How the French Won Waterloo - or Think They Did
Page 22
[…]
The enemy’s losses must have been great, to judge by the flags that we captured and the retreats they were forced to make […] The artillery, as usual, covered itself in glory. Thus ended the Battle of Mont-Saint-Jean, glorious for the French army, and yet so disastrous.
Wellington’s account
Some excerpts from Wellington’s report, written the day after the battle and published in The Times and the London Gazette Extraordinary on Thursday, 22 June 1815.
The report is addressed to Britain’s Secretary for War, Earl Bathurst, and gives the view of events that Wellington had thus far managed to piece together from his own experiences and those of his officers. It was obviously written before anyone had decided what exactly to call the battle, though Wellington was staying in the nearest small town to the battlefield and therefore headed his report ‘Waterloo, June 19th 1815’.
This excerpt retains Wellington’s own spellings, including the British refusal to spell Napoleon’s surname the way he wanted.
He begins with an account of the fighting on the days leading up to 18 June, and then moves on to what we now call Waterloo:
[…] The enemy collected his army, with the exception of the third corps, which had been sent to observe Marshal Blucher, on a range of heights to our front, in the course of the night of the 17th and yesterday morning: and at about ten o’clock he commenced a furious attack upon our post at Hougoumont […] I am happy to add, that it was maintained throughout the day with the utmost gallantry by these brave troops, notwithstanding the repeated efforts of large bodies of the enemy to obtain possession of it.
This attack upon the right of our centre was accompanied by a very heavy cannonade upon our whole line, which was destined to support the repeated attacks of cavalry and infantry occasionally mixed, but some times separate, which were made upon it. In one of these the enemy carried the farm house of La Haye Sainte, as the detachment of the light battalion of the legion which occupied it had expended all its ammunition […]
The enemy repeatedly charged our infantry with his cavalry, but these attacks were uniformly unsuccessful, and they afforded opportunities to our cavalry to charge, in one of which Lord E. Somerset’s brigade, consisting of the life guards, royal horse guards, and first dragoon guards, highly distinguished themselves, as did that of Major General Sir W. Ponsonby, having taken many prisoners and an eagle.
These attacks were repeated until about seven in the evening, when the enemy made a desperate effort with the cavalry and infantry, supported by the fire of artillery, to force our left centre near the farm of La Haye Sainte, which after a severe contest was defeated, and having observed that the troops retired from this attack in great confusion, and that the marc[h] of General Bulow’s corps by Euschermont upon Planchernerte and la Belle alliance, had begun to take effect, and as I could perceive the fire of his cannon, and as Marshal Prince Blucher had joined in person, with a corps of his army to the left of our line by Ohaim, I determined to attack the enemy, and immediately advanced the whole line of infantry, supported by the cavalry and artillery. The attack succeeded in every point; the enemy was forced from his position on the heights, and fled in the utmost confusion, leaving behind him, as far as I could judge, one hundred and fifty pieces of cannon, with their ammunition, which fell into our hands. I continued the pursuit till long after dark, and then discontinued it only on account of the fatigue of our troops, and because I found myself on the same road with Marshal Blucher, who assured me of his intention to pursue the enemy throughout the night; he had sent me word this morning that he had taken sixty pieces of cannon belonging to the Imperial Guard, and several carriages, baggage, &c, belonging to Buonaparte, in Genappe […]
Your Lordship will observe, that such a desperate action could not be fought, and such advantages could not be gained, without great loss; and I am sorry to add, that ours has been immense.
[…]
It gives me the greatest satisfaction to assure your Lordship, that the army never, upon any occasion, conducted itself better […] and here is no Officer or description of troops that did not behave well.
[…]
I should not do justice to my feelings or to Marshal Blucher and the Prussian army, if I do not attribute the successful result of this arduous day, to the cordial and timely assistance I received from them.
The operation of General Bulow, upon the enemy’s flank, was a most decisive one; and even if I had not found myself in a position to make the attack, which produced the final result, it would have forced the enemy to retire, if his attacks should have failed, and would have prevented him from taking advantage of them, if they should unfortunately have succeeded.
I send, with this despatch, two eagles, taken by the troops in action, which Major Percy will have the honour of laying at the feet of his Royal Highness.
I beg leave to recommend him to your Lordship’s protection. I have the honour, &c,
Wellington.
Napoleon’s farewell messages
On 22 June 1815, a deputation of French MPs came to express their support for Napoleon (while ‘congratulating’ him on the wisdom of his decision to abdicate for the second time). He told them:
I thank you for the sentiments that you have expressed towards me; I desire that my abdication should bring happiness to France, but I doubt that it will; it leaves the state without a head, without political existence. The time wasted overturning the monarchy could have been used to ensure that France was in a fit state to crush the enemy. I recommend that the House [of representatives] should reinforce the army promptly; whoever wants peace should prepare for war. Do not put this great nation at the mercy of foreigners. Beware of disappointed hopes. Whatever happens to me, I will always be happy if France is happy.
On 25 June, Napoleon dictated a farewell letter to his troops:
Soldiers, as I surrender to the necessity which forces me away from my brave French army, I take with me the happy certainty that it will perform the duties that the homeland asks of it, and thereby earn the praise that even our enemies cannot deny us.
Soldiers, I will follow your movements, even in my absence. I know each regiment, and I will recognise the courage that each of them has shown every time they win an advantage over the enemy. You and I have been slandered. Men who are unworthy of judging your efforts have interpreted your loyalty to me as excessive zeal, of which I was the only object. May your future successes show them that by obeying me you were above all serving our homeland, and that, if I have earned your affection, it is only because of my passionate love for France, our common motherland.
Soldiers, with just a little more effort, the coalition will be dissolved. Napoleon will know you by the blows that you strike. Save the honour and independence of the French people. Stay as I have known you for twenty years and you will be invincible.
Napoleon’s letter was never published, or read out: his treacherous head of secret police Joseph Fouché found it, and hid it.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
There have to date been an estimated 80,000 books written about Napoleon, though that number is of course changing all the time. Apparently one new book or article gets published every week.
However, most history books quote the same basic sources, especially the accounts written by veterans of the battle. All the rest – including this book – is opinion and interpretation.
Here is a short list of the most useful, interesting, and (not always deliberately) amusing sources that I have read.
The French veterans’ accounts are mostly available on the Bibliothèque Nationale’s excellent website, gallica.fr.
The dates in brackets indicate the publication date of the edition consulted.
All quotations from French sources used in this book are my own translations. The same goes for the German. As for the lines from the Polish national anthem quoted in Chapter 8, I was forced to trust someone else.
Anonymous, Relation fidèle et détaillée de la derniè
re campagne de Buonaparte, terminée par la bataille de Mont-Saint-Jean, dite de Waterloo ou de la Belle-Alliance, par un témoin oculaire (1815)
Blanqui, Jérôme-Adolphe, Voyage d’un jeune Français en Angleterre et en Ecosse pendant l’automne de 1823 (1824)
Chapuis, Colonel, Notice sur le 85e de ligne pendant la campagne de 1815 (1838)
Charras, Jean-Baptiste-Adolphe, Histoire de la Campagne de 1815 – Waterloo (1857)
Coignet, Capitaine, Les Cahiers 1799-1815 (1883)
Cronin, Vincent, Napoleon Bonaparte: an Intimate Biography (1971)
Damamme, Jean-Claude, La Bataille de Waterloo (1999)
Duthilt, Pierre-Charles, Mémoires du Capitaine Duthilt (1909)
Fleischmann, Hector, Victor Hugo, Waterloo, Napoléon, documents recueillis (1912)
Gallo, Max, Napoléon, l’Immortel de Sainte-Hélène (1997)
Home, George, The Memoirs of an Aristocrat (1838)
Houssaye, Henry, Napoléon homme de guerre (1904)
Hugo, Victor, ‘L’Expiation’ (poem from Les Châtiments, 1853)
—— Les Misérables, Deuxième Partie, Livre 1 (1862)
Larreguy de Civrieux, Sylvain, Souvenirs d’un cadet, 1812-1823 (1912)
Las Cases, Emmanuel de, Le Mémorial de Sainte-Hélène (1823)
Lemonnier-Delafosse, Marie Jean Baptiste, Campagnes de 1810-1815 ou Souvenirs Militaires (1850)
Macdonald, Etienne-Jacques-Joseph-Alexandre, Souvenirs du Maréchal Macdonald, duc de Tarente (1892)
Marq, François, Descriptions des campagnes de guerre faites par moi (1817)
Martin, Jacques-François, Souvenirs d’un ex-officier, 1812-1815 (1867)
Mauduit, Hippolyte de, Histoire des derniers jours de la Grande Armée, ou Souvenirs, documents et correspondance inédite de Napoléon en 1814 et 1815 (1854)
Mercer, General Cavalié, Journal of the Waterloo Campaign, Kept throughout the Campaign of 1815 (1870)
Rogniat, Considérations sur l’art de la guerre (1816)
Scott, Sir Walter, The Life of Napoleon Buonaparte, Emperor of the French (1827)
Shelley, Frances, The Diary of Frances Lady Shelley (1912)
Thackeray, William Makepeace, Vanity Fair (1847–8)
Villepin, Dominique de, Les Cent Jours ou l’Esprit du Sacrifice (2001)
PICTURE PERMISSIONS
Napoleon on horseback, 1814. Mary Evans Picture Library
Napoleon Bonaparte by Ingres, 1806. Getty Images
Napoleon Bonaparte holding a soldier’s ear. Mary Evans Picture Library
Napoleon’s abdication speech, 1814. Getty Images
Napoleon, defeated. Mary Evans Picture Library
Napoleon’s handiwork. Mary Evans Picture Library
Battle of Waterloo, 1815. Getty Images
Cambronne at the Battle of Waterloo, 1815. Getty Images
Marshal Michel Ney. Getty Images
Marshal General Nicolas Jean-de-Dieu Soult. Getty Images
Emmanuel de Grouchy. Getty Images
‘Sunken Lane’, French retreat at Waterloo. Getty Images
Battle greeting of Blücher and Wellington. Getty Images
Napoleon sails into exile. Mary Evans Picture Library
Napoleon’s remains arrive in Paris. Getty Images
Buffalo Bill’s Wild West show. Mary Evans Picture Library.
The author and publisher have made all reasonable effort to contact copyright holders for permission and apologise for any omission or error in the credits given. Corrections may be made to future reprints.
Index
The page references in this index correspond to the printed edition from which this ebook was created. To find a specific word or phrase from the index, please use the search feature of your ebook reader.
abattoirs, 208
Achard, Franz Karl, 220
Acte Additionnel, 41
‘Age of Bronze’ (Byron), 185
Albert of Monaco, Prince, 222
Alexander I, Czar, 14, 21, 30, 34, 35, 42
America, 13
Andrieux, Clement-Auguste, 112
anti-Bonapartists, 6, 15, 41
anti-royalists, 7
anti-war writing, 176
Appel du dix-huit juin, 96
Arc de Triomphe, xii, 112, 152, 171
aristocracy, 29, 235
Armée d’Italie, 145
armies against Napoleon, 42
Army of the North, 49
arsenic, 149
art, 242–3
collection, 208–9
stolen, 210
ashes, return of Napoleon’s, 159
Aube, 147
Austerlitz, Battle of, 66
Austrians, xii, 5, 27, 30, 42
baccalauréat, 216
baguette, 219
Balmain, Aleksandr, 141
Balzac, Honoré de, 153, 169, 169–70, 176, 241
Barrail, Capitaine du, 88
Barral, Georges, 167
Bataille de Waterloo, La 112
Battle of Champaubert, 28
Battle of Jena, 186
Battle of Ligny, 166
Battle of Marengo, 49, 68, 184, 221
battle re-enactments, 224–8
Baudin, Pierre-François, 74
Becquey, Louis, 235
Bédoyère, Colonel Le, 39
Beethoven, works, 189–91
Belgium, xiii, 6, 49, 196
liberation, 166–7
and rain, 54
Belgo-Dutch troops, 77
Bell, Charles, 106
Belle Poule, 153, 154, 155
Bellerophon, HMS, 127–8, 130, 132, 133, 144, 165
Berezina, River, 17
Berlin, 4
Bernadotte, 206
Berthier, Louis-Alexandre, 68
Bertrand, General, 132
Bessières, Marshal Jean-Baptiste, 68
Bijou, 80–1
‘Bivouac de Napoléon, Le’, exhibition, 10
Blanqui, Adolphe, 236
Blocus Continental, 12, 17, 220
bloodiest day of Napoleonic wars, 19
Blücher, General Gebhard, 3, 29, 67, 84–7, 98, 243
almost died, 50
army, 49
and Bourmont, 65
French-hater, 101–2
at Leipzig, 25
and prisoners, 93
Bonaparte, Jérôme, 11, 60, 70, 74–5
Bonaparte, Joseph (King of Spain), 24, 119
Bonaparte, Josephine, 6, 7, 23, 34
Bonaparte, Louis-Napoléon, 158, 172 see also
Napoleon III, Emperor
Bonaparte, Lucien, 122
Bonaparte, Marie-Louise, 23
Bonaparte, Napoleon, xii, xiii, xv, 8, 16, 69, 90, 121, 126, 134, 166, 175
100 day return to power, 43
abdication and resignation, 30, 125
administration and logic, 9, 10, 211
after the battle, 94
breakfast party, 69
camp bed, 10, 34, 58, 59, 63
camper-van, 19
charisma, 136, 165
compared to Hitler, 189
condemnation of his rule, 207, 230
culture, 238
death, 148
defenders of, 5, 46
defending Paris, 29
dictator, xv, 121, 177, 231, 234
Elba, 32–7
escape, 36
exile, xii, 32–6, 133
federal European system, 42
final speech, 31–2
first abdication, 17
fled, xi, 119, 123
and French law, 211–12
funeral, remains and tomb, 152–4, 156–7, 199–201
furniture, 11
generals and commanders, xiv, 64
and Hugo, 53–4, 60, 156–7, 174, 175, 211
image of, xiv, 130, 144, 163, 164
imprisonment, 142, 143
influence on life in France, xv, 4, 205, 219
invaded Italy, 5
legacy, 208
letter to Prince Regent, 6–7, 42, 123
march north to Paris, 37–40
military tactics, 18, 25, 47, 91
modernisation of the army, 10
night before Waterloo, 58–9
and peace, 4, 6, 42
and pension, 35
piles and other afflictions, 60–1
proposed scientific exploration, 126–7
report of Waterloo, 46
return to Paris from Moscow, 22–3
route through Alps, 39
Saint Helena, 139–48, 150, 229
snowball fight, 9
statues, monuments etc., 148, 194, 197, 209
surrender to the British, 122, 127, 231
uniform, 203–5
Bonapartes, banned from France, 211
Bonapartist propaganda, 161
Bonapartists massacred, 147
Bondarchuk, Sergei, 82
book trade, 241
boots, 56 see also shoes
Bordeaux, 24, 231
Borodin, Battle of, 19
boulevards see streets
Boulogne, 165
Bourbons, 35
Bourmont, General Louis-Auguste, 64–5
Brienne le Château, 28
British, see also English
army, 42, 102
cannons, 75, 79
‘cheated’, xiv, 46, 51, 52, 88, 102
flags, 97
Guards, 74, 89
Napoleonic debt, 12
occupying forces, 35
press, 124, 132
squares, 80
troops, xii, 77
British Corsican exiles, 141
Brussels, xii
Bulwer-Lytton, Edward, 184
Byron, Lord George Gordon, 181–5
Caillou, Le, 59, 69, 93
Cambronne, General Pierre, 92, 107, 110–11, 179, 180, 243
Campagne de France, 27
Campbell, Colonel Neil, 37
Canning, George, 13
Canova, Antonio, 209
capitalism, and the French, 236–7
Carriere, Jean-Claude, Dictionnaire des Révélations Historiques et Contemporaines, 92
cartridges, wet, 62–3
Catholic missionaries, 147
Caulaincourt, Louis de, 121