The Napoleonic Wars: 1803-15  

Over the two decades from 1795 to 1815 Napoleon Bonaparte will dominate the world stage, shaking up the continental monarchies, and elevating France to the peak of global hegemony. All before his reach exceeds his grasp in Russia in 1812 and again at Waterloo in 1815.

The French Revolution Topples The Monarchy

On July 14, 1789, citizens of Paris storm and destroy the medieval fortress Bastille signaling the start of the French Revolution against the monarchy of King Louis XVI. The credo of the rebels is captured in the Declaration of the Rights of Man, written by the Marquis de Lafayette, who will later play a critical role in America’s Revolutionary War. Article 1 asserts the new spirit:

Men are born and remain free and equal in rights. Social distinctions may
be founded only upon the general good.

On January 21, 1793, Louis is guillotined at the Place de la Revolution (later Place Concorde). Control over France soon shifts from a National Assembly to a far left “political club,” the Jacobins, and their leader, Maximilian Robespierre. He calls on France to create a “Republic of Virtue,” run by the common man, and based on concepts laid out by Rousseau.

(God) created men to help each other, to love each other,
to attain happiness by way of virtue.

The overthrow of Louis alarms the other European monarchies who band together and warn Robespierre against any thoughts of expanding his movement. In response, he declares war on the so-called “First Coalition” of Britain, Holland and Spain, while already engaged against the Habsburg Empire of Austria-Hungary.

At home he also launches a Reign of Terror beginning in September 1793 to cleanse the nation of all aristocrats, with some 16,000 beheaded in the process. Included here is Louis’ wife, Marie Antoinette, killed in October of that year.

But to further realize his utopian vision, Robespierre uses his power to eliminate his political rivals, often without any form of trial. When his ruthlessness makes it clear that no one around him is safe, he is arrested and then beheaded, face up, on July 28, 1794.

Robespierre Is Replaced By The Directory

At this point, the Revolution enters its second stage, lasting from 1794 to 1799.

The Constitution of 1795 is approved, and it establishes a government consisting of 750 legislators led by a rotating “Executive Directory” of five senior men, one retiring each year.

Not all factions support this outcome, especially the pro-Catholic forces who resent the Revolution’s virulent attacks on the church. They band together with Royalist forces and march on Paris with a force of 30,000 men, including 2,000 troops from Britain.

The Directory is ill prepared to counter this threat.

In desperate straits, they turn to a 26 year old artillerist, recently promoted to Brigadier General for his daring campaign in December 1793 that drives the Royalists and British out of the Mediterranean port city of Toulon, France.

The soldier’s name is Napoleon Bonaparte.

Napoleon’s Initial Ascendance

His ethnic roots are Italian and he is born on August 15, 1769 as Napoleone Buouaparte, a name he will retain until age twenty-seven. Home is the recently ceded island of Corsica, some 105 miles off the southwest coast of France. But at nine he is on the mainland attending religious school before entering the Ecole Militaire in 1784. He becomes friends with Robespierre’s younger brother, Augustin, and supports the Republican rebels over the Crown.

His unique skills with artillery leads to a captain’s rank in 1792 and command over a battalion of volunteers.

Initial fame comes his way in a September 8, 1792 victory at Toulon, France, where he defeats Royalists backed by troops imported from Britain and Spain. He receives the first of his two minor combat wounds during the battle. His success leads to promotions, first as head of France’s artillery in Italy, then as Brigadier General at age twenty-four.

When Robespierre falls in 1794, Napoleon’s career is temporarily sidetracked and he actually spends two weeks in prison before being acquitted of treason. But then the Royalist forces threaten Paris and panicked government official turn to him to save the capital. On October 5, 1795, he does just that. He lines up his cannons in the Tuileries Gardens and dispatches the Royalists who suffer 1400 killed. His rewards for saving Paris include promotion to General de Division and growing power within the Executive Directory.

On March 9, 1796 he marries the 32 year old widow, Josephine de Beauharnais, whose first husband was guillotined during the Reign of Terror and who barely escaped the same fate when Robespierre was overthrown. Two days after the wedding, Napoleon is off to Italy to try to save a French army of 39,000 disorganized troops bordering on defeat by their Austrian opponents.

Napoleon responds with a strategy he will use repeatedly in future battles – concentrating his forces against the center of an enemy’s spread out forces, overwhelming it with superior firepower, and then attacking the remainder in detail. As always his skill as an artillerist is critical to his success.

His Italian campaign ends with the October 17, 1797 Treaty of Campo Formio with the defeated Austrians ceding Belgium, part of the Republic of Venice, the island of Corfu and other islands in the Mediterranean. It also removes the Austria-Hungary Habsburgs from the “First Coalition,” momentarily leaving Britain as the only serious threat remaining to France.

Napoleon next turns his sights on seizing Egypt (as a potential colony) and moving east into Syria to threaten the supply lines between Britain and its satellite India. The key confrontation in Egypt occurs on July 21, 1798 at the Battle of the Pyramids. There he utilizes six-deep infantry squares to defeat the repeated Mameluke cavalry charges, and it becomes a formation he will rely on over time.

While Napoleon is away from the continent, the monarchies use the opportunity to assemble the “Second Coalition,” with the British joined again by Austria-Hungary but also Russia, the Ottoman Empire, Portugal and assorted Germany duchies. Together they begin to record small battlefield victories against the French.

Meanwhile Napoleon occupies Cairo and then, on February 6, 1799, turns further east into the Levant to face the Sultan of Turkey who has declared war against France. Once there he takes Gaza, then El Arish in an eleven day siege, and finally Jaffa on March 7, a victory sullied by the massacre of 5,000 prisoners for braking parole.

Then his string runs out. The army is struck by bubonic plague and the approaching Turkish Army of Damascus forces him to retreat from his attack on Acre.

Emperor Of France

On August 22 he secretly sails away from Egypt, arriving home on October 9, 1799. He is met there by political intrigue within The Directory, undermined by financial problems and by battlefield defeats at the hands of the Second Coalition. A precarious coup follows in which the Directory is replaced by a “Consulate,” with Napoleon suddenly holding enormous political power as First Council. To solidify his position, he will give the French people what they want: a series of military campaigns making France the preeminent global power for over a decade. The days of glory are about to arrive.

Napoleon begins by maneuvering his army across the Alps in April 1800 to attack the Austrians. He takes Milan on June 2 and advances into the Piedmont region where he fights the pivotal battle of Marengo on June 14, 1800. A nearly disastrous loss is averted by a surprise attack led by General Kellerman. Napoleon rewrites the history of the battle to downplay the risks, while the win further secures his political power in Paris.

The struggle for Italy continues into February 1801 when the Treaty of Luneville reaffirms the French gains made by the 1797 Treaty of Campo Formio. This effectively ends the Second Coalition alignment against Napoleon and costs William Pitt the Elder his position as English Prime Minister.

A truce follows. Diplomatic negotiations lead by French foreign minister Talleyrand result in the Treaty of Amiens in March 1802 and the follow-up Treaty of Paris on June 25, 1802. Napoleon tells his citizens that his victories on the battlefield have led to peace on the continent.

Napoleon then turns to domestic issues. He signs a Concordat with Pope Pius VII ending hostilities with the clergy and making Catholicism the official church of France. In March 1804 he contemporizes the legal system in France with his Civil Code and its three major principles:

1. All citizens are equal under the law;
2. Religious diversity will be tolerated; and
3. The feudal practice of serfdom will end.

Not all agree with the changes and several attempts are made to assassinate Napoleon. But to further secure his authority, the Consulate is disbanded and the French Empire is born. Ironically the man who won fame by opposing the monarchy becomes a monarch himself.

Time: 1715 – 1855

Sidebar: Roll Call Of Key Monarchs During Napoleonic Era

On December 2, 1804, Napoleon Bonaparte establishes hereditary power over France for his family, as he crowns himself Emperor at Notre Dame Cathedral.

The service is designed to mimic the standards set for royal successions across Europe.

To insure that Napoleon will reign “in the eyes of God,” Pope Pius VII attends the ceremony in person. The 62 year old pontiff has been in office for four years, and is intent on restoring the Church’s standing in France after seeing papal authority stripped away during the people’s revolution.

Napoleon enters Notre Dame after Pius is already seated. He arrives with his wife, Josephine, in a carriage drawn by eight horses. He is gowned up in an eighty pound coronation mantle, supported by four manservants, and embroidered with “golden bees,” which he favors over the traditional fleur-de-lis symbol for France.

When the moment comes for the Pope to crown him, Napoleon intercedes by placing the laurel wreath on his own head and repeating the act for Josephine as Queen. Pius then intones his blessing:

May God confirm you on this throne and may Christ give you to rule with him in his eternal kingdom.

The action is completed with Napoleon placing his hands on the Bible and declaring his civil oath of office.

I swear to maintain the integrity of the territory of the Republic, to respect and enforce respect for the Concordat and freedom of religion, equality of rights, political and civil liberty, the irrevocability of the sale of national lands; not to raise any tax except in virtue of the law; to maintain the institution of Legion of Honor and to govern in the sole interest, happiness and glory of the French people.

As absolute monarch he is now eager to turn his energy against fulfilling the “glory of the French people.”

A Loss At Trafalgar Stalls The Invasion Of Britain

By the late summer of 1805, Napoleon has completed his plan to invade the British Isles, and has assembled a naval armada of French and Spanish ships to support the attack. But the invasion is delayed after Austria and Russia enter the war.

Still, Napoleon is displeased by the lack of aggression he sees in the commanding officer of his fleet, Admiral Pierre-Charles de Villeneuve, who learns that he is about to be relieved.

On October 20, 1805, before his replacement can arrive, Villeneuve departs the port of Cadiz on the southwest coast of Spain, intending to sail south past Cape Trafalgar and the Straits of Gibraltar, into the Mediterranean and the French port of Toulon.

Villeneuve’s fleet is formidable, comprising 33 heavy duty warships, with some 30,000 sailors and 2,568 guns.

At 11AM on October 21, they encounter the British navy, under the command of Captain Horatio Nelson, aboard his HMS Victory.

Nelson is already a legend within the Royal Navy. He enlists as an Ordinary Seaman at age twelve, serving under his uncle, who turns him into a first rate sailor, despite his lifelong bouts of seasickness. By December 1778, age twenty, he is Master and Commander of the sloop HMS Badger. He then becomes a national hero in February 1797, after capturing two Spanish warships at the Battle of St. Vincent.

He is almost killed on multiple occasions. In 1794 enemy shot leaves him blinded in his right eye. On July 24, 1797, his left arm is shattered by a musket ball and amputated. In 1798 he is knocked unconscious by shrapnel during the victorious Battle of the Nile, after which he is awarded the honorary titles of Baron and Viscount.

On October 21, 1805, Nelson has been battling the British and French off and on for some twelve years. He is 47 years old and Vice Admiral of the White (ensign) Fleet, second highest command in the Royal Navy. He has 27 warships at his disposal, with 17,000 men and 2,148 guns.

At 8AM the two fleets spot each other from a distance, the French still heading south toward Gibraltar, the English coming at them from the west. Villeneuve order his four-masters “to wear” (or jibe), reversing course to head back to Cadiz. But Nelson keeps coming onto him. The famous command — “England expects that every man will do his duty”—is flagged up.

Around noon, the ships close on one another, with traditional naval strategy calling for Nelson to turn and “form lines of battle” stations parallel to the enemy. Instead, he plows straight ahead, striking the French in perpendicular fashion, and bringing on a “pell-mell” series of ship against ship action favorable to his more skilled seaman. This move, executed at no small risk of receiving initial broadside fire, also allows him to shoot into the sterns of many French ships, with the fire traveling through the entire length of the ship, to the bow.

Nelson himself commands the lead ship, HMS Victory, into the fray.

As Victory locks with the French Redoubtable, a musket ball takes Nelson in the left shoulder, slices through his seventh cervical vertebrae and lodges in his right shoulder. He knows immediately that the wound is fatal, and says so to his surgeon.

You can do nothing for me. I have but a short time to live. My back is shot through.

He lingers below decks for another 3½ hours, still issuing orders, before succumbing to his wound. His last words are recorded as “Thank God I have done my duty.”

And his victory at Trafalgar is striking. Villeneuve’s fleet has suffered one ship sunk, seventeen ships captured, another eleven partially damaged and only four escaping unscathed. Some 4,500 of their seamen are killed, with another 2,400 wounded and 7,000 taken prisoner. On the British side, no ships are lost for good and total dead and wounded total 1,450.

The Royal Navy has again demonstrated its supremacy on the high seas, and Napoleon casts aside all thoughts of an invasion of the English Isles.

Napoleon’s Armies Sweep Across Europe

But he is characteristically undaunted by the loss at Trafalgar, and resumes his land war in Europe.

On December 2, 1805, in the nine hour “Battle of The Three Kings” – near Austerlitz (now in the Czech Republic) — his undermanned force (73,000 vs. 86,000) pulls a stunning victory against Alexander I of Russia and the Holy Roman Emperor Francis II. Casualties for the day total a staggering 36,000 men. In response to the loss, Francis gives up his Holy Roman title and becomes simply King of Austria.

Less than a year later, on October 14, 1806, Napoleon soundly defeats the 110,000 man Prussian army, in the two-part battle of Jena-Auerstadt, winning control over territory in what is now central Germany and Poland. Casualties here are even greater than at Austerlitz, totaling 50,000 soldiers.

With these two pivotal triumphs, he now effectively controls all of Europe, except for Portugal, and he again moves against the British by imposing a Continental Blockade halting all trade with England in his Berlin Decree, issued on November 21, 1806.

Despite concessions from Portugal, Napoleon and his Spanish allies invade, capturing Lisbon on December 1, 1807, as the royal family transfers their regency to the colony of Brazil.

Further intrigue follows in February 1808, with Napoleon making a move he has long avoided, turning against Spain. The betrayal catches the Spanish army by surprise and it quickly gives way. However, bloody public uprisings occur in many cities, including Madrid, and lead on to the reprisal executions later immortalized by the artist, Goya. It is not until May 5, 1808, that Napoleon is able to name his older brother, Joseph, King of Spain.

While the local Spanish population refuses to bend to the French will, and guerilla “(“little war”) actions persist over time, supported in part by British expeditionary forces, Joseph is able to remain on the throne until the tide turns against the French in 1812-13.

To the East, the Austrian monarch, Francis II, loser at Austerlitz, decides to challenge Napoleon once again. He does so in 1809 at Wagram, 6 miles northeast of Vienna, in a fierce artillery dominated battle that covers July 5-6, involves 300,000 men, and counts 80,000 casualties – with the French once again emerging victorious.

By 1810, Napoleon’s power is at a zenith.

He has effectively isolated Britain from its “Third Coalition” partners” on the continent – Austria, Prussia and Russia – by thrashing their armies and signing peace accords with each.

The only things limiting France’s horizons are the presence and superiority of the British navy – and the small chance that Napoleon will eventually make a strategic blunder. In 1812 he will do just that.

The Tide Turns Against The French

Trouble for France begins in Spain, where Joseph Napoleon has ruled for four years.

The main source of the western threat is none other than the Irishman, Arthur Wellesley, destined for future fame as the Duke of Wellington. Wellesley is born into wealth in 1869, educated at Eton, and travels to France to learn horsemanship and to speak French. He wishes to pursue his love of music, but his mother pushes him into the military. He serves multiple tours of duty with the British army in Europe and India, is knighted and elected to Parliament. In 1808 he begins a six year campaign to dislodge France from Portugal and Spain.

His efforts bear fruit on July 22, 1812, when his 52,000 strong coalition army (Britain, Portugal, Spain) defeats the French at the ancient city of Salamanca, 120 miles west of Madrid. The victory makes Wellesley a national hero in Britain, and lays the groundwork for a final drive against the French in Spain.

Two days after the loss at Salamanca, Napoleon launched his fateful invasion of Russia.

The impetus is Russia’s decision, encouraged by Britain, to withdraw from Napoleon’s continental blockade of English goods. To punish his long-time adversary, Alexander I, he assembles a huge army, over 400,000 men (half French, half foreign conscripts), and begins to march east on July 24, 1812.

The Russians at first retreat, under the scorched earth strategy of the Scotsman, Barclay de Tolly, Minister of War. When troop morale deteriorates, command passes to the 67 year old veteran, General Mikhail Kutuzov.

Kutuzov has suffered two horrible head wounds over time, which leave his right eye mis-shapened and cause him constant pain. He has also fought Napoleon before, losing at Austerlitz, which leads Alexander I to doubt his talents. But Kutuzov is a native Russian, much beloved by the troops, and he is charged with resisting the French approach to Moscow.

By the time Napoleon is ready to attack, the strength of the central army wing under his direct command has already dwindled sharply, from a combination of battles, winter cold, dysentery and typhus.

At 5:30AM on September 7, his remaining 130,000 men collide with Kutuzov’s 120,000 troops just west of Borodino, some 65 miles from Moscow. Both generals blunder during the day, Kutuzov’s troop deployment is flawed and Napoleon refuses to send his Old Guard in to finish off the battle – which turns into a bloodbath, with French losses at 30,000 and Russian losses at 44,000.

After Kutuzov retreats, Napoleon continues his march to Moscow, reaching the city on September 14. By that time, however, only 15,000 of the city’s population of 270,000 have stayed behind, the mayor has put the torch to most of the buildings, and both food and shelter are in short supply.

Napoleon is now some 1700 miles from Paris and 600 miles from his jumping off point for the invasion, the Nieman River, in Poland. What was the 400,000 strong Grande Armee in July has been reduced to 95,000 tired and starving men eight weeks later.

When Alexander refuses to discuss a treaty to end the conflict, Napoleon exits Moscow on October 19. The road back west is tortuous and marked by death from ambushes, starvation and disease. While various commanders blame the winter weather for the defeat, the first snowfall is not recorded until November 5 and temperatures tend to hold in the 15-20 degree Fahrenheit range until early December.

On December 14, 1812, the survivors of the Russian campaign re-cross the Nieman. Most estimates peg this number at around 30,000 men.  

In less than five months Napoleon has lost over a quarter million dead and wounded and another 100,000 captured. He has lost Russia. And he has forever forfeited his mantle of invincibility. 

The Russian defeat quickly emboldens his European enemies, with Prussia making the first move. An unexpected alliance has actually resulted in the Prussians fighting alongside France in Russia, with General von Wartenburg’s 15,000 troops supporting the left wing of Napoleon’s army. But on December 30, 1812 it dissolves the alliance and soon thereafter declares war on its old enemy.

In response, Napoleon assembles a large invasion force and moves east, defeating a combined Prussian and Russian army under General Peter Wittgenstein, first at Lutzen on May 2 and then at Bautzen on May 20. Together the two armies suffer roughly 40,000 in these battles. 

But with the momentum on his side, Napoleon inexplicably agrees to a truce, which he later calls “the greatest mistake of my life.” It commences on June 4 and gives the allies a chance to regroup – and for Austria to join the coalition, tipping the manpower edge against France.

As Napoleon fights in Germany, more bad news arrives from Spain, where General Wellesley has gathered and trained 110,000 troops in the northwest Basque region of the country. On June 21, 1813, he sends them against Joseph Napoleon’s 60,000 man force at the Battle of Vitoria. Wellesley’s troop rout the French army and hurls the survivors across the Pyrenees and back into southwestern France.

When his momentary truce ends, Napoleon resumes the offensive and almost encircles the allied army under the Austrian, Karl Furst zu Schwarzenberg, just outside Dresden, on August 26-27. The allies lose almost 40,000 men here to only 10,000 for the French, and, were it not for Napoleon’s sudden illness, the rout might have been even more devastating.

The Loss At Leipzig Seals Napoleon’s Fate

Six weeks now pass before the largest ground battle prior to World War I is fought over a four day span, October 16-19, 1813, at the Saxon town of Leipzig, located 160 miles northwest of Prague.

The Battle of Leipzig is by far the largest conflict of the Napoleonic Wars. The French are led by Napoleon and his most famous lieutenants: Michel Ney, Joachim Murat, Jacques MacDonald and Henri Bertrand. They concentrate their 198,000 men and 717 artillery pieces in the city itself and await the enemy, hoping they will arrive piecemeal to be beaten one nation at a time.

But instead comes a coordinated assault by the 370,000 troops and 1,384 cannon belonging to the “Sixth Coalition” comprising Austria, Prussia, Russia and Sweden, albeit not the British. Blucher commands the Prussians; Schwarzenberg the Austrians; de Tolly and Bennigsen the Russians; and Crown Prince Karl the Swedes. All three leading monarchs also arrive on site: Alexander I of Russia, Francis I of Austria and Frederick William III of Prussia.

The result is a four day slugfest from October 16-19, 1813, that seals Napoleon’s downfall.

The Grande Armee is much depleted from its losses in Russia, but holds its own on the first two days of battle. By October 19, however, it is facing heavy reinforcements by the enemy and is virtually surrounded inside Leipzig proper. Napoleon recognizes that the odds have turned against him and tries to negotiate a free passage out, but the initiative is refused.

That night he orders his troops to slip out of the trap by crossing the one remaining bridge over the Elster River to the west. After his lead brigades escape, however, they blow the bridge leaving many of their comrades behind. The butcher’s bill for the battle is staggering:

Casualties At The Battle Of Leipzig

For perspective, the 90,000 casualties at Leipzig tops the list of all 1-5 day battles in history, followed by the 68,000 lost on July 1, 1916 at the Somme and the 51,000 fallen on July 1-3, 1863 at Gettysburg.

Among the French dead are six generals, including the Polish warrior, Prince Jozef Poniatowski, who is wounded multiple times during the battle before drowning in the Elster River flight.

This comes three days after Napoleon promotes him to Field Marshal of the Empire, the only non-Frenchman to ever attain the rank.

The defeat at Leipzig marks the first major loss for Napoleon not related to external factors such as outbreaks of disease or adverse weather conditions. Instead his battle strategy and execution are found wanting against a traditional enemy, this time with a large edge in manpower.

Upon hearing of his brother’s loss, Joseph Napoleon officially abdicates the throne of Spain on December 11, 1813. He will live on for another thirty years, first in America from 1817-32 (where he reportedly sells the crown jewels of Spain) and then back in Italy where he dies in 1868 and is buried in Les Invalides Paris.

Napoleon is now in headlong retreat, back across the Rhine toward Paris, with the vastly superior coalition army on his tail.

He has one last moment of brilliance left, in the Five Days campaign, from February 10-14, 1814.

The allies have three massive armies coming after him, which means that his only chance lies in beating them in detail. His first move, pitting his 30,000 men against von Blucher’s 110,000 some 50 miles northwest of Paris leads to four consecutive victories.

But the allied wave coming his way is now overwhelming.

The coalition, however, is not all together on the endgame it seeks. Francis I of Austria and his foreign minister, Metternich, hope to conclude a treaty with Napoleon that would cost the French territorial gains, but leave the nation strong enough to avoid any chances of an English invasion of Europe.

But Alexander I of Russia in particular wants revenge, with Paris taken, Napoleon both deposed and humiliated, and the French army neutered. In the end, the coalition supports Alexander and marches on Paris. Their cause is helped by assurances to the war-weary population that the goal is to remove Napoleon, not harm the civilians.

After rear guard resistance is overcome, the allies occupy Paris on March 30, 1814 – the first time it has fallen in nearly 400 years.

On April 14, 1814, the French minister, Talleyrand, suggests that Louis XVIII, a Bourbon, be chosen to replace Napoleon and to rule under a charter restoring pre-Revolutionary conditions. All sides agree on this option.

Napoleon Is Exiled Then Returns To Lose At Waterloo

The Treaty of Paris is signed on May 30, 1814. It restore France’s 1792 borders and exiles Napoleon to the Isle of Alba, only 10 miles west of the Tuscan coast.

He spends 300 days on Alba before deciding to return to Paris, in response to rumors of popular uprisings against the monarchy, and fears that his country and army will be victimized at the ongoing Congress of Vienna chaired by the Austrian minister von Metternich.

On March 1, 1815, he lands with 600 troops near the southern coastal town of Antibes and is back in Paris on March 19, with supporters flocking to his banner and with Louis XVIII in flight.

He quickly holds a plebiscite, showing the world that the French people back him.

He announces that his next step will be to restore France to its former preeminence in Europe.

In response a “Seventh Coalition” of opponents is formed. In addition to Austria, Russia and Prussia, it now includes Britain. Together they brand Napoleon an outlaw and reassemble a huge army to defeat him.

True to form when threatened, Napoleon goes on the offensive with his Armee du Nord, 130,000 strong and filled with veterans of his prior victories. As before, he intends to attack one nation at a time before the Coalition can concentrate the mass needed to overwhelm him.

He sets his sights on the heavily French oriented city of Brussels, 160 miles to the northeast of Paris, where he expects to encounter second tier British troops under Wellesley (soon to be Wellington) and worn out Prussians, under Blucher.

As Napoleon draws near, the allies anticipate that he will sweep north in an attempt at encirclement, but instead he dives straight between them – crossing the River Sambre on June 15 and dividing his force in two. At Quatre Bras, on his left, he places 70,000 troops under General Ney to block the English, while he moves to his right, eastward, with 60,000 me to attack Blucher’s force of 83,000 around the town of Ligny.

Ligny will be Napoleon’s final victory.

The fight there opens at 2:30PM on June 16 and remains in the balance until Bonaparte sends in the Old Guard around 7:45 and drives the Prussians off the field to the west. During the fight, the 72 year old Blucher leads a charge, but is knocked unconscious when his horse is shot and falls on him.

But Napoleon knows that the Prussians have only been bruised at Ligny, not routed, and he worries that they will try to reunite with the British.

He needs to attack again before that can occur.

When Wellington hears the outcome at Ligny, he retreats from Quatre Bras, north to a high ground position he has staked out on a 2.5 mile ridge running east and west in front of the town of Mont St. Jean. A country road runs along the ridge, and intersects on the east with the main route toward Brussels, some 8 miles north.

The British General is a long-standing proponent of defensive warfare, and he deploys his forces in a way that will enable him to grind down any frontal assault on his center.

He does this by fortifying three sets of farmhouses and out-buildings., on his right flank, the Chateau Hougoumont, a half mile down from the ridge; on his near left La Haye Sainte, and on his far left Papelotte, along the road west toward the Prussians. Each site is manned and ready to send enfilading fire into all French troops trying to ascend the ridge.

Wellington has one other trick up his sleeve, and that is the ability to have his troops along the ridge lie down along the back slope while enemy artillery charges fly over their heads.

At 2AM on the morning of June 18, the Duke, headquartered further north in Waterloo, hears that Blucher will provide one Prussian corps to support him, if the battle occurs later in the day. This convinces him to make his stand on his current ground.

As the dawn arrives, the two sides each assemble roughly 70,000 men to do battle in a confined space of roughly 2.5 miles by 2.5 miles.

Napoleon rises at 8AM, takes breakfast, and rides north to review his troop alignments – his light infantry chasseurs in bright green, the light cavalry hussars, mounted cavalry dragoons and carabineers with long guns strapped to saddles, cuirassiers wearing metal breastplates, the towering grenadiers, chosen to lead assaults, in their blue and scarlet uniforms and bearskin headgear designed to add to their natural height, the cavalry lancers with their 10 foot wooden staffs tipped by a sharp steel blade, and the artillerymen, “his most beautiful daughters,” whose mastery and courage have won him many a victory.

The French Emperor is eager to conquer the British in his front and march into Brussels for his evening meal. While he has never met Wellington before, he remains typically confident. And his troops cheer and call out his name as he passes in front of them.

Meanwhile on the ridge, the Duke’s troops are lined up shoulder to shoulder according to the traditional 21 inch spacing proclaimed in the manuals. Nobody cheers his presence when he passes, because he has forbidden all such shows from within the ranks.

Napoleon is in no rush to attack. It has rained all night on the 17^th, and the field of rye across which the French will make their assault is muddy and slippery. So he waits until 11:30AM, at which time he makes his first move of the day – against the crucial fortifications on his left at Hougoumont.

If Hougoumont falls, his cannoners can ascend the ridge on the left, send enfilading fire down the entire British line, and claim a certain victory.

Artillery fire announces the French move, and it is quickly returned in kind: 4-12 pound solid iron balls bouncing along the ground and gouging body parts, sometimes 15-20 soldiers at a time, before being spent. Next comes the infantry, marching in order up the slope to the Chateau. The hand to hand fight there lasts for 90 minutes, the only action on the field.

When Hougoumont holds out, Napoleon next tries the British right, a heavy artillery barrage followed by massed infantry, 24 columns deep, coming up east of the Brussels road and past the fortified buildings of La Haye Sainte. Again the defenders drive the French back, led by a heroic cavalry charge behind Sir Thomas Picton, who is mortally wounded.

It is now 3PM and a pause leads many to think the battle is over. While the Duke is constantly visible along the ridge, Napoleon remains slouched in a field chair 1.5 miles back from the action, sending few orders and trusting Marshall Ney to manage the tactics. Amazingly the two do not meet face to face from 9AM until 7PM.

Around 4:00PM, Ney, evidently on his own, decides to test the British center. He does so in highly irregular fashion, using cavalry alone, unsupported by infantry.

Wellington responds by “forming squares,” the traditional defense against cavalry. The goal here is first to discourage the horses via planted pikes, and then to shoot them – leaving their armor clad riders stumbling on the field.

And this strategy succeeds. Some 12,000 French cavalrymen ascend the slope in magnificent order, only to be broken up into mingling clusters by the square’s concentrated firepower. By some estimates they re-form on twelve occasions to charge again and be rebuffed.

By 4:30PM Wellington, stationed openly in one of the squares, tells an aides, “the battle is mine, and if the Prussians arrive soon, there will be an end to the war.”

But when the French finally take La Haye Sainte, his confidence lessens – and the outcomes again hangs in the balance. Wellington has now shot his bolt, his troops are fought out, and his hope for survival rests on the appearance of Blucher’s Prussians to plug his gaps.

This is Napoleon’s last best chance. He has held 14 regiments of his best troops, The Gard Imperiale, in reserve to the south. But when Ney requests them, Napoleon refuses to comply.

It is 7:00PM and the Emperor now knows that the Prussians, under Blucher and Bulow, are attacking his right flank, through Papelotte and, further south, at Plancenoit.

His options are running out. Does he use his reserves to hold off the Prussians or fling them up toward the British on the ridge? At 7:30PM he chooses the latter course.

He mounts his horse and leads five regiments of his Gard north to the battle.

The Gard, the “Immortals,” famed for their courage – “the Gard dies, it does not retreat.”

Many expect Napoleon himself to ride at the front of his troops, but he turns them over to Ney who has already had five horses shot from under him and is near exhaustion. Instead of taking the Brussels road up to the ridge, Ney veers left across the same ground as his prior cavalry charge. This adds 1,000 yards to the task, with the remains of the British artillery firing away.

As the Gard reaches the apparently accessible ridge, some 1,000 British infantrymen, the 1^st Foot, under the command of Major General Peregrine Maitland, rise as if from nowhere, and shoot them down. And the Gard turns and flees back down the slope.

At this moment, the French have indeed lost the battle.

Wellington waves forward his troops, just as the Prussians break through from the east.

Napoleon rallies the remnants of the Imperiale Garde, south at La Belle Alliance along the Brussels road, and enables his troops to exit the field toward the south and west.

Around 9:30PM Wellington and Blucher meet up on the southern part of the field to seal their victory. The Duke has lost 15,000 killed and wounded; Blucher another 7,000.

Napoleon has lost 15,000 men – and his empire.

As the Coalition army closes again on Paris on June 24, Napoleon abdicates. He surrenders personally on July 22 to the British, seeking “hospitality and the full protection of their laws.”

According to the traditions of the age, Napoleon again suffers banishment not execution, this time to the Island of St. Helena, some 4,000 miles from France off the southwestern coast of Africa. He lives there until his death in 1821, presumably of stomach cancer. In 1840 his remains were shipped back to Paris, where he lies in Les Invalides.

Le jour de gloire has come and gone – for Napoleon and for revolutionary France.

le jour de gloire s’en est allé” — the day of glory has vanished

Aftermath

Following the turmoil of the French Revolution and the Napoleonic Wars, the monarchs of Europe are eager to restore their authority and permanence by creating a stable balance of power between their nations.

They use the 1814 Congress of Vienna and the 1815 Paris Peace Conference to attempt to achieve these ends.

At the center of the diplomacy lies ongoing fear of France and a wish to contain any further thoughts of expansion on her part.

Within France itself, a “constitutional monarchy” is created under the Bourbon King Louis XVIII, Napoleon and his heirs are banned for life, reparations of 700 million francs are demanded and foreign troops remain on French soil until 1818.

In addition, steps are taken to surround her with more formidable border states:

• To her southwest, along the Pyrenees, the Bourbon King Ferdinand VII is returned to the throne of Spain.
• Her southeastern border with Italy is controlled by the Kingdom of Sardinia/Piedmont backed by Austria which gains control of Milan and Tuscany.
• Directly east of central France lie a jumble of states sharing both French and German roots, including what will become Switzerland, Alsace-Lorraine and Luxemburg.
• But to her northeast lie two sizable forces – the first being the new United Netherlands, with its seven provinces, including the two Hollands, under King William I of Orange.
• And then Prussia, which has traded off some of its claims to Poland to acquire a toehold along both banks of the Rhine River, in the resource rich Ruhr Valley.

When the Prussian minister Bismarck finally patches together a united Germany in 1867, France will have found a powerful foe all along its eastern border.

What of Britain, Napoleon’s original nemesis from the time he came to power?

Their prize is absolute control of the seas with the Royal Navy and of their colonial empire stretching around the globe.

In the end, the French Revolution and the Napoleonic Wars have shaken the monarchical pillars of Europe from Lisbon to Moscow. But, by in large, the work done in 1815 at the Congress of Vienna and The Treaty of Paris restore their crowns and deliver relative stability over the next one hundred years.

Appendix

Napoleon’s Rise And Fall

Photo Gallery