Battle of Waterloo 1815 (Napoleon Vs Wellington) 

To be fair one should mention that the 33.000 French soldiers under Grouchy were fighting about 17.000 Prussians at the Battle of Wavre simultaneously to the Battle of Waterloo.

Actually, you're right!

a Grouchy variation(s) should be an option ... see noted historian Alberta a Nofi

Thanks! You're very welcome!

Thanks pal, I've read a couple of Cornwall's Sharpe books, I'll have to check out the Waterloo book.

Cornwall's book was what David Irving calls something like "The tenth book" - just a re-hash of standard details gleaned from reading nine books before it. His Sharpe books were boring nonsense too. Barbero is much better.

A very well narrated history although I enjoyed ABBA’s version more!

the figures are wrong was about 72000 french and 68000 british

stupid analys is not true .... The role of Prussian power was decisive ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-fhuPbXJ9wVc.html @anthonyat2401 ​

if he commited all the cavalry he could have wiped out the Prussians before they got here, and would have incurred much lighter losses.

He probably never played napoleon total war

He needed a quick victory because the combined forces of the allies would have overwhelmed him.

@@emanuilgolozov5856 LMAO

@@hamidious Still could have infantry and artillery support with his charge.

Not quite. Napoleon would have loved his opponent to take high ground. His artillery would pound them. They took low ground behind high ground.

@@Philly_Jump_Over_The_Fence I think there was a British show that did a relief of the area before the Lion Mount. I would have been knackered if I got over the ridge due to the steepness and, yes, the artillery would have either overshot and hit nothing or bounced into the ridge with little impact. Wellington was right for "keeping it in his pocket" - the terrain was a really good place to hold Napoleon.

Thank you very much!

Cheers pal, glad you liked it :)

cheers pal, the battle that took forever! :) Thanks for the support.

@@battlestack7615 I can only imagine! You're welcome =)

You're welcome!

Glad it was helpful!

Actually, both of British's flanks are well secured so it would be risky and frontal assault is often proven to be effective during that era

@@settekwan2708 this. Basic British battle formation is Line in front, Grenadiers on flanks, Guards on back. (Imagine someone making an annoying rectangle in a Total War game) Any sort of attempt to Flank the enemy is futile. Corners of the Box on the other Hand Generally weak in this formation. From my TW experience using artilery on corners will create enough empty space to make line infantry shoot the weak point and breach. This would not work on Waterloo as Wellington had the higher ground.

Grouchy se battait a Wavre et a battu les prussiens Grouchy n est en aucune façon responsable de la défaite de Waterloo c est une erreure de l histoire et c est Blucher et non Wellington qui a battu Napoleon a Waterloo , dommage pour la liberté , cette défaite qui a restauré la monarchie avec tous ces exces il faudra attendre 1848 pour que la France retrouve ses vraies valeurs , liberte egalite fraternite , VIVE L EMPEREUR

@@jean-lucmassaux3377 Of course Grouchy is responsible, at Wavre what he did was to waste time in a foolish distraction in which neither Napoleon nor Ney would never have fallen for, did you know that he wasted his 2 army corps at Wavre against only one Prussian corps? no, you did not know it, you knew that Grouchy's own staff told him to go to support the emperor, since the cannon shots of Waterloo were heard from Wavre, and Wavre like a fool ate Blucher's distraction that left him a contingent of 15,000 men and Grouchy wasted his 30,000 plus the cannons. The fact that the Prussians appeared at Waterloo is entirely Grouchy's responsibility, for his orders were to annihilate them, and even that the Prussians broke Napoleon's right flank, just where Grouchy was supposed to be that day, or at least to have annihilated the Prussians who had retreated with the defeat of Ligny, Grouchy's duty was to outflank Wavre and go for Blucher and thus support Napoleon at Waterloo, covering the right flank, because Grouchy's two corps comprised the right wing of the Northern Army, so Napoleon fought without his right wing, all because Grouchy was very naive, and it was precisely on the right flank that he was attacked, just where Grouchy should be that day.

"I need those men! Why do I have to do everything myself?!"

@@cesar2719 What should Grouchy with his 33,000 soldiers have done against almost 100,000 Prussians ???

@@raka522 Who told you that they were 100.000 Prussians? Blucher's army composed by 4 Corps never exceeded 50.000 men, to be precise they were 49.000, and in the battle of Wavre Marshal Grouchy faced the rearguard of this army composed by 2 Corps commanded by Johann von Thielmann (29.000 men, more than half of Blucher's army) 3.000 men, more than half of Blucher's army) even so the 29.000 men of the 2 corps of Johann von Thielmann (which was 60% of the Prussian Army) were a little inferior to Grouchy who counted on 32. 000 men, all the Cavalry and infantry of 2 Infantry Corps, 1 Cavalry Corps and a Cavalry Division of the 1st French Army Corps, basically Grouchy had under his command more than 35% of Napoleon's army and Napoleon gave him that amount with the only purpose that he could easily crush a fleeing Prussian army that had just been defeated at Ligny by Napoleon, but Grouchy's slowness marked the destiny, In the end he neither annihilated the Prussians nor went to the aid of the Emperor who implored Grouchy to bring him more than a third of his army which had taken him for nothing because he did not fulfill his mission which was totally feasible from the military point of view (for that he was given more than 5000 horsemen to annihilate the retreating Prussians) Grouchy's absence was so serious that Napoleon fought at Waterloo with only 70,000. It was Grouchy's lack of strategic ability and Grouchy's laziness that led to the disaster. Where was Grouchy when he heard the cannon fire at Waterloo? His lieutenants were telling him to go to Waterloo for the final battle to cover the right flank again, so he was left wandering around Wavre, because in the worst case Grouchy should have attacked the Prussian rearguard again when they caught up with Napoleon at Plancenoit (they were held back by the Imperial Guard who were waiting for Grouchy to show up with more than a third of the army) I simply think Grouchy did not want to fight anymore, he was always a coward, he never had the guts of Murat, he was too big to command almost half an army plus 2 corps and the Cavalry Reserve of Napoleon's army (which Murat commanded before), Grouchy made a huge expenditure of military resources, more than 5000 horsemen, 100 cannons, and almost 35. 000 going around without fulfilling his mission of annihilating the Prussians nor regrouping with Napoleon since Grouchy said that this was not his orders but he did nothing against the Prussians either, to give you an idea of the size of the right wing of the army commanded by Grouchy I leave you a sample here: GROUCHY's ARMY (+35.000) III Corps (General Dominique Vandamme) 17,099 infantry - 38 guns IV Corps (General Étienne Maurice Gérard) 15,013 infantry - 38 guns II Cavalry Corps (General Remy Exelmans) 3,392 infantry - 12 guns IV (Hussars) Cavalry Division (General Pierre Soult) 1,485 infantry - 8 guns detached from the I Cavalry Corps 5,000 cavalry from the Reserve Army All this Napoleon lost at Waterloo because Grouchy wanted to be inactive, if Napoleon had known that Grouchy would become so incompetent he would never have separated with his troops, they were so logical that Grouchy would return that Napoleon even confused when Blucher's Army arrived with Grouchy's army, Napoleon did not imagine that Grouchy would be so stupid as to stay with 35. 000 soldiers, 5000 horsemen and 100 cannons 3km from Waterloo listening to the cannon fire without doing anything, but Grouchy did this in spite of the fact that his subordinates reproached him for arriving at Waterloo, to give you an idea the Waterloo Campaign has 4 battles and you have to analyze everything with a magnifying glass to be able to speak with property in this.

Thanks! I didn't know that about Les Miserables, I'm going to have to read that now.

Grouchy and his army where the ones who faced the prussians while Ney was ordered to fight the british you dumb@ss! You say he shouldn‘t had divided his army yet you proposing to send grouchy‘s army wich divides the army anyway🤯 You right your not a stragegist so shut your mouth

Hurrah for Blucher!

@Liverpool 11 That's not true. Wellington was only able to strengthen his center with troops on his left flanks because Prussians were already taking their place there (Corps ´von Zieten´) When Napoleon's old guard attacked there and suffered heavy losses from the Allies, the Prussians also appeared there in the field of view of the attacking French, which then led to withdrawal. The exclamation "The Prussians are coming and they give no mercy!" resounded over the battlefield and the French panicked. Wellington let the Prussians persecute the French, on the grounds that his troops were too exhausted, but the Prussians marched to Waterloo for hours in completely soaked earth and were at least as exhausted. It was Prussian hussars who forced Napoleon to leave his carriage in order to be able to flee from them with the horse. The politician Wellington claimed victory at Waterloo as his victory, but was about to lose. Napoleon had to muster 25 of his 36 reserve battalions, as well as many of his troops from the old and young guards, to stop the Prussians, which he did not succeed. Actually it was almost a German victory, because over 1/3 of the Allies spoke German and in addition there are 3 Korps Prussia ;-) Napoleon didn't learn anymore, and Blucher and the Prussians were constantly underestimated. Their fighting morale was very high, and even a lost battle like Ligny's could not break. They wanted satisfaction for Jena and Auerstedt, and revenge for the years of oppression and pillage by Napoleon's troops. At Waterloo, the Prussian soldiers were ordered to capture or kill Napoleon.

He arrived just as the battel was ending. The men who fought in the British and french army deserves credit they were all brave standing in a line with a hail of musket balls flying near by

@@raka522 nope not true the prussians arrived bear the end they played littel in the battel

@@oliva6352 Of course that's nonsense what you write. There was also no Allied British army under Wellington, but an Allied one, and most of them also had German as their native language. You should get better information before you write anything ;-)

Thanks pal :) Happy new year!

Hows it going Sergio. There is quite a bit to discuss concerning this battle! Cheers for your support! :)

Guten tag evan!

hello evan :)

I thought it sounded fine!

Thanks! And you make a good evaluation.

Every single thing about "Wellington's Genius" was common practice of that era. Napoleon was the one that tries to pull something weird. Wellington's tactics were simple (and common sense. Not something dmb like sending old guard upward in a tight box formation) (Looking at you Napoleon) I still don't understand your argument.

"Discipline of British troops." Now everything started to make sense. Shall I quote Wellington himself? Nah, we all watched Sharpe here.

@@hannibalburgers477 I love the Sharpe reference lol

@@hannibalburgers477 My argument is essentially that Wellington deserves credit and often doesn’t get it. Casual historians tend to focus completely on Napoleon and overlook the fact that Napoleon didn’t simply lose, he was defeated! By Wellington! Then I go on to say some great things about Wellington, and perhaps I overstated the case. If we’re focusing only on Napoleon, then his decision to break off 1/3 of his army with the much-maligned Grouchy to ‘finish off the Prussians’ - when he didn’t know where the Prussians were or what shape they were in - is the main reason he was defeated. Blucher of course (or Gneisenau to be precise) sent the Prussians on a march to Waterloo in good order immediately after their defeat at Ligny. Napoleon ordered Grouchy off towards Liege about 15 hours later. Had Napoleon conducted better reconnaissance, or kept his army mostly intact, he likely would have won at Waterloo or perhaps evaded the British defenses entirely.

The Prussians arrived a fair bit later than they were supposed to, but "saved the day" sounds more impressive. Without the British, Dutch and Brunswick troops, there wouldn't have been a day to save.

They didn't do they didn't save the battel. And yeah they showes near the end really saving the day

Is there really anyone, who knows anything about the battle, that doesn't know that the Prussians arrived to finish the battle?

@@timspiers6225 Yeah..all I hear about is the heroics of general Wellington.

@@timspiers6225 It wasn't the Prussians that routed the French Imperial Guard.

This is all new to me and I have no tactical analytics expertise but I've been exposed to enough general history to know one thing for sure: The British have never been timid about spinning every second of anyone's history into their own glory. They are quite good at it.

@@zuluzeit7191 *Very good and exact conclusion.*

Well yeah we carried the down we deserve the glory oh so what they finally showed up they didn't do save the battel they just us a few more men

@@zuluzeit7191 yeah like every other tries and making then selfs look glorious

@@oliva6352 Others might try but no one holds a candle to the British, in regard to appropriated aggrandizement. As another feature of that perfected mentality, they literally chop out fixed structures and ship them to England to display as trophies; as if being able to confiscate these things will somehow associate themselves with whatever achievements the objects represent. The only thing stopping it from being purely disgusting is that it is also laughably egregious.

@@franziholyromanemperor2114 2:32 "Napoleon ordered his infantry to attack the ALLIED right and centre" Stop wasting my time.

​@@franziholyromanemperor2114 Nobody likes your comment. Because it is wrong. And nobody likes you. Because you are a dickhead.

@@franziholyromanemperor2114 The B61 is a variable yield nuclear weapon between 0.3 and 400 kilotons. Either way though you still get nuked. Hey, look on the bright side, at least now you know what your friends and family are too polite to tell you.

Agreed, at about 3pm to 4pm Wellington felt that the French were winning the battle.

Yup, it was a close call - the Imperial Guard could have smashed through Wellington's forces who had taken a pounding from La Haye Saint's cannonade. There used to be a simulator online about Waterloo and, regardless of the decision, it was razor thin for a victory EVEN if you followed historical precedent (it was to illustrate that one minor change could change everything; once - and only once - my charge of Heavy Cavalry not only broke and caught the french regiments, destroyed the guns and fought the lancers, they also destroyed them at the cost of themselves. Verdict: MAJOR ALLIED VICTORY)

@@rubix4195 but even if the imperial guard did succeed, the Prussian forces were already arriving on the flank of the French, which means they’re doomed anyway.

It would have freed up additional infantry reserves, certainly. Whether or not that would have played a factor is up for debate.

Napoleon's defensive battles against the approaching Prussia consumed 2/3 of his reserves, including half of his old guard that was driven out by the Prussians in Plancenoit. He naturally lacked these troops against Wellington. The Prussians were also not part of the Allied armies under British command ;-) So it was at best an Allied / Prussian victory against Napoleon.

@@raka522 fair point re 'Allied'!

They wanted to win the battle before faxing the Prussian reinforcement.

That looks like AoE 3

This is rise of nations, not aoe

Never understood why rise of nations never got to be as popular as age of empires when it was the far better game. 1 game better than all of AoE series.

@@josephmoore9706 simple: age of empires 2

@@YoungSavage oh, my bad

Only about 26,000 of Wellington soldiers were really British, the majority of the 5,000 KGL soldiers were Germans. The most spoken languages ​​in Waterloo were almost equally French and German ;-)

@@raka522 31,000 British soldiers.

@@johnpeate4544 The soldiers of the KGL were not native British, but predominantly Hanoverians: 26000 + 5000 = 31000 ;-)

There is also a big injustice at the end I should add; regarding your casualties claim of Wellington's losses being only British. A lot of brace soldiers of various Allied nations and states also suffered losses in casualties; especially the Germans.

He was playing it safe, the threat of the Prussian army's arrival on the British left is a decisive factor and everyone wanted fresh troops. Reserves would win this and they knew. His left flank cavalry pushed too far. They should've hit and run the french Artillery and used their mobility to escape and regroup. Wellington would never give the order to support as that would break his left flank badly even if they win the skirmish. He's a defensive specialist and is pretty much content to sit there for days. He knew he can win if he can stall Napoleon. Lose a few thousand horse, but Keep the left flank in defensive form. That was his aim. No one from the allied forces expected those musketeers...that was Napoleon's good move. Napoleon's loss was guaranteed once he sent the imperial guards against the artillery and gunners.

For me it all looks a little different. The Prussian army certainly did not 'reinforce' the British army. :-D In contrast to many fanboys here, Blücher and Gneisenau were certainly not overly impressed by Wellington's qualities, although they knew of his successes in Spain, of course, but unlike them, Wellington had never had to fight directly against a ´Napoleon in his heyday´. It was solely due to the urgency of the situation, i.e. due to the fact that Wellington's army was shortly before the collapse, that Blücher immediately threw his troops arriving on the battlefield into the fight in order to relieve it.

Shame they were in squares and getting fired at with grape shot

Ney should re-spawn and try to do it again. I doubt results would be different. Frontal charge is always a failure, even if the enemy infantry weathered down.

So you must be about 200 years old

@@elistickband I was last year but now i'm dead.

Napoleon first told Grouchy not to come to Waterloo. Then he found Prussian were coming. He told Grouchy to come immediately. But the messager got lost. Ney ordered a 1500 cavalry charge. But when Napoleon saw it, the emperor ordered all his horsemen to charge. The emperor shall take the responsibility somehow