Fall Camp has started! That’s good news for those of us (im)patiently waiting for football. But, as we get closer to the start of football, we get closer to the end of the Napoleonic Era, as well. Last week, we saw the final fall of Napoleon in 1814- or, so everyone thought.
Just a reminder, if you like this post, or want to discuss it further, feel free to comment below. Also, check out the archive for all the action before Napoleon’s Exile.
Don’t Call it a Comeback
While Napoleon had accepted exile from France, he began to regret it almost immediately. He was close enough to keep track of events in Europe in his prison-island. As the powers gathered in Vienna, tensions grew. War still remained an option in the minds of many leaders, and no one wanted to come out behind in the reshaping of Europe in the wake of Napoleon’s defeat. Meanwhile. Louis XVIII’s reign in France was not exactly off to a roaring start. The humiliation of losing all the gains since 1792 made him unpopular to start. Economic conditions in France were poor, and confusion tended to reign in all classes. Louis seemed bent on a return to the old absolutism, and on undoing the legal reforms of the previous decades. Louis shunned the veterans of the Grande Armee, leaving a body of veteran soldiers and officers disaffected and disloyal to the new king.
Napoleon figured that the solution to all of this was to come back, raise an army, throw Louis out, kick everyone’s ass, and make France great again. So, that’s what he did. He slipped off his island in a storm, making for France. He landed near Cannes on March 1st, 1815, and started a march on Paris. Almost immediately, units of the army defected to his cause, and men flocked to his banner to join his army. Fortresses and armies threw open their gates for him and his supporters. When a Royalist force moved to stop his march, he went to them, stood before them, and told them that if anyone wanted to shoot his Emperor, this was their chance.
The force defected immediately.
Louis fled, and Napoleon entered Paris as Emperor. He issued a decree for a new constitution, called for new elections, and offered to settle the disputes of the other powers. They responded by declaring war on him on March 13th, beginning the War of the 7th Coalition. Napoleon began immediately preparing for war. He called men and veterans to the colors, deployed training officers, and began arming and forming up units. By May, he had 200,000 men under arms, and another 65,000 men training.
Against him, the Allies arrayed 1,000,000 men- more, really.
However, the Allied armies were not unified, or even in the same theatre. Unlike the 1813 Campaign, Allied armies were strung out from the Netherlands to the Rhine to Russia. If Napoleon acted very quickly, he could defeat each one in turn before they could unify. He kept about 125,000 men under his control. Another 25,000 men went to the Rhine, to delay Schwarzenberg’s 250,000 man army. 25,000 more went to the Alps to hold off the 100,000 Austrians in the Army of Italy. Meanwhile, 200,000 Russians began their march across Europe.
Napoleon’s first target was Wellington’s army of 150,000 British and Dutch troops in the Netherlands. He figured this was the right army to start with- most of the Dutch troops marched under French command in 1814, and most of the British troops were second line recruits. The veterans were all in the Americas, fighting the War of 1812. He hoped to march there, and defeat Wellington before anyone could help him. However, his preparations took too long, and Blucher, commanding 150,000 Prussians and other Germans, rallied up his men quickly and marched to support Wellington.
Napoleon knew he had to keep the two armies from joining. His basic plan was to march to a central position between them, hold off one and attack the other, defeat it, then do it all over again against the other. However, he needed to hid his intentions. On the approach, he moved his army down several routes in order to both hide his intentions and to keep his options open. Meanwhile, the Allies were in a bit of disarray. Wellington had trouble getting his army together and unified, and was concerned about a wide French flanking maneuver to the west. As a result, his army hung back by Brussels before moving forward against the French in mid-June. Knowing the British needed some time, Blucher and his army moved towards the French, heading from Liege to Namur.
Napoleon believed he had his chance. He called his army together in the fortress-town of Charleroi on June 14th, and moved on the 15th. In order to keep Wellington and Blucher from joining, he split his army. 20,000 men marched towards Brussels and Wellington to hold him off, while 100,000 men rushed towards the Prussians. Skirmishes broke out on the 15th between the Prussians and French advanced guards, and the Prussians gave way in order to bring the army together at Lingy while Wellington’s advance guard, under the Prince of Orange, marched down to Quatre Bras, with Wellington behind him. On the 16th, Ney met the Anglo-Dutch army, and Napoleon came to grips with Blucher.
The Battle of Quatre-Bras
Skirmishes continued between all three armies throughout the morning of the 16th, as the armies began to close with each other. At about 1200, Ney’s main body had found the Prince of Orange’s forces, and shook out into battle array in preparation for a fight. Ney’s headquarters suffered from some confusion, however, and it was not until 1400 that the attack really began.
Ney opened the action with an attack on the woods that sat on his right flank. A fierce bombardment, followed by waves of skirmishers, drove back the Dutch troops there, and began preparations for further advances. Ney then ordered a general attack against the hills before Quatre-Bras, led by Reille. Ney believed the position was lightly held, but Reille, a veteran of Spain, knew better, and advanced cautiously, expecting the Dutch to be in a reverse slope defense. Reille’s attack was a success, but a slow one, driving the Dutch back up the road to Quatre Bras.
This slow attack, while successful, allowed the other parts of Wellington’s army to reach the field. The first British forces went to stop the French right’s advance, deploying on a series of hills to the east of Quatre Bras. Seeing this, Rielle stopped his advance, and reformed his line, while the Prince of Orange and the newly arrived Duke of Brunswick rallied in front of the town itself. Meanwhile, Napoleon recalled D’Erlon’s Corps, heading to support Ney, to launch an attack against Blucher’s flank at Lingy.
At 1600, orders from Napoleon arrived- orders that had been written at 1400, that Ney was to take the crossroads ahead of Napoleon’s future pivot to Wellington. Ney called up D’Erlon’s corps, and ordered his men into an immediate attack. However, just after the attack began, Ney found out D’Erlon’s troops were marching the wrong way, and couldn’t support him. Ney was furious, but there was little he could do about it.
Still, Ney’s attack went well. His left drove the Dutch before him, driving them back out of the woods outside of Quatre Bras, while the French center moved steadily towards the town. The British initially held off the French right, until a sharp cavalry charge broke one of the green British brigades, forcing a retreat back to the west of the town, leaving a gap in the center. For a brief time, French advanced forces held the crossroads at Quatre Bras. At 1700, Ney received another order to take the crossroads, and dispatched orders to D’Erlon to come back to him, no matter what Napoleon had told him to do. (D’Erlon would never fight in either battle, spending the day marching back and forth.) At the same time, British reinforcements arrived, retaking the town and steadying the retreating British on the French right.
To meet this advance, and to check Wellington long enough for D’Erlon to arrive, Ney ordered Kellerman, the veteran cavalry commander, to launch a charge with his newly arrived heavy cavalry. Kellerman did not expect much- he would have no real support, but went as ordered. Despite this, the charge was a smashing success, crushing several unprepared British regiments and sweeping into the city. However, just at this moment of triumph, a fresh British division arrived, sweeping the French from west of Quatre Bras, and the out of the city. Kellerman barely escaped with his life, and Wellington ordered a general counter attack now that he had numerical superiority. By 2100, he had driven the French back to their starting positions.
While Ney had not taken the crossroads, Wellington never got close to supporting Blucher. He had lost about 1500 dead and 3000 wounded, the Allies about the same- including the Duke of Brunswick.
The Battle of Ligny
Much like Ney and Wellington, Napoleon and Blucher spent most of the morning getting organized. Napoleon moved Vandamme’s corps up from Charleroi to Fleurs, with intentions of using Vandamme to attack on the left, while Grouchy would march around Lingy to hit the Prussians on the right, stretching the Prussian line. As the Prussians weakened the center to stop these attacks, he would hit them with a later attack in the weak center, breaking the Prussians. Meanwhile, Blucher deployed in the walled towns and villages around Lingy, hoping to occupy a strong position and await a flank attack by Wellington.
At 1400, Napoleon ordered Ney to attack and take Quatre Bras, and settled on 1430 for his attack. Hearing Ney’s attack at 1430 (Of course, as we know, Ney was attacking on his own hook anyway), Napoleon sent Vandamme forward. Despite heavy Prussian fire, Vandamme’s men closed on St Amand la Haye, at the center of the Prussian position. Fearing that his right would fall, Blucher deployed the bulk of the II Prussian Corps into the area, and coordinated a series of counterattacks that reestablished the situation, and checked Vandamme’s advance. Meanwhile, at 1500, the French attack against Ligny went off, but with little success.
At 1700, Blucher decided to launch a counterattack around Vandamme’s flank. While this attack was successful, Vandamme gave ground slowly and bloodily, drawing the attack towards the west and inflicting heavy casualties. Trying to reinforce success, Blucher deployed more men into the attack, committing his reserves to try and break the French left. However, this attack created a weak spot in the Prussian line, which Napoleon planned to attack.
However, at 1800, a mysterious force appeared to the west. Both sides slowed their efforts to find out if it was French or British. However, at 1830, it disappeared to the west. (It was D’Erlon, marching around in circles.) Blucher used the delay to quickly organize an attack across the entire front. However, the French reacted quickly, and the attack fell apart quickly, further overstressing the Prussian line.
At about 1900, both sides moved to settle the issue. Blucher, hearing Wellington would make no appearance on the field, decided to start packing it in. At the same time, Napoleon launched the Old Guard into the area south of Ligny, at the hinge between the Prussian II and I Corps. The attack was a resounding success, breaking through the Prussian line. Desperate to get enough room to get off the field, Blucher, despite his 73 years of age, formed up the last cavalry reserve in the army and led the charge personally. In the fighting, his horse was shot out from underneath him, and he lay under it, trapped in the middle of the field. Twice the French charged over him, but no one ever seemed to notice the Prussian commander in chief laying on the field by them. Eventually, his valet found him on the field, and helped him sneak away in the darkness.
Despite the loss of contact with their commander, the Prussians were able to largely move off the field in good order. The French Guards were checked, the Prussian flanks folded in to form a rearguard, and the battered center retreated, though not in particularly good order. Still, weather and terrain prevented a good pursuit- Blucher would fight another day, but Napoleon figured he was beaten enough to need several days to get into order. Both sides had suffered about the same- 4000 dead, 8,000 wounded.
On the 17, Napoleon made his move towards Wellington, who began falling back to Waterloo before Brussels.
