The Last Victory

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On the 6th of April, 1814, the Emperor Napoléon abdicated his throne as Emperor of the French and went into exile on Elba, a small island off the coast of Italy. Less than a year later, Napoléon returned to France, within days he had reclaimed his throne. While he stated that his intentions were peaceful, the Allies had him declared an outlaw at the Congress of Vienna.

So the Emperor prepared for a renewal of the wars which had plagued Europe, nearly without cease, since the French Revolution of 1789.

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I have always been fascinated by apocalyptic tales, in history and in science fiction. The Hundred Days of Napoléon have always held a special fascination for me. From ruling a major portion of Europe, sitting on the ancient throne of France, to ruling a small island, the Emperor had returned for one last roll of the dice.

Victory for the French may indeed have allowed the Emperor to keep his throne. Though nearly all of Europe was marching on France, only two of Napoléon's enemies were close at hand, the British (with their Dutch-Belgian-German allies) and the Prussians, both quartered in Belgium, just to the north of the French border, scattered in cantonments across the countryside.

If the French could move fast enough, and stay concentrated, they could separate and then deal fatal blows to both the Anglo-Allied army and the Prussians before they could concentrate and long before the distant armies of Austria and Russia could close with the French border and march on Paris. Shattering the British and the Prussians could well dissuade the Austrians from continuing the war, after all was Napoléon not the son-in-law of the Austrian Emperor?

Who knows what the Russians might have done, but with long supply lines and no friends willing to continue the fight, they may well have drawn back into the Motherland.

It all came down to the campaign which is now known as the Waterloo campaign, from roughly the 14th to the 18th of June in the year 1815. Four battles, most people only remember the last one from which the campaign takes it name - Waterloo.

But on the 16th of June, the army of Napoléon engaged the Prussians in those fields shown in the opening photo. Near the Belgian town of Ligny, the battle of the same name was fought. It was the Emperor's last victory.

On the same day, the Anglo-Allies fought a detachment of the French army to a draw at the small Belgian crossroads village of Quatre-Bras. I have written of this campaign every year since I started the blog, I've covered the events in any number of ways, here are those posts from 2012 to last year.

In 2012 I told the tale of our trip to see the reenactment of the battle. Much mud in that story.

In 2013 some paintings and a few videos (some of them sadly no longer available) is how I commemorated the 198th anniversary of the campaign.

In 2014, Prelude, a number of paintings interspersed with some text to put the days leading up to Waterloo in perspective

In 2014, Le 18 Juin 1815, again a number of paintings, some miniatures, and enough text to give the reader a feel for the ebb and flow of the Battle of Waterloo.

This series of four posts from 2015 are some of my favorite posts on the campaign (some of my favorite posts out of many here at The Chant, not just the Waterloo ones) -

• 2015 - Charleroi
• 2015 - Ligny and Quatre-Bras
• 2015 - Retreat and Pursuit
• 2015 - Waterloo

In 2016, books about the battle and the Napoleonic era were the topic.

Last year, I began experimenting with writing some historical fiction. These posts were fun to write, and hopefully gave the readers a feel for what, perhaps, it felt like to actually be there. I really enjoyed writing these -

• 2017 - Before the Storm
• 2017 - Opening Moves
• 2017 - The Eagle Soars, Yet Falters
• 2017 - La Reve Passe

A very good account of the Battle of Ligny, "The Last Victory," is here, you should read that, it's pretty accurate and entertaining as well.

The campaign of 1815 is very popular with wargamers, particularly those recreating wars using miniatures. I wish I had the time to create the terrain they fight their "little wars" upon and collect and paint the many figures needed to recreate these battles on the wargaming table. If you travel here, there is a series of ten posts (which you can page through, see near the top right of the text, Page 1 of 10, etc.) depicting one man's recreation of the Battle of Ligny in miniatures. For me, it's simply breathtaking to behold, the chap did a superb job. (And I'm not saying that just because we share the same first name...)

I can almost hear the thump of cannon, the rattling of musketry. and the chink of horse furniture as I look at those photos. Brilliant, simply brilliant.

A sample photo from the aforementioned series of posts.

While your interest in those days may not be as intense as mine, ask The Missus Herself, she knows this campaign is an obsession of mine, I visited the field of Waterloo many times whilst stationed in Germany, far too many she will tell you, it's a fascinating period of history. Often the future of nations was decided in just a few short days.

Waterloo ushered in a fairly peaceful period in European history. No major wars would be fought in Europe for almost a hundred years after Waterloo. Not until 1914.

When once again the Prussians (now called Germans) marched on Paris. This time the British fought with the French.

History, I am fascinated by it.