21st October 1805 was the Battle of Trafalgar. Nelson’s 33 ships shatter a superior number (41) French and Spanish ships, save Britain from Invasion and change the course of history.

Why did Trafalgar Happen?

The British Navy has spent the summer chasing the French around the Atlantic. The French had been trying to evade Nelson so they could reach the channel and ferry accross three Corps of troops for an invasion of Britain. Nelson had prevented this and the French admiral Villeneuve had retreated to Cadiz. In October Napoleon ordered him to sail to Naples and land his men there to reinforce the French forces in Italy. On the way Nelson intercepted them off Cape Trafalgar and engaged them.

Nelson changes the game

Historical large fleets of the time would line up and blow each other to pieces.  This was  a strategy which did not often lead to a results – more an attritional grinding down of the enemy. Furthermore it did not allow for the inferior side to beat the larger fleet.

At Trafalgar Nelson had the smaller fleet. It was, however, better trained and the British gunners could reload faster and maintain a higher rate of fire. The Spanish in particular tended to rely on larger number of marines who would attempt to storm enemy ships. They also often had larger vessels with more guns than Britain’s more maneuverable line ships. What Nelson did was to change the rules of the game. Rather than lining up and sailing alongside the enemy he sailed at them from their flank. He arranged his ships in two divisions – Nelson in the Victory leading one division with Admiral Collingwood the second. They sailed towards the enemy aiming to cut the enemy line in two places. Since that would mean a larger part of the enemy fleet would have to turn and sail back AGAINST the wind he hoped to over whelm the rest before fighting the leading elements.

As the British fleet closed in, just before the firing started , Nelson stood on the HMS Victory – his flagship – and sent his famous signal to the fleet:

“England expects that every man will do his duty”.  

He then signaled for close action. The Navy was to sail in as close as possible, hold fire until the last moment and then release hell.

This is exactly what occurred. The British navy used local superiority in numbers and superior fire power to sink or capture the bulk of the enemy fleet before the rest could turn and help. Over 20 enemy ships were captured- a blow from which the French and Spanish never recovered. the British did not lose a single ship, the French lose 10 and the Spanish 11. IN total whilst the British lost about 1600 men dead and wounded, the enemy had suffered 13,000 casualties.

Tragically at the height of the battle a French sniper shot Nelson. The architect of this great victory died below decks knowing he had won.

The day after Trafalgar there was a huge storm where ironically  many of the ships the British had captured sank.

An historic day

Trafalgar was a pivotal day. It was  a huge part of the establishment of Britain’s Navy as supreme world wide (a supremacy that lasted over 140 years until WW2 saw the build up of the Huge US fleets).

On this day in the year 1809 the British army under the command of Sir John Moore fought a critical battle outside the port of La Corunna in northwest Spain.  Their victory at the battle allowed the escape of the ragged remains an expeditionary force that had been pursued across Spain by Napoleon’s armies.

Background

In the late summer of 1807 Napoleon was all powerful in Europe having smashed the Austrians, Russians and Prussians in successive campaigns beginning  in 1805.  Now no nation dared stand aginst him except ‘perfidious Albion’ – Britain. Napoleon forced all of Europe to close their ports to British trade. One nation refused. Britain’s oldest ally – Portugal would not comply.  Napoleon sent an army through Spain (his ally) and into Portugal. Then he made a fatal error he deposed the Spanish king and put his own brother on the throne. All of Spain burst into rebellion. Britain sent an expeditionary force which defeated the French in Portugal whilst the Spanish destroyed a French army at Bailen and then forced the French back towards the border with France.

In 1808 Napoleon now took direct action. He marched into Spain with 200,000 veterans of Austerlitz and Freidland and soon smashed the Spainish armies. At this point in time in the autumn of 1809 Sir John Moore was in command of the British. Sir Arthur Wellesley (later Wellington) was back in Britain at the time. Moore led the  British into Spain – advancing to Salamanca – in attempt to cut the French supply lines and help the Spanish. Napoleon now saw his chance to crush Britain’s professional but small field army. He swung northwards and soon Moore realized that he must flee or be destroyed.

A winter march

What happened next was one of the more extraordinary episodes of the Peninsular war. Setting out on Christmas day 1808 Moore covered 250 miles with his army of mainly foot soldiers over the next 18 days through the most appalling winter conditions of snow and ice and through the mountains of north west Spain. The British cavalry managed to keep the French from catching up so that on 11th January they arrived at the port of La Corunna only to find that the harbour was empty. The Royal Navy has not yet arrived.

The Battle

The British had no alternative but to fortify the port and wait for the ships and hope the French did not arrive. Unfortunately Marshall Soult one of Napoleon’s best generals turned up with his Corps on the 15th of January. The Navy was on its way but the British had to first turn and fight once more – to keep the French at bay until they could escape.

the sides were evenly

Marshall Soult came up with a simple battle plan.  He would attack to pin the British left and center whilst one of his divisions under Mermet attempted to turn the British right at the village of Elvina. The attack on Elvina was a success and Mermet was soon attacking the heights beyond.  Moore knew how important Elvina was so threw men that way and the possession of this village changed hands repeatedly with Moore having to commit his reserves to attempt to hold the French attack on his wing.

It was during one of these engagements that  he was hit by a cannonball and fell fell mortally wounded. He would take hours to die but was described as brave and composed throughout. Soult had tried desperately to break through at Elvina but the British were just able to hold on as night came. Both sides lost around 1000 men in this battle.  The following day the British were able to start embarking on the ships that had now arrived.

Moore’s action had saved the British army and would allow Sir Arthur Wellesley to continue the war and one day drive the French from Spain.

As I was staying in Vienna August 2012 I was able to visit the Battlefields of Aspern Essling and Wagram. These were the sites of the clashes between Napoleon and Arch Duke Charles. In the case of Wagram it would be the largest battle ever fought up to that moment. This blog is about the first battle – Napoleon’s first defeat.

In 1809 Napoleon had never been personally defeated. He had over 12 years  fought campaigns in turn against Austria, Russia, Prussia and other states and had beaten them each. Austria had been heavily defeated in 1805 at Austerlitz, Prussia in 1806 and Russia in 1807. In 1809 Britain alone was fighting France in distant Spain and Portugal. The terms of the defeat in 1805 were harsh on Austria and so in  1809 Austria decided to invade Bavaria (a French ally) to strike back.

The Austria army in 1809 had been radically reformed after the defeat at Austerlitz in 1805 and at a tactical level could now compete with the French. Its shortcomings were at the  strategic level and there were major faults with an over rigid command structure that did not allow for much initiative. This would hurt the Austrians in the long run.

Initially the Austrians made advances  into Bavaria but Napoleon rushed from Paris to take command and ensured the Austrians were defeated in Bavaria. The French Army now took  Vienna whilst the Austrian Army (still mostly intact) was reforming accross the Danube.  Napoleon knew he had to cross the Danube to engage the Austrians and defeat them. The Austrians waited on the far side, watching the river and determined to make the crossing costly.

Aspern-Essling

The Danube in 1809 near Vienna was a tangle of islands and channels.  To cross the river Napoleon had to build many bridges whilst the Austrians were constantly floating trees and even boats down stream in an attempt to disrupt this effort but on May 20th the French began the crossing. The Austrian commander – the very able Arch Duke Charles ordered his Army to march to the crossing point and form up in a great arch awaiting the French.

The French were only able to get across 77000 men over the 2 days of the battle due the river crossings being severed on numerous occasions whilst Charles brought 99,000 to bear. The battle began on the 21st May at Aspern  withe three Austrian columns assaulting the singe French Corps under Massenna.  A single French division in Essling hung on their by its finger nails. To relieve the pressure Napoloeon flung his cavalry into a charge though the center which was repelled but helped maintain control of the villages as night fell.

On the second day the action grew more intense as more French were brought across and more Austrian’s arrived. Control of both villages changed hands several times with fighting focusing on the church at Aspen and a large granary at Essling. (the later being held by the French thoughout the battle.)

Napoleon attempted to break out by organising an assault through the centre and it seemed to work but at the critical moment Arch Duke Charles is reported as turning up, grabbing a regimental colour and peronally leading the counter attack.

In the end the Austrian simply had more men and the French gave way and eventually were forced to retreat accross the river. Napoleon had been defeated and in fact his friend Marshall Lannes who had been heavily involved in the fighting was mortally wounded but for Charles this was only a local victory. He had won the battle but NOT the war. He knew Napoleon would try again. Losses were heavy as a % of total numbers present with 20,000 to 30,000 on each side dead or wounded or missing.

The Battlefield Today.

Aspern and Essling today are suburbs of Vienna and finding any sign of the battle is hard (Wagram which I will cover in my next Blog is outside Vienna and much easier to track down. ) Never the less a visitor can locate the church at Aspern which is a rebuild on the spot of the one destroyed by fighting in 1809. There is a Memorial to the battle there and a small museum:

 

Between Aspern and Essling there is a huge car factory but you can find a field of two that would have witnessed the fight in the centre ground.

 

Finally at Essling the granary is still present. One can spot musket ball holes in the iron door. This too is a musuem but only open a couple of hours sunday am’s like the other one (I missed these two but in my next blog will mention the superb museum at Wagram.)

 

 

So that is Aspern Essling. Next time: Wagram 1809 – the Emperor Strikes Back!

The Battle of Waterloo on June 18th 1815 was the climax to over 20 years of wars that had devastated Europe. It was the moment Napoleon was finally defeated and is seen by many as the birth of modern Europe.

Setting the Scene

In my other article on the Battle of Quatre Bras I go into more detail on the origins of this battle.

In brief on returning from exile on Elba, Napoloeon had gathered an army of veterans and marched on the combined Anglo Dutch under Wellington and Prussians under Blucher. The allies were positioned in Belgium waiting to attack France. Napoleon did not dance to their tune but attacked them first and drove into the gap between the two allies.

On 16th June, at the cross roads of Quatre Bras, the French under Marshall Ney and Anglo Dutch under Wellington were locked into a stalemate battle – neither side being able to send aid to the main battlefield of the day – Ligny.

At Ligny Napoleon battered the Prussians and forced them to retreat BUT because Ney had not broken through at Quatres Bras had not had enough troops to crush Blucher.

Retreat

On the 17th June Wellington was forced to fall back to the position at Waterloo whilst waiting and hoping that the Prussians would also retreat northwards – keeping in contact and able to aid the British. Blucher did this and as dusk fell on the 17th the scene was set for the battle of Waterloo.

Napoleon was conscious that Blucher might try and rejoin Wellington and send a third of his army under Grouchy to pursue the Prussians with strict instructions NOT to allow that to happen. Blucher left just 1 corps (a quarter of his force) to hold the French at Wavre whilst the other three set off at once towards Waterloo. Their arrival would be critical as we shall see.

The Battle of Waterloo

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Hearing that Blucher was marching from the village of Wavre (where the Prussians had reached the night before) Wellington deployed his army on the northern side of a valley near a small Belgium village of Mount St Jean just south of the town of Waterloo.

Wellington was a genius at the defensive battle and had seen that this location was perfect. The ridge itself would hide his men and forward of the slope there were three strongholds. On the his right wing the fortress of Hougoumont. Here he deployed some of his guards companies. Covered by woods to the south (in which he placed light infantry) the Chateaux had tall stone walls and thick gates. In the centre of the position was the fortified farmhouse of La Haye Sainte.  To the left were several connected buildings at Papelotte and La Haye.

11am. The French Attack Hougoumont

Napoleon opened his attacks by sending Reille’s II Corps to assault Hougoumont hoping to draw the British away from their left wing where he had prepared a hammer blow. Intended as a diversion, more and more French forces were drawn into the battle around the fortress which caught fire but never fell.

1pm D’Erlon attacks

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Napoleon now sent forward the 16,000 infantry of D’Erlon’s I Corps to try and smash through Wellington’s left wing. The French attacked in dense columns and the sight must have been terrifying. But the British had seen this before many a time in Spain and calmly stood up in line, levelled muskets and blasted the French Regiments.

2PM: Uxbridge Charges

With the French regiments in disarray Wellington committed his heavy cavalry under Uxbridge. Thought to be the finest mounted cavalry in Europe the Heavy cavalry of the Scots Greys and other regiments thundered through the gaps in British regiments and shattered the French. D’Erlon’s men ran and the horses pursued. BUT they now made the mistake British cavalry always did: they went too far. With cries of ‘Tally-Ho’ – as if they were hunting fox in Leicestershire they found themselves winded and far away from the British lines when the French lancers caught them and destroyed them.

4pm Ney leads the French Cavalry forward

Around 4pm the British, having repelled the French attack reorganised their lines and pulled back over the ridge. Napoleon was at this moment ill (he had a stomach ulcer) and Ney who was in charge saw this movement and thought Wellington was retreating. He ordered the entire French Cavalry reserve to attack at once.

The charge by the French cavalry at Waterloo would have look terrifying and magnificent at the same time. Initially 5000 horses charged bt when they crested the ridge they found the British were NOT retreating but had formed square 0f the defence against cavalry. Scattered like a chess board these squares resisted no less than 12 French charges with as many at 9000 Cavalry at once. The British endured and held on.

4pm The Prussians Arrive

The Prussian’s finally started to arrive from about 4pm onwards. Napoleon sent his Guard and a reserve Corps to hold them back. To begin with they defended easily but more and more Prussians arrived and gradually the French fell back into Plancenoit. That town fell and the French used the Young Guard to assault it and recapture it.

Things were getting desparate though. Napoleon knew He HAD to break Wellington NOW or lose the battle.

7pm The Guard Attack – final thrown of the dice.

“Give me night or give me Blucher” – Wellington at Waterloo (There us a dispute about this prayer – maybe he never said it but her certainly felt it)

Napoleon gathered all his resources. he threw forward a heavy attack to take La Haye Sainte. Then vast clouds of skirmishers supported by artillery and cavalry pounded and pulverised the Anglo-Dutch lines who could do little save stand and suffer. Wellington, trusting that the Prussians would fill the hole, abandoned Papelotte and concentrated all his men in the centre of the line, he held on and endured.

Now was the time for the thunder strike. Napoleon sent forward his Imperial Guard, veterans of many battles, to assault the British between La Haye Sainte and Hougoumont. These were the men who had conquered Europe and he needed them to do it one more time. They stomped up the ridge towards the British.

But what was this? the ridge seemed empty. All they could see was a few officers.

Was that Wellington up there, all on his own?

This was victory …this was glory! En Avant. Vive L’Empereur!”

And then one sentence changed everything. One sentence spoken loud and clear by Wellington:

Now Maitland. Now’s your time!

One authority had him adding Up Guards, ready.

As one the British Guard’s Regiment under Maitland rose from where they were kneeling in the grass. They levelled their muskets and fired. The best marksmen in the world now fired devastating volley after volley. The Imperial guard – never before defeated – wavered, fell back and RAN.

Defeat

With the Middle Guard streaming back from the ridge and the Prussians surging through Plancenoit again, the French morale cracked and the army started to run. Wellington raised his hat and waved it forward with the words:

“The whole line will advance!”

The Anglo Dutch and Prussians surged forward and the French routed and that was that.

Within an area of 2 miles by 2 miles there were 48,000 bodies – killed, or the wounded desperately crying for aid.

It was Wellington’s last battle. It was a bloody and costly battle but finally Napoleon was defeated.

I am Richard Denning. I write historical fiction and Fantasy. Find out more at www.richarddenning.co.uk

 

 

 

Today is the anniversary of the Battle of Quatre Bras.  Never heard of it? Well if I mention a more famous battle that happened 2 days later – The Battle of Waterloo – you maybe now understand the campaign that I am talking about.

Waterloo was the climatic battle in the wars that started shortly after the French revolution and ran on through the 1790s on as far as 1815. From around 1796 onwards they became increasing focused around the ambition of one man: Napoleon Bonaparte.

Napoleon had led a series of Campaigns across Europe and at one point ruled lands from Portugal to Moscow. But of course the disaster of the Russian Invasion in 1812, the unified resistance by Austria, Russia, Prussia as well as thorn in Napoleon’s side of Wellington and his campaigns in Spain, led to the Emperor’s defeat in 1814. He was sent to Elba in exile.

In 1815 he was back from exile and galvanised the French nation once more under his leadership. The Allies knew they had to do something to prevent Europe being plunged into yet more years of warfare and so began to gather in the Low countries and along the Rhine ready to invade France. This process would take weeks – especially for the more distant Russians to arrive.

Napoleon’s Plan

Napoloeon refused to wait for that invasion. In June 1815 he assembled an army of 100,000 veterans of his wars on the Belgium Border at the city of Charleroi and attacked. He had spotted a flaw in the allied deployment. Wellington’s Anglo Dutch Army was arranged in the west of Belgium – west of the Charleroi to Brussels road. Blucher’s Prussians (Wellington’s ally) had his army to the east of that line.

Napoleon realised that if he attacked right down that road – on the line that divided the allies he could cause chaos and confusion. Then he would try and destroy the Prussian army whilst keeping the British at bay. Once Blucher was running for Germany he would turn on Wellington.

So on the 15th June Napoleon attacked up the high road. He took the bulk of the French Army with him towards Ligny where the Prussians were gathering. He sent Marshall Ney to Quatre Bras with orders to capture the poorly defended cross roads, hold off any British counter attack and send the bulk of his force along the road to Ligny to fall upon the flank of the Prussians and crush them. If everything went well Blucher’s Prussians would be destroyed before Wellington could react.

That night Wellington was indeed distracted. He had been invited – along with the bulk of the officers to a ball in Brussels. That meant that at the very moment when Napoleon was marching up the road from Charleroi the British were caught entirely off guard. When news reached the ball Wellington was already 18 hours behind the pace of the campaign. He at once sent his officers to gather the men and march on Quatre Bras.

 

The Battle

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

At the beginning of the battle Marshall Ney had 18,000 men and 32 guns with 2000 cavalry and faced only 8,000 infantry and 16 guns. These allied troops were Dutch regiments and although they fought well they were forced back towards the cross roads. Fresh British troops started to arrive two hours later as well as Wellington himself who then took command. As the day went on more and more British and allied divisions arrived until at the end of the battle – around 9pm, Wellington  with 24,000 men had a numerical superiority over Ney.

In those 6 hours the battle swung back and forth. The French launched a series of attacks – some of which reached the cross roads only to be forced back by a new allied division arriving and counter attacking. One famous moment was the arrival of the Duke of Brunswick and his black uniformed cavalry complete with death’s head symbols on their shakos. Their charge repelled the French once again but at the cost of the Duke’s life.

Another incident of note was when the Prince of Orange (a young Dutch prince with no battle experience) ordered the British to advance in line even though there were hordes of French cavalry around who promptly charged the British and slaughtered two battalions.

Battle of Ligny

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Whilst the battle was raging at Quatre Bras Napoleon had the upper hand at the nearby battle of Ligny. All he needed to complete victory was for Ney to break through at Quatre Bras and send him more troops onto the Prussian Flank. Napoleon even summoned a reserve Army corps under D’erlon to leave Quatre Bras and join him but just as it was arriving at Ligny Ney ordered it back to Quatre Bras. So the French missed the opportunity to use D’erlon at either battlefield as it spent most of the day marching around the Belgium country side. Wellington too was unable to help out at Ligny. Blucher had to face Napoleon alone.

The French beat the Prussians at Ligny and forced them to retreat but they had not crushed them. Never the less because the Prussian’s were retreating Wellington was obliged to follow suit and spent the 17th June moving his army back northwards. However because the Prussians were able to retreat in good order, Blucher would be able to bring three Army Corps to help Wellington 2 days later at Waterloo.

So who won at Quatres Bras?

In truth both sides claimed a victory and both sides had lost about 5000 men. Ney should have broken through early in the battle and Wellington was brilliant in defence and held him off but was unable to help Blucher himself. So it was a really a draw.

Quatres Bras and Ligny left unfinished business that would only be resolved 2 days later at a battlefield just south of a small town called Waterloo.

One of my areas of interest is the Napoleonic wars. My historical fiction is set at other time (The Saxon Period and the 17th century) but I find this period fascinating and I have visited all the battlefield of the Hundred Days Campaign and recommend them. Waterloo in particular is ideal for touristis but armed with a map and guide you can find much at Quatres Bras of interest.