Napoleonic Wars mod

[born2see]

Nice Very Nice! So when do I get to crush those Brit Bas---ds?

My last name is DuRant if that gives you some clue to my sympathies.

B

[Marching Thru Georgia]

born2see wrote:

My last name is DuRant if that gives you some clue to my sympathies.

You better stick with the continental enemies. Wellington will just humiliate you. :laugh:

"Now Maitland, now is your time!"

[born2see]

Marching Thru Georgia wrote:

You better stick with the continental enemies. Wellington will just humiliate you.

"Now Maitland, now is your time!"

Yeah, I know. Much as it pains me to admit it.

Seems like , as in many great battles, there are moments which would have changed the outcome. Not being a student of Napoleon or his campaigns, what were those at Waterloo?

B

[Michael Slaunwhite]

Hi.

What is the ETA on this excellent mod?

Cheers.

[Marching Thru Georgia]

born2see wrote:

Seems like , as in many great battles, there are moments which would have changed the outcome. Not being a student of Napoleon or his campaigns, what were those at Waterloo?

Waterloo was a 2 day affair. If Ney had been more vigorous at Quatre Bras, Welington would not have been able to make a stand at Waterloo the next day. He'd have boarded his ships and sailed home. It was a meeting engagement, but Ney was very tentative, (a la Ewell), and barely caried his objective. On the 2nd day, Napoleon's greatest weakness was his brother, Jerome, who was in command of a division of II corps. He was told to make a demonstration in front of the fortified Hougoumont, but fed his entire division into that fiasco and dragged much of II corps in with him. That was the blunder that cost Napoleon the battle. Had II corps merely bypassed Hougoumont, the British right most likely would have collapsed. If Wellington reinforced it, Napoleon would have been able to carry out his favorite tactic, flanking the enemy and delivering the coup de gras in the center. But leaving the enemy with a strong point in one's rear while pressing the attack is a mid-20th century tactic. Unfortunately for Nappy, he did not give that order, or much of any orders to his left flank and paid the price. In the end, like Pickett, "La Garde, recule!"

For those that enjoy re-fighting Gettysburg, a study of Waterloo is well worthwhile. The parallels between the two battles and even the leading generals are striking. And just as Lee needed Jackson, Napoleon needed his best general too, Davout.

[born2see]

Thanks MTG, for the insight. I'm always impressed by the historical knowledge I find here.

Anyway, I'm going to take your advice and read up on Napoleon. If you can recommend something I'd appeciate it. I'm always looking for any excuse to buy another book.

Thanks again.

B

[Jack ONeill]

All,

As an add-on to what MTG posted - Ney at Quatra-Bras was hesitant due to his (and his commanders) concern with running into what was known in the French Army as a "Spanish Battle." Typical British tactics were to garnish their front with Light Infantry skirmishers and Riflemen and having their Line Infantry behind a reverse slope out of sight. The French Skirmishers were held back by the British, thereby not allowing the French Commanders information as to where the British lines really were. All to often, the French Columns of Attack essentially blundered into the british main lines before they could deploy into battle-line and open fire themselves. The well drilled British troops would pour volley after volley into the now disorganized french troops, then charge, generally driving them back in confusion. Neys' experiences in Spain colored his advance at Quatra-Bras, keeping him from sweeping away the relative handfull of Allied Infantry stationed there and allowing the reinforcements Wellington sent to eventually stabilize the situation. The Allies fought the French to a rough standstill, then retreated to the Mont St. Jean/Waterloo position during the night and next morning.

My 3 cents...

Jack

[gunship24]

The Waterloo campaign is an interesting set of battles and to get the full story I suggest reading about the battles of Ligny and Quatre Bras that occured two days before Waterloo, and the battle of Wavre which was going on at the same time as Waterloo.

The battle of Ligny was occuring at the same time at Quatre Bras. While Ney was off harrassing the Dutch positions at Quatre Bras the rest of the French army was engaging the Prussians at Ligny. D'erlon's Corps was sent by Napoleon to Quatre Bras to aid Ney, but was then recalled to hit the Prussians in the flank. However before that happened it was sent by Ney back to Quatre Bras. In all this confusion the entire Corps spent the day marching between battle fields fighting at neither of them. If they had came on the flank of the Prussians they would of not of been able to retreat in such good order to Wavre and even more importantly perhaps would of not been able to turn up at Waterloo if Wellington had deployed. A serious what if. On the other hand if they had got to Quatre Bras Wellington might of been forced to retreat that day back to Brussels.

[Col D. Streamer]

There were several instances as detailed above which influenced the outcome on the final day.

Basically there were many mistakes on the French side (not always Bonaparte's fault) and Wellington who could not afford to make any mistakes, didn't make any!

Wellington was lucky but Bonaparte always said that luck was part of being a great general!

[Marching Thru Georgia]

born2see wrote:

I'm going to take your advice and read up on Napoleon. If you can recommend something I'd appeciate it. I'm always looking for any excuse to buy another book

For the battle of Waterloo, Barbero's book, The Battle, A New History of Waterloo gives a good blow by blow account of the 2nd day's battle. Chandler's book Waterloo, The Hundred Days recounts the entire campaign and gives his usually good insights into the strategic planning of the battle.

A good compendium of the entire Napoleonic War period is Chandler's, The Campaigns of Napoleon. It's a bit dry and glosses over many details of the battles, but for a strategic overview of the various campaigns, it is unsurpassed, IMHO of course.