At some point in your life , you ’ve probably heard the expression " He met his Waterloo , " meaning that the someone in query had met a oppress defeat that cease his ambition forever .
That ’s exactly what go on toNapoleon , near a village namedWaterlooin Belgium June 18 , 1815 , when the 46 - year - sometime French superior general - turned - emperor lost the climactic battle of his storied career at the hands of British and Prussian opponents . The battle stop Napoleon ’s attack to make a retort from deportation , and ended the shortly - live glories ofFrance ’s First Empire .
Waterloo was a hard fall for adiminutive leaderwhose ego was so massive that at his investiture in 1804 , he snatch a poll from the hands ofthe Popeandplaced it on his own head . Napoleon was a maestro tactician who wonmore than 50 battlesin his career , let in a spectacular triumph atAusterlitz(what ’s now Slavkov u Brna in the Czech Republic ) in December 1805 that became a school text exemplar of daring tactics .
Napoleon’s Military Mind
Facing a massive meld Russian - Austrian military force that outnumber his own regular army by 22,000 men , Napoleon deliberately weakened his right wing , tempt the opposition into attacking him . It sour out to be a trap , as Napoleon counterattacked and tailor the Russian - Austrian melody in two . Twenty - six thousand enemy soldier were killed , injure or captured by the French . He was so successful that by 1812 , he controlledmost of the European continentwith the exception of a handful of countries .
Napoleon ’s military dominance did n’t last , in part because of his own hubris . He made what turned out to be a disastrous decisiveness to infest Russia in 1812 , but did n’t prepare his troop for the harsh Russian wintertime , and ended uplosing 300,000 of the 500,000 soldiersin his force . That was followed by a French licking at the hands of British , Portuguese and Spanish military force in thePeninsular Warin 1814 . After British - led forces invaded France and seized Paris , Napoleonabdicated in April 1814 , and was exiled to the Mediterranean island of Elba .
But less than a year afterward in February 1815 , Napoleonescaped from Elbaand returned to France . He issued a promulgation , call for the French ground forces to join in touch on him to force in the name of liberating France from foreign domination . " Victory shall demonstrate in forked - quick clock time , " he promised them . As the allies who opposed Napoleon tuck troop at France ’s borders , Napoleon happen upon first , leading his forces into Belgium with the program of beating the oppose US Army one at a time before they could coalesce against him .
Waterloo Was Doomed From the Start
" The first matter to bear in mind is that even had he been victorious at Waterloo , Napoleon would not have won the war , " explainsTom Mockaitis . He ’s a professor of account at DePaul University , where he instruct courses in British , advanced European and military history . Napoleon " face a fusion dwell of Britain , Prussia , Russia , Austria and several smaller powers . get the better of Wellington would only have delayed the inevitable . With most of Europe array against him , defeat was only a topic of time . "
Napoleon caught the Prussians by surprise , expel a forcefulness commanded byGebhard Leberecht von Blücher , in thebattle of LignyJune 16 , 1815 . But that would be Napoleon ’s last victory . Napoleon sent a third of his troops to tail the retreating Prussians . Meanwhile , he led his stay 72,000 human being toward a face-off with an ally force of 68,000 soldier led by British GeneralArthur Wellesley , First Duke of Wellington , who was lay near Waterloo , about a dozen miles from the Belgian city of Brussels .
At that point , Napoleon had a pretty well fortune of winning . " The British and French were equally matched , " Mockaitis say .
But fate intervened . As French historian Thierry Lentz explain in thisessayfor theFondation Napoleon , there was a heavy rainstorm the dark before his planned attack on the British , and the ground was so soaked the next morning that the French had to expect until 11 a.m. to move their artillery into lieu . That deprive Napoleon of the element of surprise .
Was Napoleon Sick During the Battle?
To make matters worse , Napoleon had n’t catch some Z’s due from some mysterious malady . Some bio - historians believe was asevere lawsuit of hemorrhoid , which may have made it excruciatingly painful for Napoleon to seat on horseback that day as he directed his forces . It also may have made it harder for him to think clearly at all-important present moment .
According to Lentz ’s essay , Napoleon ’s programme was to pin down Wellington ’s personnel at the strongest point in their line , the correct wing , and then turn them back at the left flank . Ideally that would have forced Wellington to retreat from the battlefield to the northwest , before the Prussian army led by Blücher could get and join forces with Wellington .
But Napoleon did n’t count on the tenacity of the force out precede by Wellington , who was an expert at justificative warfare . He take up advantage of a ridge to harbor his man from the French bombardment , and their line did n’t unwrap . Without the power to outmaneuver the ally , Napoleon ’s refined program degenerated into a head-on violation . By the good afternoon , Napoleon could see Blücher ’s troops approaching in the length . The French calvary urgently set on Wellington ’s line of soldiers , but they held .
" The battle was a tactical draw until late in the day when Blücher ’s Prussian ’s get shift the balance resolutely against the French , " Mockaitis tell .
When the Prussians last arrive , it was the Gallic line that collapsed . Napoleon ’s army of 72,000 endure 26,000 obliterate or wounded , plus another 9,000 entrance and 9,000 missing in legal action , according to David Eggenberger ’s book " An Encyclopedia of Battles . " The emperor butterfly ’s riposte was over . He abdicated for the second and final time four twenty-four hours later .
But even in defeat , Napoleon was still feared . This clip , the ally exiled him toSt . Helena , a remote island in the mid - Atlantic , 1,200 miles ( 1,931 kilometers ) from the seacoast of Africa . He lived there , under the watchful optic of Governor Sir Hudson Lowe , who refused to address him as emperor moth , though he did agree to work up him a new menage . Napoleon died there May 5 , 1821 .
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