Defeat the armies separately
Napoleon crosses the Sambre on 15 June to prevent Wellington and Blücher from combining their forces. Ligny defeats the Prussians on 16 June but does not destroy them; Quatre Bras allows Wellington to remain in contact.
Battle
Waterloo
18 June 1815
A ridge holds long enough for two allied armies to unite.
Military history
How did Wellington's position and coordination with Blücher turn French successes into a general defeat?
Napoleon seeks to defeat Wellington's Anglo-Allied army and Blücher's Prussians separately before they can support each other. After Ligny and Quatre Bras, he attacks Wellington's position on the Mont-Saint-Jean ridge. The French gain local successes, but Allied counterattacks and the Prussians' progressive arrival turn every hour gained into an operational problem.
A position built for waiting
Wellington places most of his army behind the Mont-Saint-Jean ridge. Hougoumont, La Haye Sainte and Papelotte cover the approaches and give both wings strongpoints.
Time becomes an adversary
Rain delays the opening of the French attack. The delay allows the Prussians, reorganized after Ligny, to march toward Waterloo and turn a Franco-British battle into a two-front engagement.
A heterogeneous allied army
Wellington's force combines British, Dutch, German and other contingents. Its cohesion comes not from perfect uniformity but from a defensive position, reserves and command able to hold until Prussian support arrives.
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Chronological dossier
AusterlitzNapoleon lets the right wing appear vulnerable, then strikes the Pratzen Heights once the Allies have committed there.Jena–AuerstedtNapoleon defeats a Prussian force at Jena while Davout, badly outnumbered, repels the main army at Auerstedt.MarengoHow was an almost-lost battle reversed by the arrival of reserves and a concentrated counterattack?TrafalgarHow did two British columns accept fire on the approach to break the opposing line and impose local engagements?EylauHow did snow, visibility and staggered arrivals turn a search for decision into an inconclusive and exceptionally costly battle?WagramThe crossing from Lobau deploys the army along an immense arc; on the 6th, the unsynchronised Austrian offensive threatens Aspern, but the battery covers Masséna, Davout turns Markgrafneusiedl and the general assault compels an orderly withdrawal.BorodinoWhy did the successive capture of Russian positions destroy neither the opposing army nor its ability to retreat?LeipzigHow did a coalition coordinate several armies around Leipzig while avoiding defeat in detail?
Military history
Sources
Institutional referenceThe Battle of Waterloo, National Army Museum
Notice de synthèse sur la campagne et la bataille du 18 juin 1815
Campaign context, positions, cartographic reconstruction, sequence of attacks, order-of-magnitude strengths and consequences.
View ↗Primary sourceWellington's Waterloo dispatch to Lord Bathurst, 19 June 1815
Dépêche de Wellington après la bataille
Contemporary account of deployment, engagements, Prussian arrival and losses.
View ↗Modern referenceDavid G. Chandler, The Campaigns of Napoleon
Synthèse moderne de la campagne de 1815 et des décisions opérationnelles
Contextualizing Napoleon's choices, the role of reserves and Allied coordination.