ROAD TO WATERLOO QUATRE BRAS
In June 1815, Napoleon Bonaparte launched one of the most dramatic campaigns in military history. Fought in what is now Belgium, his efforts ended in a decisive defeat at Waterloo – a battle that ended the Napoleonic Wars and changed the course of European history. Waterloo was such a momentous event that it is commonly forgotten that it was the culmination of two previous battles – Ligny and Quatre Bras. Both were fought two days before Waterloo with Napoleon’s intention being to divide the Allied armies of Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington and the Prussian Field Marshal Gebhard Leberecht von Blücher.
For Wellington, Quatre Bras was a critical engagement that he fought not against Napoleon but his famed subordinate Marshal Michel Ney. Occurring at a strategic crossroads, it was a bloody affair that Wellington almost lost and its significance has long been neglected. Here, historian and retired British Army officer Andrew Field discusses how Wellington’s largely inexperienced, multinational force narrowly defeated Ney’s courageous troops, and why Quatre Bras was so important to sealing Napoleon’s fate.
Divide and conquer
Although he had been defeated and exiled to Elba in 1814, Napoleon made a dramatic return to France in March 1815. The restored King Louis XVIII was forced to flee the country while the former emperor was reinstated. His return prompted the major European powers (known as the Seventh Coalition) to outlaw Napoleon and commit themselves to militarily end his rule.
Surrounded by enemies, Napoleon went on the offensive. “He very quickly realised that he was going to have to fight almost the whole of Europe and had little option but to take the initiative and attack,” says Field.
