Battle of Waterloo
09 Plancenoit recaptured
The Prussian army retook Plancenoit and targeted Napoleon’s right flank, giving Wellington the upper hand. The Old Guard who had been supporting the French position at Plancenoit beat a hasty retreat.
08 Imperial Guard attacks Wellington
With his forces temporarily holding off the Prussians at Plancenoit, Napoleon went on one last major offensive. He sent the supposedly undefeatable Imperial Guard into Wellington’s army’s centre in an attempt to break through and attack his flanks from within. While the guard had some success, breaching multiple lines of the Coalition force, eventually they were overrun by Wellington’s numerically superior infantry and wiped out.
France
Troops 72,000 Cavalry 14,000 Cannons 250
07 Prussians arrive
Wellington had been exchanging communications with General Blücher, commander of the Prussian army, since 10am and knew he was approaching from the east. At roughly 4.30pm the Prussians arrived and, noting the village of Plancenoit on Napoleon’s right flank was a tactically important position, began to attack the French forces in position there. After initially taking the village though, French forces reclaimed it.
07
02
Napoleon Bonaparte Leader
Emperor Bonaparte became famous for his tactical genius, enabling him to take over much of central Europe. Strengths A savvy strategist with plenty of battle experience. Weaknesses Erratic; he took a detached approach to fighting.
Cavalry
Important Unit
French light cavalry was considered the best of its kind in the world and played a large part in holding off the Coalition’s heavy cavalry charges. Strength Fast, agile units capable of easily outflanking the enemy. Weakness Direct cavalry charges rely on surprise to be most effective.
09
With the Coalition’s heavy cavalry now facing squares of French infantry to the front and with no support, Napoleon ordered a counterattack, dispatching his cuirassier and lancer regiments from his own cavalry division. A massive central battle ensued, with cavalry, infantry and artillery all involved. While Napoleon’s cavalry regiments took out much of the Coalition’s heavy cavalry, they could not wipe them out. Napoleon also dispatched troops to intercept the Prussians.
06
Stalemate
At the heart of the battle, Coalition and French squares then undertook a series of back-andforth exchanges. All the while cannon and musket fire continued to rain down from all sides and, aside from one more combined arms assault by the French on the centreright of Wellington’s lines, a general mêlée ensued, with each side seeing their numbers steadily chipped away.
Musket
Key weapon
The musket was wielded by Napoleon’s Old Guard with deadly accuracy, picking off large numbers of Coalition soldiers at Waterloo. Strength Excellent medium-range stopping power. Weaknesses Slow to reload and also poor in hand-to-hand combat.
© Alamy; Sayo Studio
05 Napoleon counters
95