Waterloo

Advance Manual: Story Telling

Project # 5: Bringing History to Life

Title: Waterloo

 

Introduction

<<Slide 1>>

Have you ever heard of the idiomatic word "Waterloo"? This is commonly used in an expression such as "and finally, he met his Waterloo". The idiomatic word comes from a historical event when Napoleon Bonaparte was defeated by the English at the town of Waterloo, just south of the Brussels, Belgium.

When you say that someone has "met their Waterloo," you mean they have unexpectedly met defeat.

In Napoleon's case, he was certain that he was going to win, and would be the ruler of the known world but he was resoundingly defeated.

Good evening, fellow toastmaster and guest. Tonight, let me share the story of the famous battle in Waterloo which marks the end of the Napoleon's dream to become the grand emperor of Europe.

<<Slide 2>>

June 15, 1815. Napoleon Bonaparte was riding on his restless white horse.

<<Slide 3>>

With him is the 105,000 strong French Grand Armee with General Ney commanding his left flank and General Grouchy commanding his right flank.

<<Slide 4>>

On his right, he can see the small town of Ligny where the main force of the 89,000 Prussians under the command of Field Marshall Blucher.

On his far left, he can see the 68,000 British Allied force under the command of the Duke of Wellington.

<<Slide 5>>

The strategy was simple: attack the two forces in between and drive them away from each other and defeat each enemy before they can combine forces.

June 16, 1815

Napoleon instructed General Ney to advance to Quarte-Bras to engage the Prince of Orange, to disable the encampment and establish their headquarters.

With General Grouchy, Napoleon speed off to Ligny and engaged Field Marshall Blucher in a bloody battle. Blucher, upon realizing that he cannot win the battle with too much losses, retreated far north.

Napoleon won the battle of Ligny and overestimated his victory thinking he defeated the Prussians totally. Little did he knew, Blucher moved northward towards Waterloo.

<<Slide 6>>

At 6pm that day, Napoleon match westward towards Quarte-Bras and found General Ney still fighting the Allied forces. It took them until late evening before forcing the Allied to retreat at Mont St Jean, south of the town of Waterloo.

More than 12 hours of fighting took a toll on Napoleon's Grand Armee. They decided to rest on the 17^th of Jun, beside it was raining heavily. A fatal mistake because it gave the Duke of Wellington enough time to march the entire British army to south of Waterloo.

<<Slide 7>>

Early morning of 18^th June,

Napoleon was again looking at his enemy. On his center is La Haye Sainte with heavy guns and cavalry. At the left is Mont St Jean the weaker force of only the infantry and artillery.

Napoleon confident that he can route the Allied forces, postponed the attached until 11am. He thought that the ground was too wet and muddy for a grand frontal infantry assault. His general tried to convince him to barrage the enemy with artillery and cannons before marching the main force. With Napoleon's misplaced confidence plus his arrogance, he insisted to proceed with ground attack.

Oh, this is where the phrase "Napoleonic Complex" originated.

<<Slide 8>>

General Grouchy joined the central force and lead the initial march to Mont St Jean. Under heavy fire of cannons and artillery, Grouchy captured Mont St Jean but lost more than half of his forces.

<<Slide 9>>

3:00pm

With Mont St Jean capture and the Duke of Wellington forces trapped in La Haye Sainte like sitting ducks, Napoleon could already see victory at hand.

Again with his arrogance, he made a fatal miscalculation.

<<Slide 10>>

He ordered General Ney to launch the entire cavalry towards the center in his vain attempt for a grand victory.

General Ney with 25,000 cavalry thundered towards La Hay Sainte. He easily trampled the battalion of artillery and saw from a fog of war the forces of the Duke of Wellington running and started making squares of infantry.

Confused because the soldiers were not firing their muskets, General Ney made a bad call and ordered a full attacked on the infantry.

<<Slide 11>>

The Allied Infantry knelt to the ground and used their musket with fixed bayonet as pikes to stop the charging horses. With the horses dead, they easily shot the cavalry at point blank.

It was a very close quarter combat that the cavalry is not trained for fighting – the strength of the infantry. As a result, there was chaos and confusion among the French cavaliers forcing them to retreat.

4:00pm

Knowing General Ney would lose his cavalry against the infantry of the Duke of Wellington, Napoleon ordered his main infantry in Mont St Jean to assault towards La Haye Sainte.

Upon seeing the advancing infantry, The Duke of Wellington centralized all his infantry and take a last stand.

5:00pm

With too much fog of war, blood and a muddy ground, the French Armee failed to crush the Duke of Wellington

<<Slide 12>>

6:00pm

Napoleon received a news that Field Marshal Blucher is fast approaching from his right. He readily dispatched Gen Grouchy to meet the Prussians but with only small cavalry left Gen Grouchy failed to stop the charging Prussians.

7:00pm

The French Grand Armee was caught in the middle. In front is square infantry the British forces and at their back is the charging Prussians.

9:00pm

In less than two hours, Napoleon lost a war that was supposed to be a victory.

<<Slide 12>>

In the retrospect, Napoleon could have easily won the battle in Waterloo. He had a brilliant strategy and he has a motivated army who is willing to die for him. Yet it was his supreme arrogance that cost him the battle. If only he listened to his generals.. the idiomatic word "Waterloo" would not mean a crushing defeat but a resounding victory.

How about you fellow toastmasters? Have you meet your Waterloo? I did, and many of you knows what it is. Shh… keep quiet, the first lady is here!

 

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