This Day in History

June 18, 1815:

Waterloo

  

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Napoleon Bonaparte

Following his return to the imperial throne, Napoleon failed to make peace with the allies. He had offered to respect the boundaries of France drawn up by the Congress of Vienna if it would recognize his government; but the allies ignored him and resolved on war. Perhaps Napoleon's greatest sorrow, however, was the Austrian court's refusal to return his son to him. And very bitter too was the news that Empress Maria Louisa had sworn never to see Napoleon again.

Though sorrow had seemed to rob Napoleon of some of his old energy, he did not neglect preparations for the war he knew would come. By June, he had gathered an army of 200,000 men. On June 12, Napoleon left Paris to lead this army against the Seventh (and last) Coalition of his foes. They had gathered an army of 500,000 in Belgium in order to rid Europe, once and for all, of Napoleon Bonaparte.

Wellington

Three days after leaving Paris, Napoleon and his army crossed the Sambre River into Belgium. Knowing he was outnumbered by the enemy, Napoleon's strategy was to drive his army between the allied armies of the English general, Arthur Wellesley, the duke of Wellington, and the Prussian field marshal, Gebhard Blücher. After defeating one, Napoleon hoped to turn and fight the other.

On June 16, near the village of Ligny, Napoleon and 80,000 of his men joined battle with 84,000 Prussians under Blücher. The battle was a victory for Napoleon, but an incomplete one. The French had inflicted 24,000 casualties on the Prussians while losing only 11,000 of their own men. But instead of fleeing toward Namur, as Napoleon thought they would, the remaining Prussians turned north, to where Wellington was encamped with about 70,000 men near the town of Waterloo.

Blücher

On the same day as the Battle of Ligny, Wellington had fought about 20,000 French under Marshal Michel Ney at Quatre-Bras, but neither side was victorious. On June 17, the day following the battle, Wellington withdrew his army to a ridge lying to the south of Waterloo. There he gathered 68,000 men and awaited 89,000 more coming from the west, under Blücher. On the morning of June 18, Napoleon formed up his army, 105,000 strong, on the battlefield below the ridge as well as on the heights opposite Wellington's position.

The Battle of Waterloo began in late morning of June 18, 1815, with a bombardment of Wellington's position. Throughout the course of the day, French attempts to break through the allied lines failed, while Wellington's numbers grew and grew with the addition of troops from Blücher. But about 6 p.m., Marshal Ney gained an important allied position and, setting up his guns, began bombarding the center of the enemy line. Ney sent pleas to Napoleon to send in the best of his troops, the Imperial Guard, to break the allied center. But an hour passed before the Guard could reach Ney, and by that time Wellington had been able to send in more troops to strengthen his line.

Battle of Waterloo

About 7 p.m., the Imperial Guard was ready to attack Wellington's center. Marching in two great columns, the Guard slammed into the allied lines -- only to find themselves met by some of Wellington's best infantry, rising from the corn where they had lain hidden. From three sides, the British infantry, dressed all in scarlet, fired deadly volleys into the Imperial Guard. And just as the French were reeling under this blow, a corps of Prussians, newly arrived, joined in the attack. The Guard was now forced to retreat, while rumors of treason passed among Napoleon's men.

"Save yourselves who can!" These words ran like quicksilver through the French lines. Seeing the enemy beginning to break, Wellington ordered his whole line to charge -- and charge they did, letting out a mighty cheer that filled the evening air with grandeur. The French were now in full flight, and Napoleon himself barely escaped capture by the Prussians.

Morning after Waterloo

"I ought to have died at Waterloo," Napoleon said afterward; but, he added, "the misfortune is that, when a man seeks death most, he cannot find it. Men were killed around me, before, behind, everywhere. But there was no bullet for me." That day, the allies lost 22,000 men, a great loss; but Napoleon's loss was far greater -- 41,000, almost all of them veterans. His army was destroyed, his reputation as an invincible commander gone forever. Napoleon did not die at Waterloo, but his empire did. Napoleon, as well as anyone else, knew this; and, fearing that if he held on to power, France would be plunged into civil war, he signed his second abdication on June 22, 1815, passing the throne to his son. Napoleon then went into hiding.

In his place of concealment, Napoleon contemplated fleeing to the United States. Somewhere on the North American continent, he thought, he could gather his relatives and companions together and form the beginnings of a new French nation. But this dream ended when it became clear that any ship he sailed on could never escape the British warships patrolling the French coast. With America thus closed to him, Napoleon made a strange resolve -- he would seek refuge with his old enemy, England. Confident that the English would show him hospitality, he set sail on the ship Bellerophon and, in late July, put into port at Plymouth, on England's southern coast.

Napoleon on board the Bellerophon

The news that Napoleon was at Plymouth threw the British government into a panic. What should be done with him? Certainly he could not remain in England -- but where should he go? On July 30, Napoleon learned with dismay and anger what the British government had planned for him. He would not be given hospitality in England but be sent, as a prisoner, to St. Helena, a barren, windswept island in the southern Atlantic, 600 miles off the coast of Africa. Napoleon was bitterly angry, but also in despair. He could hardly bear the thought of such an exile, and he contemplated suicide. But considering it was the part of a great man to bear his fate to the end, he decided not to end his life.

Thus, on August 7, 1815, Napoleon Bonaparte set sail on the HMSNorthumberland from Portland harbor, bound for St. Helena. For 10 weeks the Northumberland sailed until, on the evening of October 15, she arrived off the coast of the jagged, rocky island of St. Helena. A day later, Napoleon stepped onto the shore of what would henceforth be his home. He would never again as a living man see France -- nor the face of brother, sister, mother, wife, or child. But for a few companions, he was quite alone. His mighty empire had crumbled, leaving nothing behind but a grand dream and a memory.

A Song of Napoleon's Fall

This song is a musical setting by the German composer, Robert Schumann (1810-1856), of a poem by Heinrich Heine (1797-1856) --Die Beiden Grenadiere ("The Two Grenadiers"). It expresses what many soldiers of France's First Empire must have felt after Waterloo and their emperor's capture by the British. This video features the tenor, Juan Borja, and Sergo Bungs, piano. It has subtitles in English.