Waterloo.

This is coolbert:

The saying that, "the Battle of Waterloo was won on the playing fields of Eton", has long been attributed to Wellington.

The British military historian and analyst J.F.C. Fuller has been quoted as saying that this statement is poppycock. Poppycock according to Fuller in that the real reason Wellington was able to defeat Napoleon at Waterloo is that for every two Frenchmen on the battlefield, there was three Englishmen, Germans, or Belgians.

This statement of Fuller's does not hold up under examination. That such a distinguished historian [De Puy describes Fuller as the pre-eminent military historian of the Twentieth Century] as Fuller would make such a misstatement seems ludicrous, but it is hard to arrive at a different conclusion when the facts are examined closely. Fuller, in this case, seems to be in violation of Dupuy's verity of combat # 13, that combat is too complicated a subject to be described in a simple aphorism [statement of truth].

It is true that the combined forces of Wellington and Blucher [Prussian Army], when and if combined, did outnumber Napoleon, and about in the numerical ratio of 3:2, but at Waterloo, the forces of Wellington and Blucher were not combined [at least for a significant portion of the battle]! [Wellington's army plus that of Blucher's would number about 160,000 men, that of Napoleon's slightly larger than 100,000.]

During the immediate days leading up to the Battle of Waterloo, Napoleon had created a gap between the two armies, British and Prussian, preventing them from joining, and had taken measures to maintain the gap.

This was a favorite tactic of Napoleon's from his earliest days of generalship, during the northern Italy campaign, when Napoleon was twenty six years old.

When faced with two armies that if combined would outnumber his own force, Napoleon through quick and inspired maneuver, was able to maintain numerical superiority, prevent the opposition from presenting a united front against him, and was able to defeat each enemy force individually. Speaking of the 1796 northern Italian campaign:

"Napoleon, having paid careful attention to the topography of the area, carefully planned the skirmish to force a potentially weak juncture between the Austrian army and that of the Piedmontese. By maneuvering his forces such that he could affect the positioning of the other two armies he was able to place the Piedmontese on one side of a several fast streams and a ridge line and the Austrian on the other. To further damage the position of the opposition, Napoleon was able to maneuver into a position where the armies themselves were at the heads of several different valleys, severely hampering any mutual support that would have otherwise existed."

To read further about the first major campaign of Napoleon and his abilities, click here.

In addition, the army that Wellington commanded at Waterloo consisted not solely of British units, but also consisted of many units of Belgian and Dutch troops and numbers of units of what were called King's German Legion [KGL].

These latter troops [KGL] were Germans who were in the pay of the British monarch, George, who himself was of the house of Hanover, and of German extraction.

Subtracting these units from the overall force of Wellington left the British contingent as less than half of the total force available to Wellington at the start of the battle. The Belgian and Dutch units commanded by Wellington were of dubious quality and reliability, not equal in capacity to the British or KGL units, and perhaps more of a hindrance than anything else.

KGL units were reliable and felt by the British officers to be at least equal to their own troops, but Wellington would not have relied upon them as much as he would have the troops of his own nationality [British].

At the beginning of the battle, the British numbered about 65,000 infantry, the French about 78,000, both sides numbering about 12,000 in cavalry, and the French possessing about 20 % more artillery than the British. Click here, here and here to see the Order of Battle for the British, French, and Prussians respectively.

A fair and pretty much equal match up.

NO 3:2 ratio at that point.

Wellington choose ground favorable for the defensive and selected to defend until the advance for the British was sounded, late in the day. Fighting actually began at 11:30 in the morning and the order to advance ONLY sounded at 9 P.M.

Prussian forces began to arrive on the battlefield at around 4 P.M. And arrived piece-meal, not as an entire army.

So for at least half the battle, the British fought at a numerical disadvantage and not possessing the 3:2 ratio claimed by Fuller!

Of course the arrival of the Prussians, in ever growing numbers, did have a dramatic impact upon the battle, but to say that Wellington won because of having more men on the battlefield is just not so. Fuller should have known better!

coolbert.