"The battle neither side could afford to lose..."
"The battle that in ten hours changed the course of European history forever..."
This Great Battle, Waterloo!
The battle that shaped Europe, the battle that shaped the world...
The last battle of Napoleon Bonaparte...
On the 18th day of June, 1815.
At this little Belgian town south to Brussels, Napoleon faced his destiny and was beaten forever...
Wellington and Blucher were his foes at the head of the two Allied Armies, the English and the Prussians...
But, Napoleon was actually beaten by the God!!
And this town, Waterloo, remained as the mystical figure of the final collapse of a glory...
"Was it possible that Napoleon should have won that battle? We answer No. Why? Because of Wellington? Because of Blucher? No. Because of God.
Bonaparte victor at Waterloo; that does not come within the law of the nineteenth century. Another series of facts was in preparation, in which there was no longer any room for Napoleon. The ill will of events had declared itself long before.
It was time that this vast man should fall.
The excessive weight of this man in human destiny disturbed the balance. This individual alone counted for more than a universal group. These plethoras of all human vitality concentrated in a single head; the world mounting to the brain of one man,--this would be mortal to civilization were it to last. The moment had arrived for the incorruptible and supreme equity to alter its plan. Probably the principles and the elements, on which the regular gravitations of the moral, as of the material, world depend, had complained. Smoking blood, over-filled cemeteries, mothers in tears,-- these are formidable pleaders. When the earth is suffering from too heavy a burden, there are mysterious groanings of the shades, to which the abyss lends an ear.
Napoleon had been denounced in the infinite and his fall had been decided on.
He embarrassed God.
Waterloo is not a battle; it is a change of front on the part of the Universe."
writes Hugo in 'Les Miserables'...
For those interested in an introduction to "Waterloo":
Waterloo
SOME MEMORABLE QUOTES FROM THIS 'MEMORABLE' BATTLE
Napoleon Bonaparte:Never interrupt your enemy while he's making a mistake. That's bad manners.
Napoleon Bonaparte: Cross the river. Tomorrow we will dry our boots in Brussels.
Marshal Michel Ney: If it's God's willing sire.
Napoleon Bonaparte: God? God has nothing to do about it.
Napoleon Bonaparte:[learning that the Prussians are attacking] I made one mistake in my life; I should have burned Berlin.
Marshal Michel Ney: Wellington's on the run! We caught him at Chalois!
Napoleon Bonaparte: If Wellington is at Chalois, what are you doing here?
Marshal Michel Ney: But, Sire...
Napoleon Bonaparte: If Wellington is at Chalois, what are you doing here? Don't you see,
if Wellington is free to choose his ground, everything I've won in this campaign, you have lost!
Marshal Michel Ney: Where are the reinforcements you promised me?
Napoleon Bonaparte: [shouting]Don't you dare criticize me! Go back to Chalois, keep your sword in Wellington's back, stay between him and Blucher and, above all, don't let them consolidate!
Gen. August Gneisenau:[to Blucher on Wellington's request to move in the direction of Waterloo] Wellington has been beaten at Chaloix. Sir, I suggest we retreat in the direction of Berlin before we are cut off.
Field Marshal Gebhard von Blucher:[Disgusted with Gneisenau] I am seventy-two years old and a proud soldier. This sword is my word of honor!
Gen. August Gneisenau: Very well, because I have served you in the past, I will order a retreat in the direction of Namir. But, sir, if Wellington runs for the coast; I fear none of us will ever see Berlin.
Napoleon Bonaparte:They've declared war on me! Not on France; but on me personally. I'll discuss peace; I'll discuss peace over Wellington's dead body! That will be my peace table!
Napoleon Bonaparte:What will history say of me, Le Bedoyere?
Le Bedoyere:History will say that you stretched the limits of glory, sire.
Napoleon Bonaparte:'Stretched the limits of glory'; is that all I have to leave to my son, the 'limits of glory'?
William De Lancey: Sir! Napoleon has moved against out left! We should move the 92nd down to meet him!
Duke of Wellington: What the master seems to do and what he intends are as different as white knight to black bishop. Tell all commanders to remain in place.
William De Lancey: But, sir...
Duke of Wellington: Do as you are told, sir! I'll not run around like a chicken without a head!
Mulholland: [the Old Guard is surrounded by British cavalry] Brave Frenchmen! You have done all that the honor of war demands; His Grace, the Duke of Wellington, invites you to save your lives! Will you surrender?
Vicomte Pierre Cambronne: MERDE!
[Cavalry pulls back exposing ranks of artillery]
[the Prussians are preparing to attack]
Field Marshal Gebhard von Blucher: Raise high the black flags, my children. No prisoners. No pity. I will shoot any man I see with pity in him.