THE BATTLE of WATERLOO and Eaton Monins (1795-1861)
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© Rupert Peacock and Michael Freeman THE BATTLE OF WATERLOO And Eaton Monins (1795-1861) CONTENTS 2. Historical context 2. The French Revolution 3. Napoleon’s Reign 3. The Battle 5. Eaton Monins (OC) 6. The 52nd Regiment of Foot 6. The 52nd Regiment of Foot before the battle 7. The 52nd Regiment of Foot at Waterloo 7. Eaton Monins after Waterloo 1 © Rupert Peacock and Michael Freeman HISTORICAL CONTEXT THE FRENCH REVOLUTION (1789-1799) The French Revolution began with the famous storming of the Bastille on the 14th July 1789. France had now become the victim a vicious and long-lasting political, social and economic revolution. As well as revolt within the nation, France was also at war with other European powers. Therefore, the French authorities introduced harsh measures to deal with the multiple threats. This led to a notoriously bloodthirsty period of the revolution called the Reign of Terror. The Terror saw 16,000 to 40,000 both foreign The Reign of Terror and French “enemies of the revolution” executed by the ruthless opposition of the French Monarchy, Maximilien Robespierre. This period ended when the French army arrested Robespierre and executed 21 of his supporters. Following this came the Thermidorian reaction when order needed to be restored after the Reign of Terror. This was so called due to the new “enlightenment” philosophy which required the months to be renamed, Thermidor being the new name for July, when the Terror ended. After the reaction, a ruling system arose in the form of a Directory consisting of five collective members or “directors” which assumed control of France on the 2nd November 1795. However, this unpopular new system was met by Royalist and Jacobin protest. This was silenced by the new appointed General of the Army, Napoleon Bonaparte, born on the 15th August 1769. During the four years that the Directory was in power they were deemed inefficient, caused many financial problems and were charged with political corruption. Because of this, Napoleon decided to lead a coup d’état to overthrow the Directors in 1799. This is widely regarded as the end of the French Revolution. The Directory was replaced with a French Consulate with Bonaparte as First Consul. 2 © Rupert Peacock and Michael Freeman NAPOLEON’S REIGN (1804-1814) Now as Emperor of France, Napoleon Bonaparte made a plan to conquer Europe for the French and Napoleon Bonaparte was very successful, since he won the vast majority of the 60 battles he fought and was therefore in control most of it. However, he suffered famous defeats at Trafalgar at the hands of Admiral Nelson and at Waterloo at the hands of Wellington. In 1814, in the last year of his reign and having built most of the French Empire, he lost to the Allies (comprising of Prussia, Austria Sweden, Russia, Great-Britain, Spain and Portugal) at the battle of Leipzig. After this, the Allies offered peace terms to Napoleon but he left his response too long and was therefore exiled to the island of Elba. But soon, he managed to escape the island on a ship called Swiftsure on the 26th February 1815 and within two days he was back at France. When he arrived, he approached the armies and allegedly said: “Here I am. Kill your Emperor, if you wish.” With the response of “Vive l’Empereur!” With the soldiers behind him, he marched to the French Capital and governed there for a period of 100 days. The Allies now set out to defeat Napoleon once and for all. The stage was now set for the Battle of Waterloo. THE BATTLE OF WATERLOO The Battle of Waterloo was fought on the 18th June 1815 in a muddy field in Belgium between the British, led by Wellington, and the French, led by Napoleon Bonaparte. The night before, Wellington slept in a Waterloo inn and left his soldiers to spend the night outside in the rain. He knew that his success the next day would rely on the Prussian Reinforcements and General Blucher, who were coming from Wavre (18 miles east of the battlefield), arriving in time. However, Napoleon was confident that he would be victorious with his 72,000 to the British 68,000. On the 18th June, the British General set up a strong defensive position blocking the road to Brussels behind a ridge and three garrisoned farms. He had the Papelotte farm on his left, Le Haye Sainte in front and Hougoumont on the right. He also had high corn fields surrounding him which offered concealment and good vantage points. He would try and hold out until the Prussians arrived. 3 © Rupert Peacock and Michael Freeman Napoleon adopted a risky plan: to delay attacking until the mud had dried up from the night before. This was dangerous because it would allow time for reinforcements to arrive and help the British, but on the other hand, the French forces would tire quickly on such hard terrain. Instead of launching an all-out attack, he ordered an attack A map showing the various positions of on Hougoumont farm. This would be the different armies at the beginning of led by Napoleon’s brother in command the Battle of Waterloo. of 5,000 troops. The British responded by firing through holes in the doors of the farm but the French got through the gates at 2:30 in the afternoon. However, they were soon closed again by British forces, trapping many French inside. The trapped French soldiers were all killed. By 13:00, Napoleon had sent The positions of the armies at the beginning 18,000 men up the road and of the battle captured the farm of Papelotte and the ground around La Haye Sainte. If he had captured the farm he would have been able to defeat the British, but he spotted movement in some nearby fields and sent his cavalry to investigate. Now, Wellington committed more reinforcements to La Haye Sainte even when the Prussians were still far off. The movements in the fields had actually turned out to be the Prussians themselves and the French cavalry met them 5 miles east of the Battlefield. Because of this, Napoleon had to split his troops to fight in two places. This significantly weakened his forces. Now, Napoleon decided to launch a final attack on La Haye Sainte which resulted in its capture. In response to this the Allied Army tried a new formation which consisted of them splitting into small This shows Napoleon being defeated in the final hours of the battle 4 © Rupert Peacock and Michael Freeman squares of men. This allowed them to hold off the French for two hours, but this formation turned out to be extremely vulnerable to artillery fire. Wellington soon lost the farm and Napoleon’s army were able to advance. Now that the British army had been devastated there was a need for Prussian reinforcements. The French had advanced to the ridge in front of the British, but they were met with point Blanc musket fire. This desperate attempt worked and the French were driven back and soon fled. To secure the victory, the Prussians arrived and made a final assault. Napoleon Bonaparte had been defeated. E.MONINS The Monins Coat of Arms John Monins of Canterbury, Eaton’s Father Eaton Monins (29th January, 1795-16thJune 1861) was the third son of John of Canterbury. John of Canterbury married Sarah Trice, more than 20 years his junior. The couple had six sons and two daughters. All but the two last born sons survived into adulthood, and three sons Richard, William and Eaton, followed in their father’s footsteps into the army. Eaton Monins was born in Canterbury, England attended the Old Charterhouse School in London from 5 © Rupert Peacock and Michael Freeman January 1804-December 1808. After leaving charterhouse, Monins joined the army. Specifically, Monins joined the 52nd (Oxfordshire) Regiment of Foot. THE 52ND REGIMENT OF FOOT The 52nd (Oxfordshire) Regiment of Foot was a light infantry regiment of the British Army throughout much of the 18th and 19th centuries. The 52nd Regiment of Foot Twenty years after its founding, the regiment saw Badge active service in the American War of Independence, from 1774 to 1778. The 52nd Regiment of Foot was shipped to America from Canada, arriving in Boston, and fought in the battles of Lexington and Bunker Hill in 1775. In the Napoleonic Wars, the 52nd Regiment of Foot split into two battalions, their paths occasionally overlapping. In 1806–7, the 1st battalion were positioned in Sicily, where they were training local soldiers. Later, they were positioned in Sweden. In August 1806, the 2nd battalion accompanied the expedition to Copenhagen, taking part in the attack on Copenhagen in 1807, led by General Wellesley. In the battle of Waterloo, the 52nd Regiment of Foot formed part of the final charge against Napoleon’s Imperial Guard. THE 52ND REGIMENT OF FOOT: BEFORE THE BATTLE In January of 1815, the 1st battalion of the 52nd Regiment of Foot departed from Portsmouth to Cork, about to leave for America, where fighting in the War of 1812 continued. However, bad weather meant that they could not sail, and by the time conditions had improved, news had arrived of Napoleon's escape from Elba. Therefore, the 1st battalion of the 52nd Regiment of foot was sent to Belgium. Napoleon marched quickly The 52nd Regiment of Foot Uniform 6 © Rupert Peacock and Michael Freeman through France to meet the Allies, who had formed two armies, with the Duke of Wellington commanding the Anglo-Allies, and Gebhard Leberecht von Blücher commanding the Prussians.