23.4.2: Napoleon’s Defeat at Waterloo

The Seventh Coalition

At the Congress of Vienna, the Great Powers of Europe – Austria, Great Britain, Prussia, and Russia – and their allies declared Napoleon an outlaw and with the signing of this declaration on March 13, 1815, began the War of the Seventh Coalition. The hopes of peace that Napoleon had entertained were gone; war was now inevitable. Furthermore, the Treaty of Alliance against Napoleon, in which each of the European powers agreed to pledge 150,000 men for the coming conflict, was ratified on March 25. Such a number was not possible for Great Britain, as its standing army was smaller than the armies of its peers and its forces were scattered around the globe, with many units still in Canada where the War of 1812 had recently ceased. Consequently, it made up its numerical deficiencies by paying subsidies to the other powers and to the other states of Europe that would contribute contingents.

Some time after the allies began mobilizing, it was agreed that the planned invasion of France would commence on July 1, 1815. The advantage of this invasion date, later than some military leaders expected, was that it allowed the invading Coalition armies a chance to be ready at the same time. Thus, they could deploy their combined numerically superior forces against Napoleon’s smaller, thinly spread forces, ensuring his defeat and avoiding a possible defeat within the borders of France. Yet this postponed invasion date gave Napoleon more time to strengthen his forces and defenses, which would make defeating him harder and more costly in lives, time, and money.

Napoleon chose to attack, which entailed a preemptive strike at his enemies before they were fully assembled and able to cooperate. By destroying some of the major Coalition armies, Napoleon believed he would then be able to bring the governments of the Seventh Coalition to the peace table to discuss peace for France with Napoleon remaining in power. If peace were rejected by the allies despite preemptive military success he might have achieved using the offensive military option available to him, then the war would continue and he could turn his attention to defeating the rest of the Coalition armies.

Napoleon’s decision to attack in today’s Belgium was supported by several considerations. First, he had learned that the British and Prussian armies were widely dispersed and might be defeated in detail. Also, the British troops in Belgium were largely second-line troops as most of the veterans of the Peninsular War had been sent to America to fight the War of 1812. Also, a French victory might trigger a friendly revolution in French-speaking Belgium.

Waterloo Campaign

Hostilities started on June 15 when the French drove away the Prussian outposts and crossed the river Sambre at Charleroi, placing their forces between the cantonment areas of Wellington’s Army (to the west) and Blücher’s army to the east. On June 16, the French prevailed with Marshal Ney commanding the left wing of the French army and holding Wellington at the Battle of Quatre Bras and Napoleon defeating Blücher at the Battle of Ligny. On June 17, Napoleon left Grouchy with the right wing of the French army to pursue the Prussians while he took the reserves and command of the left wing of the army to pursue Wellington towards Brussels.

On the night of June 17, the Anglo-allied army prepared for battle on a gentle escarpment about a mile (1.6 km) south of the village of Waterloo. The next day this proved the decisive battle of the campaign. The Anglo-allied under Wellington army stood fast against repeated French attacks until they managed to rout the French army with the aid of several Prussian corps under Blücher that arrived at the east side of the battlefield in the early evening. With the right wing of the army, Grouchy engaged a Prussian rearguard at the simultaneous Battle of Wavre. Although he won a tactical victory, his failure to prevent the Prussian march to Waterloo meant that his actions contributed to the French defeat at Waterloo. The next day (June 19) he left Wavre and started a long retreat back to Paris.

 

The Ultimate End of the Napoleonic Era

After the defeat at Waterloo, Napoleon chose not to remain with the army and attempt to rally it, but returned to Paris to try to secure political support for further action. He failed to do it and was forced to abdicate. With the abdication of Napoleon, a provisional government with Joseph Fouché as acting President was formed. Initially, the remnants of the French left wing and the reserves that were routed at Waterloo were commanded by Marshal Soult while Grouchy kept command of the left wing. However, on June 25, Soult was relieved of his command by the Provisional Government and replaced by Grouchy, who in turn was placed under the command of Marshal Davout. On the same day, Napoleon received from Fouché (Napoleon’s former police chief) an intimation that he must leave Paris. He retired to Malmaison, the former home of Joséphine, where she had died shortly after his first abdication. On June 29, the near approach of the Prussians, who had orders to seize Napoleon dead or alive, caused him to retire westwards toward Rochefort in an attempt to eventually reach the United States. The presence of blockading Royal Navy warships under Vice Admiral Henry Hotham with orders to prevent his escape forestalled this plan.

When the French Provisional Government realized that the French army under Marshal Davout was unable to defend Paris, they authorized delegates to accept capitulation terms that led to the Convention of St. Cloud. Under the terms of the convention, the commander of the French army, Marshal Davout, surrendered Paris to the two allied armies of the Seventh Coalition and agreed to move the French army well away from Paris, to the south “beyond the Loire.” In return, the allies promised to respect the rights and property of the local government, French civilians, and members of the French armed forces.

The two Coalition armies entered Paris on July 7. The next day Louis XVIII was restored to the French throne and a week later (July 15), Napoleon surrendered to Captain Frederick Maitland of HMS Bellerophon. Napoleon was exiled to the island of Saint Helena where he died in May 1821. Under the terms of the Treaty of Paris of 1815, France was ordered to pay 700 million francs in indemnities and the country’s borders were reduced to their 1790 level. France covered the cost of providing additional defensive fortifications to be built by neighboring Coalition countries. Under the terms of the treaty, parts of France were to be occupied by up to 150,000 soldiers for five years, with France footing the bill. However, the Coalition occupation, under the command of the Duke of Wellington, was only deemed necessary for three years and the foreign troops pulled out in 1818.

Attributions

• Napoleon’s Defeat at Waterloo
  • “Battle of Waterloo.” https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Waterloo. Wikipedia CC BY-SA 3.0.
  • “Treaty of Paris (1815).” https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Treaty_of_Paris_(1815). Wikipedia CC BY-SA 3.0.
  • “Napoleon.” https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Napoleon. Wikipedia CC BY-SA 3.0.
  • “Convention of St. Cloud.” https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Convention_of_St._Cloud. Wikipedia CC BY-SA 3.0.
  • “Waterloo Campaign.” https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Waterloo_Campaign. Wikipedia CC BY-SA 3.0.
  • “Hundred Days.” https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hundred_Days. Wikipedia CC BY-SA 3.0.
  • “History of France.” https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_France. Wikipedia CC BY-SA 3.0.
  • “Battle_of_Waterloo_1815.PNG.” https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Battle_of_Waterloo_1815.PNG. Wikimedia Commons Public domain.