Research Catalog

Title

Waterloo 1815. Volume 1, Quatre Bras / by John Franklin ; illustrated by Gerry Embleton.

Author

Franklin, John

Publication

Oxford : Osprey Publishing, 2014.

Items in the Library & Off-site

Details

Additional Authors

Embleton, G. A. (Gerry A.)

Description

96 p.; 25 cm.

Summary

The Waterloo campaign of 1815 shaped European history. The clash between the French under Napaoleon and the armies of Blücher and Wellington was the dramatic climax of the Napoleonic Wars which had engulfed the continent for more than a decade. This is the first of a trilogy of volumes to provide a definitive account of this monumental campaign. Using new research and unpublished first-hand accounts, John Franklin details the battle of Quatre Bras, where an initial 8,000 Allied troops faced the left wing of the French Armée du Nord under Marshal Ney. The Allies were drastically outnumbered, but Wellington and his subordinates were reinforced just in time, and they were able to repel Ney's repeated attacks and to hold the strategically important crossroads to Quatre Bras. The battle ended in a tactical stalemate, but the defeat of Blücher's Prussians at Ligny forced Wellington to retreat back along the high road to Brussels and a new position at Mont St Jean.

Series Statement

Campaign ; 276

Uniform Title

Campaign (Osprey Publishing) 276.

Subject

• Napoleon I, Emperor of the French, 1769-1821 > Military leadership
• 1800-1815
• Quatre-Bras, Battle of, Quatre-Bras, Belgium, 1815
• Waterloo, Battle of, Waterloo, Belgium, 1815

Bibliography (note)

• Includes bibliographical references (page 94) and index.

Processing Action (note)

• committed to retain

Contents

Introduction : The liberation of Belgium and Holland ; The coalition prepares to invade France -- Chronology -- Opposing commanders : Allied commanders ; French commanders -- Opposing forces : The command and composition of the Allied Army ; The command and composition of the French Army ; Orders of battle -- Opposing plans -- The Campaign opens : The Netherland officers take the initiative ; Apathy in the capital towards a French attack ; Movements on the morning of 16 June ; Important decisions for the three commanders ; The struggle for the crossroads commences ; Engagements at Quatre Bras and Sombreffe ; Picton counterattacks with the 5th Division ; Forced marches to the battlefield at Quatre Bras ; The gallant demise of the Duke of Brunswick ; A concerted French attack upon the crossroads ; Cavalry charges against the Allied formations -- The timely intervention of the 3rd Division ; Union with the emperor at Sombreffe ; A determined charge by the French cuirassiers ; Cooke arrives with the British Foot Guards ; The contest for the centre intensifies ; Wellington seizes the initiative and attacks -- The fighting at Quatre Bras ends in stalemate ; Napoleon is triumphant at Sombreffe -- Aftermath -- The battlefield today.

ISBN

• 9781472803634 (pbk.)
• 1472803639 (pbk.)

OCLC

• 890394223
• SCSB-12866227

Owning Institutions

Harvard Library