mark CHARMS
Richard SIMKIN
Royal Life Guards Regiment at Waterloo
Richard SIMKIN
6th Inniskilling Dragoons at Waterloo
Richard SIMKIN
At the same moment, a British Commonwealth heavy cavalry brigade attacked the French infantry columns on the left flank. The Royal English and Irish dragoon regiments from Ponsonby's division, rushing to attack along the Brussels-Charleroi road and scattering Bourgeois's brigade from General Allix's division, broke through to the French artillery batteries on the Belle Alliance plateau.
Dragoons from the 1st Royal Dragoons capture the eagle of the 105th Regiment of the Line.
John ASKEW
Corporal Styles of the Royal Dragoons with the eagle of the 105th Line Regiment
James BEADLE
In this skirmish, Captain Alexander Kennedy Clarke and Corporal Francis Stiles of the King's Dragoon Guards successfully captured the French Legion Eagle of the retreating 105th Line Infantry.
Scotland forever! Scots Grays at the Battle of Waterloo
Elizabeth THOMPSON, Lady BUTLER
Scotland forever!
Richard Cato WOODVILLE
Charge of the Scots Grays and Gordon's Highlanders
Stanley BERKELEY
A Scottish Grays(so called for the gray color of their horses) attacked Marcognier’s division. Having rushed to the attack, the dragoons passed through the battle formations of their positions. Gordon Highlanders- the infantrymen of the 92nd regiment, recognizing their compatriots in the riders, greeted them with shouts Scotland forever! (Scotland for ever!). According to legend, they grabbed the stirrups of the Scottish cavalrymen and rushed with them to the French positions. It was impossible to resist this pressure.
Capture of the eagle of the 45th Line Regiment of the French Army by Sergeant Charles Evart
Scots Grays at the Battle of Waterloo
William Holmes SULLIVAN
Capture of the French Eagle of the 45th Line Regiment, Adam GOOK
Fight for the Banner, Richard ANSDELL
British Cavalry Sergeant Charles Ewart captures the French Eagle
Dennis DAYTON
Further Scottish Grays attacked the French units of the I Army Corps of Count Drouet D'Erlon and scattered it, hacking and trampling the confused French infantrymen. During a fierce battle, Sergeant Charles Evart captured the Imperial Eagle of the 45th Line Regiment. The dense formation of the French battalions led to disastrous consequences. Without having opportunity to reform in a square, D'Erlon's divisions were doomed to be beaten. In addition to the banners, more than three thousand French were captured by British dragoons.
Scots Grays on the attack
Mariusz KOZIK
But then, as they say, the attacking Scots got caught in the ropes. Despite the orders of Commander-in-Chief Wellington to stop pursuing the defeated enemy and Lord Uxbridge's signals to retreat, the gallant cavalrymen from William Ponsonby's division ignored them and rushed into the valley without permission (unlike the cavalrymen Gordon Highlanders obeyed the order, returning to their positions at the end of the attack). Most likely, the excitement of victory played a cruel joke on them: ...the brigade lost almost all order: as if in a fit of madness, it rushed towards the French positions, not paying attention to all the efforts of the officers to stop it... Scottish Grays, burst into the positions of the French batteries and began to chop down gunners and riders right and left, bayonet or cut the throats of draft horses, and throw guns into the ditch. Thus, almost all the artillery crews of these enemy batteries were destroyed, the guns turned out to be absolutely useless for the French for the rest of the day.
French cavalry counterattack at Waterloo
Henri Georges Jacques CHARTIER
The dragoons were so carried away by this defeat that they did not notice how the French lancers from Jacquinot's division attacked them and on their horses, exhausted from fatigue, they were forced to retreat to the British positions, losing during a disorderly retreat many cavalrymen, the commander of the royal dragoons, Colonel Fuller, and their commander General William Ponsonby included.
Death of Sir Ponsonby
Marius KOZIK
Sir Ponsonby was captured by the French lancer Urban, who stabbed him through the heart with a pike when the Scots tried to recapture their commander. The Scots were saved from even greater defeat by the brigade of Major General Sir John Ormsby Vandeleur, who rushed to their rescue with his 12th and 16th dragoon regiments. Having successfully attacked the French in two directions, he forced them to turn back to their location. After this, silence hung over the center of the battlefield and only in the Ugumon area were echoes of the battle heard.
Defense of Ugumon Farm
Robert Alexander HILLINGFORD
Defense of the Ugumon farm (fragment)
Robert Alexander HILLINGFORD
And Ugumon continued his fierce resistance. In the middle of the day, Napoleon recalled his wounded brother Jerome from the battle, keeping him with him in the hope of saving his life. He ordered all the buildings of the complex to be set on fire; A battery of howitzers opened fire with incendiary shells and soon most of the buildings (the mansion and barns of the farm) were on fire, but the English guards remained at their posts and continued to repel the French attacks as long as possible. The seriously wounded, not transportable, who were carried there during the battle, died in the fire. The defenders retreated to the chapel and the gardener's house, which remained untouched, from where they continued to return fire to the unsuccessful attempts of the French to dislodge them from the estate. By this time, reinforcements had arrived to help the defenders, and for some time there was a calm around Ugumon, as the epicenter of the battle moved to the center of the position.
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