History Archives Project Matteo Loria and Sheel Patel Bodeites The Battle of Waterloo and the role of Frederick Adam in the battle 1 Contents 1. Context…………………………………………………………………p3 2. Battle of Waterloo………………………………………………..p4 3. Your OC………………………………………………………………..p16 1) Overview, personal/family life and school……….p17 2) Battle/combat Career………………………………………p19 3) Later roles and Death………………………………………p20 4) Bibliography……………………………………………………p21 2 Context Before the Battle of Waterloo, Napoleon had been attempting to build a European Empire under his lead since 1804. At the Battle of Trafalgar in 1805, he was defeated by the British but after he started to invade other European countries. He was then made to abdicate the throne which means to give up the throne. Napoleon returned to Paris in 1815. This caused Britain, Prussia, Russia and Austria to declare war on Napoleon. In June that year, Napoleon invaded Belgium in the hope of capturing the capital, Brussels. He sent soldiers to battle against Wellington and the Prussians led by General Blucher. Wellington’s army won but the Prussians were forced to retreat. The final battle would happen the next day. 3 The Battle of Waterloo The Battle of Waterloo 00:00, June 18 Taking Positions Before the battle occurred, Wellington remained at a Waterloo inn, while Napoleon was situated three miles south. Their men slept outside as rain fell through out every night. However Wellington knew success the next day would rest largely on the arrival of General Blucher and also his Prussian reinforcements, courtesy of his ally General Blucher. They were all improving in Wavre, which is situated 18 miles east of Waterloo. With the Prussians and also the Allied armies separated, Napoleon was very poised that he could defeat Wellington and as a result make his way to Brussels. This map shows the positions of Wellington, Napoleon and also the Prussians the night before the battle 4 9:00, 18 June The First tactical move Wellington recognised a powerful defensive position, which was blocking the road to Brussels in order to halt Napoleon’s advance towards the capital. However Wellington knew he was outnumbered, having only 68,000 allied troops against 72,000 troops from Napoleon’s side. Therefore he positioned his men behind a ridge and also three garrisoned farms. As shown on the map, is that the farm of Papelotte is on his left, Le Haye Sainte is in front and Hougoumont is situated to the right. Wellington had a very tactical advantage point, due to the fact that the grouping of the rise, fields of tall corn and also well situated garrisons meant the Wellington had an important area to cover shield for his troops. From this part of the area, he could try and hold the ground until the Prussians arrived. This shows the positions of Wellington and also Napoleon’s troops on the morning of June 18 9:00, 18 June Napoleon formulates a plan Napoleon was a very intellectual leader and always had in mind the kind of obstacles that he would face and as a result try and avoid them. Therefore he was focuses on the terrain. During this time, there was heavy rain, and as a result he knew that it would be very difficult for his men and guns to move into position. Consequently he decided to delay his initially major attack until the earth had dried out. From my point of view, this was a risky strategy, as it could only permit time for Blucher’s Prussian army to arrive and therefore join Wellington on the ridge. On the flip side the French infantry and also cavalry had to move in the mud, which from my perspective risked tiring them out in the early periods of the battle. Napoleon decided to draw out the British and as a result force a depression in their defensive position. Thus he launched a diversionary attack on Hougoumont farm. 5 This is a picture which shows Napoleon with his army at Waterloo 11:30, 18 June The attack on Hougoumont The first action that Napoleon performed was a large-scale assault using cannon fire. Directly after doing this, he launched the attack on Wellington’s garrison, which was very well defended. 5000 troops advanced on Hougoumont, and was led by the brother of Napoleon. It was very evident that the French had outnumbered the 1500 British, and Wellington’s guards were able to fire at the French through little holes that were situated in the walls. Napoleon launched many attacks on Hougoumont for the whole day and at 12:30 they broke open the gates. However the British closed them again and as a result trapping 40 French soldiers inside. They unfortunately killed all of them, except an 11 year old, who was a drummerThis boy. picture shows the battle at Hougoumont Farm 6 13:00, 18 June Napoleon advances Due to the fact that Wellington’s right flank was defending Hougoumont, Napoleon came up with an idea to prepare damage to the centre of the British Line. As a result, he sent 18,000 infantry along the road to Brussels to attack an important shock. They consequently defeated and captured the farm of Papelpotte and also the area surrounding La Haye Sainte. From my perspective it looked like his victory was within grasp. This is because if he captured La Haye Sainte, then he could attack the remaining British troops at very close range. At around 13:00 this all started to change. This is because when he was looking through his telescope, Napoleon caught sight of movement in the fields to the east of him. Hence he ordered a troop of cavalry to go and investigate this issue. This map shows Napoleon’s troops advanced on Hougoumont and made some territorial gains around La Haye Sainte. 7 14:20, 18 June Napoleon had caught sight of the Prussians, however they were still far away. Also Wellington sent some reinforcement to La Haye Sainte, which drove the French back. Wellington had two groups of cavalry over the ridge, which were led by Lord Uxbridge. As a result when Napoleon’s men were advancing towards the British line, the cavalry charged and smashed into the French infantry. Thus Napoleon’s line had been damaged and as a result weakened, but on the flip side Wellington’s left flank was also damaged. This picture shows the British cavalry are charging at the French infantry 15:30, 18 June The Prussians at Plancenoit Napoleon’s cavalry had reached Blucher’s troops near Plancenoit, which is a village, located 5 miles east of the battlefield. The Prussian had a tactical advantage, because they captured the high ground north east of the village. They did not show any mercy, and as a result attacked the French with huge force. As a result Napoleon was forced to commit more troops over the course of the whole afternoon. Even though Blucher was not able to reach Wellington at the main battle, his determinations intended that the French were under pressure and as a result had to split their resources. Both Wellington and Blucher were working very closely, due to the fact that Wellington could hear the cannon 8 fires in the distance, and knew that it was Blucher who had formed his own front line. This map shows Napoleon’s troops who have attacked La Haye Sainte. You can see to the East of this map that he also sent another group of soldiers to meet the Prussians in the East. 16:00, 18 June The Battle for La Haye Sainte As you can see from the opposite map that Napoleon’s army were extremely spread out, and were fighting on two fronts, one from the east and the other from the west. As a result he ordered Marshal Ney to seize La Haye Sainte, which was the most important stronghold for Wellington. For the next few hours, Napoleon sent groups and groups of armoured French soldiers on horseback to charge at the allied line. In response to what the French were doing, the Allied line changed formation into squares. They protected themselves from the 4000 strong and well trained cavalry, however the disadvantage of their formation was that forming squares made them vulnerable to Napoleon’s artillery fire. Due to the British plans, on one occasion the 27th Regiment of one of the British battalion lost approximately 500 of its 747 men. This picture shows the Battle for the farm of La Haye Sainte, which was a very important strategic point for the allies. 9 At 18:15, which was after a few hours of attack, La Haye Sainte fell. Wellington had lost his prize garrison. This was a very important place also for the French, due to the fact that now Napoleon was able to bring the French artillery forward and as a result attack the Allied centre with horrific results. The only thing that Wellington could do now was to defend the area behind the ridge and have faith that the Prussian’s quick arrival with reinforcements would arrive. This picture shows Wellington looking over the ridge at the battlefield. 10 19:00, 18 June The final push Napoleon could tell that Wellington needed reinforcements from the Prussians and as a result the Allied centre was weakened. Therefore he sent 6000 French soldiers across the field, towards Wellington who was situated on the ridge. They marched between Hougoumont and also La HayeThis Sainte. picture On shown the Napoleonleft side, who they all suffered fire from the British-held garrison of Hougoumontis making a final ,attempt but those to break people who were situated on the right, who were facingWellington’s the French line- held garrison of Haye Sainte, were able to make it over the ridge unobstructed.