Waterloo

campaign

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The Waterloo Campaign 1815

 

Napoleon, forced to abdicate on the fall of France in 1814, was exiled to the island of Elba. Ten months later on February 26th 1815 he escaped by boat with a handful of officers and 1,050 men of his personal guard. Three days later he landed in France. He marched with his small band of supporters towards Paris and was joined on the way by many of his old troops including Marshal Ney, who had been sent to intercept him at the head of 6,000 men. Ney had promised to bring Napoleon back to Paris “in an iron cage”. To great acclaim Napoleon entered Paris on 20th March, a matter of hours after Louis XVIII had fled from the capital and across the Belgian border.

 

Napoleon’s enemies mobilised immediately to counter his military threat. Russia, Prussia and Austria undertook to provide armies totalling 700,000 men and the Duke of Wellington was given command of all British, Belgian and Dutch troops in the region of Flanders.

 

Napoleon realised that he must make a pre-emptive strike against the allies, even though his numbers would be inferior, and so in June he marched north with a force of 128,000 men and 366 guns. His intention was to drive his forces between the armies of Wellington and Blucher and defeat each of them in turn.

 

On 16th June 1815 the three great armies of Napoleon, Blucher and Wellington met. Whilst Napoleon inflicted defeat upon Blucher at Ligny, Ney failed to dislodge Wellington from Quatre Bras several miles to the west. A victorious Wellington now withdrew in good order to his chosen battlefield at Waterloo, while the Prussians made efforts to march to his assistance. The Prussians had been lucky. Such had been the nature of their defeat at Ligny that Napoleon had thought them utterly crushed and had failed to order a pursuit until it was too late. Blucher’s Prussians were to play a decisive role two days later at the Battle of Waterloo.

 

The Battle of Waterloo was fought on 18th June and resulted in a total and catastrophic defeat for the French. Wellington fought a highly effective defensive battle, delivering a counter attack at the same time that the Prussians were breaking through and threatening the French flank. The demoralised French army fled from the battlefield to be mercilessly pursued and slaughtered throughout the night by the vengeful Prussians. The Allied army marched on to Paris, encountering little resistance along the way. Napoleon was forced to abdicate for a second time and the French monarchy was once again restored.

 

Napoleon subsequently tried to escape to America, but was forced to give himself up at sea on 15th July . He was exiled to the small and desolate island of St. Helena in the South Atlantic where he died in 1821, aged 51.

For potted histories of the Waterloo campaign and the Battle of Waterloo, the Battle of Quatre Bras and the Battle of Ligny, read on. The Waterloo campaign of 1815 or the Hundred Days, as it is also known, covers the period of Napoleon’s escape from exile on Elba to his final defeat at the Battle of Waterloo. During the campaign four battles were fought—Ligny and Quatre Bras on June 16th and Wavre and Waterloo on June 18th.

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