The Battle of Waterloo was fought on Sunday 18 June 1815, near Waterloo (which was located at that time in the United Kingdom of the Netherlands, but is now located in Belgium), marking the end of what is commonly known as the Napoleonic Wars. A French army under the command of Napoleon Bonaparte was defeated by two armies of what was known as the Seventh Coalition.
One of these two armies was a British-led force with units from the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, Hanover, Brunswick, and Nassau, under the command of Arthur Wellesley, the Duke of Wellington. This army was often referred to as the Anglo-Allied Army or Wellington’s Army.
Three corps of the Prussian army, the second of the major forces, was led by Field Marshal Blücher. The fourth corps of this army had fought at the Battle of Wavre on the same day as the Waterloo conflict.
18 June 1815 saw what has become known as The Battle of Waterloo. The French Army was led by Napoleon Bonaparte, a man still attempting to capture the glory of the French empire of 1810. France of 1815 had lost some of its “chutzpah.” Tired of war which had dragged on for more than 20 years, France had basically lost all for which it had fought. It was a final stand for Napoleon.
France was made to pay the allied forces led by the Duke of Wellington and Marshal Blücher. Moreover, the allies’ forces occupied the French capital of Paris. Louis XVIII was determined to claim rule and control of his own country after Napoleon’s defeat.
Ironically, nearly as soon as it was completed, a debate began as to what to call this battle which had seen the British forces and its allies successful. The French named the battle after the village of Mont-Saint-Jean, for such was the name of the village situated in the middle of Wellington’s line.
However, “Waterloo” was the small village from which the dispatch was sent to England by Wellington was written; therefore, the British called it the Battle of Waterloo. [Gillespie-Payne, Jonathan (2003), Waterloo: In the Footsteps of the Commanders, Pen and Sword, p. 166]
Meanwhile, the Prussians, Britain’s strongest ally in the battle called it “La Belle Alliance,” after an inn a few miles south of what is Brussels, Belgium.
There is a large mural within the Palace of Westminster painted by Daniel Maclise in 1861 that depicts the meeting taking place at La Belle Alliance between Wellington and Blücher.
According to page 57 of his 1877 Book “Notes and Reminiscences of a Staff Officer” by Lieutenant Colonel Basil Jackson, he writes: “Certainly it was a moment when even the Iron Duke might feel excited. I heard him say to Colborne (who had stopped the 52nd and was forming his troops for the Duke to review), as he shook hands on departing, that he would endeavour to send some flour for his men. He then turned his horse towards Waterloo, followed by five persons only. On nearing the farm of La Belle Alliance, a group of horsemen were seen crossing the fields on our right ; on seeing them, the Duke left the road to meet them. They proved to be Marshal Blücher and his suite. The two great chiefs cordially shook hands, and were together about ten minutes ; it was then so dark that I could not distinguish Blücher’s features, and had to ask a Prussian officer whom the Duke was conversing with, although I was quite close to him at the time, but, of course, not near enough to hear what was said. On leaving Blücher, the Duke rode at a walk towards Waterloo. Darkness shrouded the spectacle of the dead and dying near La Haye Sainte ; but the frequent snorting of our horses as they trod between them showed that the ground, so fiercely contested during the day, was very thickly strewed with bodies of the brave.”
All this led Blücher, the Prussian commander, to suggest that the battle be remembered as la Belle Alliance, to commemorate the European Seventh Coalition of Britain Russia, Prussia, the Netherlands, Sweden, Austria, Spain, Portugal, Sardinia, and a number of German States which had all joined the coalition to defeat the French Emperor.
Wellington, who had chosen the field and commanded an allied army which had fought the French all day, instead recommended Waterloo, the village just north of the battlefield, where he himself had spent the previous night. Nevertheless, in 1815 the Rondell plaza in Berlin was renamed Belle-Alliance-Platz to commemorate the victory. There is a single La Belle Alliance Square in the UK, in Ramsgate, Kent.
The name was settled when Wellington claimed his forces had already set the French back before the Prussians arrived.
The decisive battle of its age, it concluded a war that had raged for 23 years, ended French attempts to dominate Europe, and destroyed Napoleon’s imperial power forever.
In truth, less than half of Wellington’s forces were from Great Britain, and the British government was paying citizens of other countries and their governments to join the allies assisting Wellington. The army Wellington led was composed of a large number of Dutch, those from Belgium, as well as the Germans.
Some say Wellington “stretched the truth” when he claimed himself outnumbered by the French and simply trying to hold on until Blücher arrived. Wellington’s army outnumbered the French by what one might call a “smidgeon.” Therefore, Wellington calling the victory a “near-run thing,” was likely the duke crafting a story of the victory to play out again and again for the British public. One must give credit to Wellington for his sharp handling of the situation. He was smart enough to know his version of the battle would be one remembered. For the government’s sake, he was justifying all the money spent on this campaign and this last battle. For his future career, it was important to claim the victory as a British one.
This is not to say, the British did not do their job is bringing Napoleon to his knees. They did. They held the French forces, slowing down their approach upon Brussels. Yet, it was the Prussians who ultimately overwhelmed the French.
The Prussians might have been able to claim more of the victory, but Marshal Blücher’s forces had suffered a defeat at Ligny only the day before the Waterloo battle took place. Their arrival prevented the French from overrunning Wellington’s forces. Friedrich Wilheim Freiherr von Bülow’s men were the key to the victory. Blücher arrived late to the battle, but Bülow arrived early.
In the Waterloo Campaign, Bülow commanded the IV Corps of Blücher’s army. He was not present at Ligny when Blücher knew defeat, but his corps headed the flank attack upon Napoleon at the Battle of Waterloo, and they bore the heaviest part in the fighting of the Prussian troops around Plancenoit. [Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). “Bülow, Friedrich Wilhelm, Freiherr von”. Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 4 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 795.]
The British saw to it that their version of the war was the one history would remember. They received the credit for the victory. They imprisoned Napoleon Bonaparte on Saint Helena. The world calls the confrontation “The Battle of Waterloo.”
When the battle had come to an end with the French surrender on 19 June 1815, Wellington made the short jaunt to the village of Waterloo, a bit over a mile north of the actual battle site. There at the Brabant Inn, Wellington penned his account of the battle. The account was sent off to Henry Bathurst, 3rd Earl of Bathurst and the British Secretary of War at the time. Some four days later, The Times in London published Wellington’s letter, sending a grateful nation into celebration. The famous moment was captured in Sir David Wilkie’s painting, entitled Chelsea Pensioners Reading the Waterloo Dispatch.
The Age of Revolution tells us, “In this painting by Sir David Wilkie, a group of retired soldiers living at the Royal Hospital in London are shown reacting to news of the British victory at Waterloo. Wilkie’s painting, first exhibited in 1822, depicts Waterloo as the climax of British military efforts during the previous half-century.
“The Duke of Wellington’s dispatch, describing the battle, arrived in London on the night of the 21 June 1815. Widespread celebration greeted the news that Napoleon had finally been defeated, ending 23 years of war against France.
“The central figure is shown reading a special edition of the London Gazette of Thursday 22 June 1815, which printed the Duke of Wellington’s dispatch. His audience is a motley collection of Londoners outside a pub, but the main group are Chelsea Pensioners in their distinctive red uniforms and black tricorn caps. The scene is Jew’s Row, near the Royal Hospital in Chelsea.
“These were soldiers who had retired because of injury, and lived at the Royal Hospital in Chelsea, London. By 1815 there were of these over 38,000 of these veterans drawing a pension from the Hospital – a reflection of Britain’s long and bloody wars around the world.
“The Duke of Wellington commissioned this painting from Sir David Wilkie, the most popular genre painter of his day. In 1822, 7 years after the Battle of Waterloo, it was exhibited at the Royal Academy, and was so popular that rails had to be erected to protect it from the crowds. Even today it still captures the popular jubilation after the Battle of Waterloo and the vibrant life of London at that time.”
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The Battle of Waterloo is briefly mentioned at the end of Mr. Darcy and the Designing Woman, for the colonel is attempting to rescue his parents who are with the British delegation at Lady Richmond’s ball, it is not the entire focus of the tale, but, if you choose to read the book, you will better understand what all was going on after reading this post.
Mr. Darcy and the Designing Woman: A Pride and Prejudice Vagary
“You do not know your place!” Elizabeth Bennet had heard those word time and time again from every man she encountered, with the exception of Mr. Thomas Bennet Her dear father encouraged her unusual education, especially her love of architecture.
Fitzwilliam Darcy finally could name the day his beloved Pemberley would know its renewal. For five years, he had denied himself the pleasures afforded the landed gentry in order to view Pemberley House rebuilt after a questionable fire had left it in ashes. He would now choose a wife as the next mistress of Pemberley and raise a family.
When Darcy hires Elizabeth’s relation as his architect, they are thrown together in unexpected ways. He requires a proper Georgian manor to win the hand of an equally proper wife, but Elizabeth is determined only the house she has designed will do. The house of her heart for the man of her heart, even though she will never spend a day within.
Kindle https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0CL2RKQK5
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