| |
KF5JRV > TODAY 18.06.24 11:00l 69 Lines 4000 Bytes #999 (0) @ WW
BID : 1158_KF5JRV
Read: GUEST
Subj: Today in History - Jun 18
Path: IW8PGT<LU4ECL<LU9DCE<VA3TOK<VE3CGR<KF5JRV
Sent: 240618/0939Z 1158@KF5JRV.#NWAR.AR.USA.NA BPQ6.0.24
At Waterloo in Belgium, Napoleon Bonaparte suffers defeat at the hands of
the Duke of Wellington, bringing an end to the Napoleonic era of European
history.
The Corsica-born Napoleon, one of the greatest military strategists in history,
rapidly rose in the ranks of the French Revolutionary Army during the late
1790s. By 1799, France was at war with most of Europe, and Napoleon
returned home from his Egyptian campaign to take over the reins of the
French government and save his nation from collapse. After becoming
first consul in February 1800, he reorganized his armies and defeated
Austria. In 1802, he established the Napoleonic Code, a new system of
French law, and in 1804 was crowned emperor of France in Notre Dame
Cathedral. By 1807, Napoleon controlled an empire that stretched from
the River Elbe in the north, down through Italy in the south, and from the
Pyrenees to the Dalmatian coast.
Beginning in 1812, Napoleon began to encounter the first significant
defeats of his military career, suffering through a disastrous invasion of
Russia, losing Spain to the Duke of Wellington in the Peninsula War,
and enduring total defeat against an allied force by 1814. Exiled to the
island of Elba in the Mediterranean, he escaped to France in early 1815
and set up a new regime. As allied troops mustered on the French
frontiers, he raised a new Grand Army and marched into Belgium. He
intended to defeat the allied armies one by one before they could
launch a united attack.
On June 16, 1815, he defeated the Prussians under Gebhard Leberecht
von Blucher at Ligny, and sent 33,000 men, or about one-third of his
total force, in pursuit of the retreating Prussians. On June 18, Napoleon
led his remaining 72,000 troops against the Duke of Wellington\u2019s 68,000-man
allied army, which had taken up a strong position 12 miles south of Brussels
near the village of Waterloo. In a fatal blunder, Napoleon waited until mid-
day to give the command to attack in order to let the ground dry. The delay
in fighting gave Blucher\u2019s troops, who had eluded their pursuers, time to
march to Waterloo and join the battle by the late afternoon.
In repeated attacks, Napoleon failed to break the center of the allied center.
Meanwhile, the Prussians gradually arrived and put pressure on Napoleon\u2019s
eastern flank. At 6 p.m., the French under Marshal Michel Ney managed to
capture a farmhouse in the allied center and began decimating Wellington\u2019s
troops with artillery. Napoleon, however, was preoccupied with the 30,000
Prussians attacking his flank and did not release troops to aid Ney\u2019s attack
until after 7 p.m. By that time, Wellington had reorganized his defenses, and
the French attack was repulsed. Fifteen minutes later, the allied army launched
a general advance, and the Prussians attacked in the east, throwing the French
troops into panic and then a disorganized retreat. The Prussians pursued the
remnants of the French army, and Napoleon left the field. French casualties in
the Battle of Waterloo were 25,000 men killed and wounded and 9,000 captured,
while the allies lost about 23,000.
Napoleon returned to Paris and on June 22 abdicated in favor of his son. He
decided to leave France before counterrevolutionary forces could rally against
him, and on July 15 he surrendered to British protection at the port of Rochefort.
He hoped to travel to the United States, but the British instead sent him to Saint
Helena, a remote island in the Atlantic off the coast of Africa. Napoleon protested
but had no choice but to accept the exile. With a group of followers, he lived
quietly on St. Helena for six years. In May 1821, he died, most likely of stomach
cancer. He was only 51 years old. In 1840, his body was returned to Paris, and
a magnificent funeral was held. Napoleon\u2019s body was conveyed through the Arc
de Triomphe and entombed under the dome of the Invalides.
73 de Scott KF5JRV
Pmail: KF5JRV@KF5JRV.#NWAR.AR.USA.NA
Email KF5JRV@gmail.com
Read previous mail | Read next mail
| |
