Napoleon Bonaparte and Battle of Waterloo

The military career of Napoleon Bonaparte spanned over 20 years. As emperor, he led the French Armies in the Napoleonic Wars.

The great French dominion collapsed rapidly after the disastrous invasion of Russia in 1812. Napoleon was defeated in 1814; he returned and was finally defeated in 1815 at Waterloo. He spent his remaining days in British custody in the remote island of St. Helena.

 

 

 

16 Jun 1815	Ligny/ Belgium	Emperor	Kingdom of Prussia	Victory	It was part of the Hundred Days War, also called War of the Seventh Coalition. On his return to France after escaping from exile at Elba,  Napoleon built an army and attacked the Prussian Army.   Prussian Field-Marshal Blücher's worn-out soldiers could not withstand the French Infantry and Artillery assaults.  The Prussian Army retreated  and ultimately regrouped south of Wavre, around 13 kilometres to the east of Waterloo.  The battle resulted in a tactical victory for the French, but the bulk of the Prussian army survived the battle in good order. However, it was his last victory, because two days later  he was defeated by the combined forces of the Seventh Coalition in the Battle of Waterloo. After his defeat,
18 Jun 1815	Waterloo/ Belgium	Emperor	United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, Kingdom of Prussia.	Defeat	In repeated attacks, Napoleon failed  to break the allied centre of defence. Subsequent forceful allied advance particularly that of  reorganised Prussian Army turned the tide against the French Army which disorganised and retreated in chaos. After his defeat, Napoleon had returned to France where he had signed his second and final abdication on June 22 and six days later Louis XVIII was restored to the French throne.  Napoleon had then surrendered himself to the Royal Navy Captain and was now sent to exile to the island of Saint Helena, where he died in 1821. The Treaty of Paris 1815 had dictated the terms of peace which had ended the War of the Seventh Coalition against France.

 

 

Interesting facts about the ‘Battle of Waterloo” -

1.       the battle was waged three miles south of the town of Waterloo in the villages of Braine-l’Alleud and Plancenoit along the Mont Saint Jean Ridge. The battle was so named because the Duke of Wellington, who led the victorious forces, made his headquarters there. 

2.       Although the the Duke of Wellington was a Britsh, only one-third of Wellington’s army was represented by  British troops and the majority of those soldiers were Irish, Welsh and Scottish.  Approximately half of Wellington’s forces hailed from German states. In addition to this, Dutch and Belgian soldiers in sizable numbers as well as more than 50,000 Prussian army fought in the battle.

3.       After  he was forced to abdicate on June 22, 1815,  he  fled to the coastal city of Rochefort, from where he likely intended to sail to the United States, which had just concluded its own war with Great Britain. But, British ships had blockaded Rochefort  and consequently Napoleon surrendered to a British warship on July 15, 1815, and three months later he was exiled to the remote South Atlantic island of St. Helena, where he lived out his final six years until his death in 1821.

4.       Due to heavy rain fell upon the region around Waterloo on the night before the battle, Napoleon waited until midday to launch his attack Wellington’s forces. This delay allowed Blucher’s Prussian army to join the fightensuring  before the French defeat.

5.       Some scholars believe that  Napoleon  suffered from a severe pain  of hemorrhoids on the morning of the Battle of Waterloo which prevented him from riding his horse to survey the battlefield as was his custom and could have contributed to his defeat. But it is debated.

6.       Scavengers harvested teeth from dead soldiers and  sold the pilfered teeth to dentists who crafted them into dentures. According to England’s National Army Museum, English dentists used to  advertise the dentures as “Waterloo teeth” or “Waterloo ivory.

7.       In recognition of his service, Parliament awarded the Duke of Wellington 200,000 British pounds, equivalent to 15 million British pounds today, according to the Royal Engineers Museum.