Napoleon Part 2, session vii

NapoleonPart Twosession vii

The Hundred Days

NapoleonPart Twosession vii

The Hundred Days

I felt that Fortune was abandoning me, I no longer had the feeling that I was sure to succeed.

--Napoleon

DIE BEIDEN GRENADIERE

1. Nach Frankreich zogen zwei Grenadier',Die waren in Rußland gefangen.Und als sie kamen ins deutsche Quartier,Sie ließen die Köpfe hangen.

2. Da hörten sie beide die traurige Mär':Daß Frankreich verloren gegangen.Besiegt und geschlagen das tapfere Heer,Und der Kaiser, der Kaiser gefangen.

4. Der andre sprach: "Das Lied ist aus,Auch ich möcht' mit dir sterben,Doch hab' ich Weib und Kind zu Haus,Die ohne mich verderben."

5. "Was schert mich Weib, was schert mich Kind;Ich trage weit besser' Verlangen;Laß sie betteln geh'n, wenn sie hungrig sind-Mein Kaiser, mein Kaiser gefangen!

7. Das Ehrenkreuz am roten BandSollst du aufs Herz mir legen;Die Flinte gib mir in die HandUnd gürt' mir um den Degen.

8. So will ich liegen und horchen still',Wie eine Schildwach' im Grabe,Bis einst ich höre KanonengebrüllUnd wiehernder Rosse Getrabe.

9. Dann reitet mein Kaiser wohl über mein Grab,Viel Schwerter klirren und blitzen;Dann steig' ich gewaffnet hervor aus dem Grab-Den Kaiser, den Kaiser zu schützen!

THE TWO GRENADIERS

To France were returning two grenadiersWho had been in Russia in prison.And when to the German lodging they came,They sadly bowed their beads.

There they were told the sorrowful tale:That France had been lost and defeated,Conquered and beaten the valiant army,And the Emperor, the Emperor captured.

The other said: "The song is o'er,I too would fain die with you,But I have a wife and child at home,Who without me will perish."

"What care I for wife, what care I for child,I have a far better desire ;Let them go begging if hungry they are,My Emperor, my Emperor captured!

The medal on the red ribbonYou shall lay upon my heart ;Give me the musket in my hands,And buckle on my sabre.

Thus I will lie and listen still,Like a sentinel in the grave,Till some day I shall hear the cannon's roarAnd the trotting of neighing steeds,

It is then that my Emperor will ride over my grave,Many swords will be clanking and sparkling,Then I shall rise, fully armed, out of my grave,My Emperor, my Emperor defending!"

Poem by Heinrich Heine

1827Lied by

Robert Schumann1843

major topics for this session

✦ Elba

✦ Congress of Vienna

✦ The Return

✦ The Seventh Coalition

✦ Quatre Bras and Ligny

Elba

Cruicshank adds his imaginary touch. “Long Live the Bourbons,” In the distance a gibbet awaits Napoleon in England, a demon dances on his head, the Devil will ferry him across the Channel

! thinking the “Corsican Ogre” safely banished, his enemies took delight in his downfall

! this caricature shows an actual practice for humiliating individuals

! swords were broken

! men were compelled to ride backwards on donkeys

! but, of course, this scene is imaginary

The choice of Elba as Napoleon’s new home had been made in the spring of 1814, when the Allies captured Paris and demanded his immediate, unconditional abdication. Tsar Alexander had promised, personally, that if Napoleon cooperated, the terms would be generous. Maps were scanned for a place of exile that would encourage the French emperor to vacate the throne without delay. ...places were considered from the Canaries to the Caribbean. Some wanted Trinidad, others the Azores, even Botany Bay in Australia. Talleyrand pressed for St. Helena in the South Atlantic. It was the Russian tsar who, in the end, proposed the island of Elba. Actually, Alexander did more than propose the island---he simply refused to consider any other option.

David King, Vienna, 1814, p. 123

Following the Treaty of Fontainebleau, French emperor Napoleon I was exiled to Elba after his forced abdication in 1814 and arrived at Portoferraio on May 3, 1814 to begin his exile there. He was allowed to keep a personal guard of six hundred men. Although he was nominally sovereign of Elba, the island was patrolled by the British Navy.During the months Napoleon stayed on the island, he carried out a series of economic and social reforms to improve the quality of life, partly to pass the time and partly out of a genuine concern for the well-being of the islanders. Napoleon stayed on Elba for 300 days. He returned to France on February 26, 1815 for the Hundred Days. Napoleon's stay on Elba is the basis for the famous English language palindrome: "Able was I ere I saw Elba."

Wikipedia, Elba

Following the Treaty of Fontainebleau, French emperor Napoleon I was exiled to Elba after his forced abdication in 1814 and arrived at Portoferraio on May 3, 1814 to begin his exile there. He was allowed to keep a personal guard of six hundred men. Although he was nominally sovereign of Elba, the island was patrolled by the British Navy.During the months Napoleon stayed on the island, he carried out a series of economic and social reforms to improve the quality of life, partly to pass the time and partly out of a genuine concern for the well-being of the islanders. Napoleon stayed on Elba for 300 days. He returned to France on February 26, 1815 for the Hundred Days. Napoleon's stay on Elba is the basis for the famous English language palindrome: "Able was I ere I saw Elba."

Wikipedia, Elba

! “...some 12,000 people lived on the small, sun-drenched island.”--King

! eighty-six square miles, six miles wide, sixteen miles long, 30 miles east of Corsica, 12 miles west of the Italian mainland

! “...generally speaking, a very poor island. Its soil was rocky and its seasons extreme….famines all too common….despite...the widespread poverty….but

! iron ore

! rich stone quarries

Napoleon’s second residence

Napoleon’s second residence

The Restless Exile

The Restless Exile

here he welcomed Marie Walewska and their son, Alexander (1-3 September)

The Restless Exile

The Restless Exile

The Congress of Vienna

The Congress of Vienna

The Great Viennese Peace-Congress for the Re-establishment of Peace and

Justice in Europe

TsarAlexander

FrederickWilliam IIIof Prussia

EmperorFrancis Iof Austria

Kings, queens, princes, and diplomats would all pour into the city of Vienna in the autumn of 1814 for the highly anticipated peace conference. More than 200 states and princely houses would send delegates to settle the many unresolved issues. How were the victors to reconstruct the war-torn continent? How were they going to make restitution to the millions who had lost family members or suffered the horrors of Napoleonic domination? The Vienna Congress offered a chance to correct the wrongs of the past and, many hoped, create the “best of all possible worlds.”

David King, Vienna, 1814, p. 2

HOW THE CONQUERORS OF NAPOLEON MADE LOVE,WAR, AND PEACE AT THE CONGRESS OF VIENNA

You have come at the right moment.

If you like fètes and balls, you will haveenough of them; the Congress doesnot move forward, it dances.

--PRINCE DE LIGNE

King, p. ix

“Never before, or since, have women so influenced a peace conference.” --King

Wilhemine, Duchess of Sagan, with one of her many lovers, Tsar Alex.M e t t e r n i c h w a s another!


h e r b u s t i n t h e Alexander Palace


with her sister Pauline


their illegitimate sister, Dorothée, the wife of Tallerand’s nephew & his hostess in Vienna and mother of his “love child”








Princess Catherine Bagration, the general’s widow


Princess Catherine Bagration, the general’s widow

Salons were ideal settings for diplomacy as Talleyrand preferred to practice it, subtly and informally advancing his interests in a place like Metternich’s, that is sure to be crowded with the people who ruled Europe. At such a gathering, it was really a stroke of bad luck, one salon regular put it, “not to encounter an emperor, a king, a reigning prince, or not to knock into a crown prince, a great general, a famous diplomat, a celebrated minister.” On some memorable occasions too, Metternich would serve on the fine Sèvres china that Napoleon had given him for arranging his marriage to Marie Louise. At Metternich’s, diplomats could wrangle over the spoils of Napoleon’s empire by day, and then dine on his china at night.

King, Vienna, p. 75

Beethoven performed “Wellington’s Victory” here during the Congress

The famous ensemble portrait

The famous ensemble portraitJean-Baptiste Isabey, 1819

1 Wellington

6 Metternich

8 Nesselrode

21 Hardenberg (seated)

21

1

1

6

8

Arthur Wellesley,Lord Wellington

(1769-1852)

We always have been, we are, and I hope that we

always shall be, detested in France

Klemens Prince von Metternich

(1773-1859)

I say to myself twenty times a day how right I am and how wrong the others

are. And yet it is so easy to be right.

Count Karl Robert Nesselrode

(1773-1859)

“My intention is to build a golden bridge to save [Alexander] from the

intrigues of Metternich." Alas for such vain

hopes!--King

Karl August Fürst von Hardenberg

(1750-1822)“...it was Hardenberg who,

supported by the influence of the noble Queen Louise,

[had] determined Frederick William to take advantage

of General Yorck's loyal disloyalty and declare against France.”--King

10 Castlereagh

13 Razumovsky

18 Friedrich v. Gentz (Congress Secretary)

19 Wilhelm v. Humboldt

22 Talleyrand

24 Emperor Francis I (painting)

25 Kaunitz (bust)

10

13 18 19

22

24

25

Robert Stewart, Viscount Castlereagh

(1769-1822)British Foreign Secretary,

1812-1822;author of the Quadruple

Alliance and the Congress System

Andrey Kirilovich Razumovsky

(1752-1836)1792-began his term as Russian ambassador to

Vienna, built a magnificent embassy at his own expense, 1814-chief negotiator on the

Polish question

“...he had become reconciled to Metternich's view that, in an age of decay, the sole function of a statesman was to prop up mouldering institutions.”--King

✦ born in Breslau, educated at Königsberg under the influence of Immanuel Kant, a brilliant student

✦ lifelong devotée of wine, women and song, learned English and French during an illness-enforced period of virtue

✦ 1794-translated Burke’s Reflections, became conservative

✦ 1802-moved to Vienna, became an imperial counsellor

✦ 1812-developed a life-long friendship with Metternich, became his assistant, confidante, advisor

✦ 1814-1815--secretary to the Congress of Vienna

✦ “his vast knowledge of men and affairs made him a power. He was under no illusion as to their achievements; his memoir on the work of the Congress is at once an incisive piece of criticism and a monument of his own disillusionment.”--Encyclopedia Britannica,11th ed., in Wikipedia

Friedrich von Gentz

1764 – 1832

Wilhelm, Freiherr von Humboldt

(1767-1835)philosopher, government functionary,

diplomat, linguist, founder of Humboldt Universität (Berlin’s

oldest), friend of Goethe and Schiller, architect of the Prussian

education system; older brother of Alexander, the equally famous

naturalist and scientist

Charles Maurice de Talleyrand-Perigord

(1754-1838)“...merde in a silk stocking.”

Napoleon,1808to which he replied (behind the

Emperor’s back)"Pity that so great a man should have been so badly

brought up!"

I have made two mistakes with Talleyrand--first, I did not take his good advice, and second, I did not have him hanged when I did not follow his ideas.

--Napoleon

Александр I Павлович(1777-1825)

“It would be difficult to have more intelligence that Tsar

Alexander, but there is a piece missing, I have never

managed to discover what it is.”

Napoleon

Francis and Alexander Re-draw the Mapcontemporary French caricature

The German Princes of the Former

Holy Roman EmpireImpotently Attendcontemporary German

caricature

Talleyrand vs the “Big Four”

Talleyrand vs the “Big Four”

Two Thorny QuestionsSaxony and Poland

✦ Tsar Alexander announced that he intended to keep all of Poland. What’s more, he had “200,000 troops there,” and defied anyone to say otherwise

✦ he struck a bargain with his “chamber valet,” Frederick William III of Prussia, that in return for his support, Prussia would get all of Saxony

✦ Saxony had remained loyal to Bonaparte and her king was a prisoner in Berlin

✦ Talleyrand was especially anxious about the rising power of Prussia and desperately wanted to prevent this

✦ Castlereagh was especially anxious about the rising power of Russia and saw Alexander as the new Bonaparte

✦ so the seeds were sown for a new relationship after centuries of Anglo-French hostility

✦ Metternich would be the “make-piece” in this new Balance of Power

Saxony and Poland

Saxony and Poland

Saxony and Poland

Saxonia in 700 AD

Saxony and Poland

Saxony and Poland

Saxony and Poland

Saxony and Poland

Central Europe in 1701

Saxony and Poland

Saxony and Poland

North Saxonywhich

Prussiawas

awarded

Saxony and Poland

Saxony and Poland

Saxony and Poland

Saxony and Poland

Saxony and Poland

Saxony and Poland

The Final CompromiseSaxony and Poland

✦ Tsar Alexander would have the lion’s share of Poland (Congress Poland), theoretically an independent state, with him as sovereign

✦ Prussia would get Posen, including the Vistula fortress city of Thorn, and the Republic of Danzig (1807-1815)

✦ Saxony would keep ⅗ths of its territory and ⅔rds of its population, including its capital, Dresden, and the important commercial city of Leipzig

✦ from Saxony, Prussia would receive Provinz Sachsen, (the northern ⅖ths-⅓rd) including Erfurt, Halle, Mulhausen, and the Elban fortress cities of Magdeburg and Torgau

✦ in compensation for not getting all of Saxony, Rhenish (Rhineland) Prussia; Jerome’s former Kingdom of Westphalia, including the Archbishoprics of Trier, Mainz and Köln (Cologne)

✦ ironically, ultimately a much better deal because of the Ruhrgebiet und Saarland



The German Confederation (Bund) undoubtedly had many drawback, with no common army, currency, court system, or customs union. It did, however, have greater success internationally. As Henry Kissinger noted, the confederation came the closest to solving the fundamental “German problem” of modern European history; that is, it created a Germany that was neither too weak nor too strong, a Germany that would be neither a temptation to outside powers nor a threat to its neighbors. After 1815, Germany would enjoy a period of relative peace, which was so desperately needed after the destruction of the Napoleonic Wars.

King, p. 320

The German Confederation (Bund) undoubtedly had many drawback, with no common army, currency, court system, or customs union. It did, however, have greater success internationally. As Henry Kissinger noted, the confederation came the closest to solving the fundamental “German problem” of modern European history; that is, it created a Germany that was neither too weak nor too strong, a Germany that would be neither a temptation to outside powers nor a threat to its neighbors. After 1815, Germany would enjoy a period of relative peace, which was so desperately needed after the destruction of the Napoleonic Wars.

King, p. 320

Britain had also been successful at strengthening its own position. Many strategic islands, scooped up in the Napoleonic Wars, were retained, including Malta, the Cape of Good Hope, Ceylon, Mauritius and the Ionian Islands. The British Royal Navy now had vital bases in the Mediterranean, south Atlantic and Indian Ocean, securing the route to India, which would soon be the unrivaled “jewel in the crown” of the British empire. Castlereagh had also built a ring around France, with a stronger Netherlands and Piedmont-Sardinia, and a neutral Switzerland, and a more powerful Prussia to balance the Continent. Castlereagh’s emphasis on establishing a “just equilibrium” was very much in line with British interests--that is, keeping the Continent locked in a rough balance of power while the Royal Navy was busy elsewhere, creating the largest empire the world has ever seen.

King, pp. 320-321

Britain had also been successful at strengthening its own position. Many strategic islands, scooped up in the Napoleonic Wars, were retained, including Malta, the Cape of Good Hope, Ceylon, Mauritius and the Ionian Islands. The British Royal Navy now had vital bases in the Mediterranean, south Atlantic and Indian Ocean, securing the route to India, which would soon be the unrivaled “jewel in the crown” of the British empire. Castlereagh had also built a ring around France, with a stronger Netherlands and Piedmont-Sardinia, and a neutral Switzerland, and a more powerful Prussia to balance the Continent. Castlereagh’s emphasis on establishing a “just equilibrium” was very much in line with British interests--that is, keeping the Continent locked in a rough balance of power while the Royal Navy was busy elsewhere, creating the largest empire the world has ever seen.

King, pp. 320-321

Leg # 1-Balance of Power on the Continent

Leg # 3-Sea Power

News trickled into Vienna that France was becoming highly unstable. King Louis XVIII, after only six months on the throne, was very unpopular, and his whole government was as detested as the French government had been on the eve of the Revolution. Generals were restless. Soldiers missed Napoleon, and so did many veterans who had been reduced to half pay, or even unceremoniously dismissed at the end of the war, and now, in the postwar recession, were forced to beg or steal.

King, pp. 164-165

The Return

The Return

Had he always thought of returning to France as liberator or did his decision result from the plight of his soldiers, his own disappointment at not hearing from Marie-Louise, his own penury? His correspondence and the testimony of those around him suggest that, at least in the winter of 1814-1815, he intended to remain on Elba…. Napoleon continued to receive reports on the dismal state of affairs in France. Cipriani reported from Vienna that the allies were discussing the probability of moving the exile to St. Helena….That alone would have made him contemplate an escape attempt, but in late February two events seemed to supply the powder necessary to explode his perhaps suppressed desires. [Another report describing extreme French unrest.] The second was Colonel Campbell [his Scots “minder”] ‘s departure in mid-February for a holiday with his mistress in Leghorn. [King writes that he had gone to the mainland to get his war wounds tended]

Asprey, p. 373

Beaume, Napoléon Ier quittant l’Ile d’ Elbe, 1836

On his way from Elba, Napoleon had enjoyed good fortune in eluding several ships patrolling the waters. The Inconstant passed the French frigates Melpomène and Fleur-de-Lys without incident, and then, rounding Corsica, Napoleon passed yet another enemy warship, the Zéphir, without any difficulties. Even the British vessel carrying Campbell back to Elbe, the Partridge, was sighted on the horizon. No one had stopped him. Had the winds blown differently, others have speculated, Napoleon might easily have been seized or sunk….To the thrill of his supporters, at first mainly soldiers and peasants, the initial surprise and cold reception was beginning to thaw. Gradually, there were more cheers and shouts of “Vive l’Empereur!”

King, p. 237

Photos of a 2009 re-enactment near Cannes








On March 7, at Laffrey, some fifteen miles outside Grenoble, Napoleon had the famous confrontation with the Fifth Infantry Regiment. The commander had orders to stop “Bonaparte’s brigands,” and he was determined to obey. Napoleon’s army approached, led by his Polish lancers and the Old Guard to the rallying anthem of “La Marseillaise.” Napoleon himself rode to the front of his troops, dismounted, and advanced straight ahead in line of fire of the king’s soldiers. “There he is, fire,” the royalist commander ordered. Napoleon then shouted, “Soldiers of the fifth, I am your Emperor.” “If there is any one among you who would kill his Emperor,” Napoleon continued as he opened his greatcoat, “here I am.” The tense silence was broken with shouts, “Vive l’Empereur!” The soldiers deserted and joined him. Later that day, only hours after Vienna learned of his escape, Napoleon had already reached Grenoble, some two hundred miles north of his landing…. Only ten days after his landing, France’s second city, Lyon, had fallen. Louis XVIII was having to come to grips with betrayal, desertion, and incompetence on a grand scale.

King, pp. 238-239

On March 7, at Laffrey, some fifteen miles outside Grenoble, Napoleon had the famous confrontation with the Fifth Infantry Regiment. The commander had orders to stop “Bonaparte’s brigands,” and he was determined to obey. Napoleon’s army approached, led by his Polish lancers and the Old Guard to the rallying anthem of “La Marseillaise.” Napoleon himself rode to the front of his troops, dismounted, and advanced straight ahead in line of fire of the king’s soldiers. “There he is, fire,” the royalist commander ordered. Napoleon then shouted, “Soldiers of the fifth, I am your Emperor.” “If there is any one among you who would kill his Emperor,” Napoleon continued as he opened his greatcoat, “here I am.” The tense silence was broken with shouts, “Vive l’Empereur!” The soldiers deserted and joined him. Later that day, only hours after Vienna learned of his escape, Napoleon had already reached Grenoble, some two hundred miles north of his landing…. Only ten days after his landing, France’s second city, Lyon, had fallen. Louis XVIII was having to come to grips with betrayal, desertion, and incompetence on a grand scale.

King, pp. 238-239

Napoleon had always been popular in Lyons, if only because of his efforts to revive the famous silk industry. The city had become headquarters of the comte d’Artois, the king’s younger brother, its garrison commanded by Marshal Macdonald. Artois, who embraced fear like a mistress “until he might be called a very dare-devil of cowardice,” immediately fled, shortly followed by Macdonald. Any doubts held by the Emperor must have vanished in the enthusiastic welcome given him and his troops who now numbered around 14,000 with more volunteers arriving daily…. Learning that Marshal Ney who commanded a royalist corps was marching against him, he responded with a brief note ordering Ney to fly the tricolor and join him at Châlons: “I shall receive you as [I did] the day after the battle of the Moscowa [Borodino].” Ney, who had promised King Louis to bring the Emperor to Paris in an iron cage, abruptly changed heart and soon joined his own corps to the fledgling army.

Asprey, pp. 376-377

Paris meanwhile exploded into a series of anti-Bourbon riots. When it became clear to the king that he would soon see Napoleon at the head of a highly spirited army and not in a cage, he and his court, the palace guard senior officials hastily decamped, some north to the border eventually to find sanctuary in Ghent, some to the Vendée. On 20 March, as Napoleon had prophesied aboard the Inconstant, he arrived in Paris to celebrate the king of Rome’s birthday “without firing a shot.”

op. cit., p. 377

And so the Bourbons had come and gone, rootless and whimpering as the wind.

Elting, Swords Around A Throne, p. 641

A [witty] reflection on Bonaparte’s astounding progress from Elba was supplied by a Paris broadsheet.

The Emperor was carried shoulder-high into the Tuileries on March 20 1815, with his eyes shut and a sleep-walker’s smile on his face. The Hundred Days had begun

Elizabeth Longford, Wellington--The Years of the Sword, pp. 394-395

The Tiger has broken out of his denThe Ogre has been three days at seaThe Wretch has landed at FréjusThe Buzzard has reached AntibesThe Invader has arrived at GrenobleThe General has entered LyonsNapoleon slept at Fontainebleau last nightThe Emperor will proceed to the Tuileries to-dayHis Imperial Majesty will address his loyal subjects to-morrow

Napoleon’s return had been the ultimate of personal triumphs, a legend brought to life for men to see and remember. It had also been, in Wellington’s phrase, “a damn near run thing” [spoken about the victory at Waterloo]. If one soldier could have been brought to fire on the Imperial party, if one strutting Royalist had had the guts to use a pocket pistol---but none dared. And Napoleon’s triumph was also that of the army he conceived and shaped, the men who grumbled but followed and now felt their father had returned.

Elting, p. 640

Osprey, French Napoleonic Infantryman 1803-15, PLATE H

Fusiliers rapidly manoeuvre through the Belgian countryside at l’arme au bras. The army had experienced a period of rest and reorganization during Napoleon’s abdication. Released from captivity, returning from besieged garrisons or having recovered from wounds, many veterans returned to the regimental depots. Cardron described the popular reaction to Napoleon’s return from exile in a letter to his sister: ‘I cannot express the joy we felt when we heard the news; you can judge how much yourself, for no doubt the garrison of Philippeville feels the same way. Whoever sees one regiment sees the whole army; it is a big family that has found the father that they had thought lost forever.

COLOUR PLATE COMMENTARY, p. 63

Things were not...simple for [the] Emperor. Napoleon had to cobble together a new national government out of a skittery lot of Paris politicians and ideologues, and find money to get that government started. If possible, he must convince the other European powers, then in congress at Vienna, that he intended to keep the peace; at the same time, knowing there was little hope they would accept his assurances, he had to recreate the Grande Armée.

Elting, p. 643

Caricaturist Gillray typifies those who didn’t believe that the leopard could change his warlike spots.

Napoleon dealt with local insurgencies in the usual manner. Dependable regiments were sent into the Vendée where they soon broke up insurgent bands and caused the main instigator, the duke of Bourbon, to sail for England. Believing that area to be under control he next sent General Clausel with a strong force to deal with southern insurgents. Thanks to Marshal Masséna’s cooperation, in but a few weeks the tricolor once again flew over Marseilles, Toulon and Antibes. The gains proved all too ephemeral. Bourbon royals might have been forced from the country but numerous followers and sympathizers remained. Agents in English pay continued to pour into the west and south as did partisans from Paris, Lyons, Poitiers and elsewhere, their activities frequently supported by money and arms delivered by the Royal Navy. Repressive measures that steadily grew more intense worked only a temporary effect. “The fact of civil war in the Vendée cannot be denied, nor can we delay in...forming an army to fight the rebellion,” Napoleon told his ministers in late May.

Asprey, p. 379

The Seventh Coalition

MAP 1 in Weller, pp. 223-224

“...English Gold, the real sinews of war”Notwithstanding the hostile declaration of the allied sovereigns, they were utterly unable to put their armies in motion without that most powerful lever, English gold, the real sinews of war. Britain’s expenditure in 1815 was no less than 110,000,000 l. sterling; out of which immense sum 11,000,000 l. were distributed as subsidies amongst the contracting powers:

Sergeant Major Edward Cotton (late 7th Hussars). A Voice from Waterloo, 7th rev. ed. (1895), pp. 31-32

Austria 1,796,220 l.

Russia 3,241,919 l.

Prussia 2,382,823 l.

Hanover, Spain, Portugal, Sweden, Italy and the

Netherlands with all the smaller German states

shared the remainder amongst them

This increasingly serious situation continued into June…. It was perhaps the main reason why Napoleon chose to meet the allied military threat outside the country rather than await the inevitable invasion. It was also why he had to defer certain civil reforms until the crisis was favorably resolved. Fearing general rebellion he hoped to stifle it by harsh counter-measures and by leaving an army 20,000 strong in the Vendée--troops which he could well have used to meet the allied armies.

Asprey, p. 380

The Waterloo Campaign “It is not against me, exactly, that the powers make war. It is against the Revolution. They have never seen in me anything but the representative, the man of the Revolu-tion.”

--NAPOLEON

“It has been a damned serious business. Blücher and I have lost 30,000 men. It has been a damned nice thing--- the nearest run thing you ever saw in your life…. By God, I don’t believe it would have been done if I had not been there.”

--ARTHUR WELLESLEY, FIRST DUKE OF WELLINGTON

Esposito & Elting, Military History and Atlas, frontispiece before MAP 156

Quatre Bras & Ligny

Quatre Bras & Ligny

The 28th Regiment at Quatre Bras-Elizabeth Thompson, Lady Butler, 1875

This would actually be the first time that the French would fight an army with so many British troops since the Egyptian campaign some sixteen years before, and it was the first and only time that Napoleon and Wellington would face each other on the battlefield. Both were forty-six years old, with outstanding reputations--Napoleon, the bold strategist, inclined to quick surprise strikes, and Wellington, the brilliant tactician who preferred a more cautious and balanced approach. Napoleon was as feared as Alexander the Great and Genghis Kahn; Wellington had never lost a battle.

King, p. 282

Several marshals and a good many generals and senior officers had readily served the Bourbons. A number returned to the Napoleonic fold, others did not. Berthier had fled to his wife in Bavaria, his physical and mental health shattered--he was shortly either to jump or be pushed to his death from a hotel balcony in Bamberg. Soult replaced him as chief of staff, not the most judicious appointment but the choice was limited.

Asprey, p. 384

While the Prussian and French armies were national forces, each with a common language, common traditions and common loyalties, the Army of the Netherlands was not; it was this polyglot quality which led Wellington to call it an ‘infamous army’. Only ten of its infantry brigades were British. Eleven brigades were composed of KGL (King’s German Legion) or Hanoverian Army units, seven were Dutch or Belgian, two were from Brunswick and one from Nassau--ten British brigades to twenty-one others.

Mike Chappell, The King’s German Legion (2) 1812-1816, in the Osprey Men-at-Arms series, p. 20

About 1 June 1815

About 1 June 1815

Out of the 224,000 men the Emperor found on the French Army’s muster rolls, hardly 50,000 were actually ready for field service…. Seldom in his whole amazing career, had Napoleon shown such sustained energy and imagination. Weapons designs were simplified, new workshops opened, clockmakers set to making musket locks. Paris was carefully fortified...Lyons was organized as a base for the southern armies. Men on leave and retired veterans were recalled, deserters offered pardons; National Guard units mobilized; naval personnel transferred to the army….

About 1 June 1815

Napoleon had two possible courses of action: he could stand on the defensive, as in 1814, or he could take the offensive as soon as possible against Wellington and Blücher, attempting to destroy them before the other Allied armies came into action.

About 1 June 1815

Wellington’s army was a slow-moving, clumsy, odd-lot collection. Most of his British and German troops had seen considerable service, but his Brunswick unit was raw and unsteady, and his Dutch-Belgian and Nassau troops were suspiciously unenthusiastic. His artillery was good, his cavalry splendidly mounted. Blücher’s Prussians were generally well disciplined and willing, but half his infantry and a third of his cavalry were poorly trained Landwehr, and his artillery and supply services were inefficient.

About 1 June 1815

As Allied commander in chief, Schwarzenberg planned a concentric advance on Paris, beginning on 1 June (later postponed to 27 June, by Wellington, Blücher, Frimont, and himself. Kleist would link Schwarzenberg’s army with Blücher’s, and operate against the French frontier fortresses. Barclay would form the reserve. The Spanish, still mobilizing, would attack when they could.

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! 1795-at age three, fled with his family to Britain, as the French Revolution returned to the Netherlands

! he received a military education in Berlin, his mother, Queen Wilhelmine’s, home. Later he studied at Oxford

! 1811-at 19, he entered the British army and became an aide-de-camp to Wellington in the Peninsula

! 1813-when his father was restored to the Dutch throne he returned there as Crown Prince

! 1815-as the Seventh Coalition gathered, the 22-year old was placed in command of the Dutch-Belgian forces, as part of Wellington’s army

! the Congress of Vienna had placed Belgium under the House of Orange, hoping to create a strong power to check France

! but the French-speaking BelgianWalloons were not at all happy with this arrangement

The Prince of Orange, later King William II (Willem Frederik George Lodewijk van Oranje-

Nassau)

1792 – 1849

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Impatiently awaiting 27 June, and overwhelmingly confident that Napoleon would never risk an offensive against them, Wellington and Blücher had made only the vaguest arrangements for mutual support. Wellington had spread his forces widely to make their supply and billeting easier, relying on his cavalry and his espionage network to warn him of any French move. The Prussians were distributed in a more military fashion...but Zieten neither patrolled aggressively nor made any preparation to defend the Sambre River bridges.

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Between Charleroi and Antwerp, the terrain is a largely open, gently undulating plateau, passable everywhere in good weather, but an expanse of gluey mud after rains. South of the Sambre River, the country becomes rough and wooded. This broken ground, with its deep belt of fortified towns, screened Napoleon’s concentration.

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Between Charleroi and Antwerp, the terrain is a largely open, gently undulating plateau, passable everywhere in good weather, but an expanse of gluey mud after rains. South of the Sambre River, the country becomes rough and wooded. This broken ground, with its deep belt of fortified towns, screened Napoleon’s concentration.

Sambre River

Meuse River

CHARLEROI

^ ANTWERP ^

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Sambre River

Meuse River

CHARLEROI

^ ANTWERP ^

In early June, only Napoleon’s I Corps was on the northern frontier. The Guard was in Paris, the rest of the army still undergoing reorganization. Selecting Beaumont as the center of his concentration, Napoleon fed his army into it swiftly and secretly. On 7 June, the French frontiers were closed...false information and rumors were broadcast…. It was a complex movement…. This concentration remains one of the great military feats of history---all the more so in that some of these corps completed their organization as they marched. Napoleon was well informed as to the strength and general dispositions of the Allied armies, as well as of their casual attitude. His plans did not depend upon achieving complete, open-mouthed surprise, but rather on catching the enemy in the first stages of their concentration.

Beaumont

Soldiers, The time has come to conquer or die!

--Napoleon, 14 June(the anniversaries of Marengo, 1800 and

Friedland, 1807)

THE FIRST DAYThursday, 15 June 1815

It was dawn on the northern frontier of France; a border marked only by a shallow stream…. A paved high road led north from France into the Dutch province of Belgium…. It was a perfect midsummer’s dawn on the northern border of France and for a moment, for a last heart-aching moment, the world was at peace. Then hundreds of hooves crashed through the ford, spattering water bright into the mist. Uniformed men, long swords in their hands, rode north out of France. The men were Dragoons who wore brass helmets covered with drab cloth so the rising sun would not reflect from the shining metal to betray their position. The horsemen had short-barrelled muskets thrust into bucket holsters on their saddles. The Dragoons were the vanguard of an army. A hundred and twenty-five thousand men were marching north on every road that led to the river-crossing at Charleroi. This was an invasion; an army flooding across an unguarded frontier with wagons and coaches and ambulances and three hundred and forty-four guns and thirty thousand horses and portable forges and pontoon bridges and whores and wives and colours and lances and muskets and sabres and all the hopes of France. This was the Emperor Napoleon’s Army of the North and it marched towards the waiting Dutch, British and Prussian forces.

Bernard Cornwell, Waterloo. pp. 11-12

15 June-Vandamme’s attack on Gilly developed slowly. Returning about 1730 (5:30 pm), Napoleon, exasperated by the day’s repeated delays, put in his cavalry escort and shattered Zieten’s line.



Grouchy made a skillful pursuit, but was checked at Fleurus by Zieten’s reserves and rough ground. Vandamme refused Grouchy further support, and Zieten was able to hold Fleurus until 0500 the next morning.


Grouchy made a skillful pursuit, but was checked at Fleurus by Zieten’s reserves and rough ground. Vandamme refused Grouchy further support, and Zieten was able to hold Fleurus until 0500 the next morning.

Napoleon’s first necessity on 16 June was information. No British had been encountered. Grouchy reported Prussians massing at Sombreffe, but this seemed rash, even for Blücher, since such a forward concentration would risk defeat before Wellington could aid his Allies. Under thease conditions, Napoleon chose one of his tested maneuvers: an advance on an objective vital to the enemy---in this case, Brussels. to meet the strategic problem this involved, he reorganized his army in two wings, under Ney and Grouchy, with a reserve under his immediate control. His order specifically stated that he might draw troops from either wing as the situation demanded.

Grouchy would move directly on Sombreffe, where Napoleon would join him, leaving the reserve at Fleurus. Ney would occupy Quatre Bras, with one division at Marbais and one at Genappe, ready to march on Brussels . One infantry division and Kellermann would be placed so as to be able to turn quickly toward Sombreffe. All units would intensify their reconnaissance. Napoleon intended to destroy any Prussians found at Sombreffe or Gembloux. That done, he tentatively planned to switch his reserve to Ney’s support and move against Wellington.

...Napoleon received Ney (authorized to join the army on 11 June) and gave him temporary command of Reille, d’Erlon and Lefebvre-Desnoëttes, with verbal orders to advance up the Brussels highway . Ney probably also was told to occupy Quatre Bras...

NEY


QUATRE BRAS

NEY

Ney rode toward Brussels with Lefebvre-Desnoëttes [and the Guard cavalry] , maneuvered a small Allied unit out of Frasnes, and got within 2 miles of Quatre Bras. Here, he met a considerable force of enemy infantry and artillery. With only his 2,800 cavalry available, Reille and d’Erlon badly strung out behind him, Prussians reported at Fleurus, and fighting audible to his right rear, he chose not to attack.


QUATRE BRAS

NEY



QUATRE BRAS

NEY


NIVELLES

Fortunately for Wellington, two experienced Dutch-Belgian generals, who had served previously under Napoleon, grasped the situation. At 1400 [2 pm], Rebecque (Orange’s chief of staff), began concentrating Orange’s corps at Quatre Bras. One of his division commanders, Perponcher, already had decided to hold Quatre Bras rather than join the concentration at Nivelles. Rebecque’s report that the French were threatening Quatre Bras reached Wellington at a ball in Brussels around 0100, 16 June. After momentary disbelief, Wellington ordered the Reserve to march immediately to Mont-St-Jean.

Perponcher

"Before Waterloo", by Henry Nelson O'Neil (1868); this presumably attempts to depict the Duchess of Richmond's famous ball on the eve of the battle of Waterloo (as dramatized in Thackeray's Vanity Fair)

It was during this ball that the Duke of Wellington received confirmation that Bonaparte had crossed the frontier and rising from the supper-table:

“whispered to ask the Duke of Richmond if he had a good map. The Duke of Richmond said he had, and took Wellington into his dressing-room. Wellington shut the door and said, "Napoleon has humbugged me, by God; he has gained twenty-four hours' march on me. … I have ordered the army to concentrate at Quatre Bras; but we shall not stop him there, and if so I must fight him there" (passing his thumb-nail over the position of Waterloo). The conversation was repeated to me by the Duke of Richmond two minutes after it occurred.”

—Captain Bowles

The Duchess of Richmond’s BallThursday, 15 June

"Before Waterloo", by Henry Nelson O'Neil (1868); this presumably attempts to depict the Duchess of Richmond's famous ball on the eve of the battle of Waterloo (as dramatized in Thackeray's Vanity Fair)

It was during this ball that the Duke of Wellington received confirmation that Bonaparte had crossed the frontier and rising from the supper-table:

“whispered to ask the Duke of Richmond if he had a good map. The Duke of Richmond said he had, and took Wellington into his dressing-room. Wellington shut the door and said, "Napoleon has humbugged me, by God; he has gained twenty-four hours' march on me. … I have ordered the army to concentrate at Quatre Bras; but we shall not stop him there, and if so I must fight him there" (passing his thumb-nail over the position of Waterloo). The conversation was repeated to me by the Duke of Richmond two minutes after it occurred.”

—Captain Bowles

The Duchess of Richmond’s BallThursday, 15 June

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arthur_Wellesley,_1st_Duke_of_Wellington

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arthur_Wellesley,_1st_Duke_of_Wellington

"The Black Brunswicker", 1860, by John Everett Millais

Ah! then and there was hurrying to and fro,And gathering tears, and tremblings of distress,And cheeks all pale, which but an hour agoBlushed at the praise of their own loveliness;And there were sudden partings, such as pressThe life from out young hearts, and choking sighsWhich ne’er might be repeated; who could guessIf ever more should meet those mutual eyes,Since upon night so sweet such awful morn could rise!

—Lord Byron, Childe Harold's Pilgrimage. 1812-1818

The crossroads of Quatre-Bras was of strategic importance because the side which controlled it could move south-eastward along the Nivelles-Namur road towards the French and Prussian armies at the Battle of Ligny

If Wellington's Anglo-allied army could combine with the Prussians, the combined force would be larger than Napoleon's

Napoleon's strategy had been to cross the border into the Netherlands without alerting the Coalition and drive a wedge between their forces

in this he succeeded brilliantly, once again achieving his preferred interior position

his plan was to defeat the Prussians before turning on the Anglo-allied army

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Ligny

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Ligny

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seventh_Coalition

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seventh_Coalition

✦ 1100-Ney had received his orders to occupy the Quatre Bras-Genappe area

✦ shortly thereafter a second order from Soult had warned him that the enemy was concentrating and he must attack at once

✦ Ney should have had the entire left wing concentrated by 0800 without these orders

✦ instead, after an amateur reconnaissance at 1400 (2 pm), he was straggling into action with part of Reille’s corps

✦ even so, he grossly outnumbered Orange, who could only spread Perponcher’s division widely and hope that the woods, farmsteads and tall rye would conceal its actual weakness

✦ shortly after 1400-Ney had easily driven Orange back, only to be checked by the arrival at 1500 (3 pm) of Picton’s English division

from Weller, MAP 3

“The Fate of France is in Your Hands”--Napoleon to Ney, 1515 16 June

NOTE!usual North-South

orientation isreversed

AREA OF PICTON’S ORDEAL

DUKE OF BRUNSWICK

KILLED

0 1 2 3

0 1 2 3

First lancers, then hussars tried to break the troops at Quatre Bras. When the waves of horsemen flowed back the horse artillery would fire into the compact targets which the Allied squares presented. But the infantry feared another cavalry attack, so they didn’t want to disperse.

0 1 2 3


Finally, Ney ordered Kellermann to put forward his Cuirassiers. The most dangerous point of the battle for both sides was reached.

0 1 2 3Cuirassier of the Armée du Nord



0 1 2 3Cuirassier of the Armée du Nord



Cuirass holed by a cannon ball

! unlike his father's, his title to fame did not rest on one fortunate opportunity. Though not the most famous, he was perhaps the ablest of all Napoleon's cavalry leaders

! 1800-at the Battle of Marengo , he commanded a heavy cavalry brigade under the First Consul and he initiated and carried out one of the most famous cavalry charges of history, which, with Desaix's infantry attack, regained the lost battle and decided the issue of the war

! 1805-at Austerlitz his light cavalry division distinguished themselves

! in Spain, he continued his successes, marred only by the looting and brutal atrocities of his men

! at Quatre Bras, his four separate charges broke the square of the 69th Foot and captured a color, scattered a Hanoverian battalion and sent the 33rd and 73rd Foot fleeing for the safety of a nearby wood. The horsemen briefly seized the crucial crossroads, but the odds were too great. Unhorsed, Kellermann narrowly escaped by holding onto the stirrup of one of his cavalrymen

Francois Étienne de Kellermann, 2nd Duc de Valmy

1770 – 1835

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Marengo_(1800)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Marengo_(1800)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Louis_Charles_Antoine_Desaix

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Louis_Charles_Antoine_Desaix

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/69th_(South_Lincolnshire)_Regiment_of_Foot

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/69th_(South_Lincolnshire)_Regiment_of_Foot

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Valmy

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Valmy

! unlike his father's, his title to fame did not rest on one fortunate opportunity. Though not the most famous, he was perhaps the ablest of all Napoleon's cavalry leaders

! 1800-at the Battle of Marengo , he commanded a heavy cavalry brigade under the First Consul and he initiated and carried out one of the most famous cavalry charges of history, which, with Desaix's infantry attack, regained the lost battle and decided the issue of the war

! 1805-at Austerlitz his light cavalry division distinguished themselves

! in Spain, he continued his successes, marred only by the looting and brutal atrocities of his men

! at Quatre Bras, his four separate charges broke the square of the 69th Foot and captured a color, scattered a Hanoverian battalion and sent the 33rd and 73rd Foot fleeing for the safety of a nearby wood. The horsemen briefly seized the crucial crossroads, but the odds were too great. Unhorsed, Kellermann narrowly escaped by holding onto the stirrup of one of his cavalrymen


1770 – 1835

The 28th Regiment at Quatre Bras-Elizabeth Thompson, Lady Butler, 1875

Once through the line...French lancers attacked the flank and rear of the 42nd [Black Watch]. Colonel Macara...endeavored to have his men form square; they could not complete this manoeuvre before the French lancers were into the temporarily exposed Highlanders.1 But the 42nd did close their square by main strength and killed every French cavalryman caught inside; their regular rolling fire soon defeated those outside. Serious casualties, including their colonel and two other field-officers, were sustained, however, in these few seconds of disorganization.2

Weller, p. 58______________1 the square was nearly formed, but the two flank companies were not quite closed together in the rear

2 ‘Colonel Macara was severely wounded, and whilst some of his men were conveying him to the rear, a party of the French cavalry rode up and killed him and his faithful attendants’ probably with lances.


1770 – 1835

The Black Watch at Bay-William Barnes Wollen

Wellington was at his very best at Quatre Bras as a commander of troops in battle. In six hours of combat, he was almost continuously at the right spot at the right time. He flawlessly handled his own troops and those of his Allies right down to the battalion level. When necessary, he gave orders directly to the men in ranks. In a half-dozen critical situations, he managed to stave off defeat; when he finally had the force necessary to win, he took full and efficient advantage of it….He behaved in a manner which left no doubt of his superlative personal courage and set an example to his inexperienced troops.

Weller, p. 68

Only after [Napoleon] reached Fleurus and made his own reconnaissance did he realize that Blücher intended to stand and fight. This more than suited [him]….

His plan was simple and deadly. While cavalry pinned down the Prussian left, he would hit the center and right. Ney would come from Quatre-Bras to fall on the right rear, at which point the Guard would smash through the center to deliver the coup de grâce. This plan was not dissimilar to that of the battle of Bautzen and it was to meet with just as many snags, the result of over-confidence on Napoleon’s part, poor intelligence, confused orders, inadequate communications, slow-moving commanders and a determined enemy defense.

Asprey, pp.393-394

Sambre

Ligny Creek

Blücher’s position was quite strong. Though not large, Ligny Creek was steep-banked and marshy. The clusters of stone-built villages, walled gardens, and farmhouses along its north bank provided an ideal system of strong points, linked by hedgerows and orchards.

Sambre

Ligny Creek

But, as Napoleon promptly realized, Blücher’s right was “in the air” [= not anchored in a strong defensible position], his left overextended, and the irregular trace of his front line gave the French artillery excellent opportunities for “enfilade fire” [= fire where the major axis of the cone of fire corresponds to the major axis of the target].

Sambre

Ligny Creek

By mid-afternoon, the whole Prussian position was under attack. Napoleon called Lobau forward from his position in Fleurus, and ordered (1515) Ney to maneuver against Blücher’s right rear immediately. If Ney advanced promptly, Blücher was lost. The psychological impact of his destruction upon the Allies would be tremendous--all rested with Ney. “The fate of France is in your hands!”

E & E, commentary on MAP 159

By 1700 Vandamme had carried the three St. Armands, routing a Prussian attempt to envelop the French left flank, but could advance no farther against heavy fire from around Brye. Gerard was held along Ligny Creek. Gradually, however, this savage, no-quarter fighting favored the French.

By 1700 Vandamme had carried the three St. Armands, routing a Prussian attempt to envelop the French left flank, but could advance no farther against heavy fire from around Brye. Gerard was held along Ligny Creek. Gradually, however, this savage, no-quarter fighting favored the French.Counterattacking wildly with whatever battalions he could easiest snatch up, Blücher fed his men into the fire of Napoleon’s massed guns. Prussian units became increasingly intermixed and shaken; Blücher steadily lost control of his army.

Watching the battle ripen, Napoleon saw Blücher crowd more and more men into the struggling Prussian right flank. A breakthrough around Ligny would trap at least half of Blücher’s army against Ney, who already should be moving against the Prussian right rear. There was considerable firing in the direction of Quatre Bras, but Ney had not reported himself unable to execute his orders. Napoleon began forming his Guard for the decisive assault.

D’Erlon’s misadventure remains an enigma. Concentrated south of Gosselies that morning, he had been slow to move out. At Gosselies, he had halted to investigate rumors that an Anglo-Dutch column was advancing from Mons. Resuming his march at about 1500 (3 pm), he was overtaken near Frasnes by a staff officer (never definitely identified) with a written order to join Napoleon...

Key French units were missing. Lobau’s VI Corps did not arrive early enough on the battlefield, while a clash in instructions between demands for assistance from both Napoleon and Ney, a clash that owed much to poor staff work and something to Ney’s temper, ensured that d’Erlon’s I Corps, a substantial force, marched between the two battlefields but without firing a shot in either.

Black, p. 80

As a result of this tragicomedy of order and counterorder, d’Erlon’s command spent the entire afternoon and evening marching and countermarching between the two fields of battle without firing a shot at either; and the full irony of the situation was, of course, that the Ist Corps’ effective intervention on either scene of action would have resulted in a major French victory.

Chandler, p. 1052

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! Napoleon’s preparations to send the Guard in were interrupted when Vandamme reported a “hostile” column advancing eastward into his left rear

! it’s appearance shook Vandamme’s hard-used corps, which gave up St. Amand-la-Haye in something of a panic

! the wavering of this corps led to a major Prussian counterattack

! 1830-Napoleon’s aides reported that the strange column was d’Erlon. Concurrently, it began to recoil westward

0 1 2

! Napoleon’s preparations to send the Guard in were interrupted when Vandamme reported a “hostile” column advancing eastward into his left rear

! it’s appearance shook Vandamme’s hard-used corps, which gave up St. Amand-la-Haye in something of a panic

! the wavering of this corps led to a major Prussian counterattack

! 1830-Napoleon’s aides reported that the strange column was d’Erlon. Concurrently, it began to recoil westward

D’Erlon said Ney recalled him; Ney, that Napoleon sent him back. Realizing that he would get no help from Ney, Napoleon determined to at least cripple Blücher as thoroughly as possible. A thunderstorm helped conceal his preparations, while the Guard artillery battered the Prussians behind Ligny. At about 2000 (8pm), Napoleon led his Guard forward, Gerard attacking between its columns. Surging out of the rain, the French shattered the Prussian center at first impact.

E & E, MAP 160

The Guard finally swept into Ligny in late evening, a bayonet attack owing to a violent thunderstorm that prevented musket fire, and moved northward toward Brye. Blücher still refused to admit defeat. While riding to the attack at the head of some 30 cavalry squadrons, his horse fell dead from a bullet and nearly killed its master by rolling on him. An aide finally managed to extricate him and dragged him to safety….

Asprey, pp. 394-395

Blüchers Sturz bei Ligny(Fall)





Because of the broken terrain around Ligny, effective cavalry pursuit after nightfall was impossible. Not having heard from Ney since noon, Napoleon contented himself with attempting to maintain contact with the retiring Prussians. Pajol would scout toward Namur; Exelmans toward Gembloux; other cavalry… toward Tilly.

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Because of the broken terrain around Ligny, effective cavalry pursuit after nightfall was impossible. Not having heard from Ney since noon, Napoleon contented himself with attempting to maintain contact with the retiring Prussians. Pajol would scout toward Namur; Exelmans toward Gembloux; other cavalry… toward Tilly.When the Prussian center evaporated and Blücher vanished, Gneisenau had ordered a general withdrawal on Tilly. Thanks to the lack of pursuit, Pirch’s and Zieten’s corps recovered somewhat during the night. Blücher rejoined them at Melioreux, his reappearance helping mightily to restore morale. Blücher wanted to fight again; Gneisenau suggested retiring on Liege. They finally decided to concentrate on Wavre, whence they could either join Wellington or retire eastward. This was the critical Allied strategic decision of the campaign. Thielmann had been crowded eastward towards Gembloux. Early on the 17th, he established contact with Bülow, who --as senior--decided to withdraw on Wavre.

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After a liberal dosage of his favorite medicine--garlic and gin--the aged but dauntless warrior began to discuss the situation with Gneisenau.

Chandler, p.1058

Because of the broken terrain around Ligny, effective cavalry pursuit after nightfall was impossible. Not having heard from Ney since noon, Napoleon contented himself with attempting to maintain contact with the retiring Prussians. Pajol would scout toward Namur; Exelmans toward Gembloux; other cavalry… toward Tilly.When the Prussian center evaporated and Blücher vanished, Gneisenau had ordered a general withdrawal on Tilly. Thanks to the lack of pursuit, Pirch’s and Zieten’s corps recovered somewhat during the night. Blücher rejoined them at Melioreux, his reappearance helping mightily to restore morale. Blücher wanted to fight again; Gneisenau suggested retiring on Liege. They finally decided to concentrate on Wavre, whence they could either join Wellington or retire eastward. This was the critical Allied strategic decision of the campaign. Thielmann had been crowded eastward towards Gembloux. Early on the 17th, he established contact with Bülow, who --as senior--decided to withdraw on Wavre.

WAVRE

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WAVRE

Napoleon now had to choose between following up Blücher and turning on Wellington. His basic problem was to secure enough information to enable him to make a sound decision. The direction of the Prussian retreat was uncertain, for fugitives had followed every available road, and the thousands of deserters and stragglers hid the tracks of the formed units. Ney had made only one brief report; at 0730, Napoleon knew almost nothing about the situation at Quatre Bras. While waiting for his cavalry to report, Napoleon ordered a reconnaissance westward from Ligny, and wrote to Ney, directing him to occupy Quatre Bras without delay. If he could not, he was to report that fact immediately, in detail, and Napoleon would move immediately to his assistance (Napoleon probably should have gone in person to Quatre Bras). Information gradually accumulated….The reconnaissance toward Tilly was late and feeble, and learned nothing; that toward Quatre bras reported Wellington still there and in strength, and a dispatch from Ney confirmed that. Convinced that he had hurt Blücher enough to force him to withdraw eastward, thus leaving Wellington unsupported, Napoleon ordered...Grouchy to follow Blücher, detect any attempt he might make to join Wellington, and generally cover Napoleon’s right flank and rear.

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WAVRE

Wellington did not learn of Blücher’s defeat until about 0730, when his left-flank cavalry patrols reported the Prussians withdrawing northward. (A staff officer, dispatched by Blücher the night before to warn him, had been wounded, and his message mislaid.) At once, Wellington began preparations for a withdrawal. When one of Gneisenau’s staff appeared around 0900--to report Blücher concentrating at Wavre and desirous of knowing Wellington’s plans--Wellington stated that he was withdrawing to Mont-St.-Jean, where his engineers had previously surveyed a defensive position. If assured of support by two Prussian corps, he would offer battle there; otherwise, he would have to retire on Brussels.

Mont-St.-Jean

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BRUSSELS

WAVRE

Wellington did not learn of Blücher’s defeat until about 0730, when his left-flank cavalry patrols reported the Prussians withdrawing northward. (A staff officer, dispatched by Blücher the night before to warn him, had been wounded, and his message mislaid.) At once, Wellington began preparations for a withdrawal. When one of Gneisenau’s staff appeared around 0900--to report Blücher concentrating at Wavre and desirous of knowing Wellington’s plans--Wellington stated that he was withdrawing to Mont-St.-Jean, where his engineers had previously surveyed a defensive position. If assured of support by two Prussian corps, he would offer battle there; otherwise, he would have to retire on Brussels.

Mont-St.-Jean

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BRUSSELS

Almost from the start of Napoleon’s pursuit (of Uxbridge’s cavalry, Wellington’s rear guard), a wild storm burst over the area. The clay soil rapidly became saturated, making movement off the main roads almost impossible, and thereby nullifying the superior tactical mobility of the French. Attempts to follow side roads led many units badly astray, further disorganizing the pursuit.

On the seventeenth, Napoleon could have chosen to press either of his opponents hard, but, with the benefit of hindsight, it was best to do so to both. To fail to press them hard risked either or both of them moving away, so lessening the chance for the grand strategy of the sequential defeat…. ...June 17 was the great day of opportunity for the French, and like many days of movement rather than conflict, the day that was crucial to the campaign, and yet it tends to receive insufficient attention. Neither Ney nor Napoleon, however, understood, let alone grasped, their opportunities that day until too late.

Black, pp. 84-85

Wellington’s withdrawal began in mid morning 17 June.

Marshal Ney as usual had not obeyed orders. While the enemy force was moving out in considerable confusion, the French were cooking midday dinner oblivious to the tactical opportunity presented. This idyll was rudely interrupted by Napoleon who led whatever cavalry he could get his hands on in pursuit of Wellington’s rearguard, Lord Uxbridge’s cavalry, a thrilling but futile chase hindered by still another violent thunderstorm that confined the French to the Quatre-Bras-Brussels road, just possibly saving Uxbridge’s bacon.

Asprey, p. 395

An Eyewitness Account of Uxbridge’s Rear GuardHussars vs Lancers vs Cuirassiers

Sergeant Major Edward Cotton (late 7th Hussars). A Voice from Waterloo, 7th rev. ed. (1895), p. 51

An Eyewitness Account of Uxbridge’s Rear GuardHussars vs Lancers vs Cuirassiers

Sergeant Major Edward Cotton (late 7th Hussars). A Voice from Waterloo, 7th rev. ed. (1895), p. 51

The Big Picture

THE GUARD

THE GUARD

Napoleon approached Mont-St.-Jean about 1830 (6:30 pm). For a moment, the rain stopped; through the evening mist and failing light, he thought he could make out considerable numbers of troops on the plateau before him. To determine whether he had overtaken Wellington, or merely a reinforced rear guard, he sent forward four companies of horse artillery and deployed Milhaud’s cuirassiers, as if for a determined charge. At once, at least 60 British guns opened fire all across his front. Satisfied that he had Wellington’s main army before him, he dismounted and made a thorough reconnaissance of the enemy position. The rain soon recommenced, falling heavily until 0600.

THE GUARD

June 17th was a day of Prussian misery. Blücher was still disabled. Zieten and Pirch had withdrawn rapidly to Wavre, covered by a cavalry rear guard, but their troops were in considerable disorder and almost out of ammunition. The army’s ammunition train had disappeared. Gneisenau, apparently somewhat rattled, wrote to warn Kleist, Schwarzenberg and Barclay that Napoleon might turn suddenly upon them. Bülow and Thielmann were out of touch for most of the day. The former did not reach Wavre until 2200 (10 pm). Thielmann came in hours later….There were also doubts as to Wellington’s intentions. Remembering how false his promises of support had proved during the 16th, Gneisenau had turned suspicious, but Blücher remained staunch. Finally, Napoleon’s whereabouts remained unknown.

THE GUARD

Behind Wellington, Brussels was in a panic, sparked by the arrival of fugitive Anglo-Dutch service troops. And while proclaiming Quatre Bras a great victory, won against vastly superior numbers, Wellington thought it prudent to warn the governor of Antwerp to begin strengthening that city’s defenses. At about 0200, he received the long-awaited reply from Blücher: Bülow would march at daybreak for Chapelle-St.-Lambert; Pirch would follow immediately; the other two corps were available if needed.

THE GUARD

Reaching Gembloux at 1900 (7pm), Grouchy halted for the night. Exelmans had regained enough energy to push a brigade of dragoons to Tourinnes where it had found a large force of Prussians (Bülow’s rear guard), but had broken contact after dark. Pajol reported Namur evacuated. Some time near 2000 (8pm) Grouchy dispatched his first report to Napoleon. Its exact text is unknown, but it apparently stated that the Pruss ians had spi t into two columns--one moving on Wavre, a larger one probably bound for Liege….If the major Prussian force were marching for Wavre, he would attempt to head it off from Brussels and Wellington.

That night, Wellington’s second in command and cavalry commander, Henry, Earl of Uxbridge, asked the duke what his plans were. Wellington replied by asking whether he or Napoleon would attack first and by pointing out that “as my plans will depend upon his, how can you expect me to tell you what mine are? … There is one thing certain, Uxbridge, that is, that whatever happens, you and I will do our duty.”

Black, p. 89

That night, Wellington’s second in command and cavalry commander, Henry, Earl of Uxbridge, asked the duke what his plans were. Wellington replied by asking whether he or Napoleon would attack first and by pointing out that “as my plans will depend upon his, how can you expect me to tell you what mine are? … There is one thing certain, Uxbridge, that is, that whatever happens, you and I will do our duty.”

Black, p. 89

you and I will do our duty

It is not known whether Napoleon sent Grouchy any orders during late 17 June. According to some accounts, he did direct Grouchy to move against Wellington’s left flank, if Blücher retired on Liege or Brussels. If Blücher concentrated at Wavre, Grouchy would merely send a detachment to feint an attack. It also asserted that Napoleon sent Grouchy a duplicate of this dispatch early on the 18th, but this remains equally unproven. After a short nap, Napoleon rose at 0100 and inspected his entire outpost line, returning to his headquarters … at first light. Here he found Grouchy’s report. Its contents seemed to indicate that Grouchy was aware of his mission and would move promptly, if necessary, to keep between Wellington and Blücher. It also strengthened his preconception that the Prussians would be out of action for some time to come. Interrogations of deserters from Wellington’s army confirmed his impression that Wellington would fight. Napoleon was confident and his troops’ morale was high. The water-logged soil, however, made it impossible for the French artillery to maneuver. It would be necessary to wait several hours for the ground to drain and dry sufficiently. Even then, low-lying areas would remain swampy. Worse, the effect of artillery fire would be greatly diminished: round shot would not ricochet effectively along the sodden ground; the fragmentation of howitzer shells would be greatly reduced. At 0500, Napoleon set the hour of attack at 0900.

E & E, commentary on MAP 162

Education

Napoleon Part 2, session vii