This task will require that students conduct extensive research before writing a detailed report on Napoleon's final defeat at Waterloo. Student reports should include at least the following information:
* Background to the battle
* Date
* Place
* The countries involved
* The generals in charge of the armies
* The intricacies of the battle itself, including the role of Napoleon's Imperial Guard
* The outcome of the battle
* The significance of the battle for France, Napoleon, and Europe
The report should be a minimum of 500 words and needs to be posted by 8:00am Monday 1 November
Madison Catchpole
ReplyDeleteMr. Webber
Period—6
10/29/10
The Battle of Waterloo
In March of 1815 Napoleon escaped from the island Elba where he was imprisoned. When he returned to France he reformed his army and started preparing to go to war with Britain. The soldiers who had been captured during the years of fighting had been released enabling Napoleon to reform his Grande Armée. Napoleon decided to attack before other powers could assist the British, Prussian, Belgian and Dutch armies. There where several Generals that worked together to defeat Napoleon, they are the Duke of Wellington, Marshal Blucher and the Prince of Orange. The Prussians under Marshall Blucher were defeated at Ligny and driven away to the East. Napoleon sent Marshall Grouchy (a French commander of one of the reserve of the cavalry army) in pursuit while he advanced on Wellington’s army. The first battle was at the cross roads called Quatre Bras where the British and their allies were forced towards Brussels.
After being assured that Blucher would join him for battle, Wellington stopped on a ridge near Brussels to confront the French troops. Wellington took the position on the side of the road where his troops could hide in the forest. There were two nearby farms that where used as bases for both sides. One was the La Haye Sainte Farm of which German troops took control. And the French used La Belle Alliance Farm as a base. It rained heavily during the night of 17th June 1815. The French artillery commanders insisted that the attack did not begin until the ground had dried out sufficiently for the guns to maneuver without sticking in the mud. The attack began at 11 AM the next morning.
At 7:30 PM, just after the fall of La Haye Sainte, Napoleon ordered an attack on the weakened Wellington. Napoleon sent in his Imperial Guard. Wellington descended line after line of troops on the guard and eventually broke them down and the remaining Imperial Guard retreating headlong, causing panic among the rest of the French army. Wellington’s army then rushed among the retreating French army.
The French lost the Battle of Waterloo with 25,000 dead and wounded, and 8,000 prisoners. The British, Belgians, Dutch and Germans lost 15,000 casualties or 1 in 4 engaged. The Prussians lost 7,000. After the defeat, the British captured Napoleon and sent him to the island of St. Helena. Where he dies after six years of cancer. France returns to a monarchy with Louis XVIII (Louis XVI’s brother) as the King. The Battle of Waterloo effectively ended the French domination in the European continent.
Works Cited
Admin. "The Battle of Waterloo." Battle of Waterloo. Web. 30 Oct. 2010. .
"The Battle of Waterloo 18th June 1815." British Battles - Analysing and Documenting British Battles from the Previous Centuries. Web. 30 Oct. 2010. .
Emily Leposky
ReplyDeleteMr. Webber
Period-4
10/30/10
Battle of Waterloo
The Battle of Waterloo began in June of 1815 in Flanders, Belgium. The Battle of Waterloo followed the Continental System, the Peninsula War, and the Invasion of Russia. These events were leading up to Napoleon’s downfall but Napoleon’s complete blunder came during the Battle of Waterloo. The Continental system was an economic blockade, which was the first in a series of events that began the downfall of Napoleon. It was created for the purpose of stopping Britain to reign over all other countries in Europe. Napoleon’s idea was to make sure Britain wasn’t the most powerful country in Europe. His idea was to have every European country stop all trade with the British. Portugal refused to follow Napoleon’s plan to stop trading with Britain, thus resulting in the Peninsula War. The Peninsula war was the France Napoleonic Spain vs. the Spanish rebels, Portugal, and Great Britain. It began when France tried to invade Portugal by going through Spain. Napoleon took over Spain and put his brother in power. But then the Spanish people rebelled against the French and defeated France. This resulted in Spain gaining their independence and also showed France’s enemies that France could be beaten. This setback didn’t stop Napoleon and his troops; it actually drove Napoleon and his men to invade Russia. The Russians retreated quickly, using scorched earth as a tactic to defeat Napoleon and his army. The Russians were attempting to draw out all of Napoleon’s supply line. The Russian’s wanted to wait until winter to cause starvation within Napoleon’s army. The French continued to move forward and took over Moscow. As soon as the French were settled in, Russian spies and soldiers burned the city to the ground. This ultimately led to the Battle of waterloo, which began in June of 1815 in Flanders, Belgium. Prior to the Battle of Waterloo three other battles took place: Ligny, Quatre-Bras, and Waure. The battle of Waterloo was the French Empire vs. the Seventh coalition, and the Anglo-allied forces.
The generals of the French army were Napoleon Bonaparte, Michel Ney commander of the cavalry and Emmanuel de Grouchy, commander of detached wing of the French army. The general of the Seventh collation was Gebhard Von Blucher and the Duke of Wellington who was the commander of the Anglo-allied forces at Waterloo. Coming off of the three previous victories Napoleon’s armies were poised to attack the Anglo-allied forces and the seventh coalition. The battle began with Napoleon’s armies attacking. The first wave of attacks took place at Hougoumont, which turned into hand to hand combat but resulted in a standoff throughout the battle. General Michel Ney believed that the allied lines were about to break and ordered his cavalry to attack but was repelled by the British and took many losses. The British also counterattacked with their cavalry but also took many losses. As the battle continued the French captured some buildings in Le Haye Saint. Two things occurred that proved to be pivotal in the battle. Gouchy’s troops were never committed to the battle due to a lack of communication between him and Napoleon. The second and final pivotal point came when Napoleon had thought the Allied lines were weakened in the center due to his capturing Le Haye Saint. He decided to gamble and commit his best troops, the Imperial Guard to a full frontal assault. Wellington had been keeping his reserve armies out of the battle all day awaiting such an attack. Once he realized that Imperial Guards were attacking he committed his reserve armies and all his forces against the Imperial Guards. He successfully stopped their assault and sensing that this was a turning point in the battle ordered everyone to charge the French lines. At the same time Blucher and his coalition broke through the French lines as well and they overtook the French Army. The Battle of Waterloo resulted in defeat, which put an end to Napoleon’s rule as emperor. It also resulted in the elite Imperial Guards only defeat. Napoleon was then captured and was exiled to St. Helena where he died 6 years later.
ReplyDeleteWorks Cited
-"The Battle of Waterloo 18th June 1815." British Battles - Analysing and Documenting British Battles from the Previous Centuries. Web. 30 Oct. 2010. .
-Battle of Waterloo. Web. 30 Oct. 2010. .
Michaela Fisher
ReplyDeleteMr. Webber
Period 7
Oct. 30 2010
Before the Battle of Waterloo, Napoleon had already made three mistakes. First, he set up the Continental System, which was a trade blockade of Britain. The Continental System eventually hurt France more than it did Britain. Then, he fought in the Peninsular War and invaded Russia. The latter prompted his exile to the island of Elba. When he returns from Elba to France in 1815, he has 100 days before his final fault. The Battle of Waterloo marked the end of these 100 days, and the cause of his exile to Saint Helena, where he dies.
During the 100 days after Napoleon’s escape from Elba and return to France, opposing forces formed and mobilized. Gebhard Von Blucher commanded the Seventh Coalition and Prussian Army of about 89,000, and the Duke of Wellington commanded an Anglo-Allied Army of about 68,000. On the 13 March 1815, the Congress of Vienna declared Napoleon and outlaw, and four days later Blucher and Wellington’s forces assembled near the northeast border of France. Napoleon decided to attack these forces individually before they could unite. He led approximately 105,000 troops north.
Napoleon’s army was split into a left wing commanded by Marshal Ney, a right wing commanded by Marshal Grouchy, and a reserve, which he commanded personally. First, Napoleon fought the Prussians in the Battle of Ligny. He was successful, but at a high cost; many of his troops were killed or wounded. The Prussians fell back northwards, still in communication with Wellington’s army. Meanwhile, Ney fought the Battle of Quatre Bras, eventually winning because of the French’s large numbers. Then, Napoleon turned his attention to the British forces stationed at the town of Waterloo, a few miles south of Brussels. As the French pursued Wellington’s force there, Commander Grouchy was ordered to follow up the retreating Prussians, but he was too late. The Prussians reached Wavre, a town where they were able to march to support Wellington.
On the morning of June 18, 1815, Blucher promised Wellington the support of three corps. Napoleon delayed the battle for as long as he could because of muddy terrain caused by rain the previous days. The British were positioned at various points: the chateau of Hougoumont, the farmhouse of La Haye Sainte, and the dwellings of La Haye Sainte. Wellington knew his troops could hold the French for some time, but he was relying on the promised arrival of Blucher to ensure victory. The fighting seesawed back and forth throughout the day with high casualties on both sides. At La Haye Sainte, Napoleon sent in his undefeated Imperial Guard. Wellington sent lines of troops against the Imperial Guard, causing them to eventually retreat. This panicked the rest of the French Army. Finally, timely arrival of the Prussians reinvigorated Wellington’s efforts and doomed Napoleon. Napoleon’s army lost with 25,000 killed and wounded. Wellington and Blucher’s forces won with 22,000 killed and wounded.
Napoleon was captured by the British and exiled to the island of St. Helena, on the west coast of Africa. Napoleon died there six years later from colon cancer. After all the revolutionary efforts and then Napoleon’s reign, France returns to a monarchy with the rule of Louis XVIII. Perhaps more importantly, The Battle of Waterloo ended France’s position as the dominant force in Europe.
Works Cited
"The Battle of Waterloo, 1815." EyeWitness to History - History through the Eyes of Those Who Lived It. Web. 30 Oct. 2010. .
"Battle of Waterloo." BattleofWaterloo.org. Web. 30 Oct. 2010. .
Bryson, Bill. Shakespeare: the World as Stage. New York: Atlas /HarperCollins, 2007. Print.
"Waterloo." Napoleonic Guide. Web. 30 Oct. 2010. .
The Battle of Waterloo was one of the most significant battles in European history and led to the demise of Napoleon's Empire. It all began with Napoleon's infamous escape from Elba shortly after being exiled. In merely 19 days, Napoleon had returned to Paris and resumed his title as Emperor of France. The French citizens were ecstatic to have Napoleon back on the throne because of their hatred towards the previous ruler, King Louis the 17th . By March 1815, Napoleon had managed to organize a massive army of 280,000 men. This frightened France's former territories and its enemies, including Great Britain and Prussia (modern day Germany). They were sick of Napoleon's obsession with power and the Continental System that he established to weaken Britain's economy. Driven by nationalism and patriotic fever, the British collaborated with Prussia and began to reassemble their forces along with other allies such as Austria, Belgium, and the Netherlands.
ReplyDeleteNapoleon resolved to attack the European allies' army before other powers could come to their aid and overwhelm the French army. By June 1815, Napoleon had reached the Low Countries with his skillful army and calvary. Napoleon's strategy was to attract the attention of the British and Prussian military generals, the British general Duke of Wellington and Prussian general Gebhard Blucher. Both forces quickly realized that even though Napoleon's army was fairly smaller in size, it possessed superiority in troops and artillery. While the British and ally army possessed 160 guns, Napoleon's army possessed 250 guns. Napoleon's army first quarreled with the Prussian army on June 16th in Ligny, Belgium. In a matter of hours, the French army had won the battle. After he quickly advanced on Wellington's army, their armies meeting on June 18th,.
The Battle took place between the village of La Belle Alliance and the right of Mont Saint Jean just south of Waterloo, Belgium. The night before, however, rained heavily and drenched the battle field with water and mud. Napoleon saw this as a potential threat to his victory and decided to wait until the ground had dried sufficiently. At noon of June 18th, the French army initiated the first attack against the Duke of Wellington's army. Because the French waited to attack the British, this gave the Prussians enough time to reinforce their army and ally with Britain by the time the Battle of Waterloo began. Blucher's army attacked the French from the south part of the valley while The Duke of Wellington's army attacked from the northern peak of the valley, enclosing Napoleon's army within the valley.
ReplyDeleteThe British army skillfully used the valley's terrain to their advantage throughout the battle. The Duke of Wellington positioned his army on Brussels road, the road that crosses a low ridge and descends into a valley before rising on the other side to a further ridge. During most of the battle, the French used La Belle Alliance farm as head quarters, just on the second crest of the valley. This benefited the British army when the French fired shots and cannons at the army. The Duke of Wellington would command the army to move behind the ridge and lie down, evading the cannons fired from the French.
Even though the French army used fierce frontal attacks throughout the battle, the British infantry used strategic tactics such as the “squares” to counter the opposing army. The squares were set up so that the British's bayonets were protruding out of the soldier formed square. When the French calvary charged toward the British army, it was impossible to penetrate the square because the bayonets would seriously wound their horses and themselves. Knowing that his defeat was near, Napoleon attempted once more to strike at the British and Prussian forces by using his best troops, the Imperial Guard. However, the Imperial Guard was overwhelmed by the enemy's army, forcing the entire French army to retreat. Both sides lost a tremendous amount of soldiers during the bloody battle; the French suffered casualties of about 40,000 troops and the allies about 23,000.
ReplyDeleteAfter the brutal battle, Napoleon was forced to abdicate once again and was exiled to the British colony Saint Helena. This ended Napoleon's one hundred day long reign and put an end to his Continental System. European countries established their sovereignty from France and began to freely trade with Britain. After the Battle, the Duke of Wellington was hailed as a hero in Britain and throughout Europe. He was chosen to be Commander-in-Chief during the occupation of France and advocated a non-punitive peace deal. To restore stability in France's economy, he organized loans to restore France's finances. Three years later, King Louis the 17th was put back on France's throne and France's government shifts back to an unwanted monarchy.
Works Cited
Arnold, Eric A. "Battle of Waterloo." World Book Online. World Book. Web. 30 Oct. 2010. .
"The Battle of Waterloo 18th June 1815." British Battles - Analysing and Documenting British Battles from the Previous Centuries. British Battles. Web. 30 Oct. 2010. .
"BBC - History -British History in Depth: The Battle of Waterloo." BBC - Homepage. BBC. Web. 30 Oct. 2010. .
Biesinger, Joseph A. "Battle of Waterloo." Facts on File Online Databases. Facts on File Inc. Web. 30 Oct. 2010. .
Battle of Waterloo Assignment Katie Nardo 10/29/10 Period 4
ReplyDeleteThe Battle of Waterloo began after the Continental System, the Peninsula War, and the Invasion of Russia occurred. All of these events eventually led Napoleon to his downfall but the Battle of Waterloo was final strike. The Continental System was designed so that France could stop Britain from becoming the most powerful country in Europe. He tried to convince every country in Europe, including French allies to cease trade with Britain completely. Portugal had not, and Napoleon felt that they deserved punishment. Thus, began the Peninsula War.
The war lasted 6 years, from 1808-1814. France allied with some of the Spanish, known as “Napoleonic Spain”, had begun war with Spanish rebels, Portugal, and Great Britain. The goal was to punish Portugal but the result of this war was 300,000 French causalities. Also, Spain had gained independence and now enemies viewed France as an easily beatable country. This is yet another example of how Napoleon selfishly acted for the benefit of his country, but ended up two steps back.
Napoleon seemed to not learn form his mistakes the first time and made the decision to invade Russia. In 1812, around 600,000 of Napoleon’s men marched straight into Russia. Unprepared for the weather that is nearly how many died in Russia. After capturing Lithuania, Napoleon felt confident enough to stay in Moscow for longer than planned. The weather wasn’t just unbearable, but it was unlivable. The conditions were so tough that a huge majority of his men died of the cold, while just a few were killed from Russian attacks.
By now, Napoleon had already begun to “fall” as a leader. His last shot was the Battle of Waterloo. It took place in 1815 in present day Belgium. Napoleon’s goal was to fight both the English and the Prussians before they could combine and form the Seventh Coalition and to keep the French Empire strong.
This battle was significant for France because it was the determining factor for its future, and perhaps even the future of Europe. For example, if Napoleon had won this battle the French Empire would have expanded and gained even more power and the series of events following that would have been dramatically different than they were.
ReplyDeleteNapoleon respected and was very loyal to his imperial guard. Each person within it was selected to create it. Whenever Napoleon went into battle he did what he felt would be best for winning as well as his army. The imperial guard actually performed quite well in terms of defeating the English and Prussians, but in the end, Napoleon was outnumbered and it was his last battle he would ever lead.
The English Commander was the Duke of Wellington, who Napoleon actually had great respect for. He also had to fight against Gebhard Von Blucher who led the Prussians. Although Napoleon had to defeat two armies, he ended up winning the first three. He dominated the first two battles with the Prussians and one with the British. During Britain’s last battle with Napoleon’s Army, the Prussians saw Britain losing so they made a sneak attack on Napoleon. With his men surrounded by the enemy the defeat quickly occurred. Napoleon was exiled to St. Helena, an African island, where died six years later of cancer.
Works Cited
Battle of Waterloo. Web. 28 Oct. 2010. .
"French Imperial Guard at Waterloo and Plancenoit 1815 : Maps : Pictures." The Step Into Napoleon Bonaparte. Web. 30 Oct. 2010.
The Battle of Waterloo, fought in the June of 1815, was Napoleon’s last military enterprise as the emperor of France, which ended in a humiliating defeat and exile to an isolated island off the coast of Africa.
ReplyDeleteNapoleon, fresh from his failure in Russia and his exile upon the Mediterranean Island of Elba, was eager to orchestrate a retaliation and defend his empire from his enemies. After marching from Marseilles to Paris and regaining his former support, he overthrew the reinstated monarchy, and asserted himself once more as Emperor of France.
The Congress of Vienna, a conference bringing ambassadors from almost all of the states of Europe, met after Napoleon’s first exile and collectively drew new borders, carving up Napoleon’s former empire. When the news of Napoleon’s escape reached the conference, they declared him an outlaw four days before he re-crowned himself emperor.
The Seventh Coalition, an alliance between the French Empire’s adversaries, was quick to form and planned an immediate initiative to dethrone Napoleon. The Seventh Coalition’s major countries comprised of England, Prussia and the United Kingdom of the Netherlands. Napoleon, aware of the Seventh Coalition’s numerical superiority, decided to meet them outside of France’s new borders, before they could mobilize their armies.
Napoleon’s strategy was to avoid facing a combined force of the Seventh Coalition at all costs, which is why he brought the battle to the Netherlands, or in present day Belgium. Napoleon, one of the most successful military commanders the world has ever seen, devised a plan in which he would separate the Prussian and English forces with a charge. His plan had the potential, as in the smaller battles leading up to the decisive Waterloo, Napoleon and his fellow commanders emerged victorious, albeit a tactical move by Wellington at the battle of Quatre Bras. After driving the Prussian forces back at the Battle of Ligny, Napoleon and his armies were in a prime position, forcing Wellington to Waterloo and the Prussians to Wavre, about thirteen kilometers east of Wellington’s position. Napoleon had maneuvered himself and the bulk of the French army towards Waterloo, where Wellington was defending. Despite the weakening of the Prussian and the English forces separately, Napoleon still had to face one of his greatest opponents, the weather. The rains the night before the Battle of Waterloo had made offensive movement extremely difficult, as the vital artillery was bogged down in the mud. The center of Wellington’s operation, Hougoumont, a large farm house, was where the French initially attacked. As the French continued their infantry charge, they made headway and broke through the ranks of Wellington’s combined forces. The British cavalry stopped Napoleon’s advance, and possibly turned the tide of the battle to Wellington’s favor, as it left Napoleon with a minimal amount of troops and his Imperial Guard to take on both Wellington and Blücher’s forces that were marching towards Waterloo. As the French cavalry charged, Wellington used the battle squares tactic, and decreased the influence of the French cavalry upon the battle significantly as the battle squares tactic was a quick, efficient counter to the mounted charge. With the lack of success from the charge of this cavalry, Napoleon had one last card to play, his Imperial Guard. The Imperial Guard, probably the most disciplined and well-trained soldiers of that time, were Napoleon’s personal bodyguards and reserve force, and his final attempt at cutting through the ranks of the now combined Seventh Coalition’s forces. With Blücher’s forces present, the Imperial Guard was well outnumbered and was dealt with without making significant process in breaking through the ranks of the Seventh Coalition’s forces.
ReplyDeleteAfter defeat, Napoleon was subsequently captured by the Prussians, forced to abdicate, and was exiled upon the island St. Helena, two thousand kilometers away from any major landmass; the British were not taking any chances this time.
Napoleon’s defeat meant an end to France’s military dominance in Western Europe, and the start of a new age of peace that lasted until the Crimean War. France’s government, aided by Britain, became a monarchy again, and King Louis XVII was reinstated. Britain and soon to become the Empire of Germany became the dominant powers in Europe, and even the world at some point, especially with Britain’s colonies in India and Africa.
Works Cited
ReplyDelete"BBC - History - British History in Depth: The Battle of Waterloo." BBC - Homepage. Web. 30 Oct. 2010. .
Fuller, John Frederick Charles. A Military History of the Western World. Vol. III. Print.
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteNiraj Madhani
ReplyDeleteMr. Webber
(H) WHIST Per. 4
30 Oct. 2010
After his escape from the Island of Elba, Napoleon sought to regain control of France. However, the allied countries of Great Britain, Austria, Prussia, and Russia considered Napoleon as an outlaw and sought to invade France. Thus Napoleon organized an army and confronted his opposition. In a series of four battles, France warred with the allied countries. The most famous and important battle which ended Napoleon’s reign was the Battle of Waterloo.
The Battle of Waterloo took place near Waterloo, Belgium on June 18, 1815. Out of the four battles, this was the final one. Napoleon had won the previous three battles because he was either fighting the British or the Prussian army. However, in the Battle of Waterloo those two armies combined (along with troops from other nations) to defeat the French.
In this battle, Napoleon, Michael Ney and Marshal Grouchy commanded about 72,000 troops. Nevertheless, the French were strongly outnumbered. The Duke of Wellington led an Anglo-Allied army of 68,000 containing British, Dutch, Belgian and German troops. Furthermore, there were about 45,000 Prussian troops under Gebhard Leberecht von Blücher. Together they formed an army of about 113,000 troops compared to France’s 72,000 troops.
The main reason Napoleon lost this battle, as mentioned before, was because the British and Prussian armies essentially combined to take down the French. The French army first encountered the Prussians at Ligny on June 16. Though the French won this battle, they did not completely destroy the Prussian Army. Nevertheless, the French charged north to encounter the British troops. The two armies met on June 18 (Battle of Waterloo). Spanning from about 11:30 A.M to about 9 P.M the fighting lasted all day. Napoleon’s tactic was to use artillery and cavalry (which were superior to Wllington’s) and surprise and aggression. Also, the Imperial Guard was kept in the back for reserve. It began with heavy artillery fire from the British injuring the French greatly. Despite this, the French captured a stronghold of Wellington (Papelotte) and surrounded another (La Haye Sainte). However, Wellington sent in reserve troops and cavalry which surprised the French causing them to retreat. However, at the same time the French sent in lancers and a cuirassier brigade which strongly hurt the Allied cavalry. Thus, with a weakened cavalry Wellington withdrew. During this whole time, the previously defeated Prussians along with new forces of Prussians were gathering. Soon, they would begin to march north. On the battlefield, Napoleon’s right side and Wellington’s left side were badly damaged. However, the French who were low on numbers could not take advantage of this. And the British could not because of the lack of Prussian support. Despite this artillery fire continued. With both sides slightly weakened, Napoleon sent Ney to capture La Haye Sainte, Wellington’s key stronghold. However, British troops were moving towards the ridge which caused Ney to believe that they were retreating. Thus, Ney sent the cavalry in. Here the French faced difficulties. This is because the British infantry formed firm squares with their bayonets facing outward. Thus, the cavalry was of no use, and they faced loses. During this whole time, the French were low on numbers and fresh troops. Nevertheless, a French infantry captured La Haye Sainte. At this same time, the Prussians were closing in which was a huge concern to Napoleon. Once they captured Plancenoit, Napoleon sent Imperial Guard there and then to fight Wellington’s troops. He did this because he did not want the Prussians to join the British. Thus, the Imperial Guard (along with other troops) marched across a field in between La Haye Sainte and Hougoumont. The latter portion of the troops was devastated by the Allied forces. Meanwhile, the front portion successfully traveled over the ridge. The Guard managed to pierce the front line of the Allied forces, but was attacked by surprise by reserve hiding in the corn. Thus, the Guard fled and tried to protect Napoleon while he and the rest of the army were retreating. While the French were retreating, the Prussians swiftly advanced and defeated the Guards. This resulted in the Imperial Guard’s first loss. The Prussian support was significant because they were fresh. To conclude the warring, the Prussians sent cavalry to pursue the retreating French. Because the French were exhausted, low on numbers, and their Imperial Guard had been defeated, the Prussians easily conquered the French.
ReplyDeleteAs a result, Napoleon was captured and sent into exile on Saint Helena, an island off the coast of Africa. There he was secluded from most of civilization and died six years later due to cancer. It was wise not to kill Napoleon because the French strongly venerated him. Napoleon’s end and Frances’s loss had a large impact across Europe. First and foremost it ended France’s military dominance. As for Wellington, he was seen as a hero and during the occupation of France he was the Commander-in-Chief. As Commander-in-Chief, Wellington helped restore France’s economy and finances by arranging loans. Perhaps the biggest impact was that France was forced back to a monarchy, and King Louis XVII was their new king. Nevertheless, relations with the France and the rest of Europe were restored and the legacy of Napoleon ended.
ReplyDeleteWorks Cited
"BBC - History - British History in Depth: The Battle of Waterloo." BBC - Homepage. Web. 31 Oct. 2010. .
Biesinger, Joseph A. "Battle of Waterloo." Germany: A Reference Guide from the Renaissance to the Present, European Nations. New York: Facts On File, Inc., 2006. Modern World History Online. Facts On File, Inc. http://www.fofweb.com/activelink2.asp?
ItemID=WE53&iPin=GER0645&SingleRecord=True (accessed October 30, 2010).
Napoleon’s escape from Elba and the following takeover of the government, reestablished Napoleon as the most powerful man in France. However, when Napoleon regained his position as emperor of France, the rest of Europe declared him an outlaw and immediately declared war on France. Napoleon knew that if he did not strike first the combined armies of the European Coalition would overrun France. Therefore, Napoleon and his troops marched towards Belgium to slip the Anglo-dutch army from the Prussian Army. His troops would give battle outside the town of Mont St Jean in Belgium against the combined armies of Prussia, England, and the United Kingdom of the Netherlands. The Prussians were lead by the very experienced Gebhard Von Blucher. He was one of the leaders of the troops that had defeated Napoleon 2 years earlier at Liepzig. The Anglo-Dutch army was lead by Sir Arthur Wellesley, the Duke of Wellington. He had been made famous for defeating the French armies in Portugal and Spain. He was also a brilliant strategist at using terrain to its full abilities. For example, he first described the principle of reverse slope defense, where troops would use the front side of a slope as cover from artillery fire as well as being unseen on the other side. The Duke of Wellington would employ this tactic at the battle of Waterloo.
ReplyDeleteThe actual battle of Waterloo was preceded by a few important skirmishes. All of these skirmishes were important French victories. In order to confront both the Prussians and the English. Napoleon divided his troops and sent one half to Quartre Bras and the other half to Ligny. His troops initially were very successful. The troops at Ligny defeated the Prussians; however, they did not finish them off. His troops at Quatre Bras after many attacks overwhelmed the Dutch defenders, but the French too were driven back by the Duke of Wellington. However, Wellington did not have the troops strength to hold Quatre Bras, so he moved his troops back to the low ridge of Mont St Jean to sent up a defense.
The battle began on June 18, 1815. On June 17 it had rained very heavily, So Napoleon delayed the attack that should have been in the morning to try to wait for the roads to dry, so he could maneuver his artillery better. Napoleon had divided his troops earlier, so his army was smaller than his combined force. The Duke of Wellington had stationed most of his troops in front of the town of Mont st Jean on a low ridge. His troops employed the tactic of reverse sloop defense to use the front side as cover from artillery fire. This prevented his troops from suffering major losses from Napoleon’s artillery. Napoleon sent his troops right at the heart of the British lines hoping that his forces would break through and capture the British guns. However, one of his marshals made a tactical error and committed the French cavalry way too early. This French to unnecessarily lose extra troops to the British formation and weakened their flanks. The Prussian troops at this time had been making their way back to help the Anglo-dutch army, but were slowed due to the bad road conditions. The French meanwhile had been squeezing the British more and more on the center of their formation almost collapsing the British lines. Napoleon, thinking he could break through with one final assault, sent five corps of his imperial guards to attack the heart of the British formation. This attack collapsed many of the British lines but failed to take the British guns and was driven back by the sheer number of the British troops. Also, the Prussian troops had arrived and broke through the French’s right flank forcing Napoleon to commit more of his troops to that flank. When the Imperial Guard were forced to retreat Napoleon’s defeat became a rout with thousands of French troops fleeing for their lives pursued relentlessly by Coalition cavalry and infantry. Napoleon’s last three battalions of Imperial guard made a final stand to protect the retreat, but they too were overwhelmed by the sheer number of British and Prussian troops.
ReplyDeleteNapoleon was forced to retreat. About 25,000 French troops were killed or wounded and another 8,000 were captured. The Anglo-Dutch army suffered about 15,000 casualties and the Prussians suffered about 8,000.
This battle is one of the most significant battle during Napoleon’s military career. It was significant because it ushered in an age of peace in Europe until the Crimean wars. It prevent the rise of a second empire under Napoleon Bonaparte. Finally, it reversed all the hard work the French had done during the French Revolution and reestablished a French Monarchy.
Works Cited
ReplyDelete"BBC - History - British History in Depth: The Battle of Waterloo." BBC - Homepage. Web. 31 Oct. 2010
Crompton, Samuel Willard. "'Third Phase'." Waterloo, Battles that Changed the World. Philadephia: Chelsea House Publishing, 2002. Modern World History Online. Facts On File, Inc. http://www.fofweb.com/activelink2.asp?
ItemID=WE53&iPin=BCWWLOO11&SingleRecord=True (accessed October 31, 2010).
Noury Fekini
ReplyDeleteHistory Per.4
October 31, 2010
Prior to the exile of Napoleon to Elba, Napoleon had already had few crucial mistakes. First, he set up a continental system, which was an attempt to shut Britain off from trade from the rest of Europe; however, it ended up to backfire on France and lead to other turning points.. Second, he fought in Russia and the Peninsula War, which both he lost a massive number of troops.
During the 100 days of Napoleons exile return, the final battle in Napoleons career happened, the Battle of Waterloo. Six days before Napoleon got to Paris, that Congress of Vienna had declared him an outlaw on June 13, 1815. Then, four days after this declaration, the Prussians, Austrians, Russians, and Britain mobilized their armies so they could have a coordinated attack on Napoleon to through him out, once again, of power. Napoleon hears about this and decides that the only way for him to defeat these forces is for him to first attack before all of the armies of the Seventh Coalition mobilize commanded by Gebhard Von Blucher, which if they do, will defeat Napoleon. Napoleon’s main goal was to destroy the existing forces of the Coalition in the south of Brussels before they are commanded. If this happened, Napoleon may be able to drive the British back to sea and defeat the Prussians army in battle.
Napoleon commanded over 100,000 troops north. Napoleons army was divided into two. Marshal Grouchy as one commander, and Marshal Ney as the other, Napoleon commanded his own reserve personally.
The first battle was against the Prussians, the Battle of Ligny. He won, but he lost and many men and many others were wounded. This forces the Prussians to move north, while they were still communicating with the Duke of Wellington. Ney fought in the Battle of Quatre Bras, which he won due to Frances large numbers. This is when Napoleon turned his attention to the British forces in Waterloo, which was approximately one mile south from Brussels. As the French pushed Wellington’s forces there, Grouchy was ordered, by Napoleon, to follow the Prussians that he defeated, but was too late. This is when the Prussians reached the town of Wavre, where they were able to march and support Wellington along with other helping forces.
Until the noon of June 18, 1815, Napoleon delayed the battle so he could let the ground get dry, due to it being too muddy to maneuver his cannons. Wellington’s army was positioned across Brussels road along with Mont St. Jean Escarpment. The French repeated attacks along the road until evening, but the army remained standing. This is when the army of Prussians arrived in full force and eventually broke through the border of Napoleon. During this breakage, the British were making a counter attack, which drove the French army in chaos from the battlefield. All of the forces of the Seventh Coalition had successfully entered France and reinstated Louis XVIII to the Throne.
Napoleon was captured and exiled to Saint Helena until death. Napoleon died six years later from colon cancer. All in all, the Battle of Waterloo ultimately ended France’s dominant force in Europe.
Works Cited
"The Battle of Waterloo, 1815." EyeWitness to History - History through the Eyes of Those Who Lived It. Web. 31 Oct. 2010. .
"The Battle of Waterloo 18th June 1815." British Battles - Analysing and Documenting British Battles from the Previous Centuries. Web. 31 Oct. 2010. .
Battle of Waterloo. Web. 31 Oct. 2010. .
Mr. Webber
ReplyDeletePeriod 6
October 30, 2010
The Battle of Waterloo
In 1814 Napoleon was exiled to the island of Elba after he was defeated in the Invasion of Russia. In 1815 he escaped the island and came back to France, after three weeks in France he takes power back. He came back with the idea of continuing to take over the whole of Europe. Although, there were two main people in his way of this, The Duke of Wellington and Gebhard von Blucher. The Battle of Waterloo was fought on a Sunday, June eighteenth in 1815 in Belgium, or what was then called the United Kingdom of the Netherlands. Here Napoleon and his Imperial Guard were defeated by a combination of mainly the British army under the command of the Duke of Wellington and Prussian armies under the command of Gebhard von Blucher. Napoleon knew that his army was outnumbered but still thought that because of his great military skills that he had a chance at winning. Although what Napoleon overlooked was the reason behind which his opponents were fighting. Most of Europe felt over powered by France and wanted to have power more spread out and not all controlled by one man, this inspired a nationalistic drive to fight for their country back in most people and the soldiers. Although once again, Napoleon does not factor in the weather. When Napoleon tries to go to the battle field, he is met with rain and the dirt turned into mud; this made moving the artilleries and cavalry difficult delaying them. The Prussian army of thirteen thousand was stationed to the east protecting the Capitol of Belgium. Napoleon had one hundred twenty-four-thousand soldiers; his strategy was to separate the Prussian army from the British and then drive them toward the sea. He split his army and sent some of his army north to attack Wellington while he took most of his armies. Wellington fought off the French and moved on toward Waterloo where he thought it would be best to fight Napoleons armies, and the French followed him there. After waiting for it to dry out, the French fired the first cannon. Though this cannon was a trick and was meant to give the French an advantage, but the British did not fall for it and successfully defended. The French then tried to fire at the British using their cannons but Wellington was not fazed and ordered his army to lie down where they are not affected by the cannons. France attacked again and failed, so Napoleon decided to move his troops to the east. There France almost won but eventually the British were able to hold off the French. Wellington then decided he would send his cavalry to counterattack. France then decided to fire at the British lines but Wellington again told his troops to get behind the wall and wait. Twelve thousand of the French cavalries attacked the British, Wellington ordered his troops to form twenty defensive squares. This made it so that when the French fired at the squares there was some damage but nothing major because they could not get too close.
The French were finally defeated, one marshal wanted to finish the British off but Napoleon said no, an hour later Napoleon wished he could have taken that opportunity but it was too late then. The French did however decide to try and attack again with their Imperial Guard, but by then the Prussians were there and with their combined forces the remaining French died. Napoleon was sent to the island of Saint Helena where he died six years later to cancer. Wellington became prime minister, the most influential man in all of Europe. Three years later King Louie XVII was put back on the throne in France and once again France is a monarchy. Britain and what is soon to be Germany became the dominant powers in Europe.
ReplyDeleteWorks Cited
Arnold, Eric A. "Battle of Waterloo." World Book Online. World Book. Web. 30 Oct. 2010.
"BBC - History -British History in Depth: The Battle of Waterloo." BBC - Homepage. BBC. Web. 30 Oct. 2010.
"The Battle of Waterloo 18th June 1815." British Battles - Analyzing and Documenting British Battles from the Previous Centuries. Web. 30 Oct. 2010
Lena Ohlson
ReplyDeleteOctober 30, 2010
Period 6, Webber
The Battle of Waterloo
Before the Battle of Waterloo, Napoleon had made three mistakes, which resulted in his downfall. The Continental System, which attempted to stop Britain trading with France. This did more harm then good. He tried to fight the Peninsula War and attempted to fight Russia. His third and final fault was the Battle of Waterloo. The Battle of Waterloo was fought just south of Brussels between the French who were commanded by Napoleon, Marshal Ney, and Marshal Grouchy, and the allied forces commanded by the Duke of Wellington from Britain and General Blücher from Prussia.
In 1814 Napoleon surrendered after many years of war. As a result, Napoleon was banished to Elba, an island in the Mediterranean. However, the unpopularity of Louis XVIII and the “economic and social instability of France motivated him to return to Paris and reclaim his power. Napoleons third and final defeat at Waterloo and the 100 Days marked the end of Napoleons final bid for power and the final chapter in his astonishing career.
Napoleon Bonaparte had always been determined and motivated by his desire to make France great again. He had carried out a “coup” against the previous government and the First Republic of France (the Directory) in 1799 and had made himself ruler as the First Consul. However, Napoleon had higher ambitions. He wanted to make France the most powerful country in Europe by seizing other countries, such as Britain.
One of the first things he did was reopen his “Grande Armée” Napoleon decided that it would be best if he attacked the British, Prussian, Belgian, and Dutch before any powers could come to their assistance. However, because of this Napoleons army was hastily assembled and they lacked quality uniforms and weapons. The first place he went was Belgium. The first battle took place on June 18th, 1815 at the cross roads called “Quatre Bras” The French were somewhat successful in that the British and their allies were forced to withdraw from Brussels.
The French approach and position was very different from the British, German, Belgian, and Dutch positions. The French approach was up from the countryside and “south of La Belle Alliance”. The French troops were split into three divisions. He defeated the Prussians at Ligny and sent them off to the East. However, the British, Belgians, and Dutch were much stronger. They won the battle against the French. This battle was a long and bloody battle. The British, Belgians, and Dutch lost 15,000 casualties, while the Prussians lost 7,000. The casualties of the French army estimates to be 25,000 dead and wounded, 8,000 imprisoned and lost 220 guns.
The battle of Waterloo is an important event in history. It put an end to Napoleon, and an end to the 23 years of war. The defeat in this battle at Waterloo drew the 23 year long war beginning with the French Revolutionary war in 1792 and continuing with the Napoleonic wars in 1803. Napoleon’s defeat had a major impact on France and Europe’s future governments.
Works Cited:
-"The Battle of Waterloo 18th June 1815." British Battles - Analysing and Documenting British Battles from the Previous Centuries. Web. 30 Oct. 2010. .
Lena Ohlson
ReplyDeleteOctober 30, 2010
Period 6, Webber
The Battle of Waterloo
Before the Battle of Waterloo, Napoleon had made three mistakes, which resulted in his downfall. The Continental System, which attempted to stop Britain trading with France. This did more harm then good. He tried to fight the Peninsula War and attempted to fight Russia. His third and final fault was the Battle of Waterloo. The Battle of Waterloo was fought just south of Brussels between the French who were commanded by Napoleon, Marshal Ney, and Marshal Grouchy, and the allied forces commanded by the Duke of Wellington from Britain and General Blücher from Prussia.
In 1814 Napoleon surrendered after many years of war. As a result, Napoleon was banished to Elba, an island in the Mediterranean. However, the unpopularity of Louis XVIII and the “economic and social instability of France motivated him to return to Paris and reclaim his power. Napoleons third and final defeat at Waterloo and the 100 Days marked the end of Napoleons final bid for power and the final chapter in his astonishing career.
Napoleon Bonaparte had always been determined and motivated by his desire to make France great again. He had carried out a “coup” against the previous government and the First Republic of France (the Directory) in 1799 and had made himself ruler as the First Consul. However, Napoleon had higher ambitions. He wanted to make France the most powerful country in Europe by seizing other countries, such as Britain.
One of the first things he did was reopen his “Grande Armée” Napoleon decided that it would be best if he attacked the British, Prussian, Belgian, and Dutch before any powers could come to their assistance. However, because of this Napoleons army was hastily assembled and they lacked quality uniforms and weapons. The first place he went was Belgium. The first battle took place on June 18th, 1815 at the cross roads called “Quatre Bras” The French were somewhat successful in that the British and their allies were forced to withdraw from Brussels.
The French approach and position was very different from the British, German, Belgian, and Dutch positions. The French approach was up from the countryside and “south of La Belle Alliance”. The French troops were split into three divisions. He defeated the Prussians at Ligny and sent them off to the East. However, the British, Belgians, and Dutch were much stronger. They won the battle against the French. This battle was a long and bloody battle. The British, Belgians, and Dutch lost 15,000 casualties, while the Prussians lost 7,000. The casualties of the French army estimates to be 25,000 dead and wounded, 8,000 imprisoned and lost 220 guns.
ReplyDeleteThe battle of Waterloo is an important event in history. It put an end to Napoleon, and an end to the 23 years of war. The defeat in this battle at Waterloo drew the 23 year long war beginning with the French Revolutionary war in 1792 and continuing with the Napoleonic wars in 1803. Napoleon’s defeat had a major impact on France and Europe’s future governments.
Works Cited:
-"The Battle of Waterloo 18th June 1815." British Battles - Analysing and Documenting British Battles from the Previous Centuries. Web. 30 Oct. 2010. .
Briana Silva
ReplyDeleteOctober 29, 2010
History- Period 4
The Battle of Waterloo
About a year prior to the Battle of Waterloo, French troops invaded Russia due to defiance of the Continental System. However, the troops were not prepared for such freezing temperatures, and Russia’s scorched earth tactics, so Napoleon was defeated. As a result of the defeat, Napoleon was captured and exiled to Elba by the Russians. It did not take long for Napoleon to escape from Elba and make his way back to France. Once arriving to the South of France, Napoleon began marching up all the way to northern France, while gaining followers on the way. This allowed Napoleon to reinforce him troops, causing the other countries, such as Britain, to reassemble their troops as well.
The battle of Waterloo occurred in June of 1815 in Waterloo, in Belgium. The battle was French troops verses the seven Coalitions, which was consisted of many European countries, including, Great Britain, Prussia, Netherlands, Hanover, Brunswick, and Nassau. However, Great Britain and Prussia, which is largely present day Germany, were the main contenders of the war against France. The generals during the war were; Napoleon Bonaparte for France, the Duke of Wellington for Great Britain, Marshal Blucher for the Prussians, and the Prince of Orange. There were about 141,000 troops between Britain, Prussia and France. The French had more troops and guns total; however, the British and Prussian armies still defeated Napoleon’s army.
Since the battle was France against Britain and Prussia, Napoleon’s main strategy with this war was to fight the British and the Prussians separately. This tactic worked for the fist four battles. However, on the fifth and final battle British and Prussian troops were supposed to meet to discuss battle tactics. Napoleon took this as an opportunity to take out the British. Shortly before the meeting was going to take place, the French began battle with Britain. The only downfall of this tactic was that while the French and British were fighting, the Prussians came in and surrounded France, leaving Napoleon and him troops helpless and defeated, thus ending the final battle in the battle of Waterloo.
This was Napoleon’s final battle, and once again, he was captured and exiled. This time however, they took him off the south coast of Africa to the island St. Helena. Unlike his first exile, Napoleon was essentially alone, in a small room, with no means for escaping. Here, Napoleon died of cancer about six years after exile.
This battle was extremely important for most of Europe, for Napoleon was setting laws on trade and invading countries. This was significant for Britain because France was constantly declaring war on the British, especially during Napoleon’s reign. This was also very significant for France, of course, because as soon as France is restored from the French Revolution, their leader is banished and never seen again.
Work’s Cited
"The Battle of Waterloo 18th June 1815." British Battles - Analysing and Documenting British Battles from the Previous Centuries. Web. 30 Oct. 2010. .
Vojislav Maric
ReplyDeletePeriod 6
October 31, 2010
Waterloo BlogSpot
Napoleon Bonaparte, the emperor of France, made it seem as though nothing would ever take him out of power. He was loved by the people of France and had complete control of his troops by acting like a brother to them. Napoleon had only one obstacle in his strive to take over Europe, Britain. The small island to France’s north always provided a challenge for Napoleon. Slowly, through multiple blunders he saw his downfall in the battle of Waterloo.
The Continental System, Peninsula War and the Invasion of Russia were three blunders that caused Napoleon to lose thousands of troops as well as infuriate other European countries. Britain, Prussia and Austria were the main countries that were infuriated and decided to attack Napoleon. Napoleon decided that it would be better to attack the other countries than to allow them to join together and enter France and thus the Battle of Waterloo happened.
When Napoleon returned from Elba and was gathering troops, the Duke of Wellington and Gebhard Von Bluche were also gathering troops. Gebhard commanded the Prussian army of around 88,000 and the Duke of Wellington commanded Anglo-Allied army of around 69,000. March 13, 1815 the Congress of Vienna declared Napoleon an “outlaw.” Almost immediately Gebhard and the Duke of Wellington assembled their troops near what is now Brussels. Napoleon believed he could take on each army individually.
After successfully defeating the Prussian army at Ligney on June 16, Napoleon focused his attention on the British. June 18, 1815 a soggy damp morning south of Brussels. The battlefield was a muddy field of death slowing the movement of the troops. Napoleon initiated the battle with an artillery barrage, the battle continued to rage through the day and the British troops slowly started to die out. Right at the verge of breaking point the Prussian army came and provided reinforcements. This ended the reign of Napoleon.
The British tried to implement the tactics of the Romans when fighting Napoleon. When Napoleon’s best soldiers, his imperial guard, attacked the British troops assembled in squares with their bayonets pointed out. As the imperial guard rode through the squares the British stabbed the troops and horses as well as shot at them slashed them and did anything else to kill them.
With Napoleon dead the French decided to revert back to a monarchy bringing them around in an entire circle. Napoleon was dead and lost in an almost embarrassment losing to his life long rivals the British. While napoleon was dead the rest of Europe seemed to be celebrating now that the power could be evenly distrusted.
Works Cited:
ReplyDelete"The Battle of Waterloo, 1815." EyeWitness to History - History through the Eyes of Those Who Lived It. Web. 31 Oct. 2010. .
"The Battle of Waterloo 18th June 1815." British Battles - Analysing and Documenting British Battles from the Previous Centuries. Web. 31 Oct. 2010. .
Battle of Waterloo
ReplyDeleteAfter Napoleon returned from exile in Elba in 1815, he gathered an army of 280,000 followers and proceeded towards Paris. He was confronted by a group of soldiers who had been sent to arrest him, and he won them over in a brilliant display of charisma. The current ruler of France, King Louis XVIII, heard of Napoleon’s return and escaped France before Napoleon reached Paris. The period of time in between Napoleon’s return to France and the Battle of Waterloo is called the Hundred Days. During the Hundred Days, the Congress of Vienna, composed of the allied countries of Great Britain, Austria, Russia, and Prussia, convened and decided that Napoleon was a threat and an outlaw in Europe. Napoleon realized that his army could not defeat all of his enemies, so he declared peaceful intentions. Great Britain, Austria, Russia, and Prussia prepared to go to war anyways. The general of the Prussian army was Gebhard von Blücher, and the general of the British army was Lord Wellington, who Napoleon had a good deal of respect for.
The enthusiasm Napoleon received when he first entered France had begun to die down, so Napoleon decided to take action with his army of 288,000 men, instead of confront the 721,000 men that the allies commanded head on. His strategy was to separate the Prussian and Anglo-Dutch armies. Napoleon’s army defeated Blücher’s Prussian army at Ligny on June 16, 1815. On June 18, 1815 the Battle of Waterloo began when Wellington’s forces collided with Napoleon’s army near the town of Waterloo in present day Belgium. Wellington’s army was about to be defeated by Napoleon when the Prussian army regrouped and came to Wellington’s aid. It had previously been raining, and during an attempt to surround Wellington’s forces, Napoleon’s cannons became stuck in the mud. His lack of mobility led him to be surrounded by the Prussian and British armies. Napoleon’s last attempt was to use his undefeated Imperial Guard. He sent them towards the center of Wellington’s troops, but they were utterly defeated. The defeat of the Imperial Guard marked the end of the hope of the French that they still had a chance to win the battle. By the end of the battle, 43,000 men of the French army were killed or injured, but only 11,400 of the allies’ soldiers were killed or injured.
Napoleon fled to Paris and abdicated on June 23, 1815. He was then captured by a British warship and exiled on St. Helena, a much more desolate and harsh place than Elba had been. The allies returned King Louis XVIII to the throne after Napoleon’s exile. He wrote his memoirs on St. Helena and died six years later because of cancer. The Battle of Waterloo ended Napoleon’s life, the Hundred Days, and the Napoleonic era. The Battle of Waterloo is one of the most significant battles in the history of Europe because it ended the rule of Napoleon, who had spread ideas of freedom and equality to countries he conquered. Wellington and Blücher became heroes and leaders of their countries. The Battle of Waterloo also made way for Britain to develop and grow very powerful during the political turmoil that followed the battle.
Battle of Waterloo Assignment
ReplyDeleteJaclyn Hirbawi Period 7
October 31, 2010
The Battle of Waterloo, fought in the June of 1815, was the last of Napoleon’s blunders and his final military endeavor as emperor of France. Soon after a humiliating defeat at Waterloo, he is exiled to Saint Helena, an isolated island off the coast of Africa, where he dies of cancer. Arguably, his creation of the Continental System, a trade blockade against Britain, triggered a series of faults ending at the Battle of Waterloo. The Continental System was an attempt for economic power over the seas. In efforts to gain French control of trade, it was set up to weaken Britain's economy and prevent Britain from becoming the most powerful country in Europe. The system proposed that all European nations cease trade with the British. This ultimately caused more harm than good to France, leaving Britain unaffected due to its Industrial Revolution. Almost by chain reaction, Napoleon Bonaparte then fought in the Peninsula War and continued with the Invasion of Russia. In both he not only lost alliances, he also lost a great deal of troops. After Napoleon is defeated in Russia, his army is crippled and a coalition of European forces invades Paris, France. There, he abdicates and is exiled to Elba.
Napoleon, nonetheless, escapes from Elba and returns to France in 1815 where he has 100 days before the Battle of Waterloo. Marvelously, after marching from Marseilles to Paris and regaining his former support of his troops with the infamous: “Will you kill your emperor” line, he overthrew the reinstated monarchy and asserted himself emperor of France again. The Congress of Vienna, however, held a conference bringing ambassadors from the states of Europe to meet after Napoleon’s first exile. At the conference they carved up and mangled Napoleon’s former empire by drawing new borders. When Napoleon’s escape was announced, they declared on March 13 1815 him an outlaw four days before he re-crowned himself emperor. During this time, opposing forces from Great Britain, Austria, Russia, and Prussia formed and mobilized. Two men led these forces; Gebhard Von Blücher commanded the Seventh Coalition and Prussian Army of (approx. 89,000) while the Duke of Wellington commanded an Anglo-Allied Army (approx. 68,000). Four days after the Congress’ declaration, the forces assembled near the northeast border of France. Napoleon decided to attack these forces individually before they could unite; he led approximately 105,000 soldiers.
Battle of Waterloo Assignment (pt. 2)
ReplyDeleteJaclyn Hirbawi Period 7
October 31, 2010
Napoleon made this strategy to avoid facing a combined force. Thus, he brought the battle to the Netherlands (present day Belgium). He devised a plan in which he would separate the Prussian and English forces with individual surprise charge. After driving the Prussian forces back at the Battle of Ligny, Napoleon and his armies were in an excellent location, which forced Wellington to Waterloo and the Prussians to Wavre. Napoleon, along with his accompanies, maneuvered the majority of the French army towards Waterloo. Regardless of the weakened Prussian and English forces, Napoleon’s worst enemy yet to be faced was the weather. Consequently, the rain from the eve of Battle of Waterloo made Napoleon’s offensive tactics extremely difficult. Essentially, artillery was left stuck in the mud! Additionally, as the French cavalry charged with their bayonets past the initial Hougoumont, the British forces of Wellington used the battle squares tactic and decreased the influence of the French cavalry. With charge of this cavalry a failure, Napoleon utilized his last option: his Imperial Guard. As Napoleon’s reserve force they made the final attempt at cutting through the ranks of the now combined Seventh Coalition’s forces. Outnumbered, they eventually retreated and the rest of the French army was left in a state of panic -- the return of the Prussians strengthened Wellington’s efforts and ruined any chance Napoleon had. Wellington and Blücher ’s forces won with 22,000 killed and wounded. Napoleon’s army lost with 25,000 killed and wounded.
The defeat at Waterloo marked the end of France’s military dominance in Western Europe, and the start of a new age of peace. With the aide of Britain, France reverted to a monarchy and King Louis XVII was reinstated. Britain and the rising empire of Germany became the new dominant powers in Europe; later with their respective colonies even became the strongest influences of the world.
Work Cited
"The Battle of Waterloo, 1815." EyeWitness to History - History through the Eyes of Those Who Lived It. Web. 31 Oct. 2010.
"BBC - History -British History in Depth: The Battle of Waterloo." BBC - Homepage. BBC. Web. 30 Oct. 2010.
"Waterloo." Napoleonic Guide. Web. 31 Oct. 2010.
Due to his establishment of the continental system, his invasion of Russia and subsequently opposition to his rule, Napoleon Bonaparte was exiled to the island of Elba. But his enemies had not yet seen the last of him. Napoleon escaped from exile and began a march across Europe, gathering a massive army of loyal supporters willing to fight by his side. Napoleon arrived in France and immediately he regained possession of the crown. Many other countries were opposed to his rise to power; after all, it was for this reason that he was exiled. These countries included Austria, Prussia the United Kingdom, and Russia. Forces began to unite. A coalition of countries started to form. Napoleon, fully aware of the arising threats, planned to attack the forces of the coalition stationed north of France. He concluded that attacking the army sooner would disallow their unification with other forces to make them stronger and thus more capable of planning and carrying out an invasion of France. Napoleon was confident that he could then attack and defeat Prussian forces and push the British away from France, in turn preventing the invasion of his country. The Battle of Waterloo had begun.
ReplyDeleteThe battle took place on June 18, 1815 in present day Belgium. The city of Waterloo is only a few miles away. The French forces were divided into a right wing commanded by Marshal Grouchy, a left wing under the command of Marshal Ney and a reserve for Napoleon. The coalition and Prussian armies were commanded by Gebhard Von Blucher and another force allied against Napoleon was the Anglo-Allied army, commanded by the Duke of Wellington. In preparation for the battle, the Duke of Wellington requested more troops from the Prussian army. The duke of Wellington was prepared. He strategically used the landscapes of the area, which beforehand he had closely analyzed, to his own advantage, placing his troops in a position with both protection in the back and front, though with access to a clear and easily accessible escape route. Farm houses in Hougoumont and La Haye Sainte would play a major role in the battle; the coalition troops were able to break up the attacks of the France army because they possessed these crucial positions. Eventually, after a lengthy delay in anticipation of the ground drying (the rain would make fighting the Anglos harder), Napoleon’s forces attacked the British, who resided in the farm houses. Although the French had some successes through the day, overall their attack on Hougoumont would be ineffective and costly. Meanwhile, Napoleon ordered Marshal Ney to send the infantry of d’Erlon to attack against Prussian forces located just east of La Haye Sainte. The French drove the Prussians back because of their great numbers, though eventually the combination of the retreating Prussian troops plus new British troops led to the defeat of the French army. And due to various failed attempted attacks on the well-defended coalition army the French Calvary was for the most part destroyed. The Anglos utilized an effective “box strategy”, in which the forces grouped up in squares with sides 60 feet in length. In each square were about 500 men. As cavalry rode by the British troops would unload rounds of bullets on them. The Calvary was helpless. Though large in size, the French Calvary’s repeated attacks on the British were not effective. But the French were not losing all of the battles. They captured La Haye Sainte in the early evening. Likewise, Napoleon recognized Wellington’s weakness and took advantage of it. He marched his “undefeated” Imperial Guard, the last reserve, through devastating conditions towards Wellington’s troops stationed Northeast of Hougoumont. To their great surprise, Wellington’s army was not weak, but rather stronger than the Imperial guard. As the army charged the guard, for the first time they retreated. Then, the guard, at its greatest (that is all troops together) charged once more at Wellington’s forces. After a few hours, with the arrival of the Prussian troops, the French forces were driven out of the village called Plancenoit. The French (Imperial Guard) were backed into the La Belle Alliance and surrounded by coalition troops. Napoleon had hoped that the Guard could hold off the army long enough for the rest of the French army could rally and attack. Unfortunately, though the French lines were forced to retreat back to France. The battle was over. The French had lost. Soon after, Napoleon was deposed. He remained in France for some time before he was, once again, exiled, although now to Saint Helena. He died there in 1821.
ReplyDeleteBecause of the French defeat Napoleon was no longer allowed to be emperor; rather, Louis the XVII became king. France became a monarchy once again. Arguably, many of France’s gains during and after the revolution were lost. France’s military dominance was discontinued. The countries opposed to the rule of Napoleon and the Continental System could continue trading, bartering ect. Britain would soon become a dominant world power.
ReplyDeleteWorks Cited
ReplyDelete"Battle of Waterloo." Ww1 and History of Ww1. Web. 31 Oct. 2010. .
After being exiled to an island in the Mediterranean, Napoleon managed to escape his island prison and take back his leadership role in France. But before the battle of Waterloo Napoleon mad a few crucial mistakes. His first mistake was the Continental System which was a blockade on England. Portugal and Russia refused to take part in the Continental System. Because Portugal and Russia did not take part in the blockade, Napoleon thought that they needed to be punished. Napoleon and his infamous army invaded Spain and Napoleon put his brother as the emperor of Spain. This ended up being a costly decision because the Spanish showed nationalism and kicked the new leader of Spain off of the thrown. During this time Napoleon was busy fighting against Portugal, Spain, and England on the Siberian Peninsula. The French ended up losing the Peninsula War and this showed Europe that France was not invincible. The last mistake that Napoleon made before the battle of Waterloo was the invasion of Russia. This was another terrible mistake by Napoleon for several reasons. The reason that they invaded was because Russia violated the Continental System. As the French army moved north into Russia the conditions became noticeably worse and worse the farther they went. Napoleon ended up losing hundreds of thousands of men because of the harsh Russian winters.
ReplyDeleteThe battle of Waterloo was one of the most important battles in all of Europe’s history. This battle was crucial for several reasons. The battle of Waterloo was fought in Sunday 18 June 1815. The battle was fought in Waterloo near Belgium. The French army fought both the British and the Prussian armies. This battle was very significant because it ended Napoleon’s reign in France. Gebhard von Blücher was the general of the Prussian army. Napoleon was the general of the French army, and the Duke of Wellington was in command of the powerful English army. Napoleon’s plan of attack on such an intimidating force was to meet them outside of France, and to intercept the two converging armies before they could meet and combine their forces. Napoleon had full support from his country and his soldiers. He had nothing in his way except the weather. The battle of Waterloo was fought in three battles. The first two battles the French army won with little problems. The French army won the first two battles because they were fighting the Prussian and the English armies separately. The last battle was lost by France. The Prussians and the English teamed up and easily overcame the French Army. Before the significant defeat Napoleon sent out the Imperial Guard. This division of the French army did not see as much battle time because they were saved for the most important and closely matched battles. The Imperial Guards were the best soldiers that France had. They were intimidating, but they could not hold through this last battle. The French army as a whole was out numbered two to one. France had little chance and this battle was the last that Napoleon would ever see.
ReplyDeleteNapoleon was exiled to an island of the coast of Africa with no outside interaction. The famous, powerful, deadly, intelligent Napoleon died on that small island. None the less Napoleon is still a hero and he gave France a powerful reputation for the rest of the world.
Works cited
"The Battle of Waterloo 18th June 1815." British Battles - Analysing and Documenting British Battles from the Previous Centuries. Web. 31 Oct. 2010. .
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ReplyDeleteThe Battle of Waterloo was Napoleon Bonaparte’s final battle. However, the series of events leading up to the battle acted as a trigger to the battle. Following Napoleon’s Invasion of Russia, Napoleon was exiled to the island of Elba while King Louis XVIII was restored to power. This angered the French people due to the fact that by restoring King Louis XVIII to power, the governmental system had regressed to the monarchial system before the laborious French Revolution. In November of 1814, the allied forces of Britain, Prussia, the Netherlands, and Belgium met at the Congress of Vienna to decide how to divide Napoleon’s Empire. With this distraction, the Allies failed to notice Napoleon’s plan to escape from his imprisonment. On March 1, 1815, Napoleon officially escaped Elba and was met by followers at the port of Cannes. King Louis XVIII sent soldiers to confront the new threat, but the King’s soldiers joined their beloved general’s force instead. After Napoleon arrived in France with a warm welcome from the middle class and peasants, King Louis XVIII fled from France.
ReplyDeleteBecause of Napoleon’s tremendous amount of power, the Allies wanted to make sure that Napoleon was stopped once and for all. Therefore, they tried to confine Napoleon to the country of France and eventually defeat him. “The Allies planned full scale invasion of France for July, 1815” (Brown). This did not sit well with Napoleon, and he attempted to fight back.
Napoleon planned to defeat the coalition of countries by separating the armies, making them weaker and easier to attack. On June 16, Napoleon ordered one of his military commanders, Marshal Ney, to attack Prince William of Orange’s troops at the cross road of Quatre-Bras. Although the French army was superior to the Dutch-Belgium army, the timing of the attack was not ideal, which resulted in neither a victory nor a loss for either side. Also that day, Napoleon won a battle against the Prussian Army at Ligny. However, he did not completely defeat the Prussian general, Gebhard Lebercht von Blücher, and his troops. From there, Napoleon marched on in order to confront the Duke of Wellington’s troops and the remainder of Gebhard Lebercht von Blücher’s troops at a site about one mile away from the town of Waterloo.
On June 18, 1815, the final stage of the Battle of Waterloo began. The French army of about 72,000 troops outnumbered the British army of about 67,000 troops. Therefore, the British general, the Duke of Wellington, decided to stay put at the ridge of Mont St. Jean until the Prussian reinforcement of about 50,000 troops could arrive. Wellington positioned his troops behind the ridge and at the farms of La Haye Sainte, Papelotte, but primarily at Hougoumont. Napoleon also decided to hold off attack until around noon due to rainstorms the previous night. This allowed the ground to dry so the French cannons could be transported without getting stuck in the mud and so men and horses could move more easily.
ReplyDeleteWellington’s army did not have a well-trained infantry or cavalry. His army consisted of about 160 guns while Napoleon had around 250. Napoleon’s army, on the other hand, consisted of “veterans, disenchanted peasants, and conscripts, all hastily trained having been assembled at short notice” (BBC). Napoleon attempted to defeat Wellington’s army by relying on diversions rather than firepower. The beginning of the battles started with the defeat of Napoleon’s brother Jerome after he attempted to capture Hougoumont. Later, the French were victorious in capturing Papelotte after being under heavy artillery fire. However, the French did not hold Papelotte for long. The French continued the day with a loss at La Haye Sainte and became weaker as the Prussian forces arrived. Finally, around seven pm, Napoleon’s Imperial Guard was forced to surrender for the first time. Napoleon’s army was defeated with the loss of about 37,000 men while the Allies won with the loss of about 22,000 men.
Napoleon was once again imprisoned and exiled to the island of St. Helena where he died after six years. Europe was rid of the menacing man and no longer felt the threat of France conquering the continent. As for France, Louis XVIII was reinstated as King of France.
Works Cited
ReplyDeleteArnold, Eric A. , Jr. "Waterloo, Battle of." World Book Advanced. World Book, 2010. Web. 31 Oct. 2010.
"BBC - History - British History in Depth: The Battle of Waterloo." BBC - Homepage. Web. 31 Oct. 2010. .
Biesinger, Joseph A. "Battle of Waterloo." Germany: A Reference Guide from the Renaissance to the Present, European Nations. New York: Facts On File, Inc., 2006. Modern World History Online. Facts On File, Inc. http://www.fofweb.com/activelink2.asp?
ItemID=WE53&iPin=GER0645&SingleRecord=True (accessed October 31, 2010).
Brown, Lorri. "Battle of Waterloo: Napoleon Bonaparte’s Final Defeat." Suite101.com: Online Magazine and Writers' Network. 5 July 2009. Web. 31 Oct. 2010. .
"EBSCOhost: Waterloo, Battle of." EBSCO Publishing Service Selection Page. 1996. Web. 31 Oct. 2010. .
Ciara Corbeil
ReplyDeleteUpon returning from Russia with his crippled army, Napoleon fought the allied Prussia, Russia, Sweden and Austria in Paris and lost. He was captured, forced to abdicate, and exiled to the Italian island of Elba. Despite being a prisoner of war and having a history of leading thousands to their deaths, Napoleon was treated exceedingly well by his British captors. So well, in fact, that he was allowed to keep 1,000 of his elite Imperial Guards with him and was allowed to “rule” Elba. He and his guards escaped Elba by commandeering unattended boats on the island and sailing to the mainland. From there, Napoleon marched northward raising an army and making the allies, (Russia, Austria, Prussia, and Great Britain), extremely nervous. Several forces were sent to stop his progress as decided by the Vienna Convention, but the soldiers disobeyed their orders and joined him. The time between Napoleon’s landing and final defeat at the Battle of Waterloo would come to be known at the 100 Days.
By the time the true confrontation between Bonaparte and the allies arrived, Napoleon had gathered an army of 280,000. His goal was to separate General Gebhard Leberecht von Blücher’s Prussian army from Duke Wellington’s British forces. This way, he reasoned, he could pursue and defeat either army as it fell back upon its supply lines. Taking advantage of his army’s superior numbers and artillery, Napoleon engaged and defeated the Prussian army at Ligny on June 16, 1815. However, the Prussians did not completely retreat as Napoleon thought they would, but rather regrouped at Wavre. At the same time, the other French forces, under command of Marshal Ney, attacked the Prince of Orange’s allied Dutch and Belgian army at Quatre-Bras. Unfortunately for the French, Ney failed to attack before the arrival of reinforcements and the battle ended as a stalemate with the allies regrouping at Mont St. Jean.
On June 18th, 1815, the armies of Napoleon and Duke Wellington of Britain prepared for a final collision near the town of Waterloo. Wellington divided his coalition troops into three sections commanded by Lord Hill, Prince William of Orange, and Sir Thomas Picton. They held the ridge of Mont St. Jean. Taking into account his disadvantage of numbers, inexperienced soldiers, and modest artillery, Wellington decided to hide the majority of his army behind the ridge and hold his ground until Blücher could come with reinforcements. Meanwhile, Bonaparte took the ridge of La Belle Alliance across the valley. He tried to delay the coming battle as much as he could so that the land would dry out, which would make cannon transportation easier, increase the efficiency of his superior cavalry, and allow the muskets to fire properly as wet gun powder seriously hampered their performance. He sent Marshal Grouchy to prevent the Prussians from coming to Wellington’s aid. In fact, Blücher had already sent what uninjured troops he could to St. Lambert, (a town near Mont St. Jean), under the command of General Bulow. Napoleon’s strategy centered on surprise and aggression as his army was largely untrained with the exception of the Imperial Guard while he kept in reserve to the rear. His priority was to break Wellington’s front line by attacking on the right, then firing on the rest of the army, and finally mounting a full attack on the ridge while the allies’ defenses were at their weakest.
The battle raged throughout the day with neither side really gaining the upper hand. Wellington was desperately waiting for the Prussians, and both armies took heavy losses. The French had just captured the key town of La Haye Sainte when Napoleon decided that Blücher must be stopped. He sent his undefeated Imperial Guard to engage the Prussians and capture the town of Plancenoit. They marched at about seven o’clock pm. In order to do this, they had to cross the field between La Haye Sainte and Hougoumont, held by Wellington’s right flank. As expected, the Guards passing by Hougoumont were obliterated, but the rest made it past the ridge. They even made it past the front line, but the allied reserves hiding in the corn surprised them. The guards fled, some of them forming squares in the center of the battlefield, hoping to slow the allies’ advance and act as a vanguard for their retreating emperor. Then, seeing the arrival of the Prussians on his left, Wellington and his forces swept down Mont St. Jean, defeating the Imperial guard and taking Plancenoit and Papelotte. At nine o’clock pm, Blücher arrived to meet with Wellington at La Belle Alliance. The Allies sent the fresh Prussian cavalry after the fleeing French, who were eventually defeated. On June 22nd, Napoleon abdicated for the second time and Paris surrendered on July 4th.
ReplyDeleteNot only did the Battle of Waterloo mark the end of Napoleon’s reign of power, it also marked France’s. From its status as the most powerful country of the most powerful continent in the world, France fell to occupation by the British and economic weakness. It became a monarchy once again, and depended on loans from Britain to restore its economy. On the other hand, Britain flourished. Wellington was greeted as a hero and acted as Commander-in-Chief during the occupation of France. In 1828, he became Prime Minister. His French adversary Bonaparte, however, was exiled to the island of St. Helena where he died six years later of colon cancer.
Works Cited:
ReplyDeleteBiesinger, Joseph A. "Battle of Waterloo." Germany: A Reference Guide from the Renaissance to the Present, European Nations. New York: Facts On File, Inc., 2006. Modern World History Online. Facts On File, Inc. http://www.fofweb.com/activelink2.asp?
ItemID=WE53&iPin=GER0645&SingleRecord=True (accessed October 28, 2010).
Crompton, Samuel Willard. "'The Corsican Returns'." Waterloo, Battles that Changed the World. Philadephia: Chelsea House Publishing, 2002. Modern World History Online. Facts On File, Inc. http://www.fofweb.com/activelink2.asp?
ItemID=WE53&iPin=BCWWLOO01&SingleRecord=True (accessed October 29, 2010).
Crompton, Samuel Willard. "'Quatre-Bras and Ligny'." Waterloo, Battles that Changed the World. Philadephia: Chelsea House Publishing, 2002. Modern World History Online. Facts On File, Inc. http://www.fofweb.com/activelink2.asp?
ItemID=WE53&iPin=BCWWLOO08&SingleRecord=True (accessed October 29, 2010).
http://www.battlefile.info/Waterloo/aftermath.php
http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/british/empire_seapower/battle_waterloo_01.shtml
When Napoleon returned to power in 1815 after his exile, many former enemies, including Prussia, Austria, Russia, and the UK met at the Congress of Vienna, and designated Napoleon as a threat, and began to mobilize their armies toward France. The first to reach were the armies of great of Duke Wellington and Blucher. Napoleon decided to attack the two before they were able to unite with the forces of other Allies. He maneuvered his forces in between the Prussians and Wellington, and centered himself at Beaumont. Napoleon defeated Prussian forces under Blucher on June 16 before moving against Wellington.
ReplyDeleteThe Battle of Waterloo took place on June 18, 1815 near Waterloo, present-day Belgium. It had rained the previous night, making the roads of the battlefield in poor condition. Napoleon delayed his attack because he knew maneuvering heavy artillery would be difficult due to the wet ground. Wellington was occupying the ridge of Mont St Jean, which is just south of Waterloo. Wellington knew that his forces were inexperienced, poorly trained, and drastically outnumbered by the French armies. He decided to hold his position until help from the Prussians could arrive. The majority of his army he lined along the ridge, while he posted some troops to the left flank at Houghoumont, the direction from which the Prussians were supposed to come. In the meantime, Prussian forces were regrouping from their defeat at the hands of Napoleon. Blucher ordered one relatively intact corps of troops to move toward Wellington, while he gave the bulk of his men time to recover, and they would follow when ready.
Napoleons army consisted of old veterans, peasants, and conscripts, all trained hastily and assembled quickly. He knew his military strength lay his artillery and cavalry, which were much greater than Wellingtons. He relied on surprise and aggression, rather than his heavy firepower. He devised a plan in which attacking Wellingtons forces at Houghoumont first, then followed by heavy artillery on the left and center of his forces as a diversion, all the while moving another group of forces down the right flank for a full attack on the ridge. Napoleon kept his Imperial Guard as reserve, toward the rear of his forces.
At 11:30 am, the French launched their diversionary attack on Houghoumont. The Allies occupying Houghoumont held their ground. Napoleon’s brother, Jerome, did not complete his diversionary tactics; rather, he made an attempt to capture the farm but was repelled by Wellington.
At 1:00 pm, Napoleon’s heavy artillery opened fire, as some of Napoleon’s troops, led by d’Erlon marched across the field toward the position held by Wellington. D’Erlon’s Corps sustained heavy casualties under Allied artillery, however still succeeded in capturing one of Wellington’s forward posts, and surrounding La Haye Sainte. While the infantry was attacking, Napoleon intercepted a message intended for Wellington, revealing the Prussian forces in St Lambert, to his right. He sent Domon’s and Subervie’s cavalries to face the Prussian troops. Wellington’s position started becoming vulnerable so he sent his reserve forces in an attempt to push out the French infantry. They were beated back from La Haye Sainte, and Wellington pushed them back further with cavalry brigades. Napoleon’s heavy calvary, his cuirassier brigade, counter-attacked, and decimated the allied cavalry. Once again, Wellington withdrew his forces behind the ridge, and reinforced La Haye Sainte, while Prince Bernhardt retook the position held by Napoleon’s brother.
ReplyDeleteAt 3:00 pm, Napoleon’s aforces under Marshal Ney attempted to retake La Haye Sainte. Ney’s cavalry charged toward the ridge, but were beaten back by Wellington’s formation of squares, rather than columns. With all of His forces tied up elsewhere, Napoleon was unable to send reinforcements to Ney. By sheer chance, one of Ney’s infantry forces managed to capture La Haye Sainte. That gave the French artillery a very advantageous forward position. However without reinforcements, Ney could not take advantage of Wellington’s current state. Napoleon was worried about the Prussians who had overwhelmed his cavalries, and were moving to rejoin Wellington. Napoleon sent half his Imperial Guard to recapture the position took by advancing Prussians, and half his Imperial Guard to fight Welington’s troops.
By 7:00 pm, troops near Hougoumont were wiped out by Allied forces, however infantry supported by the Imperial Guard at La Haye Sainte broke through Wellington’s fortifications, and advanced up and over the ridge. They were surprised and destroyed by allied forces hiding in the corn, and the Guard fled. It was the first time and last time that Napoleon’s Imperial Guard would be forced to retreat. Seeing that the Guard was fleeing, the Allied line swept down the ridge and successfully crippled the Guard. Prussian forces and Blucher met with Wellington, and Napoleon was effectively defeated.
Wellington later described his victory as a “damned near-run thing”. The battle was hard won and closely fought, but in the end communication and timing ultimately led to Napoleon’s downfall. The wet ground also contributed to his defeat, because he delayed the main attack until 1 pm to allow the wet ground to dry out. Even worse was that muskets became damp, preventing them from firing correctly. Had he not waited so long to attack, the end result may have ended in his favor.
Works Cited
ReplyDelete"BBC - History - British History in Depth: The Battle of Waterloo." BBC - Homepage. Web. 30 Oct. 2010. .
Smith 1
ReplyDeleteJake Smith
Mr. Webber
World History Period 6
10 Oct. 2010
Waterloo
The Battle of Waterloo was one of the most significant battles of all time, if not the most. It was the combination of the United Kingdom, Prussia, Austria and Russia to battle against the Scourge of France, Napoleon Bonaparte, in a hope to destroy him and his army and abolish the Continental System and end his reign of terror once and for all. Gebhard Von Blucher commander of the Prussian forces working with the Anglo-Allied army lead by the Duke of Wellington beat Napoleon’s army of France, with more men and better tactics. The battle took place in Belgium, June 18, 1815. Napoleon had just arrived back in Paris when he heard of the wave of armies that were rallying together. With this news Napoleon did not have much time, for the armies were still grouping up, maybe he could hit them before they were ready. So Napoleon left immediately, but what he failed to realize, was whom he was going to fight. He was not going to fight a bunch of guerrillas or farmers he was going head to head with real armies. Napoleon was fighting for power, while his enemies were fighting for Nationalism, a group of people willing to do what ever it took to liberate there country from the claws of tyranny. Blind to this Napoleon went head on into to battle, without a thorough plan. This was his first fault. He had planned for his first set of troops to weaken the enemy and then let his Imperial guard deliver the final blow. But Wellington and Blucher planned for this by
Smith 2
forming their troops into square formations, which would take down the Imperial guard easily. As this was happening all over the battlefield the Prussian army surged hard against the right border and eventually broke through. With this brake the British were able to counter attack the left immediately after, sending the French soldiers into disarray. Shortly after Napoleon and what was left of his troops were cornered and they surrendered. Napoleon was then forced to give up the throne, and King Louis the VIII was reinstated. With the end of Napoleon came a new era, a time of freedom. It ended France’s ultimate power over the rest of Europe and allowed each country it’s own rights. Though Napoleon was a great man and a tremendous Commander, he went to far into other countries liberties.
Works Cited
Battle of Waterloo. Web. 31 Oct. 2010. .
Prior to Napoleons Fateful defeat at Waterloo, he had given way to several “blunders”. He first implemented the Continental system, a blockade on Britain, this is said to be his first wrong doing. This then lead to the peninsula war, a war with Portugal and Spain, which further enflamed things and made France a weaker being. Lastly, was his war against Russia, where he was defeated and eventually captured and sent to Elba. Although he eventually escapes from Elba and comes back to fight in Waterloo, France’s supplies were lower, foreign armies mobilized, and countries saw France was not invincible. After coming back from Elba Napoleon makes his final and most severe mistake, his loss at Waterloo.
ReplyDeleteIn June of 1815 Napoleon was finally defeated at Waterloo. Today the battle site is located in Belgium near Brussels. Napoleon commanded some odd 69,000 experienced troops and fought two formidable opponents. Although considered one, the “seventh coalition”, the armies were divided because of the variety off countries involved. Namely Britain, Austria, Prussia and Russia were the countries composing the seventh coalition. The two armies were the Prussians teamed with some countries from the seventh coalition and Britain teamed with others from the seventh coalition. The Prussians were comprised of some 48,000 and were not greatly experienced and the almighty British and allies were composed of 67,00 “regular” troops. The Prussians were commanded by Gebhard Von Blucher and the Anglo allied army (mostly British) was directed under the accomplished general Wellington. Although the British and Prussians were separate armies they were united with the goal of the downfall of the French empire and the eventual defeat of Napoleon.
The French forces were divided into two wings. A left wing commanded by Marshal Ney and a right wing commanded by Marshal Grouchy. There were also reserve troops which were commanded by Napoleon himself. On the contrary the Prussian and British forces strategically planned to meet up and create an immensely huge army. Napoleon and his extensive knowledge of military tactics saw this as a potential and sure defeat. He thought that if the armies combined there would be no way to come out of the battle victorious. As a result of his observation Napoleon wanted to intercept one force before it could join the other. He happened to meet the Prussians first and he fought them at the battle of Lingy. He crushed the Prussian forces but at a cost of many troops. Napoleon demanded Grouchy follow the retreating Prussian forces. Meanwhile General Ney fought the British in the battle known as the Quatre Bras. The French were again victorious and Napoleon focused on the bigger British Force stationed at Waterloo. General grouchy had taken the right wing to follow the Prussians but were unsuccessful in catching up to them. The Prussians were able to seek shelter and attained a position where they could aid the British forces.
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ReplyDeleteAfter the defeat in Russia, Napoleon was captured by Britain and exiled to Elba. However, he quickly manages to escape on a boat because his companions are ready to assist him. When he arrived back in France, he was again emperor and had a substantial amount of power. Britain and many radicals in France were very eager to eliminate him from power and stop his reign. Napoleon became very power hungry and thoughtless of France’s needs. He also created a Continental System to block Britain from trading with other countries, but this system only lead to wars and weakened Napoleon’s power. The Continental System ultimately started the Battle of Waterloo and France and Britain’s fight for power.
ReplyDeleteThe Battle of Waterloo started on June 18, 1815 in Belgium and lasted the entire day. France was fighting against Prussia, Spain, Russia, and Britain. Napoleon had to cleverly defend his troops from Britain’s Duke of Wellington and Prussia’s Gebhard Von Blücher. Napoleon had 74,000 troops and lost 40,000 while Britain had 67,000 troops and lost 23,000. Wellington was ill equipped and not prepared.
France had an arduous fight to stay in control because the weather was restricting him from out performing the other countries. Napoleon’s plan was to separate Prussian Britain armies and to driving them away. Heavy rain limited troop movement and artillery usage. Mud caused issues with the movement of Napoleon’s flank, which lead to France’s defeat.
During the Napoleonic Empire Era, Napoleon Bonaparte was gaining many supporting countries and people. France was powerful and important thanks to Napoleon’s charisma and competency. However, the Battle of Waterloo ended all the progress he made in France and Europe. France was defeated and Napoleon was defeated. He was exiled to St. Helena, without any support, and died there six years later from cancer. Many France citizens did not feel a loss because he didn’t have many people’s support when he escaped from his first exile. However, Napoleonic Era is regarded as a very important time period.
France became a bigger and stronger nation. The Napoleonic Era created nationalism. The nation had a responsibility for their country and felt pride and devotion towards it. Nationalism is the driving force to any country because people ban together to support their beliefs and love for their country. He also spread France’s ideas around to other European countries to make France immensely more influential. Nationalism spread all over the world and more countries became stronger.
Napoleon is a legend and a historical figure. He is considered one of the most renowned military commanders in history. However, during the latter part of his reign he had wanton intentions that his weakened support group. Napoleon also promoted education and the arts through a new constitution and law codes.
Britain was able to gain control over Egypt and trade with India. It became the most powerful nation in Europe. If Napoleon would have lead France in a victory at the Battle of Waterloo, many countries around the world would have been influenced by Napoleonic ideals. Countries would have had less freedom and differences.
Works Cited
ReplyDelete"The Battle of Waterloo." Battle of Waterloo. Web. 1 Nov. 2010. .
"The Battle of Waterloo." BBC - Homepage. Web. 01 Nov. 2010. .
On June 18, 1815 the final battle of Waterloo took place. The French fought their formidable British opponents. The upper hand of the battle fluctuated throughout the day. Wellington was confident his troops could survive for some time but he was relying on the promised support of the Prussians to ensure victory. On the other side the French deployed their experienced and undefeated Imperial guard. They were met by a number of British troops and were forced to retreat. When the troops saw that the once undefeated Imperial Guard was retreating a shockwave of fear and panic affected the troops. Just as this was ongoing the Prussians arrived and energized the opposing force. Napoleon was doomed because of the large opposing force, and he was in fact defeated some hours later. As a result of this defeat Napoleon was captured and permanently exiled to St. Helena off the coast of Angola. Napoleon would later die on this island of cancer.
ReplyDeleteThe French defeat coupled with the exile of Napoleon signified the fall of the French empire. This is very significant because France was no longer the dominant power in Europe, and they were no longer controlling what happens in Europe and in turn the French were no longer dictating history.
Works Cited
"The Battle of Waterloo, 1815." EyeWitness to History - History through the Eyes of Those Who Lived It. Ibis Communications, Inc. Web. 01 Nov. 2010.
"The Battle of Waterloo." Battle of Waterloo. Web. 31 Oct. 2010.
"The Battle of Waterloo." BritishBattles.com. Web. 30 Oct. 2010.
"BBC - History - British History in Depth: The Battle of Waterloo." BBC - Homepage. BBC. Web. 31 Oct. 2010.
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteDillon Lerach
ReplyDelete31 Octobre, 2010
L’histoire du Monde
Quand Napoléon reprit son pouvoir en quittant Elba, et en marchant nord vers Pairs, Il arriva à Paris et fit Louis XVIII s’enfuir la France. Les Français montraient leur fidélité à l’empereur quand il rencontra ses troupes pendant qu’il allait vers Paris, quand il les rencontra, il cria « Soldats du 5e ! Reconnaissez votre Empereur ! S'il en est qui veut me tuer, me voilà ! » Quand la France tomba encore sous le pouvoir de Napoléon, les Prussiens, les Autrichiens, les Russes, et les Anglais rencontrèrent et décidèrent de former la septième coalition. Le but de cette coalition fut de détruire pour la dernière fois l’empire français, mais il n’y avait que deux pays de la coalition qui pouvait combattre tout de suite Napoléon, ces pays était la Prussie et l’Angleterre ; ces deux armés commencèrent leur campagne à la frontière du nord-ouest de la France (la Belgique). Les chefs de la septième coalition s’appelèrent le duc de Wellington et Gebhard von Blücher, ils décidèrent qu’ils allaient essayer de combattre Napoléon ensemble pour qu’ils eussent plus de troupes.
Napoléon répondit en envoyant des troupes envers la septième coalition. Les Français arrivèrent le dix-huit, juin, 1815, juste avant que les Prussiens et les Anglais pussent venir ensemble. La stratégie de Napoléon fut de combattre les Prussiens et les Anglais séparément. Au début de la bataille, il réussit avec cette stratégie : il gagna contre les Prussiens à Ligny et les força de se retirer de la bataille. Après ayant gagné contre les Prussiens, Napoléon commença à attaquer les Anglais à la bataille de Quatre-Bras, les Français gagna aussi cette bataille après que Napoléon attaqua Wellington à la partie de son armé le plus faible. Puisque Napoléon croyait que les Prussiens n’étaient plus dans la bataille, il avança envers les Anglais près du village de Waterloo, mais à cause d’un orage qui était venu la nuit auparavant, Napoléon ne pouvait pas avancer jusqu’à treize heures. À cause de ça, les Prussiens, qui, en fait, ne s’était pas retraits, pouvaient avancer envers Napoléon et aider les Anglais le combattre, ceci est la raison que Napoléon perdit. Quand les Prussiens arrivèrent, Napoléon décida d’envoyer sa garde comme un dernier effort de gagner, mais la garde échoua de casser les queues anglaises.
La bataille de Waterloo termina l’empire français après les cent jours sous Napoléon, c’était peut-être la bataille la plus important de l’histoire française ou même l‘histoire européenne. Cette bataille établit aussi la dominance de l’Angleterre pendant les prochains cinquante années. Bien que cette bataille ne fût pas la faute de Napoléon, c’est regardé comme une de ces trois fautes énormes. Mais cette bataille a changé bien plus que la France, l’Angleterre, et la Prussie, Cette bataille a commencé la lutte entre les peuples et les gouvernements impériales comme l’Autriche, la Prussie, et la Russie. Une lutte que, éventuellement, les peuples ont gagnée, mais seulement après les gouvernements comme la restauration française ont été détruits et les droits établis par la révolution et Napoléon fut réinstitué.
Bibliographie:
Bély, Lucien. Ancien Élève De L'École Normale, Supérieure Agrégé De L'Université. Paris: Ouest France, 1985. Print.
Cummins, Joseph. New York: Metro, 2007. Print.
Floyd, Elizabeth, and Geoffrey Hindley. Makers of History. London: Bloomsbury, 1989. Print.
Jörgensen, Christer. Great Battles. Bath, UK: Parragon, 2007. Print.
Parker, Geoffrey. The Times Illustrated History of the World. New York, NY: HarperCollins, 1995. Print.
Spodek, Howard. The World's History. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson/Prentice Hall, 2006. Print.
The Battle of Waterloo
ReplyDeleteThe Battle of Waterloo was caused by a number of mistakes made by Emperor Napoleon. The first mistake he made was the introduction of the Continental System. When Napoleon realized Britain was impossible to conquer through military superiority, he tried to attack the economy of Britain by placing on it a trade embargo, enforced for all allies and countries under French control. This Continental System did very little harm to the British economy, as many of France’s conquered countries still engaged in illegal smuggling with Britain. France received no tax income from these illegal trades, and the Continental System hurt France more than it did Britain. Angered at the smuggling, Napoleon turned his armies toward Portugal, one country that was openly defying the embargo on Britain, and Napoleon sent his troops to stop them. To get to Portugal, Napoleon’s troops had to go through the Iberian Peninsula, which composes the countries of Spain, Portugal, and Andorra. This invasion marked the start of the Peninsula War. Napoleon’s troops never even reached Portugal, however, because Spanish Guerillas, angered at Napoleon’s march through their homeland, began killing the French soldiers, exhibiting one of the first displays of Nationalism. Napoleon’s forces eventually retreated back to France, but suffered many casualties. The third blunder made by Napoleon was to invade Russia. The Russians employed a scorched earth policy, meaning that when the French soldiers began to march back home, they had no food or shelter. Out of the 500,000 troops sent by Napoleon, very few survived, decimating the French Army. This invasion leads Napoleon himself to be captured by the British, and exiled to the Island of Elba. Napoleon eventually escapes his prison in 1815, and within 100 days he has rebuilt the French Army and retaken his “rightful” place on the throne. The hundredth day of his return marks the start of the Battle of Waterloo, and the end of his reign as Empire of France.
The Battle of Waterloo took place June 18, 1815, near Waterloo, Belgium. In Napoleon’s final battle, his forces were attacked by a coalition of countries. The French Army was led by Michael Ney and Napoleon Bonaparte, the Prussian Army and the Seventh Coalition(A combination of Britain, Russia, Prussia, Sweden, Austria, and the Netherlands) was led by Gebhard Von Blucher, and the British Army was led by the Duke of Wellington, all renowned tacticians.
The first skimish between coalition forces and Napoleon’s army happened June 16 in Ligny, where Napoleon drove off the Prussian army, but at the high cost of losing many of his own men in the process. Napoleon then sent his troops to the town of Waterloo, where the famous battle took place. One of the deciding factors in the Battle of Waterloo was that the battlefield had gone through heavy rainstorms, and although Napoleon had planned on attacking the coalition forces quickly (driving the British back to the sea) before they could assemble, he had to delay the battle until around 10:00 (No one knows precisely when the battle started). The battle begin with Napoleon’s 300 cannons opening fire on the British troops. The Duke of Wellington had arranged his forces into fighting squares, and when Napoleon sent in his Imperial Guard, wave after wave of British soldiers were sent towards them, eventually forcing them to turn back. Seeing the seemingly invincible Imperial Guard retreat caused a loss of morale in the remaining French Soldiers. The fighting caused heavy casualties on both sides, but as the battle seemed to begin to turn in Napoleon’s favor, the Prussians regrouped in the town of Wavre and came just in time to assist their British allies and end Napoleon’s Empire once and for all. The final casualty count was 25,000 dead French, and 22,000 dead Coalition troops.
ReplyDeleteNapoleon was later captured in Paris by the British. After learning a lesson from the first time Napoleon was imprisoned, the British exiled him to the island of St. Helena, off the west coast of Africa. Napoleon died there 6 years later from colon cancer. After going through a bloody revolution and the rule of Napoleon, France was again ruled by a monarch, in this case King Louis XVIII. The most significant outcome of the Battle of Waterloo, however, is that France ended its reign as the most powerful country in Europe, and possibly the World.
Works Cited:
"The Battle of Waterloo, 1815." EyeWitness to History - History through the Eyes of Those Who Lived It. 9 June 2009. Web. 01 Nov. 2010. .
"The Battle of Waterloo, 1815." EyeWitness to History - History through the Eyes of Those Who Lived It. 2004. Web. 01 Nov. 2010. .
Isaac Ahn
ReplyDeletePeriod 7
Mr. Webber
31 October 2010
Battle of Waterloo Assignment
The Battle of Waterloo was the last battle in which the French were led by Napoleon Bonaparte, and took place on June 18th, 1815. The opposing sides consisted of French armies led by Napoleon Bonaparte and Michael Ney, versus a coalition of British, Prussian, and European countries led by the Duke of Wellington and Gebhard Leberecht von Blücher. The battle took place near the town of Waterloo in Belgium, and resulted in the defeat of the French armies and the exile of Napoleon. The events leading up to the Battle of Waterloo can be characterized in the events of the Hundred Days. After Napoleon retreated to France following his failed Invasion of Russia, a coalition of European countries invaded France. Napoleon was captured, and the Treaty of Fontainebleau was signed in 1814, stating that Napoleon would be exiled to Elba. This did happen, and King Louis XVIII, Louis XVI’s brother, was made monarch of France. However, this monarch had little support from the French people, and Napoleon saw this as an opportunity to regain power once again in France. He escaped from his exile, and took a boat back to the country he ruled. Once he arrived, he started to regain popularity among the French and was welcomed as a restorer of the nation’s glory. King Louis XVIII sent soldiers to arrest Napoleon, but even they joined his cause. Once Napoleon arrived in Paris, he declared himself emperor once again and started rebuilding French armies to fight his enemies. The coalition of countries that originally ousted Napoleon received news of his return; they started building up armies to invade France. This arms race continued until Napoleon decided to attack the Prussian and European coalition armies in Belgium. This was Napoleon’s Hundred Days campaign, and it was what led up to the famed Battle of Waterloo.
Napoleon and his forces first fought Blücher and the Prussians on June 16th, 1815, two days before the actual battle at Waterloo. The Prussians set up defenses at a town called Ligny and tried to fight off Napoleon’s attacking forces. However, they failed and were forced to retreat and regroup at a town called Wavre farther north. This separated the main body of Prussians from their coalition allies led by Lord Wellington. Two days later, Napoleon prepared to face off against Lord Wellington just south of Waterloo. Wellington’s plan of action was stand his ground until the Prussian armies provided reinforcements, for he saw that the French outnumbered him. He set up troops in farms named Hougoumont, La Haye Sainte, and Papelotte. Hougoumont marked Wellington’s right flank while Papelotte marked his left flank. Most of his troops were stationed near Hougoumont while Papelotte was left lightly guarded with the hope that Prussians would arrive quickly to reinforce the position. Napoleon wanted to use his advantages in artillery and cavalry to break through the allies’ center and left flank before breaking through their frontline. His Imperial Guard was kept as his last reserve force. Napoleon then started the battle with a decoy assault on Hougoumont. However, Napoleon’s brother decided to engage his division and another brigade of troops in a full assault. Wellington held off the attack. A little past midday, Napoleon’s forces marched past the La Haye Sainte farm and captured Papelotte. After getting news that Prussian forces arrived in a nearby town called St. Lambert, Napoleon sent infantry and cavalry to hold off the Prussians. Fighting continued around La Haye Sainte, and Wellington and his allies retook Papelotte and reinforced their midsection. Both sides took a beating, and by the afternoon, Napoleon’s right flank and Wellington’s left flank were both weakened. Fighting continued at Hougoumont and Napoleon’s generals kept the Prussians back at St. Lambert. Napoleon then ordered Michael Ney to try and capture La Haye Sainte. He succeeded, only after he attempted a cavalry charge against Wellington’s forces. French artillery advanced into La Haye Sainte and lined up right below the ridge where Wellington’s forces were holding. This prevented Wellington’s men from advancing. Meanwhile, Prussian forces were advancing against Napoleon’s generals and had captured a town called Plancenoit. Napoleon decided to send part of his Imperial Guard to retake the Plancenoit in a last-ditch effort to stop the Prussians from regrouping with Wellington and another group to help fight Wellington himself. One Imperial Guard group was destroyed near Hougoumont, and another was forced to retreat after fighting Wellington’s men near La Haye Sainte. The Imperial Guard was fully decimated when Wellington ordered an assault after Prussian reinforcements had arrived on his left flank. France then lost Plancenoit and Papelotte. France retreated and lost the battle. Napoleon was captured and exiled to St. Helena, where he died of cancer in 1821.
ReplyDeleteThe battle was important for Napoleon because it affected what happened in the rest of his life. First of all, Napoleon lost all his hopes for recreating the empire he had built during his previous tenure as Emperor of France. Also, his loss of the Battle of Waterloo doomed him to live the rest of his life as a common prisoner in St. Helena, instead of probably ruling as a famous conqueror. The battle was important for France because the country lost one of its most famed leaders of all time in Napoleon. France was also occupied by the coalition of countries that had defeated its military, but this occupation ended in three years. Europe was free from the threat posed by Napoleon and his imperialistic ideals, and Britain became the most powerful country in the continent for the next half-century.
Napoleon and his forces first fought Blücher and the Prussians on June 16th, 1815, two days before the actual battle at Waterloo. The Prussians set up defenses at a town called Ligny and tried to fight off Napoleon’s attacking forces. However, they failed and were forced to retreat and regroup at a town called Wavre farther north. This separated the main body of Prussians from their coalition allies led by Lord Wellington. Two days later, Napoleon prepared to face off against Lord Wellington just south of Waterloo. Wellington’s plan of action was stand his ground until the Prussian armies provided reinforcements, for he saw that the French outnumbered him. He set up troops in farms named Hougoumont, La Haye Sainte, and Papelotte. Hougoumont marked Wellington’s right flank while Papelotte marked his left flank. Most of his troops were stationed near Hougoumont while Papelotte was left lightly guarded with the hope that Prussians would arrive quickly to reinforce the position. Napoleon wanted to use his advantages in artillery and cavalry to break through the allies’ center and left flank before breaking through their frontline. His Imperial Guard was kept as his last reserve force. Napoleon then started the battle with a decoy assault on Hougoumont. However, Napoleon’s brother decided to engage his division and another brigade of troops in a full assault. Wellington held off the attack. A little past midday, Napoleon’s forces marched past the La Haye Sainte farm and captured Papelotte. After getting news that Prussian forces arrived in a nearby town called St. Lambert, Napoleon sent infantry and cavalry to hold off the Prussians. Fighting continued around La Haye Sainte, and Wellington and his allies retook Papelotte and reinforced their midsection. Both sides took a beating, and by the afternoon, Napoleon’s right flank and Wellington’s left flank were both weakened. Fighting continued at Hougoumont and Napoleon’s generals kept the Prussians back at St. Lambert. Napoleon then ordered Michael Ney to try and capture La Haye Sainte. He succeeded, only after he attempted a cavalry charge against Wellington’s forces. French artillery advanced into La Haye Sainte and lined up right below the ridge where Wellington’s forces were holding. This prevented Wellington’s men from advancing. Meanwhile, Prussian forces were advancing against Napoleon’s generals and had captured a town called Plancenoit. Napoleon decided to send part of his Imperial Guard to retake the Plancenoit in a last-ditch effort to stop the Prussians from regrouping with Wellington and another group to help fight Wellington himself. One Imperial Guard group was destroyed near Hougoumont, and another was forced to retreat after fighting Wellington’s men near La Haye Sainte. The Imperial Guard was fully decimated when Wellington ordered an assault after Prussian reinforcements had arrived on his left flank. France then lost Plancenoit and Papelotte. France retreated and lost the battle. Napoleon was captured and exiled to St. Helena, where he died of cancer in 1821.
ReplyDeleteConnor De Mill
ReplyDelete10/30/2010
Period 6
Battle of Waterloo Assignment
After Napoleon’s escape from the island of Elba, he returned to France to reclaim power. On Napoleon’s march towards Paris, he gathered the support of the public and proclaimed himself emperor once again. Once Napoleon had control of France he quickly tried to rebuild his army in fear of an attack from European forces, for six days after his return to France, he was declared an outlaw by the congress of Vienna. On the 15th of June 1815 Napoleon confronted the European forces at Waterloo, south of Brussels, in Belgium. The European coalition consisted primarily of British and Prussian forces. The British and the Prussians were afraid that Napoleon would be able to rebuild his empire and conquer Europe once again. To prevent this, they attacked Napoleon while they had the advantage, outnumbering Napoleons forces by approximately 157,000 to 105,000 troops. The Duke of Wellington headed the British army, while Field Marshal Blucher headed the Prussian army. Both the British and Prussian armies were encamped in the southern Netherlands, however they were not in the exact same area. Napoleon had wished to destroy both the British and Prussian armies individually, before they could unite. During Wellington’s transfer between areas, Napoleon attacked the outposts of the Coalition, gaining a central position between the armies. On the 16th of June Napoleon attacked and routed the Prussian army due to superior numbers at Ligny, but not without the cost of many lives. Believing the British army to be without reinforcements, Napoleon made his attack on the small town of Waterloo.
Napoleon outnumbered the inexperienced British army by 2,000 soldiers and 100 artillery guns. However, Wellington had more time to position his troops, and used the geography of the location in his favor. Wellington had deployed his troops just behind the crest of a hill, as to prevent the bulk of his army from being seen by the French, and to allow the Prussians to more easily reinforce his army throughout the day. This fighting technique was known as “reverse slope defense”. For his first strike, Napoleon called for an artillery barrage on Wellington’s central position hoping to separate the British and the Prussian armies. However, there were heavy rains the night before, and Napoleon had to wait for dryer ground before repositioning his army. Because of Wellington’s strong positioning, Napoleon’s artillery did not do as much damage as he would have liked, however it did weaken the morale of the British troops. After the artillery barrage, a massive cavalry battle had begun, with both sides exchanging brigades of men. Later in the battle, Napoleon’s generals thought that they saw a weakness in the center of Wellington’s forces, and ordered a massive cavalry charge. Upon seeing this large cavalry force approaching Wellington’s men were ordered to “prepare to receive cavalry, as they formed into large “fighting squares”. These “fighting squares” consisted on infantry in the front kneeling to bayonets to form a wall against the cavalry with the soldiers behind firing their muskets. Napoleons only counter to this would have been artillery directed at the clustered troops to disrupt their formations. However, as Napoleon did not wish to fire upon his own troops, not enough artillery was fired in between cavalry waves. As a last ditch effort, Napoleon committed his finest troops, the imperial guard, to the battle. Napoleon’s Imperial guard had destroyed Wellington’s first line of infantry. However, as they advanced, they encountered British troops who were lying down to avoid cannon fire. These troops jumped up, ambushing the French forces and destroying they with “point blank musket fire”. Around this time, the Prussian troops had started to arrive. Together with the British, the Prussian soldiers sandwiched the French army. In the end, the European coalition was victorious, and Napoleon was sent to the island of Saint Helen spending the rest of his life there in isolation from France. After Napoleon’s defeat and exile, France returned to a monarchy, and power was spread out “evenly” among Europe once again.
ReplyDeleteWorks Cited
"The Battle of Waterloo, 1815." EyeWitness to History - History through the Eyes of Those Who Lived It. Web. 31 Oct. 2010. .
"The Battle of Waterloo." The Battle of Waterloo. Web. 31 Oct. 2010. .
Kevin Xu
ReplyDelete31 Oct. 2010
Per. 6 Honors World History
Napoleon’s failures and downfalls since the establishment of the Continental System focused into one moment; right before his last and final defeat. His losses at the Peninsula War and the war with Russia marked the beginning of the end of Napoleon. They symbolized the falling power of Napoleon, but more importantly, the falling power of France. And on this day, Napoleon would finally be defeated for good. After all, the terror he had imposed on the countries surrounding him, his constant greed for power had backfired. Singlehandedly, he was prepared to fight Britain, Prussia (Modern day Germany), Russia, Austria, Belgium, and many other European countries.
Prior to the final battle near Waterloo, Napoleon had began attacks on Duke of Wellington, commander of British troops, and Gebhard Blucher, commander of Prussian troops. Napoleon had split his troops into three separate groups, two “wings” under two different generals while the reserve army was under Napoleon’s command. Napoleon with his army had defeated the Prussians at the Battle of Ligny, albeit at a high cost of troops. Meanwhile, the commander of his left “wing,” Marshall Ney, fought the battle of Quatre Bras. These short but important skirmishes were the build up to the peak of the war: the Battle of Waterloo.
On the morning of June 18, 1815, Napoleon and his troops were stationed just south of Waterloo, Belgium. Napoleon had prepared 72,000 troops to fight, outnumbering the British troops of 67,000. However, heavy rains had stalled the battle, leaving Napoleon’s artilleries to be stuck in the mud. The British troops were stationed at Mont St. Jean, waiting for about 50,000 Prussian reinforcements to arrive. The rain delay had allowed enough time for the Prussian reinforcements to arrive, and for the Anglo-allied forces to settle in advantageous positions, trapping the French soldiers in the valley. They were stationed in three areas: The chateau of Hougoumont, the farmhouse of La Haye Sainte, and the dwellings of La Haye Sainte.
Once the French army had mobilized, Napoleon began a fierce attack on Hougoumont. He had advanced his infantry to attack Hougoumont, which is a large farm house. However, after a skirmish, Napoleon had been stopped by the British Calvary. Napoleon continued to press forward, this time with his calvary. The British, using a “battle squares” tactic, where men form into squares and attack calvary from all sides, quickly and efficiently reduced the significance and effectiveness of such an attack. Napoleon, having no choice, sends in his invincible Imperial Guard, his personal soldiers. The battle had moved to La Haye Sainte, where his Imperial Guard were defeated. The end of day marked a bloody battle: 22,000 of the Anglo-allied casualties and 25,000 French casualties. Additionally, 8,000 French soldiers were taken prisoner.
This marked the end of the reign for Napoleon Bonaparte; he was immediately exiled to St. Helena island; 2000 kilometers from any land. There, he died, 6 years later of Colon Cancer. The defeat of Napoleon was symbolic: the end of France’s military dominance in Europe. Also, it had brought about Britain and Germany to become new world powers, which we still see today. Lastly, Napoleon left a final impact on France: right after years of violence to dethrone monarchy for good, Napoleon reestablished a running monarchy. After his death, Louis XVII was reinstated to the throne.
Works Cited:
Battle of Waterloo. Web. 01 Nov. 2010. .
Rochelle Dong
ReplyDeleteBattle of Waterloo
When Napoleon crowned himself emperor, he had no idea how quickly his empire would fall. His first major blunder was the Continental System, where he tried to blockade Great Britain’s trade. This resulted in only hampering France’s economy, as Great Britain didn’t need France’s trade as much as France needed Great Britain. Great Britain was going through a Industrial Revolution that sustained their trade. The second blunder came in the form as the Peninsula War. This war resulted from the Continental System, as Portugal refused to follow through with Napoleon’s plan of the trade blockade against Britain. Napoleon tried to invade Portugal through Spain, and this cause France to lose Spain as an ally. Spain was able to gain their independence through this war. These two events also caused Napoleon’s third blunder, when he tried to invade Russia. This invasion spread out Napoleon’s forces too far, and made his army extremely weak, allowing Napoleon to be captured, and exiled to Elba.
After Napoleon was exiled to Elba after his defeat in Russia, Louis XVIII, Louis XVI’s brother, was put on the throne in France. Meanwhile, Napoleon was imprisoned on the island of Elba. Napoleon eventually escaped his prison and made his way back to the mainland. When he lands, he instantly gains the support of the public. When Louis XVIII sends troops to arrest Napoleon, they instead join his growing army as he marches northward. Louis XVIII heard of this and escaped, not wanting to meet the same end as his brother. Napoleon then reinstated himself on the throne.
The Hundred Days in the next 100 days of Napoleon’s final reign to his final defeat at Waterloo. Meanwhile, Great Britain, Austria, Russia, and Prussia met at an event called the Congress of Vienna and declared him an outlaw, as well as taking action to prepare for war. Napoleon, during this time, should have allied himself with the Jacobins, but he was afraid to do so, and decided not to. As public enthusiasm declined, he decided to take action against Great Britain and the allies. Instead of choosing a defensive position, Napoleon, decided that his only chance at a victory was to separate the Prussian and Anglo-Dutch armies in now modern day Belgium.
Napoleon initially defeated Blücher’s Prussian army at Ligny on June 16, 1815. Napoleon then turned against Wellington, the general of the Anglo-Dutch army, and on June 18, and met at Brussels. Seeing as Napoleon had to fight against The battle continued all day, and Napoleon slowly started surrounding the enemy. But, the heavy rain caused the ground to be muddy, and Napoleon’s cannons got stuck in the mud, and at an extremely disadvantaging point. Wellington’s forces were soon able to come out, and then along with the regrouped Prussians, defeat Napoleon as he was trying to attack Wellington’s left flank.
Napoleon was defeated and exiled to St. Helena. He lived there for six years until he died of cancer.
This battle was extremely important for the history of Europe. It marked the end of the Napoleonic Era, and also marking Napoleon’s final defeat. For France, this battle resulted in converting back to a monarchy as Britain helped France reinstated Louis XVII onto the throne.
Battle of Waterloo:
ReplyDeleteIn order to stop Napoleon’s reign in Europe, the 7th Coalition, a band of countries, waged war on Napoleon. On June 18th, 1815, the most significant battle, the Battle of Waterloo was fought. This battle ended Napoleon’s reign within Europe and the 7th Coalition exiled him to the Island of St. Helena, which is off the coast of Africa.
After he escaped from his exile in Elba form his failure in Russian, Napoleon returned to France and started gathering supporters for a coup against the government. With the support of the army and people, he regained control of France and began mobilizing his armies, and crowned himself emperor of France.
Countries from all over Europe sent representatives to The Congress of Vienna, which was held to divide Napoleon’s empire into new territories. When Napoleon escaped from his exile in Elba, the Congress of Vienna declared Napoleon a traitor. From this action, the 7th Coalition was established in order to destroy his armies before he could regain control of Europe.
The 7th Coalition was an alliance of countries that wanted to stop Napoleon from rebuilding his Empire. This band of countries was: Britain, Prussia, the Netherlands, Hanover, Nassau, and Brunswick. They planned to strike at France quickly before Napoleon could rebuild his armies. Napoleon realized that the 7th Coalition had a larger force, so he decided to attack his adversaries before they could combine and attack Napoleon.
To avoid fighting the combined forces of the 7th Coalition, Napoleon brought the fight to the Belgium. Napoleon fought three victorious battles, Ligny, Quatre-Bras, and Wavre, against the 7th Coalition forces.
Napoleon was commanding the French forces against the Duke of Wellington, commander of the British Forces, and Gebhard von Blucher, the commander of the Prussian forces. The Duke of Wellington was an equal to Napoleon on the battlefield, being able to effectively command his forces. Napoleon and Wellington had a mutual respect for one another as commanders.
Napoleon’s strategy was to not fight the combined forces of the 7th coalition. He had only 72,000 soldiers, while his opponents had a force of 125,000 men. He would try to fight the British and the Prussians separately.
Before the Battle of Waterloo, Napoleon noticed that the Prussians and the British were about to combine, so he decided to separate them with a charge. He forced the British to Waterloo after the Battle of Quatre-Bras, and the Prussians to Wavre.
On the battlefield, the Duke of Wellington had his headquarters established at Hougoumont, and he set up his men behind a hill, using the reverse slope tactic. This allowed him to be protected from Napoleon’s superior artillery. The Duke of Wellington decided to wait for his Prussian allies to attack Napoleon from his flank.
To keep the Prussians from attacking his flank, Napoleon was going to have his artillery shell the Prussian army, but the weather, one of his greatest adversaries, prevented him from doing so because his cannons got suck in the mud from the rain the previous day. This allowed the Prussian army to attack his flank.
ReplyDeleteAt 11:30 a.m., Napoleon launched an attack on the British headquarters of Hougoumont, but Wellington repelled the attack. At 1:00, Napoleon ordered his infantry to march on the British position. They broke the first line of defense, but then countered by the British Calvary, who decimated Napoleon’s soldiers.
When Napoleon realized that his infantry had been defeated, he ordered his cavalry to charge. To counter the cavalry, Wellington retreated down the hill and formed his men into squares. This strategy put a quick end to Napoleon’s cavalry charge because men had bayonets to repel the cavalry.
After his cavalry was defeated, Napoleon still had one trick up his sleeve, the Imperial Guard; arguably, the best trained and equipped soldiers in the world at that time and never had been defeated in battle. The Imperial Guard broke through Wellington’s first line of infantry, but then the battle turned. British soldiers hiding in the corn ambushed the Imperial Guard and killed many of the troops. The Imperial Guard was forced to retreat and as they were fleeing, the Prussian cavalry attacked and killed them. The 7th Coalition captured Napoleon, thus, ending the war.
After being captured, Napoleon was exiled to the Island of St. Helena were he lived there six years until he died of cancer. The island was off the coast of Africa, and thousands of miles away from Europe. The British did not want to risk Napoleon escaping again.
Works Cited
Battle of Waterloo. Web. 30 Oct. 2010. .
"BBC - History - British History in Depth: The Battle of Waterloo." BBC - Homepage. Web. 30 Oct. 2010. .
"BBC - History - Historic Figures: Napoleon Bonaparte (1769 - 1821)." BBC - Homepage. Web. 30 Oct. 2010. .
The Battle of Waterloo
ReplyDeleteAfter Napoleon Bonaparte’s failed attempt to invade Russia, the British captured him and exiled him to the island of Elba. He was not in exile for long because he was able to commandeer a ship and escape from the island. Meanwhile, back in France a King had been placed on the throne in the absence of Napoleon. When Napoleon landed back in France, he was readily accepted by the French and a 19 days after escaping he was Emperor again much to the chagrin of the rest of Europe. Napoleon began to build his army back up as did the rest of while the rest of Europe. The 7th coalition, made up of the British, Prussians, Russians, and Dutch, did not want Bonaparte in power again. They decided they needed to attack Bonaparte to unseat him from his position. On he contrary, Napoleon wanted to stay in power so he began preparing to attack the allied forces before they gained too much support. All of the frustration felt by Europe about Napoleon’s Continental system, the Peninsula War, and the invasion of Russia came to a head at Waterloo.
The Battle of Waterloo occurred on June 18, 1815 south of Brussels, near the town of Waterloo, in present day Belgium. The battle was between Napoleon’s French troops and the Anglo-allies who were led by the Duke of Wellington and Gebhard Von Blucher. There were about 69,000 soldiers fighting for Napoleon and 104,000 plus soldiers from the 7th coalition. The Duke of Wellington had prepared three different posts along a ridge including the chateau of Hougoumon on the right of the ridge and the hamlet of Papelotte on the left the ridge. Wellington also used the La Haye Sainte in the middle as his command center. He had an advantageous position since Napoleon could not see the position of his army clearly. The French were positioned on the opposite ridge from Wellington along the road to Brussels.
The French began the battle near Waterloo later than they had planned due to a rainstorm the night before. Artillery commanders of the French army wanted to wait as long as they could to allow the ground to dry so that they could maneuver that artillery more easily. The French attacked Hougoumon first in attempt to divert Wellington’s resources from the center. This plan backfired on Napoleon because he ended up sending more soldiers than Wellington into the battle, which depleted his own troops more than Wellington’s.
Throughout the day fierce fighting continued and the side with the upper hand kept alternating back and forth. Wellington’s main goal was to hold off the French at least until the Prussians made it to the battlefield. Eventually Napoleon’s troops captured La Haye Sainte and Napoleon sent in the Imperial Guard to attack the venerable center of the British troops. The purpose was to separate the British guard from the approaching Prussian troops. The attack was doomed from the start when the French could not hold the British guard back and the Imperial Guard began to panic. As the Imperial Guard retreated, the panic spread throughout the ranks dampening the spirits of the whole French army. Meanwhile, the Prussians arrived and engaged with the French at Plancenoit and at last defeated them. With Napoleon’s failure to secure the three main British posts, the anglo-alies won the battle.
ReplyDeleteIn the end, Napoleon was ultimately defeated. He was not only done in because his was outnumbered, but also from poor decisions he and his generals made on the battlefield. On Napoleon’s troops suffered 25,000 casualties and injuries whereas the Anglo-allies only reported 22,000 injuries and casualties. The defeat severely affected France because it returned to being a Monarchy instead of what the people ultimately wanted, a democracy. Napoleon Bonaparte was exiled for good on St. Helena located near the southern tip of Africa. There he spent six years living in isolation before he died of cancer. Finally, the rest of Europe got what they had been looking forever since the rise of Napoleon, peace and to be freed from the grasp of the infamous tyrant. The French empire finally fallen and again power was spread more evenly throughout Europe.
Bibliography
"Battle of Waterloo." Battle of Waterloo. Web. 31 Oct. 2010. .
"The Battle of Waterloo 18th June 1815." British Battles - Analysing and Documenting British Battles from the Previous Centuries. Britishbattles.com. Web. 31 Oct. 2010. .
Claire Nassif
ReplyDeletePeriod 4
10.29.10
History
The Battle of Waterloo
In June of 1812, the French troops crossed into Russia and captured Lithuana. Eventually they were forced to retreat so far into Russia that Bonaparte’s army faced horrible weather conditions and the invasion ended with the destruction of the French army. After this invasion, Napoleon Bonaparte was exiled to the island of Elba until he escaped from the island on March 1, 1815 to return to France. Only a couple of weeks after his return he was named Emperor again because of his loyal supporters in the Imperial Guard. After he became Emperor once again, Napoleon decided that would have to attack the Britain, Prussian, Belgian, and Dutch armies in an attempt to prevent resistance from them. At this point, Napoleon’s pristine image had already been tarnished by recent defeats- the Peninsula War and Invasion of Russia- and the defiance from his Continental System.
The Battle of Waterloo was fought in June of 1815 with the French against essentially everyone else, including Britain, Prussia, Belgium, and the Netherlands. The general of the French army, Emperor Napoleon, went up against the general of the British army, the Duke of Wellington, and the general of the Prussian army, Marshal Blucher. In early June of 1815, Napeleon decided to move his troops into the low countries in order to battle with Wellington and Blucher. At this point, Napoleon had a substantially larger amount of artillery compared to the opposing armies. Because of this advantage, the French army defeated the Prussian army at Ligny on June 16th. Then two days later, on July 18th, the French faced the British army and fought through Brussels and then to Waterloo for the entire day until the Prussian army recuperated. With the Prussian and British armies united, they fought Bonaparte’s army until the French army finally disintegrated. The weather played a large role in their defeat because Napoleon had wanted to wait for the rain to stop and the ground to dry, but this delayed Napoleon’s attack on the enemy and therefore cost him the battle.
The Battle of Waterloo was the last defeat for Napoleon’s rule and it signifies the end of the Napoleonic Era. Four days after his final defeat by the enemy forces, on July 22nd, Napoleon relinquished his duties and tried to retreat to the United States. However, he eventually surrendered to the British and they exiled Napoleon to the island of St. Helena. Napoleon spent six years on the island of St. Helena writing his memoirs, but eventually died of cancer.
ReplyDeleteAfter the Battle of Waterloo, monarchy was restored in France by the Bourbons. King Louis XVIII came to power and in 1815 he signed the Holy Alliance, which included Prussia, Austria, and Russia. The Holy Alliance was formed in an attempt to prevent future political liberalism that was seen during the French Revolution. Because of the French Revolution and upheaval of government by Napoleon, the rest of Europe realized that they did not want to face the same situation. A new set of reactionary governments swept throughout Europe in hopes of having a better outcome than the French.
Napoleon Bonaparte ended his duties for the French with overwhelming respect from the soldiers and other commanders despite the fact that many of them were no longer loyal to him. However, the Battle of Waterloo was where he truly lost his authority because of his ill advisement during the battle. Also, this battle was significant for the entirety of Europe because France was no longer the leading country in wealth and power. The Battle of Waterloo signifies the final defeat of Napoleon and the end of France’s dominance in Europe.
Works Cited:
"BBC - History - British History in Depth: The Battle of Waterloo." BBC - Homepage. Web. 30 Oct. 2010. .
Biesinger, Joseph A. "Napoleonic Wars." Germany: A Reference Guide from the Renaissance to the Present, European Nations. New York: Facts On File, Inc., 2006. Modern World History Online. Facts On File, Inc. http://www.fofweb.com/activelink2.asp? ItemID=WE53&iPin=GER0485&SingleRecord=True (accessed October 29, 2010).
"The Battle of Waterloo 18th June 1815." British Battles - Analysing and Documenting British Battles from the Previous Centuries. Web. 29 Oct. 2010. .
Victoria Mansfield
ReplyDeleteMr. Webber
Honors World History, per. 6
31 Oct 2010
The Battle of Waterloo
Prior to the Battle of Waterloo, when Napoleon was still emperor, three events which he took part of were a buildup to Napoleon's final battle. All three ended in a failure; The Continental System, the Peninsula War, Invasion of Russia. These three events resulted in the decrease of Napoleon's popularity with other European countries. he was exiled to the Mediterranean island of Elba. On March 1, 1814, he managed to escaped, landed on the French coast near Cannes. As soon as he arrived back, he gathered troops to regain his status and resumed his title as emperor. All of Napoleons enemies from the past which involved the British, the Belgians, and the Prussians were not happy with the power Napoleon had acquired and wanted the poer distributed. They became allies and desired to overthrow Emperor Napoleon once again. The generals were The Duke of Wellington, Marshal Blucher, and the Prince of Orange which were all against Emperor Napoleon and The battle of Waterloo occurred South of Brussels in Belgium. He was extremely confident and haughty believing that he could win back the support of France and overcome the allies. He decided to march to Belgium with his army because if he did not engage in battle immediately, his enemies would storm into and invade France. His plan was to mount an offensive attack on the allied troops in Belgium and destroy them. He wanted to have the armies divided before defeating them separately in order for a facile attack. In order to do this, he forced the The Duke of Wellington's army to retreat back to the Belgian coast in the west and the Prussian army to retreat to the east.
Napoleon, although a phenomenal leader, made his mistakes, the battle of waterloo being the straw to break the camel’s back and finally end his career. However, even before Waterloo, Napoleon made his fair share of mistakes.
ReplyDeleteIn 1806, Napoleon implemented what he called the “Continental System.” The idea behind this was that because Britain was an island state that thrived off of trade, Napoleon would try to efficiently cut off all trade with them. He successfully managed to boycott trade with Britain throughout all of France, all of its satellite states, and most of its allies. Although the boycott had an effect on Britain, it was nothing compared to the effect on France and its allies.
In 1812, as the French economy started getting pulled down in the quicksand of the boycott, one of Napoleons allies, Russia, gave in and resumed trading with Britain. Napoleon, enraged, staged an attack on Russia. Unfortunately, this was in the dead of winter and the harsh climate reduced Napoleons vast army to tiny fraction of their initial strength. A year later in 1813, the “Sixth Coalition,” or Russia, Prussia, Austria, Sweden, the United Kingdom, and a number of German States, invaded France and defeated Napoleon’s weakened army. They then exiled Napoleon to the island of Elba that same year. Less than a year later in 1814, Napoleon managed to escape Elba and a mere three weeks later retook control of France.
However, six days prior, the Congress of Venia declared Napoleon an outlaw and four days later the now Seventh Coalition mobilized its army to take over France once and for all. Napoleon knew from the last time the Coalition usurped his control that he couldn’t talk his way out of this fix. Seeing the Coalition arming itself, Napoleon decided that rather than taking the defensive, he would deal the first blow before the Seventh Coalition has organized itself. Napoleon’s target was everything south of Brussels, which still had yet to be reinforced. Napoleon took 100,000 troops North to try and defeat the unreinforced armies. He divided his men up between his commanders Marshall Ney and Marshall Grouchy. Napoleon and his commanders went on to defeat the Prussians up to Brussels in the “Battle of Ligny,” first of the four battles that lead to Napoleon’s overall defeat.
By June 15, 1815, he was prepared for battle. However, Napoleon was not ready for a strategy of attack the British had prepared for them. They had their armies in square form which surrounded the French army and were impenetrable to calvary attack. Of course, Napoleon's army was no match for the army of the four countries, he was outnumbered by far and there were mistakes in communication and judgement. The weather during this battle also played a large role, the large amount of rain caused Napoleon to postpone the main attack so the land could dry out. The ground was muddy so it was a challenge for the his army to move swiftly, wheels sank into the mud, and everyone tired more quickly. These were all factors which lead to the final defeat of Napoleon and his army. He was then exiled to the barren island of St Helena where he died in 1821. The Duke of Wellington became a hero and became Prime Minister of France in 1828.
ReplyDeleteThe third battle, or the Battle of Quatre Bras, was one by Napoleon’s commander, Ney. This was when Napoleon turned his armies toward the British troops at Waterloo, only a few miles from Brussels. Unfortunately for Napoleon, the retreating Prussians that he had defeated in the Battle of Ligny had come to Britain’s aid in Waterloo, giving Napoleons enemies a solid 114,000 troops. Napoleon had faced many casualties in the first three battles and was left with a mere 72,000 troops between himself and his commander; letting the Prussian and British armies out man Napoleon’s at a 19/12 rate. Napoleon tried to delay the battle as long as possible to let the ground dry so it would be easier to maneuver his famous cannons, but in the end he was forced to fight on muddy grounds. The British positioned themselves across Brussels road and even with the repeated French attacks until evening, remained standing. While Napoleon was focused solely on this battle, the Prussians broke through the French border. When evening finally came and Napoleon’s army was tired from a day of constant attacking, the British made a deadly counter attack the drove the French into a hurly-burly of chaos. Napoleon was eventually defeated and exiled to Saint Helena under much better surveillance this time. He proceeded to write a documentary on himself and died six years later from cancer.
ReplyDeleteWorks Cited
ReplyDelete"The Battle of Waterloo." Battle of Waterloo. Web. 31 Oct. 2010. .
"The Battle of Waterloo 18th June 1815." British Battles - Analysing and Documenting British Battles from the Previous Centuries. Web. 31 Oct. 2010. .
"BBC - History - British History in Depth: The Battle of Waterloo." BBC - Homepage. Web. 31 Oct. 2010. .
The battle of waterloo took place in 1815 during June. Napoleon had been sent to the Mediterranean island of Elba after many years of war with the countries around him. However shortly after his banishment Napoleon escaped from Elba and in only a few days Napoleon had become the emperor of France again. Napoleon’s comeback from exile angered many of the countries around France in Europe. A few of the major countries that were against him were Prussia, Austria, Russia, and the United Kingdom. These countries all planned to unite together as the Seventh Coalition and rid Europe of Napoleon once and for all. The three major generals against Napoleon were the Duke of Wellington, Marshall Blucher and the Prince of Orange. The combination of these armies severely outnumbered the army that Napoleon had formed. Napoleon had about 72,000 troops at his side. However when all the countries against France formed together they had about 113,000 soldiers ready to fight. The numbers were greatly against Napoleon and he knew he would have strategized to have a chance at victory.
ReplyDeleteNapoleon new that if he let these powers form together that he would lose for sure so he planned to take the fight to them before they could assemble a united army. This is why Napoleon decided to fight the Duke of Wellington and his army in present day Belgium. Through a series of tactical maneuvers Napoleon was able to drive the Prussian forces back during the Battle of Ligny but at the same time Napoleon also moved a majority of his army in a prime position to fight the Duke of Wellington at Waterloo. The Prussian army and Wellington’s army were now separated highly increasing Napoleons odds for a victory. Unfortunately for Napoleon the battle did not go as well as he had hoped. The night before the attack there was a heavy downpour. This made it very hard to maneuver the canons into the correct positions and it also made it so that the cannon balls would not bounce nearly as far. The rain also slowed the movement of his men and horses. This made it hard to fight against the Duke of Wellington’s army. At the beginning of the battle the British were able to fire heavy artillery on the French forcers weakening them. However the French kept fighting back. When Wellington sent in his cavalry to try to push them back it worked at first but Napoleon countered them with lancers that were able to greatly weaken wellingtons cavalry. Both the armies had now been weakened but neither was able to deal the final blow. Throughout the fight Napoleons forces were taking casualties and there was a great fear that the Prussians were going to arrive on the battle field and help in the fight against Napoleon. Napoleon sent in his cavalry and his imperial guard in hopes that it might change the tide of the battle but the enemy forces used a technique where they formed tight squares and attacked the cavalry with their bayonets this strategy caused Napoleon to take even more numbers. Before the battle was able to come to an end, the Prussians arrived and defeated the Imperial Guard. They were fresh and gave a huge advantage over Napoleon’s forces. Because of the loss of numbers taken by the French the Prussians were easily able to defeat Napoleon.
After the battle Napoleon was taken captive and sent to exile on Saint Helena, a very remote island off the coast of Africa. Napoleon died six years later from cancer ending Frances dominance of Europe. Because of Napoleon’s exile France returned to a monarchy with King Louis XVII as the new monarch of France. The Duke of Wellington was honored as a hero all throughout Europe and Britain. The continental system was also ended and countries began to trade with Britain again and the war with France came to an end throughout Europe.
ReplyDeleteWork Cited
"Battle of Waterloo." Battle of Waterloo. Web. 01 Nov. 2010. .
"BBC - History - British History in Depth: The Battle of Waterloo." BBC - Homepage. Web. 01 Nov. 2010. .
Bobby Wright
ReplyDeleteMr. Webber
Honors Modern World History
31 Oct. 2010
The Battle of Waterloo
Soon after Napoleon returned from Russia, the other European nations opposed to France seized the opportunity to rid themselves of the diminutive French emperor and banded together to form the sixth coalition. The coalition proceeded to engage and defeat Napoleons weakened army. After the battle, the coalition banished Napoleon to the island of Elba with a thousand of his elite imperial guard for company. Eleven months after his banishment, Napoleon decided he was done with ruling the small island and decided to reclaim France and rebuild his empire. He and his guard arrived in France aboard stolen ships in March of 1815, and for the next 100 days Napoleon built up his army in preparation for a battle against the newly formed seventh coalition of European nations.
The battle that napoleon had build his army for occurred on June 18th 1815 just south of the town of Waterloo. The armies opposing Napoleon was lead by the Duke of wellington, and by the Prussian general Gebhard Leberecht von Blücher, while Napoleon himself commanded the French forces. The evening before the battle Wellington’s forces had positioned themselves along the Northern side of the valley, the French were on the south and the Prussian army was still near Wavre thirteen kilometers away. Napoleon’s main objective was to prevent the two separate armies from joining together, because, while he outnumbered the armies separately, his
The Battle of Waterloo may have been the most influential battle of the nineteenth century and might have been one of the most influential of all time. It decided the fateful outcome of Europe that could have influenced history and made a much different future than the one that we are living today. It occurred on the eighteenth of June in 1815. The confrontation took place in Waterloo, Belgium. The Battle of Waterloo put an end to Napoleon’s rule as the supreme emperor of France and was the end of the hundred days after napoleon escaped British capture on the island of Elba after his defeat in Russia.
ReplyDeleteAfter his escape the other powers in Europe at the time were opposed to his coming back to France so the Prussian army under the command of Gebhard Von Blucher and the Anglo army under the command of the Duke of Wellington massed at the northern border of France in Belgium. Napoleon saw this and decided to attack the forces before they could mass more troops and invade. The battle lasted four days through the sixteenth of June to the nineteenth and was a close call for both sides.
Napoleons “grand Armee de Nord” consisted of 69,000 soldiers well equipped and had many artillery pieces that would be decisive for his victory. The Coalition’s army under Wellington had 67,000 soldiers but was ll-equipped and very weak not having many cannon available. Only 24,000 of the soldiers were British and the rest were from smaller groups from countries such as the German, the Dutch, and Belgium. The Prussians that came in later consisted of 48,000 well-armed and well-trained troops.
The Prussians under Blucher were defeated at Ligny and driven away to the East of Ligny and perused by French troops before the battle. Napoleon after defeating them advanced towards Wellington’s army Wellington retreated towards Brussels. On the seventeenth of June 1815 Wellington halted on a ridge near Brussels south of Soignies where he found it defensive and turned around to confront napoleon, he resolved to give battle assured by Blucher that he would come later with reinforcements. The British set up behind a road followed by the forest of Soignies south of Waterloo the rest of the troops set up along an intersecting road on an overlooking ridge.
ReplyDeleteIt rained the night before delaying the attack by the French and causing problems for the movement of the artillery giving the British an advantage. The French still continued with the attack, shelling the English right flank and then crashing in with the cavalry and infantry in the center and left. After a half an hour of heavy shelling the French attacked the right flank with infantry. They overran the German troops and won victory due to the Germans running out of ammunition establishing a foothold on the ridge. The British counter attacked with a volley of artillery forcing them off the ridge. The Anglo army was struggling and both sides were weakened heavily.
As the battle raged on the Prussian reinforcements arrived to the east regrouping and preparing for a counter attack. Napoleon still needed to take the English right flank so he sent in another wave of infantry to take over the farm of La Haye Sante, but this proved unsuccessful. The French then sent in waves of Calvary to attack the British stronghold of La Hay Sante, he couldn’t sustain the attack and had to pull back unable to take the farm. Wall this is going on the Prussians attack the French right flank circling them and gaining ground. Napoleon sent his emperors guard to stop the advance and push them back, unsuccessfully. In a last ditch attempt they fired a volley of artillery at the Prussians and had a bayonet charge. The French though were driven back down the hill by the Prussians and began the famous retreat to the cry of “La Garde recule”.
Napoleon was captured and then exiled to the island of St. Helena given a small hut where he spent the rest of his days. There he wrote his memoirs and died six years later of stomach cancer. The victors marched on to Paris and put Louis the XVIII in power, the famed Louis the XVI’s brother.
Sasha Bechtler-Levin
ReplyDeletePd.6
October 31, 2010
On June 18, 1815, in the South of Brussels, Belgium, the Battle of Waterloo took place between France and the allied countries of Great Britain, Austria, Russia, and Prussia.
The battle occurred after Napoleon’s escape from Elba, where he had been exiled. When he escaped his exile, he gathered his troops, getting together a decently sized army, in preparation of his impending battle with the rest of Europe. Because we was acting as one country fighting against almost the entire rest of Europe, however, Napoleon’s army was greatly outnumbered with the Duke of Wellington (the opposing, Anglo-Dutch, general)’s army being approximately twice the size of Napoleon’s. After Napoleon had gathered his troops, he marched them into Paris, France and started “the Hundred Days.”
Napoleon knew that he would be outnumbered if he tried to fight Europe, so he tried to make peaceful negotiations. Instead however, the allies made arrangements for war and prepared to ambush France. Instead of waiting to be on the defense, Napoleon decided to try to separate out the armies and defeat them separately.
Napoleon’s Imperial Guard the star fighting force of his army. He handpicked the men, paid extra attention to every detail of their existence and gave them special treatment. The Guard was made up of the most experienced men who had been soldiers for at least 10 years. By the time of the Battle of Waterloo, the Imperial Guard was made up of 26,000 men. In the Battle of Waterloo, Napoleon reserved the Imperial Guard as a sort of secret weapon and used them as a last-ditch attempt to win the battle. Although this strategy had worked in the past for him, at Waterloo, the Imperial Guard was defeated, and soon after the battle was over.
He began marching north and was somewhat successful at first. Ultimately, however, he was obliterated at Waterloo by the combined forces of the Lord Wellington and von Blücher. The French fled while the allies continued on to Paris. Napoleon was then forced to surrender to the British ship Bellerophon and was taken as a prisoner of war. He was then sent into his final exile on St. Helena where he spent the rest of his life and ultimately died.
The significance of this battle was that France, as well as the rest of Europe had finally defeated Napoleon. France returned to a Monarchy and Napoleon was exiled again, this time to St. Helena. Europe and France had been struggling to cope with Napoleon’s ambition and with his massive army, he was difficult to take down. But, after the Battle of Waterloo, Napoleon’s army was so weakened due to the loss of many troops that he was Europe successfully “dethroned” both him and France as a superpower. In fact, after the Battle of Waterloo, Britain became, and would remain, the superpower for the next 50 years.
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteWorks Cited:
ReplyDeleteCrompton, Samuel Willard. "'The Results'." Waterloo, Battles that Changed the World. Philadephia: Chelsea House Publishing, 2002. Modern World History Online. Facts On File, Inc. http://www.fofweb.com/activelink2.asp? ItemID=WE53&iPin=BCWWLOO14&SingleRecord=True (accessed October 31, 2010).
Donald Frederick, Imperial Sunset: The Fall of Napoleon, 1813–1814 (New York: Cooper Square Press, 2001); Peter Hofschoröer, 1815, The Waterloo Campaign: Wellington and His German Allies and the Battles of Ligny and Quatre Bras (Mechanicsburg, Pa.: Stackpole Books, 1998) and 1815, the Waterloo Campaign: The German Victory: From Waterloo to the Fall of Napoleon (Mechanicsburg, Pa.: Stackpole Books, 1999).
"Napoleon's Imperial Guard." Napoleonic Guide. Web. 31 Oct. 2010. .
"The Imperial Guard." PBS: Public Broadcasting Service. Web. 31 Oct. 2010. .
"Waterloo - Waterloo Battlefield." Champ De Bataille De Waterloo : La Dernière Bataille De Napoléon. Web. 31 Oct. 2010. .
Katherine Dillon
ReplyDeleteWebber 7
The Battle Of Waterloo
Napoleon was such an ambitious and strong leader that multiple countries formed alliances and brought about various coalitions of European nations against Napoleon. In 1814, the French were defeated by Coalition forces in the War of the Sixth Coalition. Napoleon was forced into exile on Elba, an island south of Corsica. He remained in exile for a little over 9 months while King Louis XVIII is restored to power in France. The state of France under King Louis XVIII compelled Napoleon to escape from the island of Elba and sail back to the French mainland. He gains followers and support of the French people and marches north to Paris where he proclaims himself emperor yet again. His short period of rule is called the Hundered Days for the one hundred eleven days that Napoleon was in power.
A Coalition of British, German, Dutch, Belgian, Prussian, Russian and Austrian troops formed on the 25th of March in 1815 and declared war on Napoleon. The Duke of Wellington and former ambassador to France, Aurthur Wellesley, was the commander of the Allied army of British, German, Dutch, and Belgian soldiers. Gebhard Leberecht von Blucher led the Prussian army while the Dutch-Belgian troops were under control of Prince William of Orange.
With this many opposing forces, Napoleon wanted to take the offensive. The main goal was to capture Brussels. His strategy was to divide the Coalition and take down the armies separately. He attempted to split the Dutch-Belgian troops and the Prussian troops in Belgium. However, Dutch-Belgian troops were already stationed at the crossroads on which Napoleon wanted to fight. They held the French off and ended the battle in a stalemate. The Dutch-Belgians retreated to Mont Saint Jean. At the same time, the Prussians were occupying a town on a hill and engaged in many heavy skirmishes with the French troops. Napoleon was mistakenly confident that he had defeated the Prussians when in fact, he had only depleted their numbers and they retreated in the north.
Napoleon was once again over confident and believed he would be able to take down Wellington’s forces. On the 18th of June, Wellington’s armies were set up on a ridge near Waterloo and Napoleon’s armies were placed across the valley. The French outnumbered Wellington’s forces, so they fought held off the French until the Prussians came for reinforcement. A French official, Marshal Ney, assumed wrongly that the British were retreating and ordered the French cavalry to charge across the valley. Wellington’s troops received the French in battle square formations, taking the French out quickly. The French had to retreat, yet they were able to capture La Haye Sainte.
Meanwhile, the Prussians were advancing on Placenoit. Napoleon, desperate for time and troops, sent his Imperial Guard to recapture Placenoit. The Imperial Guard was surprised by Allied troops hiding in cornfields and was, for the first time, forced to retreat. The Prussians still held Placenoit.
The French under Napoleon lost the battle. He had underestimated his opponent, used poor judgment, and did not have the weather working in his favor. As a consequence of being defeated, Napoleon was sent back into exile to the island of St. Helena. This ended his Hundred Days of power. He died after five years of exile due to cancer. France returned to a state of Monarchy in which King Louis XVIII was restored to the throne. For Europe, the conclusion of the battle led to a substantial period of peace, almost a half a century.
Works Cited
ReplyDelete"BBC - History - British History in Depth: The Battle of Waterloo." BBC - Homepage. Web. 29 Oct. 2010. .
"On This Day: Napoleon Defeated at Waterloo." FindingDulcinea | Online Guides | Internet Library | Web Resources. 18 June 2010. Web. 29 Oct. 2010. .
Battle of Waterloo
ReplyDeleteChris Chen, Period 7
After Napoleon was defeated in Russia, he and his crippled army return to France. They are absolutely decimated, of the 500,000 that went, only about 20,000 returned. A coalition of European forces attacks and invades France, defeating Napoleon and exiling him to Elba. However, exile is not as it seems. His troops are allowed to remain with him, and he actually lives very comfortably in a large house on the island. There is little guard, and there is actually a boat left on the island. Napoleon simply waltzes off the island and escapes exile. He lands in the south of France and quickly defeats any opposition he meets. As he marches northward, he is greeted as a hero and support swells for him. There is no mention of his defeat or his failure as an emperor. The recently instated King Louis XVIII sends troops to stop Napoleon, but rather than capture or kill him, these troops join the short man. King Louis XVIII flees to Austria, and is never heard from again. Napoleon reestablishes himself as Emperor of France and makes a general nuisance of himself throughout Europe. However, support dies down so Napoleon decides to do something, and sets in motion his second conquest of Europe. The other countries don’t like this at all, and convene as the Vienna Congress, and agree to form a coalition and wage war on France. Napoleon decides to go on the offensive and takes the fight to the rest of Europe. The two forces eventually meet and clash at Waterloo, which would prove to be Napoleon’s last defeat. The date is June 18, 1815, and bad weather begins to hamper Napoleon’s troop movement. It is an extremely close battle, with the British and the French fighting it out at first. Napoleon is about to flank and surround the British forces led by Arthur Wellesley, the Duke of Wellington, but his artillery are stuck in the thick mud and he cannot move. The Prussians led by Gebhard Von Blucher join in, and tip the balances. He also keeps his Imperial Guard in reserve, and sends them out as a last ditch effort at victory, but they were eventually defeated as well. Eventually, the British coalition and the Prussians surround Napoleon and defeating him. Napoleon is captured, and re-exiled, except this time to the island of St. Helena, off the coast of Africa. Conditions are much worse than his first exile; he is put under more guard and given less accommodations. He dies six years later due to stomach cancer. Of course, this had major implications for Europe as a whole. Napoleon was officially out of the picture, with no hope of returning to the European mainland. The French Empire was disbanded, and the countries that made it up became separate entities once more. It officially stopped the violence that had begun in the French Revolution, and a peace fell over Europe.
"Battle of Waterloo." Battle of Waterloo. Web. 30 Oct. 2010. .
The Battle of Waterloo was one of many Napoleonic wars, that was held South of Brussels in Belgium on June 18th, 1815. The British, Germans, Belgians, Dutch and Prussians were all against the French Grande Army. It all started in 1814 when five years of war came to an end because of the surrender of the Emperor Napoleon and his banishment to the Mediterranean island of Elba. On March 1st, 1815, Napoleon escaped from Elba and landed in France, once again pronouncing himself Emperor of France just nineteen days later. Even after a major defeat, Napoleon’s army rallied to him and thus the Grande Armée was formed, yet again. Although the Imperial Guard was re-established, it did not compare to the experience of the units during their time of greatness. The European allies reassembled their armies in hope to overthrow the Emperor once again.
ReplyDeleteThe Duke of Wellington, Marshal Blucher, and the Prince of Orange were all against Napoleon. Napoleon had planned to attack the forces under the command of Blucher and Wellington before they unite with other members of the Coalition in coordination of France invasion. Seizing the moment, Napoleon led his approximately 105,000 troops north with the goal of defeating his enemies. His efforts were initially successful. He then turned his attention to the British who were located at the small town of Waterloo, a few miles south of Brussels. This lead to one of history’s most famous battles. On June 18th, the British and the French’s army’s battled each other. However, all the rain from previous days soaked into the ground causing hampering movements of men, horses and artillery. Napoleon turned his attention towards his Imperial Guard. The Imperial Guard had yet to taste defeat. Seven members of the Imperial Guard, supported by guns, departed across the muddy fields that were churned up by earlier cavalry attacks.Towards the end of this influential battle between Britain and France, the exhausted British troops seemed on the verge of breaking but the Prussians invaded just in time to save the day with their reinvigorated efforts. Both armies came together and defeated Napoleon.
Napoleon’s defeat at The Battle of Waterloo ended in him being exiled to the island of St. Helena where he died in 1812, and it also marked the end of the hundred days of Napoleon from exile return Wellington became a hero all throughout Europe. He became Commander-in-Chief during the occupation of France, he organized loans to restore French finances, and advised the troops to withdrawal after three years. If Napoleon had won, things wouldn’t have been that much different. France’s strength was already crumbling. The French had plunged into a Political Revolution and missed out on the Industrial Revolution. The end of Napoleon also resulted in peace amongst the British. And lastly, the Congress of Vienna followed the Napoleonic Wars which united Germany and Italy, as well as creating a balance of power in the European language. And most importantly, it spurred a wide ideology of nationalism in many regions.
Battle of Waterloo. Web. 01 Nov. 2010.
History News Network. Web. 01 Nov. 2010. .
"The Battle of Waterloo 18th June 1815." British Battles - Analysing and Documenting British Battles from the Previous Centuries. Web. 01 Nov. 2010. .
Tony Ibrahim
ReplyDeletePeriod 4
Mr. Webber
October 30, 2010
Battle of Waterloo Report
The authoritative and charismatic Napoleon Bonaparte as well as his loyal French army are confronted and defeated on June 18th of 1815. But, before we go into detail on how all this came about, we must first take a look at the start of this warring. We will begin with Napoleon’s exile on the island of Elba.
Napoleon was captured by the British in France due to the previous attempt to invade Russia. Most of his men died from the harsh weather and many others were badly wounded and infected with various diseases such as typhus. The British took advantage of Napoleon’s loss and isolated Napoleon on Elba Island. Nine short months later, Napoleon Bonaparte and his small army who accompanied him on the island escaped and returned to Paris. While Napoleon was gone, King Louis the 16th’s brother was crowned and put on the throne as king. During the month of March, Napoleon quickly gathers the support of his people and more specifically the military and reclaims his title of Emperor of France. This then marks the start of Napoleons 100 Days of emperorship in France. This specific time frame of 100 days is given because he is soon defeated once again at the Battle of Waterloo.
To combat the invasion of France, Napoleon set out to fight the Seventh Coalition. This coalition consisted of English and Prussian armed forces. The armies confronted each other around present day Belgium. Now, four battles ensued during this period of warring. The four battles that took place were: the battle of Ligny, the battle of Quatre-Bras, the battle of Wavre, and finally the infamous battle of Waterloo.
It is disputed from historian to historian, but generally it is believed that Napoleon Bonaparte won the first three battles. The last battle is almost unarguable and indisputable due to the fact that Napoleon lost hundreds of men, the imperial guard faced their first loss, and napoleon was exiled to the island of Saint Helena.
On June 18th, 1815, the battle of Waterloo took place. This battle was significant for many reasons. To start, Napoleon won the prior three battles by fighting the Prussians and the English separately. This made it easier for the French Army to defeat their opponents without having to face a combined army of the two. Now, for the Battle of Waterloo, Napoleon was forced to fight both the Prussians and the English in a bloody close combat battle.
The leaders of the French Army in this battle consisted of Michael Ney and of course Napoleon Bonaparte. On the other hand, the opposing forces were led by Gebhard Von Blucher and the infamous Duke of Wellington.
To deduce why the French forces tragically lost to the Seventh Coalition at the Battle of Waterloo, we must first take a look at the specificities of the battle. Napoleon was very eager in the battles leading up to Waterloo because he did not want to fight a combine force: by doing so, Napoleon ended up surrounded in the last battle by English and Prussian forces who massacred the French.
Napoleon was not only at a disadvantage by fighting a combined armed force but, there was heavy rain the nights before and this made the ground very muddy and difficult to travel across. Napoleon’s artilleries were delayed and were not able to be used to their full extent because most of them were caught in the mud.
Napoleon was soon surrounded by the allied forces and was left with the only option to fight it out to the end. The opposing army boxed the French in and used square formations with their infantry for the most effective attack.
ReplyDeleteAfter Napoleon’s men were being killed left and right, he sent in his last and only hope, the Imperial Guard. These men wore their finest attire, rode on horses, and bared long swords to slice the enemy in pieces. Before this battle, the infamous Imperial Guard was ever-victorious and undefeated. As the cavalry came within 20 yards, the Seventh Coalition of infantry held their long pikes in square formations and attempted to stop the approaching cavalry. This method worked and the opposition cleared out the Imperial Guard. Napoleons last hope was crushed right before his eyes.
The significance of this battle for Napoleon, France, and Europe are broken down into a few statements. One claim is that this battle marked the end of the Napoleon’s rule in France due to his exile on Saint Helena and dying 6 years later. Also, France learned that over-expansion can lead to downfall. It is also ironic that Napoleon was devote to Roman history and military strategy but happened to follow the same mistakes that led to the Roman downfall. The Romans over expanded greatly and there empire became too large to maintain. Napoleon did the same by trying to take over any country that went against his rule or looked appealing to him. The Romans were losing money daily due to the large expenses of such a big empire and all the resources it took to keep the empire going. Napoleon was also in a situation where money was greatly needed and he even implemented a National Tax System and a National Bank to help combat all the fees. Lastly, Rome started to fall apart as multiple countries started to rebel and the strength of the empire was weakening because many of the rebellions went unsuppressed. Napoleon was also unable to stop all invasion of France just as he was not able to suppress the combined forces of the English and the Prussians resulting in defeat.
Europe as a whole learned valuable lessons from this battle of what to do and also what not to do. Napoleon’s rule was said to be one of the most historic time periods in French history and a little more arguably European History due to the expansion of Napoleon’s forces and the hatred that soon developed towards the country.
In conclusion, the Battle of Waterloo not only marked a defeat in Napoleon’s records, but it marked a defeat in the ideals and strategies that Napoleon used to establish his repertoire as outstanding military leader and Emperor of France.
Works Cited
"Battle of Waterloo, June 18, 1815." Educational Technology Clearinghouse. Web. 30 Oct. 2010. .
"Battle of Waterloo." The Battle of Waterloo. Web. 29 Oct. 2010. .
"Elba : Napoleon Bonaparte : First Exile." Napoleon Bonaparte : Napoleonic : Napoleon : Bonaparte : Wars : Napoleon I : Napoleonic History : Military : Napoleonic Era : Battles : Naval : Armies : Uniforms :. Web. 30 Oct. 2010. .
"THE FRENCH REVOLUTION AND NAPOLEON: A CHRONOLOGY." University of California of Berkeley. Web. 30 Oct. 2010.
http://goo.gl/2VGf
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Alex Ryan
Mr. Webber
Honors Modern World History Period 4
31 October 2010
Battle of Waterloo Assignment
The Battle of Waterloo was Napoleon’s final battle, a decisive and unusual loss that he was never able to recover from. During the battle, his force of French troops, led by himself, was routed by a combined army of British and Prussian soldiers, led by the Duke of Wellington and Gebhard von Blücher. Napoleon himself was captured at the end of the battle, and was exiled to the island of St. Helena where he died six years later. The British and Prussians represented the Seventh Coalition, a greater alliance of nations opposed to Napoleon’s power (the Netherlands, Hanover, and Nassau, among others), while Napoleon had neither allies nor reinforcements to depend on, a critical part of the battle.
Casey Tirshfield
ReplyDeleteOct. 31, 2010
Mr. Webber
Period 6
The Battle of Waterloo
Arguably the most decisive battle of the Napoleonic Wars, the Battle of Waterloo would become Napoleon’s last military exploit. The battle was waged on June 18th, 1815 between the Seventh Coalition (the allied British, Netherland, Prussian and German troops) under the command of The Duke of Wellington, a greatly respected general of the time, and the French under the command of Napoleon Bonaparte.
Leading up to this pivotal battle were a series of events, which were perhaps not in Napoleon Bonaparte’s best interest. Included was Napoleon’s implementation of the Continental system; a decree which was promulgated with the intent of weakening Britain economically, and there by reducing its military threat, by forcing all European nations to cut of their trade with the island.
Defiance of this system resulted in an onslaught of “blunders”. These included the Peninsula War and France’s attack on Russia. The Peninsula War was Napoleon’s first “enforcement” of his newly enacted system. The protagonist, Portugal, saw this decree as something that would weaken their economy greatly. Napoleon, infuriated with this defiance, invaded and suffered his first of a series of weakening blows to his once unstoppable empire. The next would take place deep beyond Russian lines when he was captured and exiled to Elba. Where, for the circumstances, he led a life of luxury until his escape in 1815.
Upon arriving back in France Napoleon assumed the thrown once more by gaining the support of his staunch army, alas his reign would last a mere 100 days. The Battle itself began on the 13th of March 1815, when the Congress of Vienna declared Napoleon and outlaw. Four days later Blucher and Wellington’s mobilized their armies. Attempting to gain the upper hand, Napoleon decided to attack them separately cutting down on their numbers.
This decision forced the division of his troops into three branches. One fell under the command of Marshal Ney, the other under the command of Marshal Grouchy, and a reserve under Napoleon’ command.
This loss at Waterloo served as a major detriment to Napoleon himself. Upon defeat he was captured and exiled to an island of the coast off the west coast of Africa where he would spend the remainder of his life. This imprisonment was much less luxurious than that at Elba, he was not granted the company of his own men and was in many respects neglected. He died six years later of cancer.
The Battle of Waterloo began at 1:00 PM on the 18th of June, 1815, near Brussels, Belgium, and ended at only 10:00 that evening. Despite the brevity of the battle, Napoleon suffered a brutal defeat, losing almost twice as many soldiers as the British and Prussians despite having about half as many troops. Prior to the battle, the British and Prussian forces, coming from the west and the east, respectively, were planning to meet and combine forces near Waterloo, setting the stage for an immediate invasion of France. Having failed to break up the Seventh Coalition diplomatically, Napoleon saw his only option to be stopping the armies before they met. He came racing, along with some 70,000 troops, up to the north of France and into Belgium (then part of the Netherlands), and swiftly met the Prussians in battle. Having handily defeated them, he then moved on to rout the British, and the Prussians once more. It was during his final attack on the British, however, that he was finally beaten - the rainy weather stuck his troops and guns in the mud and gave the Prussians enough time to regroup and return to attack him from behind.
ReplyDeleteThis alone he could have handled with no difficulty, except for the fact that he had already committed his forces to engage the British in the front. It was only together that the two armies could finally beat him, essentially crushing him between two columns of attacking infantry. Surrounded and seeing no way out, the elite Imperial Guard defended Napoleon to death, and left behind the famous phrase “The Guard dies, it does not surrender!” Eventually Napoleon was captured by an English colonel, and taken to Paris, where he abdicated to Louis XVIII and was exiled to St. Helena for the remainder of his life.
ReplyDeleteThis battle set the stage for the next period in Western European history, with Napoleon finally and permanently out of the picture and the French monarchy back in power and limited by a new constitution. It marked the end of Napoleon’s long and significant domination of European history, with his “Hundred Days” reign officially over and his place of exile all but inescapable. The Duke of Wellington retired after this battle, a war hero and political leader during the brief occupation of France by the Seventh Coalition forces, and eventually became Prime Minister of Britain about a decade later.
Casey Tirshfield
ReplyDeleteOct. 31, 2010
Mr. Webber
Period 6
The Battle of Waterloo
Arguably the most decisive battle of the Napoleonic Wars, the Battle of Waterloo would become Napoleon’s last military exploit. The battle was waged on June 18th, 1815 between the Seventh Coalition (the allied British, Netherland, Prussian and German troops) under the command of The Duke of Wellington, a greatly respected general of the time, and the French under the command of Napoleon Bonaparte.
Leading up to this pivotal battle were a series of events, which were perhaps not in Napoleon Bonaparte’s best interest. Included was Napoleon’s implementation of the Continental system; a decree which was promulgated with the intent of weakening Britain economically, and there by reducing its military threat, by forcing all European nations to cut of their trade with the island.
Defiance of this system resulted in an onslaught of “blunders”. These included the Peninsula War and France’s attack on Russia. The Peninsula War was Napoleon’s first “enforcement” of his newly enacted system. The protagonist, Portugal, saw this decree as something that would weaken their economy greatly. Napoleon, infuriated with this defiance, invaded and suffered his first of a series of weakening blows to his once unstoppable empire. The next would take place deep beyond Russian lines when he was captured and exiled to Elba. Where, for the circumstances, he led a life of luxury until his escape in 1815.
Upon arriving back in France Napoleon assumed the thrown once more by gaining the support of his staunch army, alas his reign would last a mere 100 days. The Battle itself began on the 13th of March 1815, when the Congress of Vienna declared Napoleon and outlaw. Four days later Blucher and Wellington’s mobilized their armies. Attempting to gain the upper hand, Napoleon decided to attack them separately cutting down on their numbers. This decision forced the division of his troops into three branches. One fell under the command of Marshal Ney, the other under the command of Marshal Grouchy, and a reserve under Napoleon’ command. It was waged in the Waterloo village, south of Brussels with Napoleon’s troops out numbered by 41,000 men.
The outcome was a serious loss. Waterloo served as a major detriment to Napoleon himself. Despite his superior tactics Napoleon was beat by sheer number. Upon his defeat he was captured and exiled to an island of the coast off the west coast of Africa where he would spend the remainder of his life. This imprisonment was much less luxurious than that at Elba, he was not granted the company of his own men and was in many respects neglected. He died six years later of cancer.
Cara Hoffman
ReplyDelete10/30/10
P.6, Webber
Napoleon Bonaparte was undisputedly one of the most successful generals throughout all of European history. However, like every great general, his reign could not last forever and he met his downfall at the battle of Waterloo. After Napoleon’s escape from his exile in Elba, he returned to France and retook control as he once had. Soon after, he took many of his troops and marched them to south of Brussels, which is the capitol of Belgium. On the 18th of June, 1815, battle broke out between Napoleon’s French army and essentially the remainder of Europe. The majority of the remaining countries were frustrated with Napoleon’s constant attempt to expand and overthrow every other existing government in Europe and so the tension came to a head at a battle known as the Battle of Waterloo.
The combatants in the battle, as well as a few smaller battles prior were specifically France and on the opposing side, were the allied Prussia, Russia, and British armies. His original goal was to separate the Prussian forces led by Gebhard Leberecht von Blücher and the British forces led by the Duke of Wellington. The philosophy behind his original idea was that together they were unstoppable, however if he were able to split them up it would be much easier for them to be defeated. With this goal in mind, Napoleon marched his some 69,000 veteran soldiers and prepared for battle. Originally, Bonaparte took the ridge of La Belle Alliance while the Duke of Wellington had his army divide and conquer, by splitting them into three sections. The sections were commanded by Sir Picton, Prince William of Orange and Lord Hill. Due to this tactic, they were able to hold the ridge of Mont St. Jean which was significantly bigger than the ridge that Bonaparte held. However the opposition to the French- the European army controlled by the Duke of Wellington had some handicaps to take into account that made his job slightly more difficult. For example his army had a disadvantage in numbers, the French cavalry was far superior and their army contained an abundance of inexperienced soldiers. However due to very tactful generals who tailored their plans of attack to their specific armies- the duke was able to make his army very successful.
The night before the battle, it had rained in the area of Belgium in which the battle took place. The rain led to wet ground, which led to it becoming very difficult to move the cannons and other large weapons which in the end would be a huge detriment to the French. Throughout the majority of the day, the battle was neck-in-neck with not a very defined leader. Both armies suffered major casualties but however with the aid of the Prussians, the Duke of Wellington was able to lead his army to vitory.
ReplyDeleteThis battle in the end was of huge importance to European history as a whole. This was the final defeat of Napoleon’s, because one result of this battle was the capture of Bonaparte and when they arrived back to France, he was thrown in higher security exile and later left to die. This was also monumental for France, because they went back to a monarchial system- therefore coming full swing from pre-revolution to post-Napoleon. The downfall of Napoleon also ended the role of the Imperial Guard in France. As they had no lost their commander, they no longer continued to attempt to conquer and overthrow land for France. Overall, the battle of Waterloo was a major turning point in both French and European history.
Works Cited
"Battle of Waterloo - Google Search." Google. Web. 02 Nov. 2010. .
Battle of Waterloo. Web. 02 Nov. 2010. .
"BBC - History - British History in Depth: The Battle of Waterloo." BBC - Homepage. Web. 02 Nov. 2010. .
The Battle of waterloo was Napoleon’s final defeat. The battle of waterloo was at the end of napoleon’s final 100 days of rule after his return from exile on Elba. On the 13 March 1815, the Congress of Vienna declared Napoleon an out law, they feared that Napoleon would continue his conquests that threatened England. On the 20th Napoleon re entered Paris and regained his rule of France, which is the beginning of the 100 days. He quickly reassembled and prepared his armies to battle with Britain.
ReplyDeleteThe battle of waterloo was fought on June 18, 1815 near Waterloo, Belgium. It was
At waterloo the French battled the seventh coalition, the Prussian army and the British. The Anglo-allied army was lead by the Duke of
Wellington. Michael Ney and Napoleon Bonaparte led the French. Gebhard Von Blucher led the Prussian army and the seventh coalition.
The night before the battle it had rained heavily so the battle field was filled with mud. Napoleon’s artillery would not have been able to move through the mud, so they waited for the mud to dry, delaying the French army’s arrival at the battle field. The battle began at 11am on June 18th.
Welling ton used the geography of the battle field to his advantage. He positioned his troop on a ridge, strategically hiding the majority of his troops behind the ridge and providing the British army with protection. This contributed to the French defeat.
Napoleon fought only the British army until the afternoon when the Prussian army of 89,000 joined the fight Napoleon was also did not know that the Prussian army would be as large as it was and was not prepared to fight such a large army.
Napoleon decided to use his very strong cavalry on the British but welling ton had created infantry squares that the prestige cavalry could not brake up. The infantrymen might have not been great but with the duke of wellington was such a good commander, he made them unbeatable.
When napoleon couldn’t break the British using the cavalry, he decided to use the Imperial Guard as his last shot. The French imperial guard was the elite fighting force that acted as a tactical reserve and body guard for Napoleon. The Imperial guard was defeated because the large amount of British soldiers. This was the first time the imperial guard was ever defeated.
Napoleon lost waterloo and was exiled to the island of st. Helena. He died on the island there after six years from cancer. France returned back into a monarchy. The Battle ended napoleon’s reign and France’s immense power in Europe
Waterloo had cost Wellington around 15,000 dead and wounded soldiers and 7,000 Napoleon lost 25,000 dead or injured, with 8,000 taken prisoner.