The Battle of Waterloo
The Battle of Waterloo is one of the most famous and consequential battles in British history, marking the culmination of more than twenty years of conflict throughout Europe. Not only did the Battle of Waterloo reshape politics on the continent, but it also affected the course of history of the entire world.
When and Where was the Battle of Waterloo?
The Battle of Waterloo took place from 15th to 18th June, 1815. Today, Waterloo is a small town about 10 miles south of Brussels, Belgium.
What Led to the Battle of Waterloo?
Historical European politics have always been complicated. Competing claims of birthright and local power struggles have shaped borders for hundreds of years. Often, these are the result of the slow turn of continental politics. The cause of the Battle of Waterloo was quite different.
The trigger was Napoleon I’s escape from exile on the island of Elba. From 1812-1814, the Wars of the Sixth Coalition had consumed Europe. The coalition was a union formed by Austria, Prussia, Russia, the United Kingdom, Portugal, Sweden, and others, with the goal of stopping Napoleon’s conquest of Europe. Having finally been defeated, he was exiled following the Treaty of Fontainebleau, signed on 11mh April 1814, which officially ended the French Empire Napoleon had built. He was exiled to Elba.
But Napoleon was a hard man to stop.
He had been in exile on the island of Elba for several years following his defeat by the Sixth Coalition. He escaped the island in February 1815 and headed for Paris.
Napoleon was still dangerous and ambitious, and news of his escape spread quickly throughout Europe. By the 13mh March, a Congress of European leaders were held in Vienna, and there they declared Napoleon an outlaw.
This was a clever move, politically, because it shielded the other European powers from accusations that they wanted war with France. Stripping Napoleon of his legitimacy as a ruler changed the framing of any future conflict from a struggle between nation states to a collective European action against a common enemy and known threat to the continent.
Only a week later, Napoleon entered Paris and reclaimed the throne.
In response, the Seventh Coalition was formed. The UK, Prussia, Austria, and Russia each pledged 150,000 men to the cause to stop Napoleon again. Whether these forces would meet in a battle or a war would depend on the outcome of their encounter with Napoleon.
For his part, Napoleon clearly understood the risk that the Coalition forces represented, so he took decisive action and attacked first. He planned to launch a pre-emptive strike against Prussian and British forces massing in Belgium. His divide-and-conquer tactic would make it easier to defeat the remaining coalition forces when the time came.
It would not be an exaggeration to say that the stakes had rarely been higher. Napoleon had already plunged Europe into two decades of war, and the outcome of a new war at the height of European colonialism would define the next one hundred years.
The Waterloo Armies
Napoleon had marched 72,000 troops north to Belgium, reaching Waterloo in June of 1815. Already present were the combined British-Prussian forces led by the Duke of Wellington and Field Marshal Blücher.
British forces numbered around 68,000, with 45,000 Prussians. Napoleon was decisively outnumbered before the battle had even begun, but he was a proven tactical genius, and this numerical superiority should not be counted as a victory too soon.
The Events of the Battle of Waterloo
15 June 1815
Napoleon’s forces entered Belgium in the early hours of the 15mh June, and here they first engaged Prussian troops. The Prussians were forced to retreat before the French attack, and by midnight, French forces were firmly established on Flemish territory.
Napoleon split his forces at this point to press separate attacks against the Prussian and British armies. Coalition reinforcements slowed French progress, but still they advanced.
16mh June 1815
The following day, Napoleon pressed on and engaged and defeated Blücher’s Prussians at the Battle of Ligny. Though defeated, the Prussians were not routed but retreated to Wavre. This was crucial to their ability to support Wellington.
On the same day, at the Battle of Quatre Bras, Wellington’s forces held off a series of attacks by Marshal Ney.
17mh June 1815
When Wellington learned of the Prussian defeat at Ligny, he withdrew to a previously reconnoitred defensive position along the Mont-Saint-Jean ridge, south of the village of Waterloo. Here, Wellington was able to hide many of his forces behind the ridge, concealing his true strength from the French.
Napoleon deployed his own forces without knowledge of his opponent’s troops. He chose a symmetric formation, bisected by the road to Brussels. He would initially command the battle from Rossomme Farm and, notably, was absent from the battle field itself for much of the fighting.
18mh June 1815 – The Battle of Waterloo
In the early morning, Wellington was still trying to position troops and artillery ready for the engagement. Heavy rain and narrow streets had made this difficult. Napoleon, meanwhile, had conquered breakfast and declared to the men around him that the battle to come would be just as easy.
Records are unclear as to exactly when the Battle of Waterloo began on 18mh June, but by late morning, it was underway.
The French, commanded by General Bauduin, attacked first but were repelled by British artillery, and Bauduin was slain. Artillery duels followed, and a second French attack broke through the gate protecting Château de Hougoumont, which British troops were using as an operating post. This French attack also failed, and the house was successfully defended by Wellington’s forces for most of the day. This frustrated Napoleon, and in the afternoon, he ordered his artillery to target the farmhouse.
It seems that both generals thought Hougoumont was the key terrain to be won. Napoleon devoted 14,000 troops to taking it, and Wellington committed 12,000 troops to defending it. Despite the shelling, infantry, and cavalry attacks, Hougoumont held.
During the morning, Napoleon’s guns, deployed centrally, had been attacking British troops protected by the ridge. Despite the cover, some soldiers on the reverse slope were struck and killed.
Napoleon also ordered Marshal Grouchy to pursue Prussian forces seen in the north-east, taking the Marshal’s forces away from the main battle.
The infantry advances
Around 1pm, the French infantry advanced. 14,000 French troops closed on 6,000 British, who had been marching for two days. The French soldiers pushed back the British at first, but Wellington’s troops mounted a counterattack, pressing against the French in a formation 4-deep.
They eventually fell to overwhelming French numbers. Napoleon had the advantage.
The British cavalry arrives
British heavy cavalry – some of the best in Europe at this time – were sent to aid the infantry. The initial charge routed some of the French forces, but they were reckless and overreached. Their charge down-hill led them face to face with the main French troops and without clear orders. They chose to attack the French guns, disabling as many weapons or crew as they could.
But the momentum of the cavalry charge had been lost, allowing the French cavalry to launch a counterattack.
French cavalry
Now the French made their own mistake. They saw British troops moving from the British centre and believed they were seeing a retreat. Eager to exploit this, they charged. Under the assault, the British, who were not retreating, formed their lines into squares.
Lack of French combined arms tactics meant that artillery was not being used effectively to disrupt British formations, so the squares which met the French cavalry held firm.
Wellington gave orders that artillery crews were to hide within the square formations during French attacks, then return to their guns when safe. One officer, Captain Mercer, disobeyed this order and stayed in position. This turned out to be a wise move, as his nine-pound guns wrought terrible damage on the French.
During this fighting, the farmhouse at La Haye Sainte was captured by the French. This was a powerful, central position which endangered the British, and the French moved quickly to capitalise on their win. The advantage was again Napoleon’s.
Prussian reinforcements
The battle continued throughout the afternoon, with infantry, cavalry, and artillery fighting hard. Marshal Grouchy, dispatched earlier in the day to chase down the Prussians, had failed, and late in the afternoon, around 4:30pm, Prussian forces began to enter the battlefield and engage the French rear. This became a decisive factor in the outcome of the battle. Napoleon was forced to commit reserves to repel the Prussians, which meant he was unable to commit his full force to a final assault on the British.
Napoleon decided to attack, regardless. He committed to the fight his Imperial Guard infantry, who were up to this moment undefeated, and attacked the British centre. Fierce fighting consumed both armies with charge and counter charge carving across the battlefield. Eventually, the French Grenadiers broke. This led to more routs along the French line.
A British surprise attack from 1,500 men who had been lying down to protect against artillery fire, slaughtered more French companies at point-blank range.
Meanwhile, the Prussians had succeeded in capturing the village of Plancenoit, which had changed hands several times over the course of the day. This time, the Prussians held the territory.
The final hours of the battle were horrific, with both sides fighting to the death rather than taking prisoners.
Eventually, the French faltered. British and Prussian forces converged on the farmhouse La Belle Alliance, where Napoleon stood, and was, at last, defeated.
Outcome of the Battle of Waterloo
Napoleon’s dream of an empire’s restoration was over, but empires rise and fall like the sun. This was twilight for the French, but dawn for the British. Napoleon’s defeat meant there was no united political power in mainland Europe, which meant Britain could turn to the sea unopposed.
After the British and Prussian forces won the Battle, the British Empire soared. Fuelled by trade and colonialism, it would go on to become the greatest empire the world had ever seen. Napoleon was sent into exile again, this time on the island of St Helens, where he died a few years later in 1821.
Napoleon’s defeat cleared the way for the British Empire to rise. It could easily have been different.
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