The Waterloo campaign: two allied armies and Napoleon’s last advance
The Waterloo campaign ended Napoleon's return to power in 1815 through the cooperation of two allied armies. The Duke of Wellington commanded a force containing British, Dutch, Belgian, and German troops. Field Marshal Gebhard Leberecht von Blücher led the Prussians. Napoleon attempted to defeat them separately before other allied armies could concentrate. His victory over Blücher at Ligny failed to sever the connection between the allies. Two days later, on June 18, the Prussians reached Waterloo while Wellington's army was still holding its position.
Wellington brought experience from campaigns in India, Portugal, and Spain. In India, he had learned the importance of supplies, intelligence, diplomacy with allies, and disciplined movement. At Vimeiro in 1808, he used a reverse-slope defense, placing troops behind a ridge to protect them from French fire and observation. His later campaigns included both defensive operations and victories in open battle. Salamanca in 1812 and Vitoria in 1813 helped drive the French from Spain. After Napoleon's first abdication, Wellesley became Duke of Wellington in 1814.
The renewed crisis interrupted the peace arrangements at Vienna. Wellington and Blücher met during the spring of 1815 and agreed to support each other if Napoleon attacked. The Prussian army occupied positions along the Meuse, while Wellington's forces lay farther west. Austrian and Russian armies had not yet arrived to complete the allied concentration. Napoleon moved across the Sambre on June 15, aiming at the space between the two armies. The Waterloo campaign began with the allies still gathering their separate formations.
On June 16, Napoleon defeated the Prussians at Ligny. On the same day, Marshal Ney fought Wellington's forces at Quatre Bras. Blücher's army withdrew north toward Wavre, maintaining contact with Wellington instead of retreating east toward Prussia. Wellington then pulled back to a defensive position near Mont-Saint-Jean, south of Waterloo. The direction of the Prussian retreat mattered: it kept the armies within supporting distance. Napoleon detached Marshal Grouchy with part of his army to pursue the Prussians, while taking his main force toward Wellington.
Wellington’s army fielded about 68,000 men and 156 guns; Napoleon’s main force numbered about 72,000 with 246 guns. Wellington deployed much of his infantry behind the ridge and used the farms in front as strongpoints. Hougoumont guarded his right; La Haye Sainte stood near the center, and Papelotte protected the left. The army included units with different national origins and military experience. French attacks against Hougoumont drew increasing numbers into what had begun as a diversion. Infantry and cavalry assaults against the main position followed. Wellington's troops held their formations through repeated attacks while waiting for Blücher's promised support.
The Prussian advance brought separate corps toward different parts of the battlefield. Bülow's men attacked the French right, with further support following from the force around Wavre. Fighting developed at Plancenoit, behind Napoleon's right flank, forcing him to commit troops there. Zieten's corps eventually reached Wellington's left. Grouchy remained occupied at Wavre rather than joining Napoleon. The Waterloo campaign now placed the French main army between Wellington's continuing resistance and Prussian pressure from the east, dividing the use of its reserves.
French troops captured La Haye Sainte late in the day and threatened Wellington's center. Napoleon's need to recover Plancenoit delayed the reinforcements sought by Ney. When the Imperial Guard finally advanced against the ridge, allied infantry repulsed it. The retreat spread through the French army. Prussian troops led the pursuit, while Wellington and Blücher met near the farm of La Belle Alliance that evening. Blücher favored naming the battle after that meeting place; Wellington used Waterloo, where his headquarters had stood.
Napoleon abdicated on June 22. The victorious armies continued toward Paris, and he ultimately went into exile on St. Helena. Commemoration of the alliance also developed through royal patronage. George IV had commissioned Thomas Lawrence to paint figures associated with Napoleon's first defeat in 1814. After Waterloo, the series expanded to include military leaders, rulers, and statesmen involved in the peace negotiations. The portraits joined the battlefield outcome to the diplomacy that reshaped Europe after the wars.
Lawrence's cycle comprised 28 full-length and half-length portraits. Among the sitters were Metternich, the Austrian minister central to the Congress of Vienna, and Cardinal Consalvi, the papal representative. The paintings were eventually installed in the Waterloo Chamber at Windsor Castle after the deaths of both artist and patron. The room commemorated a coalition of soldiers, sovereigns, and diplomats. Its collection gave the Waterloo campaign a setting that included the political work surrounding the military victory, as well as the commanders who had secured it.
- National Army Museum, Battle of Waterloo — www.nam.ac.uk
- National Army Museum, Wellington: The Iron Duke — www.nam.ac.uk
- Fondation Napoléon, Blücher and the Waterloo campaign — www.napoleon.org
- Royal Collection Trust, George IV: Art & Spectacle, Waterloo Chamber labels, pp. 205–210 — media.rct.uk