Tick Tock
18/6/26
The Battle of Waterloo
The Battle of Waterloo was fought between Britain and its allies and a French army led by Emperor Napoleon Bonaparte, on the 18th June 1815. The British commander was The Duke of Wellington.
The battle ended a very long war, that had been going on for such a long time, across the entire world. Britain and France were the two most powerful countries in the world, both building trade networks and a global empire. For example, Canada, in North America, had been under French control, until Britain defeated the French in 1759. Britain fought France in India, America, across the Pacific Ocean and in Africa and as far as China.
All the time the simple solution was for France to invade Britain by landing in England and taking over the country. But the British had a very strong fleet of battle ships and had defeated the French and Spanish navies at the Battle of Trafalgar in 1805. The French could no longer invade Britain, but they did still pose a threat to most of Europe and had controlled huge parts of it for a long time.
It can get very confusing, because the Spanish actually changed sides in 1808 and then fought with Britain against France. Napoleon had made his brother King of Spain and the Spanish didn’t like it. They asked the British to help them defeat the French.
The long war finally ended in 1815. The future of Europe and a lot of the world, had come down to one battle. The British had about 68,000 soldiers and 156 cannons. The French had 72,000 soldiers and 246 cannons. Prussia was a country that now is part of Germany. They had been beaten badly by the French and were controlled by them. The Prussians wanted to be free. They also had an army nearby. It had 45,000 soldiers.
The British army was made up of a mixture of experienced soldiers but also lots of new soldiers, especially from surrounding countries who wanted to stop the French controlling them. The Duke of Wellington did not have enough experienced soldiers to attack the French army. Like a game of “defence v attack” in football, the British would defend as the French attacked.
The French army was very experienced and powerful. Could the British defend all day? If they could, maybe the Prussian army could get there in time to help. However, if the French won quickly, then the Prussians could also be defeated.
The Duke of Wellington lined up the British army along a slope on one side of the battlefield. He ordered the soldiers to lie down. Most of the French cannon balls totally missed the British soldiers. When the French soldiers marched across the fields and up the slope, they got a huge surprise when the British soldiers suddenly stood up.
The British defended all day. The French attacked all day, even sending their mighty cavalry to attack the British soldiers. There were times when the French attack almost worked. But the British held on. Then, at the end of the day, the Prussians finally arrived. The French were suddenly outnumbered and being attacked from two sides by the Prussians and British. The battle ended quickly and the French were defeated. The Duke of Wellington, the British general, called it the “nearest run thing you ever saw in your life”. It was very close, but defence had beaten attack.
Napoleon wanted to get to America, but couldn’t, as the Royal Navy ships would stop him. France no longer had a navy to help him. He surrendered to the British on the 15th July.
British soldiers stand in square formation to defend against cavalry.
France and England (and then Britain) had been fighting each other for hundreds of years. They had argued over who should be king of England, who should be king of France, and at one time who should be king of Spain. They argued over lots of other things as well.
There was a long war called “The First Hundred Years War – 1159-1259”, another called “The Hundred Years War – 1337-1453” (which is longer than 100 years). There was a “Nine Years War”. There was “The Seven Years War” and lots of other ones. Remember that the British defeated the French in Canada in 1759, that was during the Seven Years War.
But, after The Battle of Waterloo, that all changed. France no longer tried to invade Britain. In fact, the next time Britain and France fought in major wars, they were on the same side. The Crimean War saw France and Britain fight Russia in Eastern Europe in the 1850’s. They were allies in World War One and in World War Two.
Both countries remain allies today.
Photos and illustrations in this blog post are Whizzbots and Public Domain Images.