The Battle of Waterloo

A detailed Summary of The Battle of Waterloo

The Battle of Waterloo was the final and decisive action of the Napoleonic Wars that effectively ended the French domination of the European continent and brought about drastic changes in the political boundaries and power of Europe. Fought on June 18, 1814, near Waterloo, in what is now Belgium, the battle ranks as a great turning point in modern history. There are many reasons as to why Napoleon lost this battle. Most importantly it was due to his generals. Napoleon himself abandoned his troops and his throne after his defeat.

The main problem as to why Napoleon lost the Battle of Waterloo is because he selected an ill-equipped group of generals to lead his army. He didn't have much control over this though. Berthier was dead; Mortier was ill; Andre Massena showed no interest in joining this conflict, and Baron Jomini was with the Allies. If this was not enough he placed the generals he had in places not suited for them. He put Soult as chief of staff, Ney on his left wing, and Grouchy on his right. A disastrous mistake was putting Ney in charge of the attack on Wellington. Napoleon seemed sluggish and waterloo and this was due to his illness. He failed to follow up on opportunities here and this

Other factors that led to the downfall of Napoleon at the Battle of Waterloo included time, weather, and his sickness. For Napoleon, time was not on his side. He had very little time to gather proper troops and such which was the reason for the abundance of inexperienced soldiers. Another important factor was the weather. During the battle it was raining. This made it hard for troops to be maneuvered quickly. It was the rain that slowed him down when it was vital to move quickly. Being sick was yet but another reason to slow down Napoleon. His sickness during the Battle of Waterloo could have made it hard to make decisions clearly and efficiently when needed. All three of these factors were keys as to why Napoleon lost. Somewhat like the problem with his generals these problems were out of Napoleons control (Glover 212-218).

was fatal due to his steady adversaries, Wellington and Blucher. Fault can be put to Napoleon too. He delayed in attacking Blucher at Ligny, failed to use Lobau in crushing him, neglected to pursue hi after he was beaten, been to attack Wellington on June 18, and failed to assign Ney the Imperial Guard as reinforcements when they could have made a major difference. Soult had been a disaster as chief of staff, neglecting to coordinate the border crossing and, along with Napoleon, failed to send out orders to subordinates promptly and coherently. As well, Vandamme delayed at Gilly, Drouet wasted a day marching between Quatre Bras and Ligny, while Grouchy's tortoise like pursuit of the Pruss

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Category: History