I've read a book about Waterloo recently and i was wondering if Wellington could actually turn the tide of the battle against Napoleon without the 48.000 Prussians attacking the French right flank & rear.
Not an expert on the period but I think the answer is no. The Prussian were good allies at Waterloo. They'd had their ass handed to them a couple of days before the battle but they remained in contact with the British rather than retreat up their own supply lines. Effect was to foul things for the French.
However Wellington didn't prove to be at all. After the battle tried to show himself as the actual winner of the battle by ordering to remove 40000 Prussians from the dioramas of the battle while ,in fact, took quite a beating.
IIRC Wellington pinned the French army for most of the day and threw back everything they could hurl at the British (Actually British / Dutch / German) forces. OK, some little asides like the loss of much of the British heavy cavalry, but we wont mention them. The Prussians didnt reach the battlefield until the evening at about the point where Napoleon had seen the Imperial Guard stopped and thrown back by the "Thin Red Line" of of British Infantry. I suspect that, without the Prussian arrival, it would have been a marginal British victory, with a substantial French army retiring to lick its wounds and fight again. As it was, it was a complete rout for the French so Napoleon's dreams of a second empire never materialised. Of course the interesting thing would have been if Grouchy, with some 30,000 men, had marched to the sound of the guns and reached the field about the same time as Blucher brought the Prussians into action. Tom
Well, first it is important to remember that Wellington would never have given battle had he not been assured of prussian support.... Soon after the battle against Wellington had started, Napoléon knew that a prussian army was nearing. Therefore he could never throw all his forces against the allies. After Maréchal Ney's attack in late afternoon, the farm of La Haye sainte fell into french hands, exposing Wellingtons centre to direct artillery fire.Allied squares began to be dangerously weakened. Most historians think that had Napoléon had infantry reserves at this point of the battle, he would have broken Wellington's line. But at that stage already, the prussians were attacking at Plancenoit, tying down french 6th corps(General Lobau) as well as 2 battallions of the old guard. But of course we will never know for sure, so Waterloo remains one of the most fascinating what if's....
At the beginning of the battle a french infantry corps under general Drouet d'Erlon advanced against the allied lines. At some point, two french divisions (Generals Marcognet and Donzelot)were in battle with two allied divisions(Generals Picton and Van Byland) at the center of the attack. Suddenly british cavalry(+-4000 riders) charged into the french infantry which was badly hit and had to retreat(Loosing some Eagles in the process). But instead of regrouping british cavalry rode into french lines where they attacked artillery positions killing lots of gunners. However french cavalry now counter attacked against the disordered british cavylry units and routed them. Some regiments lost up to 90% of their strength. After that the british cavalry did not play any significant role in the battle anymore.
I READ SOMEWHERE ABOUT A BRITISH cavalry officer who left his good horse home because loydes would not insure it for war duty...he rode too deep into french lines then tried to return on a blown horse,,,french lancers rode him down and killed him...but i guess at least his expensive horse was safe back in england...
Actually one of the most fatal mistakes that favored Wellington was that after the battle at Quatre Bras Ney didn't pursue the British( well,not so british ) Army. Something had to be done. Ney should pursue Wellington and/or Grouchy the Prussians.Nothing Happened and the chances began to slip away... It 's ironic that Waterloo is considered Napoleon's best planned battle (not forgeting Austerlitz) and his Generals failed him. Also, i think that prussian help is somehow underrated,am i right?
wellington would have always fought at waterloo whether the prussians turned up or not. He had to fight the french somewhere and he went to the military academy very close to waterloo as a junior officer and knew the area intimatly having done multiple mock battles there during his training. As such it was the one area that gave him a huge strategic advantage and he was never going to be in a numericaly better position anyway if he waited FNG
That is however not what his letters and documents seem to indicate, in which he repeatedly says that he would fight if at least 1 or 2 prussian corps can appear on the battlefield. Anyway he would most probably have been badly inspired to risk battle without the prussians.... Code: He had to fight the french somewhere and he went to the military academy very close to waterloo as a junior officer and knew the area intimatly having done multiple mock battles there during his training. As far as I know he went to military accademy in Angers, which is situated on the Loire river in northwest France. That's some 500 km away from Waterloo tough. But indeed he knew the area fron various inspections before and chose a good battelfield.
I mean that Napolean had split, Wellington was never going to get a better chance whether or not the Prusians made it back. I don't know how far apart the academy is from the battlefield, but I saw a documentary on the battle which said Wellington had visited the site whilst at the academy and knew the area well. FNG
Another advantage of Wellington was that ,instead of Davout, Napoleon chose Soult as his chief of staff in the field leaving the first in Paris. But Soult faced Wellington in Spain end never fared well againt him during their encounters.
