query: who led the french army during the battle of waterloo

pos: Battle of Waterloo Battle of Waterloo The Battle of Waterloo, also called the Battle of Mount St. John, was fought on Sunday, 18 June 1815, near Waterloo in present-day Belgium, then part of the United Kingdom of the Netherlands. A French army under the command of Emperor Napoleon Bonaparte was defeated by two of the armies of the Seventh Coalition: a British-led Allied army under the command of the Duke of Wellington, and a Prussian army under the command of Gebhard Leberecht von Blücher, Prince of Wahlstatt. The battle marked the end of the Napoleonic Wars. Upon Napoleon's return to power in March

pos: Battle of Waterloo Battle of Waterloo The Battle of Waterloo, also called the Battle of Mount St. John, was fought on Sunday, 18 June 1815, near Waterloo in present-day Belgium, then part of the United Kingdom of the Netherlands. A French army under the command of Emperor Napoleon Bonaparte was defeated by two of the armies of the Seventh Coalition: a British-led Allied army under the command of the Duke of Wellington, and a Prussian army under the command of Gebhard Leberecht von Blücher, Prince of Wahlstatt. The battle marked the end of the Napoleonic Wars. Upon Napoleon's return to power in March

pos: Battle of Waterloo in silver for 42 Euros. Articles Books Historiography and memory Maps Primary sources Uniforms Battle of Waterloo The Battle of Waterloo, also called the Battle of Mount St. John, was fought on Sunday, 18 June 1815, near Waterloo in present-day Belgium, then part of the United Kingdom of the Netherlands. A French army under the command of Emperor Napoleon Bonaparte was defeated by two of the armies of the Seventh Coalition: a British-led Allied army under the command of the Duke of Wellington, and a Prussian army under the command of Gebhard Leberecht von Blücher, Prince of Wahlstatt. The battle

pos: Waterloo Campaign for example, Chesney's "Waterloo Lectures" (1868). See also Timeline of the Napoleonic era Maps: Waterloo Campaign The Waterloo Campaign (15 June – 8 July 1815) was fought between the French Army of the North and two Seventh Coalition armies, an Anglo-allied army and a Prussian army. Initially the French army was commanded by Napoleon Bonaparte, but he left for Paris after the French defeat at the Battle of Waterloo. Command then rested on Marshals Soult and Grouchy, who were in turn replaced by Marshal Davout, who took command at the request of the French Provisional Government. The Anglo-allied army was

pos: Waterloo Campaign Waterloo Campaign The Waterloo Campaign (15 June – 8 July 1815) was fought between the French Army of the North and two Seventh Coalition armies, an Anglo-allied army and a Prussian army. Initially the French army was commanded by Napoleon Bonaparte, but he left for Paris after the French defeat at the Battle of Waterloo. Command then rested on Marshals Soult and Grouchy, who were in turn replaced by Marshal Davout, who took command at the request of the French Provisional Government. The Anglo-allied army was commanded by the Duke of Wellington and the Prussian army by Prince Blücher. The

pos: Waterloo Campaign: Waterloo to Paris (2–7 July) Waterloo Campaign: Waterloo to Paris (2–7 July) After their defeat at the Battle of Waterloo on 18 June 1815, the French Army of the North, under the command of Napoleon Bonaparte retreated in disarray back towards France. As agreed by the two Seventh Coalition commanders in chief, the Duke of Wellington, commander of the Anglo-allied army, and Prince Blücher, commander of the Prussian army, the French were to be closely pursued by units of the Prussian army. During the , although the remnants of the main French army were joined by the undefeated right wing of the Army of the

pos: Waterloo Campaign: Waterloo to Paris (18–24 June) Waterloo Campaign: Waterloo to Paris (18–24 June) After their defeat at the Battle of Waterloo on 18 June 1815, the French Army of the North, under the command of Napoleon Bonaparte retreated in disarray back towards France. As agreed by the two Seventh Coalition commanders in chief, the Duke of Wellington, commander of the Anglo-allied army, and Prince Blücher, commander of the Prussian army, the French were to be closely pursued by units of the Prussian army. During the following week, although the remnants of the main French army were joined by the undefeated right wing of the Army of

pos: Waterloo Campaign: Waterloo to Paris (25 June – 1 July) Waterloo Campaign: Waterloo to Paris (25 June – 1 July) After their defeat at the Battle of Waterloo on 18 June 1815, the French Army of the North, under the command of Napoleon Bonaparte retreated in disarray back towards France. As agreed by the two Seventh Coalition commanders in chief, the Duke of Wellington, commander of the Anglo-allied army, and Prince Blücher, commander of the Prussian army, the French were to be closely pursued by units of the Prussian army. During the , although the remnants of the main French army were joined by the undefeated right wing of the

pos: Waterloo Campaign: Waterloo to Paris (18–24 June) them. In the the French surrendered, Coalition forces entered Paris and on 8 July Louis XVIII was restored to the throne. Attribution: Waterloo Campaign: Waterloo to Paris (18–24 June) After their defeat at the Battle of Waterloo on 18 June 1815, the French Army of the North, under the command of Napoleon Bonaparte retreated in disarray back towards France. As agreed by the two Seventh Coalition commanders in chief, the Duke of Wellington, commander of the Anglo-allied army, and Prince Blücher, commander of the Prussian army, the French were to be closely pursued by units of the Prussian army. During

pos: Hundred Days friendly revolution in French-speaking Brussels. The Waterloo Campaign (15 June – 8 July 1815) was fought between the French Army of the North and two Seventh Coalition armies: an Anglo-Allied army and a Prussian army. Initially the French army was commanded by Napoleon Bonaparte, but he left for Paris after the French defeat at the Battle of Waterloo. Command then rested on Marshals Soult and Grouchy, who were in turn replaced by Marshal Davout, who took command at the request of the French Provisional Government. The Anglo-Allied army was commanded by the Duke of Wellington and the Prussian army by

pos: Brigade van Bylandt against the French Army of the North commanded by Napoleon Bonaparte. On 15 June Nassau units of the 2nd Brigade were engaged by the vanguard of the French army's left wing; which developed into the Battle of Quatre Bras where the Brigade van Bylandt played a major role during the morning and early afternoon of 16 June 1815. After the battle the Brigade withdrew with the rest of the Anglo-allied army to the escarpment at Mont-Saint-Jean, Belgium, where they stood in the front-line during the Battle of Waterloo. They were attacked during the early stages of the battle by the

pos: Waterloo Campaign: Quatre Bras to Waterloo bivouacs, which the opposing armies had established for the night, upon the ground destined to become the famous battle field of Waterloo. Attribution: Waterloo Campaign: Quatre Bras to Waterloo After the fighting at Quatre Bras (16 June 1815) the two opposing commanders Marshal Ney and the Duke of Wellington initially held their ground while they obtained information about what had happened at the larger Battle of Ligny. They received intelligence that the Prussian army under the command of Prince Blücher had been defeated by the French Army of the North under the command of Napoleon Bonaparte. Upon receiving this news

pos: Waterloo Campaign: Quatre Bras to Waterloo Waterloo Campaign: Quatre Bras to Waterloo After the fighting at Quatre Bras (16 June 1815) the two opposing commanders Marshal Ney and the Duke of Wellington initially held their ground while they obtained information about what had happened at the larger Battle of Ligny. They received intelligence that the Prussian army under the command of Prince Blücher had been defeated by the French Army of the North under the command of Napoleon Bonaparte. Upon receiving this news Wellington organised the retreat of the Anglo-allied army to a place he had identified a year before as the best place in Belgium

pos: Battle of La Suffel Battle of La Suffel The Battle of La Suffel was a French victory over Austrian forces of the Seventh Coalition and the last French pitched battle victory in the Napoleonic Wars. It was fought on 28 June 1815 at Souffelweyersheim and Hoenheim, near Strasbourg. During the Hundred Days, General Jean Rapp rallied to Napoleon Bonaparte and was given command of the V Corps (also known as the Army of the Rhine), consisting of about 20,000 men. He was ordered to observe the border near Strasbourg, and to defend the Vosges. Ten days after Waterloo (in which his corps took no

pos: Battle of Ligny Battle of Ligny The Battle of Ligny (16 June 1815) was the last victory of the military career of Napoleon Bonaparte. In this battle, French troops of the Armée du Nord under Napoleon's command, defeated part of a Prussian army under Field Marshal Prince Blücher, near Ligny in present-day Belgium. The Battle of Ligny is an example of a tactical win and a strategic loss for the French. While the French troops did force the enemy to retreat, the Prussian army survived and went on to play a pivotal role two days later at the Battle of Waterloo, reinforced by

pos: Battle of Arcole Battle of Arcole The Battle of Arcole or Battle of Arcola (15–17 November 1796) was a battle fought between French and Austrian forces southeast of Verona during the War of the First Coalition, a part of the French Revolutionary Wars. The battle saw a bold maneuver by Napoleon Bonaparte's French Army of Italy to outflank the Austrian army led by József Alvinczi and cut off its line of retreat. The French victory proved to be a highly significant event during the third Austrian attempt to lift the Siege of Mantua. Alvinczi planned to execute a two-pronged offensive against Bonaparte's army.

pos: Flanders Spain left them in 1559. In 1794 the French Republican Army started using Antwerp as the northernmost naval port of France, which country officially annexed Flanders the following year as the "départements" of Lys, Escaut, Deux-Nèthes, Meuse-Inférieure and Dyle. Obligatory (French) army service for all men aged 16–25 was one of the main reasons for the people's uprising against the French in 1798, known as the "Boerenkrijg" ("Peasants' War"), with the heaviest fighting in the Campine area. After the defeat of Napoleon Bonaparte at the 1815 Battle of Waterloo in Waterloo, Brabant, sovereignty over the Austrian Netherlands – Belgium minus

pos: Waterloo Campaign: Waterloo to Paris (18–24 June) army. The following was the general disposition of the respective Armies on the evening of 21 June: The Prussian army The Anglo-allied army The defeated portion of the French army lay between Avesnes and Laon. While at Malplaquet Wellington, steadfastly pursuing that line of policy which led him to constitute as an important feature of his plan, the practical assurance to the French people, that, although entering their country as a conqueror, he did so in hostility to none, save the "usurper Napoleon Bonaparte and his adherents", issued a Proclamation that Napoleon Bonarparte was an usurper and that Wellington's army

pos: History of Flanders 1559. In 1794 the French Republican Army started using Antwerp as the northernmost naval port of France, which country officially annexed Flanders the following year as the "départements" of Lys, Escaut, Deux-Nèthes, Meuse-Inférieure and Dyle. Obligatory (French) army service for all men aged 16–25 was one of the main reasons for the people's uprising against the French in 1798, known as the "Boerenkrijg" ("Peasants' War"), with the heaviest fighting in the Campine area. After the defeat of Napoleon Bonaparte at the 1815 Battle of Waterloo in Waterloo, Brabant, sovereignty over the Austrian Netherlands – Belgium minus the East Cantons and

pos: Battle of Quatre Bras Battle of Quatre Bras The Battle of Quatre Bras was fought on 16 June 1815, as a preliminary engagement to the decisive Battle of Waterloo that occurred two days later. The battle took place near the strategic crossroads of Quatre Bras and was contested between elements of the Duke of Wellington's Anglo-allied army and the left wing of Napoleon Bonaparte's French "Armée du Nord" under Marshal Michel Ney. While the battle was tactically indecisive, Napoleon achieved his larger strategic aim of preventing Wellington's forces from aiding the Prussian army at the Battle of Ligny, which the French won the same

pos: Battle of Tagliamento Battle of Tagliamento The Battle of Tagliamento (16 March 1797) saw a First French Republic army led by Napoleon Bonaparte attack a Habsburg Austrian army led by Archduke Charles, Duke of Teschen. The Austrian army fought a rear guard action at the crossing of the Tagliamento River but was defeated and withdrew to the northeast. The next day, a French division cut off and captured an Austrian column in the Capitulation of Gradisca. The actions occurred during the War of the First Coalition, part of the French Revolutionary Wars. Valvasone is located on the west bank of the Tagliamento southwest

neg: Royal Waggon Train Conan Doyle's 1891 play "Waterloo". Wellington's forces were outnumbered and outgunned, withstanding a barrage of attacks from French forces throughout the day. That evening, Prussian forces led by Field Marshall Gebhard Leberecht von Blücher broke through Napoleon's right flank. This planned attack allowed Britain and her remaining allied forces to counter-attack, driving the French Army from the battlefield. For their service during the battle, the Royal Waggon Train received their second battle honour: "Waterloo" Victory at Waterloo brought an end to the Napoleonic Wars, and with it, 22 years of conflict between France and much of Europe. After the battle,

neg: Waterloo Campaign: Peace negotiations Waterloo Campaign: Peace negotiations After the defeat of the French Army of the North at the Battle of Waterloo (18 June 1815) and the subsequent abdication of Napoleon as Emperor of the French, the French Provisional Government repeatedly sent peace emissaries to British commander, the Duke of Wellington, who commanded the Anglo-allied army marching on Paris and others to Prince Blücher who commanded the Prussian army, which was also marching on Paris. The position of the Provisional Government was that now that Napoleon had abdicated (June 22) and two days later that his son was not recognised by the Provisional

neg: Battle of Waterloo his last reserves, the French Imperial Guard, to a desperate final attack, which was narrowly beaten back. With the Prussians breaking through on the French right flank, Wellington's Anglo-allied army counter-attacked in the centre, and the French army was routed. Waterloo was the decisive engagement of the Waterloo Campaign and Napoleon's last. According to Wellington, the battle was "the nearest-run thing you ever saw in your life". Napoleon abdicated four days later, and on 7 July coalition forces entered Paris. The defeat at Waterloo ended Napoleon's rule as Emperor of the French, and marked the end of his Hundred Days

neg: Waterloo Campaign June, Napoleon left Grouchy with the right wing of the French army to pursue the Prussians while he took the reserves and command of the left wing of the army to pursue Wellington towards Brussels. On the night of 17 June the Anglo-allied army turned and prepared for battle on a gentle escarpment, about south of the village of Waterloo. The next day the Battle of Waterloo proved to be the decisive battle of the campaign. The Anglo-allied army stood fast against repeated French attacks, until with the aid of several Prussian corps that arrived at the east side of

neg: Carl von Clausewitz served at the Battle of Ligny and the Battle of Wavre during the Waterloo Campaign in 1815. An army led personally by Napoleon defeated the Prussians at Ligny (south of Mont-Saint-Jean and the village of Waterloo) on 16 June 1815, but Napoleon's failure to destroy the Prussian forces led to his defeat a few days later at the Battle of Waterloo (18 June 1815), when the Prussian forces unexpectedly arrived on his right flank late in the afternoon to support the Anglo-Dutch-Belgian forces pressing his front. Clausewitz's unit fought at Wavre (18–19 June 1815), preventing large reinforcements from reaching Napoleon

neg: Order of battle of the Waterloo Campaign the Battle of Waterloo. The British 7th Infantry Division under Major General Kenneth MacKenzie was not present at the battle as the brigade manned various garrisons around the area. The Hanoverian Reserve Division was also not present, again manning garrisons on behalf of the army. Actual combatants from the Reserve present at the battle numbered 18,964 with 56 guns. The Prussian Army was led by Field Marshal Gebhard Leberecht von Blücher, Prince of Wahlstadt and his chief of staff August von Gneisenau and remained independent from the allied Anglo-Dutch-German army during the course of the campaign. Major General Karl von

neg: Brigade van Bylandt French infantry of the I Corps (d'Erlon's). After the Battle of Waterloo the Allied army marched on Paris, where Emperor Bonaparte would eventually abdicate which finally ended a 25-year period of war. Brigade van Bylandt Brigade van Bylandt was a Dutch infantry brigade led by major general Willem Frederik Graaf van Bylandt which fought in the Waterloo Campaign (1815). The brigade was the 1st Brigade of the 2nd Dutch Division (Baron de Perponcher-Sedlnitzky's) of the Anglo-allied I Corps (Prince of Orange's) in the Duke of Wellington's Anglo-allied army. At the start of the Waterloo Campaign, the Brigade as part of

neg: Stephen Galway Adye Stephen Galway Adye Stephen Galway Adye CB (174013September 1838) was a British Army officer who fought at the Battle of Waterloo. The second son of Stephen Payne Adye, he was appointed First Lieutenant in the Royal Artillery on 1January 1794. Promotion to Captain Lieutenant followed in 1798 and to Captain in 1803. He served under General Abercromby in the 1801 Egyptian Campaign against the French, and was part of the 1809 expedition to Walcheren, during which he was seriously wounded. At Waterloo he was a field officer in command of two batteries of foot artilley attached to an army division,

neg: 28th Regiment at Quatre Bras (painting) British Army, on 16 June 1815, at the Battle of Quatre Bras. The battle, part of the Waterloo Campaign of the Hundred Days, was just two days prior to the Battle of Waterloo. The regiment held off attacks from French cavalry at Quatre Bras. Thompson shows the regiment formed in a square in a field of rye, withstanding attacks, at approximately 17:00, from lancers and cuirassiers led by Marshal Ney. Thompson went to great lengths to create models for her work. In July 1874, she arranged for 300 soldiers from the Royal Engineers to pose in a reconstruction of the

neg: Waterloo Campaign the field of Waterloo, that the Prussian army, not having been so much crippled and exhausted by the battle, should undertake the further pursuit, and proceed by Charleroi towards Avesnes and Laon; whilst the Anglo-allied army, after remaining during the night on the field, should advance by Nivelles and Binche towards Péronne. The 4,000 Prussian cavalry, that kept up an energetic pursuit during the night of 18 June, under the guidance of Marshal Gneisenau, helped to render the victory at Waterloo still more complete and decisive; and effectually deprived the French of every opportunity of recovering on the Belgian side

neg: New Zealand Wars Hauā]]. Campaigners on both sides of the New Zealand wars had developed distinctive war strategies and tactics. The British set out to fight a European-style war, based on engaging with the opposing forces, besieging and then capturing fortified positions. The British Army were professional soldiers who had experience fighting in various parts of the Empire, many from [[India]] and [[Afghanistan]], and were led by officers who were themselves trained by men who had fought at [[Battle of Waterloo|Waterloo]]. Many of the Māori fighters had been raised during the [[Musket Wars]], the decades-long bitter intertribal fighting during which warriors had perfected

neg: Napoleonic weaponry and warfare of the pursuit of the enemy could not be achieved because the second army needed attention. So overall the preferred method of attack was the flank march to cross the enemy's logistics. Napoleon used the central position strategy during the Battle of Waterloo Napoleon masked Wellington and massed against the Prussian army, and then after the Battle of Ligny was won, Napoleon attempted to do the same to the Allied/British army located just to the south of Waterloo. His subordinate was unable to mask the defeated Prussian army, who reinforced the Waterloo battle in time to defeat Napoleon and end

neg: Waterloo Campaign: Quatre Bras to Waterloo the two armies settled down for the night. The Anglo-allied army on the field of battle and the French just to the south. The bivouac on the battle field of Quatre Bras, during the night of 16 June, continued undisturbed until about an hour before daylight, when a cavalry patrol having accidentally got between the adverse pickets near Piermont, caused an alarm in that quarter that was quickly communicated to both armies by a rattling fire of musketry, which, rapidly augmenting, extended itself along the line of the advanced posts. Among the first who hastened to ascertain the origin and

neg: Battle of Krefeld Battle of Krefeld The Battle of Krefeld (sometimes referred to by its French name of Créfeld) was a battle fought on 23 June 1758 between a Prussian-Hanoverian army and a French army during the Seven Years' War. The Hanoverian army led by Ferdinand, brother of the duke of Brunswick, had driven the French led by the Comte de Clermont back across the Rhine. Ferdinand's own army had crossed to the left bank of the Rhine and was now in a position to threaten the frontier of France itself. The Battle of Rheinberg fought on 12 June proved indecisive. Clermont, who

neg: Waterloo Campaign: Waterloo to Paris (25 June – 1 July) Army of the North, the French were not given time to reorganise by the Coalition generals and they steadily retreated towards Paris. By the end Saturday 24 June (the end of the first week after the defeat at Waterloo) the French who had fought at Waterloo were at Laon under the command of Marshal Soult, while those of the right wing who had fought at the simultaneous Battle of Wavre, under the command of Marshal Grouchy, were at Rethel. The Prussians were in and around Aisonville-et-Bernoville with Blücher's headquarters were at Hannapes, and the Anglo-allies were in the vicinity of

neg: Hundred Days he took the reserves and command of the left wing of the army to pursue Wellington towards Brussels. On the night of 17 June, the Anglo-Allied army turned and prepared for battle on a gentle escarpment, about south of the village of Waterloo. The next day, the Battle of Waterloo proved to be the decisive battle of the campaign. The Anglo-Allied army stood fast against repeated French attacks, until with the aid of several Prussian corps that arrived on the east of the battlefield in the early evening, they managed to rout the French Army. Grouchy, with the right wing

neg: Karl von Vincent During the War of the Second Coalition, he commanded a regiment, then a brigade. He led the rear guard during the 1805 campaign. He commanded a division through all the major battles of 1809. He was governor-general of Belgium in 1814, and was present at the Battle of Waterloo as an Austrian observer. Karl von Vincent Karl Freiherr von Vincent, born 11 August 1757 – died 7 October 1834, fought in the army of Habsburg Austria during the French Revolutionary Wars. He first served as a staff officer then later as a combat commander. During the Napoleonic Wars, he was

neg: Waterloo Campaign: Waterloo to Paris (18–24 June) General Borcke, whose 9th Brigade, was still in the vicinity of Saint-Lambert, discovered the retreat of Grouchy's troops. He immediately communicated the fact to General Thielmann, who ordered him to cross the Dyle the next day (20 June) and march upon Namur. The French rearguard of Gerard's Corps continued to occupy Limal until nightfall. Thielmann remained posted, during the night of the 19/20 June, at Sint-Agatha-Rode; having his vanguard at Ottenburg. At daybreak on 19 June, that portion of Wellington's army which had fought the Battle of Waterloo, broke up from its bivouac, and began to move along the high

neg: British Army during the Napoleonic Wars for battle service in the Peninsular War. The cross also saw the first use of Medal bars. Following the battle a Waterloo Medal was issued to all soldiers who participated in that engagement. Decades later the Military General Service Medal was awarded to all ranks for service in campaigns during the 1793-1814 period. At the start of the French Revolutionary Wars, the "heavy" cavalry were equivalent to dragoons or "medium" cavalry in the French and other armies. They consisted of three regiments of Household Cavalry, seven regiments of Dragoon Guards and six regiments of Dragoons. The Dragoon Guards had been

neg: Waterloo Campaign the battlefield in the early evening they managed to rout the French Army. Grouchy with the right wing of the army engaged a Prussian rearguard at the simultaneous Battle of Wavre, and although he won a tactical victory his failure to prevent the Prussians marching to Waterloo meant that his actions contributed to the French defeat at Waterloo. The next day (19 June) he left Wavre and started a long retreat back to Paris. After the defeat at Waterloo, Napoleon chose not to remain with the army and attempt to rally it, but returned to Paris to try to secure

neg: Jean Antoine de Collaert Jean Antoine de Collaert Jean Marie Antoine Philippe de Collaert (13 June 1761 – 17 June 1816) led the Dutch-Belgian cavalry division at the Battle of Waterloo. He became an officer in the Habsburg Austrian cavalry in 1778 and later served in the Dutch Republic army until 1786. After the armies of the First French Republic overran the Dutch Republic in 1795, Collaert became a lieutenant colonel of hussars in the new army of the Batavian Republic, a French satellite state. He fought with distinction at the Battle of Castricum in 1799 and was badly wounded fighting the Austrians in

neg: Jean Antoine de Collaert William Order. He was named commander of North Brabant province but died from the effects of his Waterloo wound on 17 June 1816 at Brussels. Jean Antoine de Collaert Jean Marie Antoine Philippe de Collaert (13 June 1761 – 17 June 1816) led the Dutch-Belgian cavalry division at the Battle of Waterloo. He became an officer in the Habsburg Austrian cavalry in 1778 and later served in the Dutch Republic army until 1786. After the armies of the First French Republic overran the Dutch Republic in 1795, Collaert became a lieutenant colonel of hussars in the new army of the

neg: John Colborne, 1st Baron Seaton Army until the Duke of Wellington arrived. At the Battle of Waterloo in June 1815 during the Hundred Days, Colborne led the 52nd Regiment of Foot. At the critical moment of the battle, when the French Imperial Guard attacked Welligton's weakened centre, Colborne made a decisive intervention. On his own initiative, Colborne brought the 52nd Regiment of Foot forward, took up a flanking position in relation to the Imperial Guard and then, after firing repeated volleys into their flank, charged at the Guard so driving them back in disorder. As soon as General Sir Frederick Adam saw what Colborne was

neg: Waterloo Campaign: Waterloo to Paris (18–24 June) so suddenly panic stricken, so completely disorganised, and so thoroughly scattered, as was the French army when it lost the Battle of Waterloo. A defeated army usually covers its retreat by a rearguard, but here there was nothing of the kind: and hence that Army of the North cannot be said to have retreated; but truly to have fled, from the field of Waterloo. No concerted attempt to rally was made on the Belgian soil, and it was not until some of the scattered fragments of the immense wreck had been borne across the French frontier that their partial junction

neg: Waterloo Campaign: Ligny through Wavre to Waterloo Waterloo Campaign: Ligny through Wavre to Waterloo After their defeat at the Battle of Ligny (16 June 1815) the Prussians successfully disengaged and withdrew to north to Wavre where they reorganised and then three corps advanced westward to attack the right flank of the French army at the Battle of Waterloo. The French were desultory in the aftermath of Ligny. Napoleon wasted the morning of 17 June by taking a late breakfast and going to see the previous day's battlefield before organising a pursuit of the two Coalition armies. He took the reserves and marched with Marshal Ney in pursuit

neg: Waterloo Campaign Italy. Second, there was an army on the French/Prussian border where he hoped to defeat any Prussians attacks. Last, the L'Armee du Nord was placed on the border with the United Netherlands to defeat the British, Dutch and Prussian forces if they dared to attack. (see Military mobilisation during the Hundred Days)Lamarque led the small Army of the West into La Vendée to quell a Royalist insurrection in that region. By the end of May Napoleon had formed "L'Armée du Nord" (the "Army of the North") which, led by himself, would participate in the Waterloo Campaign and had deployed the

neg: Grande Armée that the Grande Armée was utterly destroyed as a fighting force. Only 120,000 men survived to leave Russia (excluding early deserters). Of these, 50,000 were Austrians, Prussians, and other Germans, 20,000 were Poles, and just 35,000 Frenchmen. As many as 380,000 died in the campaign. Napoleon led a new army to the Battle of the Nations at Leipzig in 1813, in the defence of France in 1814 and in the Waterloo Campaign in 1815, but the Napoleonic French army would never regain the heights of the Grande Armée of June 1812. "For a history of the French army in the

neg: Malplaquet proclamation the assistance requisite to restore public tranquillity" to the French King and nation. After the Seventh Coalition's victory at the Battle of Waterloo on 18 June 1815, the Anglo-allied army under the command of Wellington and a Prussian army under the command of Prince Blücher followed up the general French retreat and crossed the frontier into France intending to march on Paris. Although they marched close enough to come to each other's aid if needed the commanders chose slightly different axis of advance. At daybreak of 19 June, that portion of Wellington's army which had fought the Battle of Waterloo,

neg: Charles Antoine Morand XVIII but rejoined Napoleon during The Hundred Days. He was a Général de Division of the Chasseur division at the Battle of Waterloo. Charles Antoine Morand Charles Antoine Louis Alexis Morand (4 June 1771, Pontarlier or Montbenoit, Doubs - 1835) Comte de l'Empire, was a general of the French army during the French Revolutionary Wars and Napoleonic Wars. He fought at many of the most important battles of the time, including Austerlitz, Borodino and Waterloo. He intended to be a lawyer and received his right to practice in 1791, but a year later joined the 7th Volunteers as a Captain.

neg: Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington the Prussians should pursue the retreating French army back to France. The Treaty of Paris was signed on 20 November 1815. After the victory, the Duke supported proposals that a medal be awarded to all British soldiers who participated in the Waterloo campaign, and on 28 June 1815 he wrote to the Duke of York suggesting: ... the expediency of giving to the non commissioned officers and soldiers engaged in the Battle of Waterloo a medal. I am convinced it would have the best effect in the army, and if the battle should settle our concerns, they will well deserve

neg: 52nd (Oxfordshire) Regiment of Foot II Corps were posted west and southwest of Brussels, with a cavalry screen. Wellington's forward army engaged the French at Quatre Bras on 16 June, but he later fell back to remain in contact with his Prussian allies, who had retreated following the Battle of Ligny, and took position near the village of Waterloo. The field at Waterloo was 5.5 km wide, with two parallel ridges running west to east, creating a shallow valley 1.4 km across. The Allies took position on the northern ridge. As the army prepared for battle on 18 June, the 2nd Division were initially held

neg: Waterloo Campaign after their defeat at Ligny and were marching toward Waterloo. The next morning the Battle of Wavre ended in a hollow French victory. Grouchy's wing of the Army of the North withdrew in good order and other elements of the French army were able to reassemble around it. However, the army was not strong enough to resist the combined coalition forces, so it retreated toward Paris. After the combined victory at Waterloo by the Anglo-allies under the command of the Duke of Wellington and the Prussians under the command of Prince Blücher, it was agreed by the two commanders, on

neg: 5th Dragoon Regiment (France) 5th Dragoon Regiment (France) The 5th Dragoon Regiment ("5 Régiment de Dragons" or "5 RD") is a cavalry unit of the French Army, created under the Ancien Régime in 1656 and reactivated in 2015. This regiment has a double heritage. As part of Napoleon's "Grande Armée" it fought at Wertingen, Auterlitz in 1805, Nasielsk in 1806, Eylau, and the Battle of Friedland in 1807. In 1815, during the Waterloo campaign of the Hundred Days, the regiment was at the Battle of Ligny and the Battle of Waterloo. On July 31, 1914, the regiment was assigned to the Sordet cavalry corps,

neg: Hougoumont who fought in the battle. The memorial by Vivien Mallock stands next to the north gate and shows two life-size soldiers struggling to close the critical gates of the farm to save it from being overrun by the French. The next day (18 June 2015) Hougoumont was opened to the public on the 200th anniversary of the Battle of Waterloo. Hougoumont Château d'Hougoumont (originally Goumont) is a large farmhouse situated at the bottom of an escarpment near the Nivelles road in Braine-l'Alleud, near Waterloo, Belgium. The escarpment is where British and other allied forces faced Napoleon's Army at the Battle

neg: Grande Armée and Blücher in Belgium before the Russians and Austrians could arrive. The campaign, beginning on June 15, 1815, was initially successful, leading to victory over the Prussians at the Battle of Ligny on June 16; however, poor staff work, and bad commanders led to many problems for the French army throughout the entire campaign. Grouchy's delayed advance against the Prussians allowed Blücher to rally his men after Ligny and march on to Wellington's aid at the Battle of Waterloo, which resulted in the final, decisive defeat for Napoleon and his beloved army. Prior to the late 18th century, there was

neg: Battle of Krefeld good order. The Erbprinz, son of the Duke of Brunswick who would later die of wounds received at the battle of Jena during the Napoleonic Wars, particularly distinguished himself commanding the allied flanking troops. Clermont asked to be relieved of his command after this defeat, and his wish was granted. He was succeeded in command by Marshal de Contades. Battle of Krefeld The Battle of Krefeld (sometimes referred to by its French name of Créfeld) was a battle fought on 23 June 1758 between a Prussian-Hanoverian army and a French army during the Seven Years' War. The Hanoverian army led

neg: Charles-Étienne-François Ruty Restoration, but during the Hundred Days he joined the Emperor, who named him commander of the artillery of the Army of the North, with Ruty playing a significant role at the battle of Waterloo. General count de Ruty finished his military career as general inspector for artillery during the Second Restoration, subsequently serving as general director for gunpowders and saltpeter (1817), state counsellor (1818) and Peer of France from 1819. His name is inscribed under the Arc de Triomphe in Paris. Charles-Étienne-François Ruty Charles-Étienne-François de Ruty (1774–1828), count, was a French artillery officer during the French Revolutionary Wars and Napoleonic

neg: Joseph Bernelle Joseph Bernelle Joseph Bernelle (5 October 1785 Versailles, France Versailles, France 7 January 1871 Paris, France) was a French Army officer who commanded the French Foreign Legion during the Carlist War. He was born in 1785 to General Pierre-Antoine and his wife, Lady Marguerite Desnoyers. He entered the École spéciale militaire de Saint-Cyr in 1801 and was commissioned as sous-lieutenant in 1803. He participated in the Italian Campaigns of the French Consulate and First French Empire from 1811. He was present at the Battle of Waterloo. He eventually obtained the rank of Chef de brigade or Colonel and Aide de

neg: Battle of Wavre Battle of Wavre The Battle of Wavre was the final major military action of the Hundred Days campaign and the Napoleonic Wars. It was fought on 18–19 June 1815 between the Prussian rearguard, consisting of the Prussian III Corps under the command of General Johann von Thielmann (whose chief-of-staff was Carl von Clausewitz) and three corps of the French army under the command of Marshal Grouchy. A blocking action, this battle kept 33,000 French soldiers from reaching the Battle of Waterloo and so helped in the defeat of Napoleon at Waterloo. Following defeat at the Battle of Ligny two days

neg: 51st (2nd Yorkshire West Riding) Regiment of Foot 1812 and the Battle of Vitoria in June 1813. It then pursued the French Army into France and fought at the Battle of the Pyrenees in July 1813, the Battle of Nivelle in November 1813 and the Battle of the Nive in December 1813 as well as the Battle of Orthez in February 1814. It then returned to England in June 1814. Following Napoleon's escape from Elba in February 1815, it embarked for Ostend in March 1815 and fought at the Battle of Waterloo in June 1815. At Waterloo the regiment prevented 100 French cuirassiers from escaping the field of

neg: Robert Ellison (British Army officer) Robert Ellison (British Army officer) Colonel Robert Ellison (17833 July 1843) was a British Army officer who fought in the Peninsular War and at the 1815 Battle of Waterloo. The second son of Henry Ellison, of Hebburn, County Durham, and Henrietta, daughter of John Isaacson, he joined the 1st Regiment of Foot Guards as an ensign by purchase on 17December 1807. He became a lieutenant and captain on 20December 1812 then saw service at Cádiz, Spain in 1811 and during the Peninsular War from 1812–14. During the Waterloo Campaign he fought at Quatre Bras and Waterloo, for which he was

neg: Waterloo Campaign It was at Waterloo on 18 June 1815 that the decisive battle of the campaign took place. The start of the battle was delayed for several hours as Napoleon waited until the ground had dried from the previous night’s rain. By late afternoon the French army had not succeeded in driving Wellington's forces from the escarpment on which they stood. Once the Prussians arrived, attacking the French right flank in ever increasing numbers, Napoleon's key strategy of keeping the Seventh Coalition armies divided had failed and his army was driven from the field in confusion, by a combined coalition general

neg: Apsley House Bath stone, and a pedimented portico added. Wyatt's original estimate for the work was £23,000, but the need to repair structural defects discovered during the work led to costs escalating to more than £61,000. Wyatt introduced his own version of French style to the interior, notably in the Waterloo Gallery and the florid wrought iron stair-rail, described by Pevsner as "just turning from Empire to a neo-Rococo". The Waterloo Gallery is named after the Duke's famous victory over Napoleon at the Battle of Waterloo. The Waterloo Banquet was held annually to commemorate the famous victory of 18 June 1815. The

neg: Charles Sandham Charles Sandham Charles Freeman Sandham (12 October 1781 - 14 February 1869) was a British Army officer who fought during the Napoleonic Wars and commanded a Brigade of Artillery at the Battle of Waterloo on 18June 1815. After service in Holland in 1799 he was part of the 1807 Copenhagen Expedition. Present at four engagements during the Walcheren Campaign, he subsequently served under Sir John Moore during the 1809 retreat from Corunna. Sandham campaigned in Holland, Flanders and France during 1814 before commanding a Brigade of the Royal Artillery at the Battle of Waterloo on 18June 1815. During the battle,

neg: Battle of Waterloo holding his ground at Quatre Bras, the defeat of the Prussians forced Wellington to withdraw north to Waterloo on the 17th. Napoleon sent a third of his forces to pursue the Prussians, who had in good order. This resulted in the separate and simultaneous Battle of Wavre with the Prussian rear-guard. Upon learning that the Prussian army was able to support him, Wellington decided to offer battle on the Mont-Saint-Jean escarpment, across the Brussels road. Here he withstood repeated attacks by the French throughout the afternoon of the 18th, aided by the progressively arriving Prussians. In the evening Napoleon committed

neg: Pierre Cambronne exact words at Waterloo are discussed. Pierre Cambronne Pierre Jacques Étienne Cambronne, later Pierre, 1st Viscount Cambronne (26 December 1770 – 29 January 1842), was a General of the French Empire. He fought during the wars of the Revolution and the Napoleonic Era. He was wounded at the Battle of Waterloo. Cambronne was born in Nantes (Loire-Atlantique). He joined the Grenadiers as a volunteer in 1792, serving under Charles François Dumouriez in Belgium, in the Vendée, took part in the battle of Quiberon, then in the expedition to Ireland under Hoche in 1796. He then joined the Army of the

neg: Hugh Halkett held in reserve on the right flank for most of the battle. After the defeat of Napoleon's Imperial Guard, the Duke of Wellington sent Halkett to pursue the disintegrating French forces. He is remembered for capturing General Cambronne while his Osnabrück Battalion engaged the French Imperial Guard. After Waterloo, Halkett stayed in the Hanoverian service. He rose to be a general and inspector-general of infantry. He led a Federal Army Corps in the First War of Schleswig (also known as the Prussian-Danish War of 1848), and defeated the Danes at the Battle of Oeversee, a rear-guard action at Sankelmark. Halkett

neg: Battle of Talavera order of battle Battle of Talavera order of battle The Battle of Talavera (27–28 July 1809) saw an Imperial French army under King Joseph Bonaparte and Marshal Jean-Baptiste Jourdan attack a combined British and Spanish army led by Sir Arthur Wellesley. After several of their assaults were bloodily repulsed on the second day, the French retreated toward Madrid leaving the battlefield to the Anglo-Spanish army. Events soon compelled Wellesley, who was soon appointed Viscount Wellington, to fall back toward his base in Portugal. The following units and commanders fought at the battle, which occurred during the Peninsular War. Commander-in-Chief of the Anglo-Spanish Army:

neg: Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington small town of Waterloo. On 17 June there was torrential rain, which severely hampered movement and had a considerable effect the next day, 18 June, when the Battle of Waterloo was fought. This was the first time Wellington had encountered Napoleon; he commanded an Anglo-Dutch-German army that consisted of approximately 73,000 troops, 26,000 of whom were British, approximately 30 percent of that 26,000 were Irish. The Battle of Waterloo commenced with a diversionary attack on Hougoumont by a division of French soldiers. After a barrage of 80 cannons the first French infantry attack was launched by Comte D'Erlon's I Corps.

neg: Henry Paget, 1st Marquess of Anglesey the Battle of Waterloo two days later, when he led the spectacular charge of the British heavy cavalry against Comte d'Erlon's column which checked and in part routed the French Army. One of the last cannon shots fired that day hit Paget in the right leg, necessitating its amputation. According to anecdote, he was close to Wellington when his leg was hit, and exclaimed, "By God, sir, I've lost my leg!" — to which Wellington replied, "By God, sir, so you have!" According to his aide-de-camp, Thomas Wildman, during the amputation Paget smiled and said, "I have had a pretty

neg: Edward Hodge (1782–1815) but unequal contest." There is a memorial tablet to Hodge and his fellow officer, Lieutenant Arthur Myers, in the Church of Saint Joseph, Waterloo. Hodge married the younger daughter of Sir Edmund Bacon of the Bacon baronets. Their son, Sir Edward Cooper Hodge, went on to command a regiment at the 1854 Battle of Balaclava. Edward Hodge (1782–1815) Major Edward Hodge (1782 – 17 June 1815) was a British Army officer killed in action the day before the 1815 Battle of Waterloo. As a major in the 7th Hussars he was killed during an unsuccessful charge against French lancers in

neg: Battle of Waterloo Orange, who repelled Ney's initial attacks but was gradually driven back by overwhelming numbers of French troops. First reinforcements, and then Wellington arrived. He took command and drove Ney back, securing the crossroads by early evening, too late to send help to the Prussians, who had already been defeated. Meanwhile on 16 June, Napoleon attacked and defeated Blücher's Prussians at the Battle of Ligny using part of the reserve and the right wing of his army. The Prussian centre gave way under heavy French assaults, but the flanks held their ground. went uninterrupted and seemingly unnoticed by the French. The

neg: Battle of Waterloo Blücher's army was gathering in and around Wavre, around to the east of the city. Early on the morning of the 18th, Wellington received an assurance from Blücher that the Prussian army would support him. He decided to hold his ground and give battle. Three armies were involved in the battle: Napoleon's "Armée du Nord", a multinational army under Wellington, and a Prussian army under Blücher. The French army of around 69,000 consisted of 48,000 infantry, 14,000 cavalry, and 7,000 artillery with 250 guns. Napoleon had used conscription to fill the ranks of the French army throughout his rule, but

neg: Alexander Dickson (British Army officer) returned to Europe in time for the Waterloo campaign. He was present at Quatre Bras and Waterloo on the artillery staff of Wellington's army, and subsequently commanded the British battering train at the sieges of the French fortresses left behind the advancing allies. For the rest of his life he was on home service, principally as a staff officer of artillery with the rank of major general and title of Master Gunner St James's Park. During the Peninsular War he was present at the battles of Busaco, Albuera, Ciudad Rodrigo, Battle of Badajoz, Salamanca, Vittoria, San Sebastián, Nivelle, Nive, and

neg: 73rd (Perthshire) Regiment of Foot Battle of Merxem in January 1814. In 1815 the battalion joined Wellington's Army in Belgium: the regiment was in Major-General Colin Halkett's Brigade in Lieutenant General Sir Charles Alten's 3rd Division. The battalion fought in the Battle of Quatre Bras on 16 June 1815 where they lost 53 men killed and wounded. At the subsequent Battle of Waterloo on 18 June, the regiment was charged by French Cavalry no less than 11 times during the battle and bombarded by French artillery. It remained in square without breaking. The battalion lost 6 officers and 225 men killed and wounded, the second

neg: Thomas Aird (British Army officer) on 4May 1815. He served during the Peninsular War and in Flanders and commanded the Royal Waggon Train at the Battle of Waterloo. On 25December 1818 he was placed on half pay and died on 1November 1839 in Sunderland, North East England. There is a memorial tablet dedicated to Aird in the Parish Church at Maybole. Aird had a daughter who in 1814 married Lieutenant John Raleigh Elwes of the 71st (Highland) Regiment of Foot who died of wounds received at Waterloo a few days after the battle. Thomas Aird (British Army officer) Lieutenant-Colonel Thomas Aird (21 December 17601 November

neg: Napoleon's Last Battles Napoleon's Last Battles Napoleon's Last Battles is a board wargame first published by Simulations Publications in 1976. "Napoleon's Last Battles" consists of games of Ligny, Quatre Bras, La Belle Alliance (the "actual" Battle of Waterloo) and Wavre. The Wavre scenario is not so much a pitched battle as a race as Grouchy's French and the Prussians each attempt to exit off the west edge to join in the Battle of Waterloo. Counters are brigades or regiments, with separate counters for corps commanders (division commanders for Wellington's Army) and senior generals (Napoleon, Ney and Grouchy for the French, Wellington and the

neg: Battle of Ligny army following. It was at the Battle of Waterloo on 18 June 1815 that the decisive battle of the campaign took place. Before leaving Ligny, Napoleon gave Grouchy 33,000 men and orders to follow up the retreating Prussians. A late start, uncertainty about the direction the Prussians had taken, and the vagueness of the orders given to Grouchy meant that he was too late to prevent the Prussian army reaching Wavre, from where it could march to support Wellington. After the French defeat at Waterloo, only Grouchy managed to retreat in good order to France with his force of nearly

neg: Waterloo Campaign of Paris. South of Paris, at the Battle of Rocquencourt a combined arms French force of commanded by General Exelmans destroyed a Prussian brigade of hussars under the command of Colonel von Sohr (who was severely wounded and taken prisoner during the skirmish), but this did not prevent the Prussians moving their whole army to the south side. By the morning of 2 July, Blücher had his right at Plessis-Piquet, and his left at Meudon, with his reserves at Versailles. This was a thunderbolt to the French; and it was then that their weakness and the Coalition strength was seen

neg: Battle of La Marfée Battle of La Marfée The Battle of La Marfée took place during Thirty Years' War near Sedan, France, on 6 July 1641, between a Royal army of Louis XIII under Marshall Gaspard III de Coligny, and French malcontents led by Prince Louis de Bourbon, Count of Soissons, and Duke Frédéric Maurice de La Tour d'Auvergne, duc de Bouillon, who were supported by an Imperial-Spanish army under general Guillaume de Lamboy sent from the Spanish Netherlands by the Cardinal-Infante Ferdinand of Austria. The French malcontents and the Habsburg forces dealt a serious defeat to the French Royal Army, and for a

neg: Combined arms that met at the Battle of Waterloo were organised in a similar manner–into corps which contained infantry, cavalry and artillery (see Order of battle of the Waterloo Campaign), and used similar combined arms tactics. Within each corps were divisions of infantry or cavalry made up of brigades and an artillery unit. An army would usually also have reserves of all three arms under the direct command of the army commander which could be sent in support of any corps or division of a corps to increase any arm which the army general considered necessary. The great French cavalry charge commanded

neg: Jean Baptiste van Merlen 8th, 25th and Portuguese Legion Chasseurs à Cheval and the 6th Hussars. Up until 1815 van Merlen had fought in the French army, including in the Peninsular War as a cavalry commander against the British Army. In the Waterloo Campaign he fought against the French in the Duke of Wellington's army as commander of the 3rd Light Brigade in the Dutch Cavalry Division. Van Merlen died in the battle of Waterloo. In 1815, King William I of the Netherlands decided that his new army needed experienced officers, even if they had recently fought under Napoleon. Therefore, a number of royalists

neg: Lines of Weissenburg Strasbourg, Louis XV abandoned the invasion of the Southern Netherlands, and his army moved down to take a decisive part in the war in Alsace and Lorraine. The Lines were still militarily and strategically significant during the French Revolutionary Wars. The Lines were stormed on 13 October 1793 by an allied army under Austrian General Dagobert von Wurmser in the First Battle of Wissembourg. The allies were in their turn dispossessed by Lazare Hoche and Charles Pichegru in a second Battle of Wissembourg on 26 December and forced to retreat behind the Rhine. In 1815, after the Battle of Waterloo,

neg: Battle of Biberach (1796) Battle of Biberach (1796) The Battle of Biberach was fought on 2 October 1796 between a First French Republic army led by Jean Victor Marie Moreau and a Habsburg Austrian army led by Maximilian Anton Karl, Count Baillet de Latour. The French army paused in its retreat toward the Rhine River to savage the pursuing Austrians. The action occurred during the War of the First Coalition, part of the French Revolutionary Wars. Biberach an der Riss is located southwest of Ulm. During the summer of 1796, the two armies of Jean-Baptiste Jourdan in the north and Moreau in the south

neg: Étienne Radet baron (1809), and became a general of division in 1813. In June 1815 he was appointed Grand Provost of the Gendarmerie (i.e. military police) accompanying the French army in Belgium during the Waterloo Campaign. He was present at Ligny and at the Battle of Waterloo itself, where in the evening of the 18th June he was wounded. During the retreat he rode, while bleeding, in the company of Napoleon as far as Charleroi, before proceeding to Beaumont, where he attempted to rally those fleeing and stem the rout. At Maubeuge and Avesnes on the 19th he issued orders to the

neg: Louis-Auguste-Victor, Count de Ghaisnes de Bourmont gather their army. Bourmont's defection enraged the French rank and file. Though their loyalty to Napoleon was absolute, they began to suspect treachery in their generals. Étienne Hulot, who became the acting division commander, was compelled to give a speech that pledged loyalty to Napoleon and the tricolor. After the Battle of Waterloo and Napoleon's fall, Bourmont gave evidence that led to Ney's execution. After the Second Restoration, he was given command of the 16th infantry division in Besançon and took part in the Spanish campaign of 1823. King Charles X of France made him minister of war in 1829

neg: Waterloo Campaign: Ligny through Wavre to Waterloo few battalions in position at Wavre, and to follow the main army, with his corps, as a reserve, in the direction of Couture-Saint-Germain. It was nearly 16:00 on 18 June when Vandamme's Corps arrived in front of the position which Thielemann was in the act of leaving, with a view to follow and support the remaining three Prussian Corps that were at that moment on the march towards the battlefield of Waterloo; and, with a fire that was opened from the French batteries, commenced the Battle of Wavre. Some time before the Battle of Waterloo commenced, a Prussian patrol reached

neg: Miguel Ricardo de Álava and to be at Wellington's side during the Battle of Waterloo. Álava served first in the Navy, and had risen to be captain of a frigate when he transferred into the army, receiving corresponding rank. He was present as a Marine at the Battle of Trafalgar on board the 112-gun Santa Ana, which was the flagship of his uncle, Admiral Ignacio Álava. At the assembly of Bayonne in 1808, he was one of the most prominent of those who accepted the new constitution from Joseph Bonaparte as King of Spain. After the national rising against French aggression, and the defeat

neg: Waterloo Campaign cantoned in modern-day Belgium, then part of the newly formed United Kingdom of the Netherlands, but until the year before part of the First French Empire. Hostilities started on 15 June when the French smashed the Prussian outposts and crossed the river Sambre at Charleroi placing their forces between the cantonment areas of Wellington's Army (to the west) and Blücher's army to the east. On 16 June the French prevailed with Marshal Ney commanding the left wing of the French army holding Wellington at the Battle of Quatre Bras and Napoleon defeating Blücher at the Battle of Ligny. On 17

neg: Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington the allied forces to victory against the French Empire at the Battle of Vitoria in 1813. Following Napoleon's exile in 1814, he served as the ambassador to France and was granted a dukedom. During the Hundred Days in 1815, he commanded the allied army which, together with a Prussian army under Blücher, defeated Napoleon at Waterloo. Wellington's battle record is exemplary; he ultimately participated in some 60 battles during the course of his military career. Wellington is famous for his adaptive defensive style of warfare, resulting in several victories against numerically superior forces while minimising his own losses. He is

neg: Battle of Ligny IV Prussian corps that had not participated in the battle at Ligny. Had the French army succeeded in keeping the Prussian army from joining the Anglo-allied Army under Wellington at Waterloo, Napoleon might have won the Waterloo Campaign. On 13 March 1815, six days before Napoleon reached Paris, the powers at the Congress of Vienna declared him an outlaw; four days later, the United Kingdom, Russia, Austria, and Prussia bound themselves to put 150,000 men each into the field to end his rule. Napoleon knew that, once his attempts at dissuading one or more of the Seventh Coalition Allies from

neg: Battle of Zújar Battle of Zújar In the Battle of Zújar of the Peninsular War, part of the Napoleonic Wars, on 9 August 1811 an Imperial French division from Nicolas Soult's army attacked a Spanish division belonging to Manuel Alberto Freire de Andrade y Armijo's Army of Murcia. The French division, led by Nicolas Godinot, defeated Joseph O'Donnell's Spanish division with heavy losses. Zújar is located on Route 323, northwest of Baza, Granada in Spain. Spanish armies under Freire and Joaquín Blake y Joyes threatened the French grip on the south of Spain during the summer of 1811. Marshal Soult, who had just

neg: Nicolas Léonard Beker the army for several years. After Napoleon's defeat at the Battle of Waterloo and the collapse of his regime, the interim French government appointed Beker to guard the ex-emperor. The general behaved correctly during the intrigues surrounding Napoleon before he went into exile at Saint Helena. Nevertheless, he was summarily retired during the Bourbon Restoration and only received the honors due him many years later. Beker is one of the names inscribed under the Arc de Triomphe. Born on 18 January 1770 at Obernai in the French province of Alsace, Beker was serving as a dragoon in the royal army

neg: Battle of Wavre earlier, the Prussian army retreated north in some disorder, exposing the eastern flank of Wellington's Anglo-allied army at Quatre Bras, who also retreated northwards, to a defensive position at Waterloo. Napoleon moved the bulk of his army off in pursuit of Wellington, and sent Grouchy in pursuit of the retreating Prussians with the right wing ("aile droite") of the Army of the North ("L'Armée du Nord"), a force consisting of 33,000 men and 80 guns. The French units in the order of battle were: Grouchy was slow in taking up the pursuit after Ligny, which allowed Prince Blücher to fall

neg: Waterloo Campaign: Peace negotiations commissioner to Wellington's army), were furnished with full powers to negotiate terms with the French by their respective commanders-in-chief. They met the French delegation led by Louis Bignon, who held, the port-folio of foreign affairs, General Guillemot, chief of the general staff of the French army, and Comte de Bondy, prefect of the department of the Seine. The surrender of Paris was agreed and the terms of the surrender were laid out in the Convention of St. Cloud. As agreed in Convention, on 4 July, the French Army, commanded by Marshal Davoust, left Paris and proceeded on its march to

neg: Algiers the surrounding Mitidja plain. Algiers also played a pivotal role in the Algerian War (1954–1962), particularly during the Battle of Algiers when the 10th Parachute Division of the French Army, starting on January 7, 1957, and on the orders of the French Minister of Justice François Mitterrand (who authorized any means "to eliminate the insurrectionists"), led attacks against the Algerian fighters for independence. Algiers remains marked by this battle, which was characterized by merciless fighting between FLN forces which carried out a guerrilla campaign against the French military and police and pro-French Algerian soldiers, and the French Army which responded

neg: Battle of Ligny a low ridge south of the village of Waterloo and the Forest of Soignes. Napoleon, with the reserve and the right wing of the Army of the North, made a late start on 17 June and joined Ney at Quatre Bras at 13:00 to attack Wellington's army, but found only the rearguard of cavalry remaining on the site. The French pursued Wellington to Waterloo, fighting a small cavalry action at Genappe before torrential rain set in for the night. By the end of 17 June, Wellington's army had arrived at its position at Waterloo, with the main body of Napoleon's

neg: Waterloo Campaign: Waterloo to Paris (25 June – 1 July) was at Cerisy; the 3rd at Homblieres; and the 4th at Essigny-le-Grand. Blücher's headquarters were at Saint-Quentin. The Anglo-allied army: The right wing of the French army, led by Vandamme, was at Rheims; the left, with Grouchey, at Soissons. On 26 June, Wellington marched the main body of his army to Vermand and its vicinity. Major General Sir John Byng, who was now in command of Anglo-allied I Corps, having heard, on passing Vermand, that Wellington was there, immediately visited Wellington. On receiving him, Wellington said, "You are the very person I wish to see — I want you to

neg: Dutch 7th Infantry Battalion Bonaparte was finally defeated by the Anglo-allied army commanded by the Duke of Wellington and the Prussians under Prince Blucher. As a part of the 1st "Brigade van Bylandt" the Battalion first saw action at Quatre Bras on June 16th 1815, to counter the advance of the French Army. Two days later, on June 18th, during the Battle of Waterloo it had to endure the first massive attack by the French I Corps commanded by d'Erlon. When the Brigade had to withdraw through sheer weight of numbers, the 7th was able to hold up the French I Corps long enough

neg: First Battle of Châtillon First Battle of Châtillon The First Battle of Châtillon (5 July 1793) during the War in the Vendée saw the Vendean Royalists defeat a French Republican raiding force led by François-Joseph Westermann. The rebel Catholic and Royal Army virtually destroyed the Republican column, only Westermann and a few hundred cavalrymen escaping the disaster. The Vendée revolt was a bitter civil war waged between those who supported the French Revolution and rural farmers who resented the new government's anti-Catholic laws and conscription decrees. General Westermann had managed to reach the heart of the Vendée capturing Châtillon. Most of the Royalist army