The Hell of Waterloo, the last battle of Napoleon: hand to hand, 50 thousand dead and the end of an era

It was already dark and the vast countryside, where thousands and thousands of Englishmen, Dutch, Austrians, Prussians and French had been killed, was strewn with corpses. It had been invaded by a legion of looters who, mingled with scavengers, sought everything of value: weapons, boots, uniforms and even teeth, the demand for which was increasing for the manufacture of false teeth. Needless to say if they managed to get their hands on gold coins. Those who died were exterminated so that they could be despoiled. Dozens of peasants buried the dead of the victorious army, while the vanquished and the animals were cremated in gigantic pyres that burned for days. It was south of the Belgian hamlet of Waterloo, where Napoleon Bonaparte fought the last battle of his life. Three months earlier, when he triumphantly returned to power, he had concluded: “I need a victory.

On March 1, 1815, Corsica landed on the Côte d’Azur, leaving its exile on the island of Elba. On the 20th, he triumphantly entered Paris while King Louis XVIII took refuge in the Netherlands.

The fact alarmed the monarchies and their former enemies. Knowing what awaited them, they soon formed an alliance: England, Russia, Prussia, Sweden, Austria, the Netherlands, Spain and even some German states. And they prepared for war.

The 46-year-old Irishman Arthur wellesley, who will go down in history as the Duke of Wellington, commanded an army made up of English, German and Dutch. He was a stout, four-foot-eight officer and an excellent horseman who had commanded the Allied army in the Spanish War of Independence and the victor of the French army in Spain. He was a war hero. And the marshal Gebhard von BlücherWith his 72 years in tow, he was a fine Prussian strategist who enjoyed being on the front lines of the battle.

On June 6, Napoleon mobilized his troops and on June 15, he entered Belgium, unnoticed by his enemies. Wellington was at a ball in the city of Brussels when they surprised him with the novelty.

Bonaparte’s plan was to prevent his opponents from meeting. It was necessary to separate the Prussians from the English and thus increase their chances of defeating them. But his enemies had already fallen victim to his tactics and would not fall for the trap.

The forces which clash in Waterloo, a village about twenty kilometers south of Brussels, are gigantic: 74,000 French against 68,000 Allies and 45,000 Prussians.

Before leaving for the battlefield, Napoleon he sent his mistress the countess Mary waleska – “the only woman who ever loved me”, she confessed – a bulky package, containing her weapons, money, securities, stocks and a bracelet.

Napoleon did not start the fight at dawn. It was June and it was getting light at four o’clock. The night before it had rained heavily, and mud and flooded land were slowing the advance of infantry and cavalry. He wanted to wait until noon to start the actions, as he planned to place his batteries in a drier place.

It was an unnecessary delay.

Wellington was waiting for him with a classic formation: a center, two wings and a rear with a large reserve. He placed his best men on the right wing; on the left, he would reinforce them when the Prussians arrived.

From his barracks, which he established in an inn called La Belle-Alliance, Bonaparte placed his troops in three lines. They occupied a width of five and a half kilometers. He harangued them. “If you obey my orders, we will sleep in Brussels tonight,” he promised. Napoleon I was confident. Two days previously, at Ligny, he had dismissed the Prussians, and the same day the Marshal Michel ney he had prevented the English from coming to the aid of their allies.

After 11 a.m., the fight began. He ordered a violent charge against the center and the enemy left to destroy them and end the battle as quickly as possible.

Much of the action was concentrated a few miles south of Waterloo, at Placenoit and Braine-l’Allend. The fighting was particularly fierce at the Hougoumont farm, which, along with others, was on the way to the main body of the English forces.. There, about 2,600 defenders again and again stopped the fierce attacks of more than 10,000 French. “Defend the position to the end, and do not surrender or abandon it for any reason,” was Wellington’s order. But Napoleon he did not understand why a fierce fight had ensued there, when he had ordered that it be only a diversion to attack the other flank.

Bonaparte he relied on his artillery, but the excess mud minimized the damage from the cannonballs. Until two o’clock in the afternoon the bombardment continued. He ordered the infantry to climb a hill, as the Allied army was concentrated behind its summit, but it was repulsed by infantry and cavalry.

At three o’clock he ordered a new attack on the English center and three hours later he was able to take the farm of La Haie Sainte.

The battle had an uncertain outcome. In the early afternoon, Napoleon was informed that an army commanded by Friedrich von Bülow was approaching. He knew that he should not waste time: he had to defeat the English before the arrival of the Prussians.

He ordered the cavalry to attack the enemy center. But the English did not quite give in to the French assault. Napoleon understood that a victory was possible. So that Wellington He sent the Prussians the message: “If the body does not continue its march and attack immediately, the battle is lost.” When the second Prussian corps entered the battle, delayed by the laborious march through the mud, it attacked the French army on its right flank. Von Blücher himself was injured.

Two hours later, Napoleon ordered his last 5,000 grenadiers, his most veteran Imperial Guard, to fight. It was his last letter. But this assault would be triggered by the British heavy cavalry and for the first time in its history it had to retreat, which encouraged Wellington order a counterattack.

The second Prussian corps encircles the French grenadiers. There were more and more enemies. At 8 o’clock, the 3rd Prussian Corps goes into action. They were doubled in number.

Napoleon did not understand why his subordinates had made so many mistakes, improperly carried out their own orders, or taken action not consulted.

He ordered a retreat and left the position with his soldiers. He takes command of one of the executives who are still resisting. And when they fell, in his car, he went to the back, escorted by some grenadiers. At 9 p.m. Wellington and von Blücher kissed in the French barracks. Until about midnight the Prussians pursued the French.

France has suffered some 26,000 victims, between dead and wounded, and 10,000 prisoners. The Allies numbered around 17,000 dead and wounded and the Prussians 7,000. Wellingtonseeing the terrible toll of the battle, expressed: “Other than a lost battle, there is nothing more depressing than a won battle.”

Two days after, Napoleon he was back at the Elysee Palace. In nine days of campaigning, he had lost the empire he had taken nine years to conquer.

“I did all I could for France”. I was exhausted. In the past eight days, he had barely slept a few hours. His officers had seen him fall asleep on the maps. He was obese and his bladder and hemorrhoid problems were torture when he had to ride a horse.

They heard him complain bitterly about his officers, especially Michel ney and of Emmanuel de Grouchy; the latter will spend the rest of his life defending himself against the accusation of having betrayed Napoleon by belatedly attacking the Prussians.

He took a bath and shaved. He was forced to resign when he realized he had lost all political support. France was already tired of wars and clashes. His last act of government was to proclaim his son under the name of Napoleon II and to let the chambers appoint a regency.

On the 29th, at the Malmaison Palace, he bids farewell to his mother and those close to him. Stripped of his uniform, he wore blue pants, a brown frock coat, riding boots and a round, wide-brimmed hat. Before leaving, he passed through the bedroom of his first wife Josefina, whom he had divorced in 1810 and who had died while confined to the island of Elba. He set off in a closed buggy pulled by four horses. His plan was to go to the United States and wait for the right time to return to the old continent.

But the English ships blocked the roadstead. Napoleon, at 46, became a prisoner of the British on the island of Saint Helena, where he would spend the few remaining years of his life. There, lost in the Atlantic, he deplores that “Without von Blücher there, I don’t know where Wellington would be now, but I certainly wouldn’t be here.”

Today, the scene of this battle is a huge sown field. prussian by Blücher claimed that the battle was called “Belle Alliance”, from the name of the camp of Napoleon. However, the Irishman’s position won Wellington – who had remained victorious of the day – who had slept the night before the battle in the village of Waterloo. Another example that history is written by those who win.

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