28475683 Napoleon s Greatest Defeat

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World History II Jim DiCesare

Mr. Gutzler 12/23/09

Napoleons Greatest Defeat

Emperor Napoleon I was one of histories most fascinating figures. Starting off life as the

second of eight children to a family of the Corsican gentry, he quickly rose to prominence. He

graduated from Ecole Militaire at age 16, and was commissioned a Second Lieutenant of

Artillery. At the Battle of Toulon, as a captain, he replaced an artillery general and seized

ground where he could fire at the British ships supporting the rebels. Without support Toulon

quickly fell, and Napoleon was promoted to Brigadier General at the age of 24.

As a General he was put in charge of the French Army of Italy in 1796. He successfully

defeated 4 Austrian Generals in succession. In 1798 he conquered Ottoman Egypt, but was

stranded because of the French naval defeat by Admiral Nelson at the Battle of the Nile.

Undeterred he reformed Egyptian government and law, and the French scholars he brought with

him began studying ancient Egyptian civilization. He failed to capture Syria, but won a great

victory at Abukir.

Following his success in Egypt, Napoleon returned to Paris where he participated in a

Coup dEtat. He was made first consul of France, and by 1804 he crowned himself Emperor.

He went on to conquer most of Europe, before being exiled to Isle Elba upon his first abdication.

Although Napoleon was the greatest military leader of all time, and history has blamed his

generals for the loss at Waterloo, it was in fact the Emperor himself that blundered. The Battle

of Waterloo was the climax of napoleons 100 Days Campaign. Upon his first abdication he

signed the Treat of Fontainbleau, April 11, 1814. The Treaty granted him the title of Emperor,

sovereignty over Isle Elba, and 2 million francs. It was on this Isle that Napoleon attempted

suicide by poison. But the poison was old and the potency had worn off, and he survived.

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The political situation in France was deteriorating every minute he was gone. The army

wasnt fond of Louis XVIII because the Bourbon government was refusing to pay pensions. The

people also had low opinions of the Bourbons. Fleury de Chaboulon informed Napoleon of the

situation. His mother encouraged him to return.

The English commissioner, Campbell, left the Isle for a visit to Italy on February 16th.

Napoleon ordered his only ship of war, the brigInconstant, to stock for a voyage. Campbell

returned February 28th to find Napoleon and his guard gone. March 1st, 1815, Napoleon landed

near Antibes with his handful of braves: less than 1,000 men, and a few lancers.

On his march to Paris he was met enthusiastically by peasants from Douphine. At

Grenoble he encountered a Royalist garrison. In his speech to the troops the general in charge

pointed out that Napoleon only had 1,000 men. The men pointed out to the general that they

counted too. Napoleon found a regiment barring the road. He stepped in front of his troops with

his familiar gray overcoat and shouted: Kill your Emperor if you wish. The garrison troops

ignored all orders from their officers to shoot. Instead they broke ranks and surrounded their

Emperor. When he arrived at the gates of Grenoble, the gunners refused to fire. The whole

garrison wound up going over to him. Continuing onto Paris, General Ney joined Napoleon, and

Louis XVIII fled north on March 19th. The evening of March 20th Napoleon was carried up the

steps of Tuilleries, and summoned the Electoral College in order to reform the constitution.

The Congress of Vienna declared him to be in breech of the Treaty of Fontainbleau, and

participating nations declared war on France. Napoleon dared not risk a defensive campaign.

He concluded that the best offense is a good defense, and managed to scrape up men to secure

southern France and 130,000 for an Armee du Nord. There were two armies in the Low

Countries preparing to invade France: an Anglo-Allied army of 90,000 under Arthur Wellsely,

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the Duke of Wellington, and a Prussian army of 120,00 under Field Marshall Gebhard Furst

Blucher von Wahlstatt1.

Arthur Wellesley learned the art of war in British India. In 1799 he led a division at

Seringapatum. He went on to win the Battles of Argaum (1803), and Assaye (1803) while in

command. He was a master of the reverse-slope tactic: keeping his forces screened from artillery

fire behind the brow of a hill. In 1808 he was made Lieutenant General and sent to Portugal to

fight against the Napoleonic armies. He engaged the French at Obidos, and Rolino where the

French routed to Vimiero, only to be defeated again. He was made Duke of Wellington in 1814.

Field Marshall Gebhard Furst Blucher von Wahlstatt joined the Swedish army as a

cavalry officer in 1742. He took part in three campaigns against Frederick the Great. In 1760 he

was captured and changed sides. However this turncoat was somewhat uncontrollable and was

forced to retire to his farms in 1773. In 1806 he was recalled to fight Frances revolutionary

armies. He was defeated by Napoleon at Chanpoubet, Montmirail, Chateau Thierry,

Vauchamps, and Craonne. Prussia finally beat the Emperor at Laon. After this he once again

returned to his farms. He was called back, again, to lead the Black Coat Army in the 100 Days

Campaign.

Racing north to meet the enemy, Napoleons timing surprised the allies. He planned on

dislocating the enemies joint and fighting the armies separately. His approach succeeded in

dislocating the joint and the French defeated the Prussians at the Battles of Ligny and Quatre

Bras. The Prussians suffered serious losses at the latter and were forced to retreat north to

Wavre. On the 17th of June, Wellington marched north and deployed his army on a ridge just

south of Mont St. Jean. Wellington placed 68,000 men along the 2-mile crescent ridge, and

1 Marshall Blucher for short

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detached 18,000 men west to the village of Tubize. He also placed strong garrisons at

Hougoumont and La Haye Sainte to provide obstacles for the French. There were also

significant amounts of mud on the battlefield, preventing canon shot from bouncing. Fields of

chest high grain would provide the allies with hiding places to jump the French.

Also on the 17th of June Napoleon sent Grouchy to finish off the Prussians. However

Blucher was going west on his way to support Wellington at Mont St. Jean, and Grouchy was

moving north towards Wavre. Some historians have argued that because Grouchy was unable to

intercept Blucher, and Blucher was able to arrive on Napoleons right flank, Napoleon became

overextended and thus lost.

After dealing with the Prussians Napoleon intended to assault the center of the allied line,

break through, cut Wellington in two, and sever his communications. He would use the classic

Napoleonic tactic of mass artillery to weaken the enemy, then assault up the hill with infantry

and cavalry. There are two things wrong with this plan. First, assaulting up a hill against a dug

in enemy yields a low probability of success. If anything he should have attempted an

outflanking maneuver: throughout the ages, effective results in war have rarely been attained

unless the approach has had such indirectness as to ensure the opponents unreadiness to meet

it2. Second, after Wellingtons deployment on the ridge, following the Prussian defeats at Ligny

and Quatre Bras, Napoleon should have withdrawn to a field of his choosing. This would be the

logical choice because Napoleon had gained the initiative through his superb timing, and

succeeded in throwing the enemy onto the defensive:

Wellingtons dispositions might have suggested a different course to a more cautious attacker:

either to withdraw and fight another day on a field of Napoleons choosing or to execute a wide

2 B.H. Liddell Hart. Strategy. (New York: Penguin Group, 1967), 5

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outflanking maneuver so as to rob the the duke of the advantages of his strong defensive position

on the ridge3

B.H. Hart further supports this argument: For even if decisive battle be the goal, the aim

of strategy must be to bring about this battle under the most advantageous circumstances4. The

enemy would have to come and meet him because the Allies were invading France, not the other

way around.

Nevertheless Napoleon opened the battle at 11:30 a.m. with an attack on fortified

Hougoumont. The idea was to force Wellington to weaken his lines in order to reinforce the

stronghold. The plan actually completely backfired in that Napoleon had to commit more and

more troops to the assault. In all 3,000 allies would resist 13,000 Frenchman. At 1:30 p.m. the

Prussians began arriving on Wellingtons left. Napoleon ordered General Drouet to advance

with 16,000 men against the allied center-left. He marched 13,000 guards under artillery fire and

captured the hamlet of Papelotte. A brigade was dispatched to La Haye Sainte. Drouets

advance reached as far as the crest of the ridge before General Picton ordered a bayonet attack.

General Pictons attack was supported by a cavalry attack on Drouets left flank. The French

were driven down the slope and the British took 2,000 prisoners. However the British were

celebrating a little too much, and the French attacked with cavalry on both sides.

Meanwhile the defenders of Hougoumont were holding out against Jerome Bonapartes

assault, and Major George Barings Hanoverians clung on at La Haye Sainte. By 3:00 p.m. a lull

sounded across the battlefield, as these became the only places of fighting. Instead of aiding

Napoleon, Grouchy attacked the 15,000 Prussians left at Wavre. By 4:30 the bulk of the

Prussians had arrived. Marshall Ney attempted an assault on La Haye Sainte, but failed. He then

3 Gregory Fremont-Barnes, Waterloo Battle of in The Encyclopedia of the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars.

4 Hart 324

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proposed an unsupported cavalry charge up the ridge, which Napoleon accepted. The British

infantry formed themselves into squares. The French artillery had to cease firing during the

waves. The cavalry could only swarm around the squares, and bodies of the dead choked later

efforts. In addition British gunners would discharge their guns at close range then retreat to the

safety of the squares.

The Prussians began attacking Napoleons right flank. They sent 30,000 men to

Frischermont and Bois de Paris, and quickly overwhelmed the 10,000 defenders. Napoleon sent

the Young Guard around 7:00 p.m. With less troops at Napoleons center, Wellington was able

to pull troops from his left to reinforce his center.

The men at La Haye Sainte began running out of ammunition by 6:00. The French were

finally able to capture this stronghold and gain access to the Charleroi-Brussels road. Ney

brought up the artillery and began to bombard the ridge, repulsed an attempt to recapture, and

drove riflemen out of the sandpit. Despite this huge initiative the French could not pull enough

troops fast enough. The Young Guard was defeated on the right. Despite large gaps in

Wellingtons lines, Napoleon chose not to gamble. He also refused Neys request to commit the

Old Guard. Instead he committed the Old Guard to recapturing Placenoit (on the right). They

were able to reclaim former positions and advance, but eventually hit the solid wall that is

superior numbers.

Napoleon could not stop the Prussians from joining Wellingtons left flank. Napoleon

circulated that these men were Grouchy in order to keep morale intact. Napoleon still had 5,000

men from the Middle and Old Guard. These men he committed to assaulting the ridge under

Ney. Ney organized them into two waves. The first wave had five battalions and the second

wave had three. Wellington closed his lines and deployed his cavalry to the rear to prevent gaps.

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Thirty canons were waiting for the Guard on their march up. A Dutch-Belgian brigade had their

canons fire at short range, and then followed it by a bayonet attack. The Guard was driven back.

Another battalion fought a British brigade and was repulsed by musket fire and horse artillery.

When the middle guard attempted to assault they were subjected to intense artillery, and surprise

attacks from the cornfields. The last battalion was overwhelmed from all sides, and Wellington

ordered a general advance to cut down the retreating French army.

All attacks to assault up the ridge failed. Proving that Napoleon should not have

attempted to fight Wellington head on. Some would argue that Napoleon was over-committed

due to Grouchys failure to defeat the Prussians, and was thus unable to continue the assault.

Napoleon committed 10,000 unsupported cavalry to assault up the hill. Wave after wave they

failed to puncture the British squares. Later, after an artillery bombardment, he attempted to

assault the hill with 5,000 of his elite troops. However they too failed. The allies were too dug

in on their ridge; they could never be defeated by a frontal assault. The problem did not lie with

the number of troops; the problem lied with the approach. After defeating the Prussians at Ligny

and Quatre Bras, Wellington deployed his men on the ridge of Mont St. Jean. At that point

Napoleon should have withdrawn to a field of his choosing. Or move west and attempt to flank

the allies so as to rob them of their advantage. Napoleon was the man who decided to attack

directly and thus the repercussions solely belong to him.

Bibliography

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B.H. Liddell Hart. Strategy. New York: Penguin Group. 1967.

Felix Markham.Napoleon. New York: Penguin Group. 1967.

Gregory Fremont-Barnes, Waterloo Battle of (18 June 1815), in the Encyclopedia of the French

Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars.

Hansen, Liane and Peter Hofschroer. Interview: Peter Hofschroer discusses the secret of the Battle ofWaterloo as told in his book, Wellingtons Smallest victory Weekend Edition Sunday, 19 June

2005

Hofschroer, Peter Prussian Assault on Placenoit: Placenoit was only a nondescript village, but itspossession would determine the outcome of the Battle of WaterlooMilitary History June 2002, 26

Microsoft Student 2008 Battle of Waterloo [DVD] (Redmond, WA: Microsoft Corporation,

2007).

Napoleonic Guide Waterloo: Ney Defends Himself updated 18 November 2009http://www.napoleonguide.com/waterloo_ney.htm; accessed December 12, 2009

Napoleonic Guide Arthur Wellsely updated 18 November 2009http://www.napoleonguide.com/leaders_welling.htm; accessed December 12, 2009

Napoleonic Guide Gebhard von Blucher updated 18 November 2009

http://www.napoleonguide.com/leaders_blucher.htm; accessed December 12, 2009

The War Time Journal Napoleons Correspondence June 12 through 16 updated 10 December 2009

http://www.wtj.com/archives/napoleon/nap615be.htm; accessed December 12, 2009

The War Time Journal Napoleons Correspondence June 18 through 21updated 16 December 2009

http://www.wtj.com/archives/napoleon/nap615be.htm; accessed December 15, 2009

Satterfield, George D. Waterloo: the end of an age Calliope April 2004, 24

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http://www.napoleonguide.com/waterloo_ney.htm;http://www.napoleonguide.com/leaders_welling.htm;http://www.napoleonguide.com/leaders_blucher.htm;http://www.wtj.com/archives/napoleon/nap615be.htm;http://www.wtj.com/archives/napoleon/nap615be.htmhttp://www.napoleonguide.com/waterloo_ney.htm;http://www.napoleonguide.com/leaders_welling.htm;http://www.napoleonguide.com/leaders_blucher.htm;http://www.wtj.com/archives/napoleon/nap615be.htm;http://www.wtj.com/archives/napoleon/nap615be.htm


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