The Battle of Waterloo made Napoleon withdraw from the political army. Many people said it was because of the weather. What do you think of that battle?

The Battle of Waterloo is a famous battle in the history of war. It ultimately determined the fate of Napoleon and his empire and had a profound impact on Europe.

There have always been different opinions on the reasons for Napoleon's failure in the Battle of Waterloo. The victor, the Duke of Wellington, believed that Napoleon's strategic offensive was the main reason for his failure. Napoleon should wait for the coalition forces to invade France, and over time he would collapse due to lack of food. I don’t know what his motive is for saying this. Will the coalition collapse on its own? The coalition forces that invaded France in 1814 did not collapse!

While the first batch of coalition forces assembled 650,000 people, and another 300,000 troops would arrive in the fall, with a total of one million troops, the French army hurriedly organized only 284,000 troops. The strength of the regular army is so disparate. Napoleon's plan to turn defense into offense in an attempt to defeat the enemy's armies one by one and seize the initiative was excellent and likely to succeed. ;

Napoleon himself said to Colancourt: It was because Grouchy failed to reinforce in time and the cavalry was defeated, resulting in a disastrous defeat, and Ney's actions were not active and tactful enough. His words are more in line with the truth, but they also focus on the analysis of personnel aspects.

Trying to analyze various situations, Napoleon’s failure in the Battle of Waterloo was due to the following reasons:

1. The quality of the army was poor and there was a lack of commanders

Although Napoleon The famous general Marshal Davout was appointed as the Minister of War. Within 2 months, he organized an army of 284,000 people, and there were many veterans in the army. However, after all, the entire army was hastily established, lacked training, and was very short of firearms, ammunition, and horses. There is even a shortage of high- and mid-level commanders in the army, and even mediocre people like Grusi have to stand alone.

During the decisive battle of Waterloo, the French army was forced to use divisional columns in their attack. Each battalion formed three horizontal columns, and each division formed a huge square formation with 200 men on the front and 24-27 columns in depth. The movement was clumsy.

2. Failure to annihilate the Prussian army in time

Napoleon planned to concentrate his forces to defeat the Prussian and British armies one by one. The French army was defeated at Ligny on June 16, two days before the decisive battle of Waterloo. Blücher's Prussian Army. However, because the 1st Army Corps was lost and did not arrive at the battlefield in time, the 6th Army Corps was too far away and mobilized too late, causing the Battle of Rini to become a rout rather than the expected annihilation battle.

Napoleon did not organize a pursuit of the Prussian army at dusk on the 16th, but sent Marshal Grouchi with 34,000 men to pursue it the next day. But it was too late. Grouchy did not find the Prussian army at all. Instead, he wasted a lot of troops, but the Prussian army finally joined the British army and participated in the battle of Waterloo. .

3. The troops are dispersed and cannot be mobilized

Napoleon has always advocated the concentration of superior forces. However, this campaign was strangely dispersed from the beginning.

During the Battle of Ligny, Napoleon sent Ney's army to encircle and annihilate the Prussian right wing without knowing the situation of the enemy. As a result, Ney suddenly encountered 20,000 British troops and gave up the mission of encircling and annihilating the Prussian army. , being restrained by secondary enemies, they only sent out 1 Corps slowly, but failed to reach the battlefield.

During the decisive battle of Waterloo, Napoleon still did not concentrate all his troops. Instead, he allocated one-third of his troops, led by Grouchy, to pursue the unaccounted-for Prussian army, causing the unit to leave the battlefield.

4. The incompetence of the French generals

Although Marshal Ney showed extraordinary courage at Waterloo, his command was incompetent. During the detour in Lini, they entangled with 20,000 British troops regardless of priority, resulting in 80,000 Prussian troops not being wiped out.

Marshal Grouchi was even more stupid. He did nothing with 34,000 troops at Waterloo. Hearing the sound of the Waterloo cannon, he refused to respond on the grounds that he had not received the order. General Gilard, the commander of his 4th Army Corps, repeatedly tried to persuade him, but he refused.

As Chief of General Staff, Marshal Soult is also incompetent. Soult, who had held this post for the first time, promptly reminded Napoleon to transfer back to the western region of Gru on the morning of the 18th and had some good suggestions, but the organization of his staff was riddled with holes. The French army was repeatedly unaware of the enemy's situation at Ligny and Waterloo. At Ligny, the staff did not know that there were 20,000 British troops far away on the right flank of the Prussian army. When Ney was pinned down, they did not order them to enter the main battlefield with the main force in time. However, the 6th Army Corps was unable to arrive because it was stationed far away and was mobilized late. At Waterloo, the general staff knew neither the Prussian army was coming for reinforcements nor the whereabouts of Grouchy.

In the Battle of Waterloo, the French army showed great courage, but suffered a disastrous defeat due to various reasons. Napoleon's political life and military career came to an end.