The Battle of Waterloo Napoleon And Wellington
The Field of Waterloo 'Hougoumont' 1819, 28 x 38 cm. Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge
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Turner's Holland is not as we know it today. Then it was The Kingdom of the United Netherlands, until 1839. The Kingdom included Luxemburg and Belgium which embraced the battlefield of Waterloo.
Turner made a tour of Holland in 1817 in order to go to the battlefield and made sketches 2 of 19 as below
1. Causeway leading to the inn of Belle Aliance and the farm of Haye Sainte 2. General view of Hugomont from the British lines
Field of Waterloo, engraving on steel by W. Miller,1835, Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery
NAPOLEON I (1769-1821), Bonaparte. Emperor of the French (1804-14). One of the great conquerors of all time and a gifted administrator as well, Napoleon created a short-lived French empire that included virtually all of continental Europe. By his conquests, he helped to spread liberal reforms instituted in France and thereby affected the subsequent development of modern Europe. Napoleon was born in Corsica, became an artillery officer in the French Army (1785), and served with the republican army during the French Revolutionary Wars. Napoleon was given command of the republican army in Italy (1796). He quickly reorganized the units under his command into an effective fighting force, and his Italian campaign (1796-97) was overwhelmingly successful. Napoleon's campaign in Egypt (1798-99) proved disastrous. At the same time, France's armies on the Continent suffered serious reverses, and the revolutionary government was on the verge of collapse. Napoleon returned to France and, with the aid of his brother, L. Bonaparte, and J. Sieyes, overthrew the Directory (Nov. 9, 1799). Napoleon was given dictatorial powers as head of the Consulate. He consolidated his position and from 1800 to 1802 brought the French Revolutionary Wars to a successful conclusion. In following years he instituted reforms in education, law--notably the Code Napoleon and government. He also restored relations with the church (1801), severed during the French Revolution. Napoleon seized on the opportunity presented (1804) by an assassination plot against him (by G. Cadoudal and others) and made himself emperor. He was crowned by the pope (Dec. 2) at Paris. With the empire thus established, Napoleon set about creating a nobility and a court. He ultimately named rulers to various states (notably Spain, Holland, Naples, and Sweden). But when he made himself king of Italy (1805), the British (already at war with him) and other powers organized against him and the Napoleonic Wars broke out. Napoleon enjoyed his greatest military successes during these wars (notably at the Battle of Austerlitz), and by about 1808 he had extended French control throughout the Continent. But his invasion of Russia proved disastrous. Napoleon marched into Russia (June, 1812) with some 600,000 troops and hardly managed to escape (Nov., 1812) with fewer than 30,000 troops. The defeat cost Napoleon his empire. One by one former allies joined the coalition of powers against him and by Mar., 1814, the Napoleonic Wars had come to a close. Napoleon abdicated (Apr. 11, 1814) and was exiled to the island of Elba. Napoleon's final defeat did not come until 1815, however. In that year he returned to France and triumphantly entered Paris (Mar. 20). Thus began his famous Hundred Days in which he attempted to reestablish his empire. Defeated utterly at Waterloo, Napoleon again abdicated (June 22, 1815) and lived out the rest of his life in exile on the island of St. Helena.
WELLINGTON, DUKE OF (1769-1852). Two great generals were born in 1769. One was Napoleon Bonaparte; the other was his final conqueror, Arthur Wellesley, who became the first duke of Wellington. Arthur Wellesley was born on May 1, 1769, in Dublin, Ireland, the fourth son of an Irish nobleman. He attended the preparatory school at Chelsea and Eton College. Later he was sent to military school at Angers, France, for a year. At 17 he entered the British army. Through the custom of purchasing commissions, he became a lieutenant colonel at 23, but his later achievements justified his quick promotion. In the hill country of India from 1796 to 1805, he conquered Mahratta chiefs who had sworn to drive the English into the sea. In making treaties that closed the war with these tribes, he proved himself an able diplomat as well. In 1805 he left India for the war with Napoleon in Europe. He won a notable victory in his first campaign on the French-held Spanish peninsula, but the results were lost by incompetent superiors. In 1809 he returned as commander in chief. In five years he drove Napoleon's generals from the Iberian Peninsula. After Napoleon's first exile Wellington was in Paris as Britain's ambassador to the restored king of France. Napoleon's escape from Elba sent Wellington back into military service. Finally at Waterloo, with the aid of Prussian troops, Wellington met and vanquished Napoleon himself. For years Wellington was one of the most influential men in all of Europe. As prime minister of Great Britain from 1828 to 1830, however, he was less successful. He was an aristocrat who failed to note the changing times. He dismissed without consideration the demand for parliamentary reform and the extension of the right to vote as the work of agitators. He was forced to resign and had to protect his house from a mob. When the angry passions of the times subsided, people granted that Wellington, while not always an able statesman, had tried to do what he believed best for the nation. He died at Walmer Castle in Kent, England, on Sept. 14, 1852.
WATERLOO, BATTLE OF, On June 18, 1815, Napoleon Bonaparte received a crushing military defeat on the fields near the Belgian village of Waterloo, about 9 miles (14 kilometers) south of Brussels. Napoleon's defeat ended 23 years of recurrent warfare between France and the other powers of Europe. The battle between Napoleon's forces, which included 72,000 troops, and a combined Allied army of 113,000 British, Dutch, Belgian, and Prussian troops was fought so hard that either side might have won. A heavy rain the evening before the battle forced Napoleon to delay his attack. The delay cost him the battle. Only three months before, Napoleon had slipped away from his island prison of Elba off the western coast of Italy. When he returned to France his veteran soldiers flocked to rejoin him. He hurried northward, hoping to defeat his enemies before they could unite against him. Napoleon's plan was to get between the British and Dutch, who were grouped near Brussels, and the Prussians, who were east of the road from Charleroi to Brussels. On June 16 French Marshal Michel Ney engaged the British at Quatre Bras, while Napoleon crushed--as he thought--Field Marshal Gebhard L. von Blucher's Prussians at Ligny. After these battles Napoleon ordered Marshal Emmanuel de Grouchy to follow the Prussians, and Napoleon turned his attention to the British. Blucher, however, marched northward to the assistance of the duke of Wellington, the British commander, while Grouchy wasted valuable time looking for the Prussians east of Ligny. It was at this point that Napoleon's plans began to fall apart. The essence of his original strategy was surprise. The battle of Ligny was indecisive because Marshal Ney had failed to send reinforcements that could have crushed the Prussian army. Then Napoleon made the false assumption that Blucher would retreat to the northeast instead of heading northwest to link up with Wellington. Lastly, the element of surprise was completely lost when Napoleon wasted the night of June 16 and the morning of the 17th without giving battle. By the time he started, Wellington was ready for him. The British, meanwhile, retreated from Quatre Bras to the village of Waterloo. Napoleon overtook them late on June 17. Because of the heavy rain that night, he could not attack until the next morning. His artillery could not move until the ground dried. He delayed the attack until 11:00 AM. The ensuing battle raged for ten hours. Napoleon repeatedly threw his cavalry against the bayonet-wielding British infantry. During one furious cavalry charge the French overran all the British artillery. Had the guns been destroyed or at least made unusable at that time, the French cavalry might have won the battle. For a time it looked as though the British ranks would give way under the onslaught. Wellington eagerly awaited the help the Prussians had promised. Finally, late in the afternoon, Blucher and his men arrived. Those few hours of delay in the morning had been decisive. The French made a last desperate attack but were slowly overcome. By 9:00 PM the French defeat had become a rout. Napoleon lost 25,000 men killed and wounded and 9,000 captured. Wellington's casualties were 15,000 and Blucher's about 8,000. On June 22, 1815, four days after the battle of Waterloo, Napoleon signed his second abdication in Paris. This ended his rule in France forever |
1.Turner sketches 2.
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