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Subject: Waterloo
Attila1    6/22/2005 10:49:23 AM
Why did Napoleon loose the Battle of Waterloo ? The answer is not concerned about tactics, not even battle strategy. One secret sentence Napoleon has not pronounce, but the enormous alliance against him got to know. He was not really afraid of Britain, because she was not a Continental power. He had to overcome the German (Prussian) Bloc. Therefore they sent the British and ordered the Prussians to wait. Napoleon engaged with Wellington, but reluctantly and badly. (The whole French army was built upon 'Glorie' and 'defence of France', MOTIVATION was their keyword.) He was not able to tell his troops: ’Our main enemy is the Prussians for political reasons’. Prusians could give Napoleon the decisive blow, because the French was commanded by one human mind, but the enemy by an alliance.
 
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jastayme3       9/1/2006 11:17:18 PM
He was getting old and was sick that day. The house always wins even at war. The best conquerers know that and stop at the right time like Bismark or Fredrick. Napolean was a great general but not a great ruler and didn't know that fundamental secret.
What is more interesting about Waterloo is not that it happened but that it was so decisive. Few battles are.
 
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Patton       12/21/2010 12:27:58 PM
I think Napoleon lost for several reasons:
 
1. Wellington had already had experience againt the French in the Spanish Peninsular war of 1808 and was very familiar with French strategy and tactics;
 
2. While Napoleon gained easy victory over King Frederick Wilhelm III, his Grande Armee was decimated in the Russian winter; and
 
3. By the time 1815 rolled around, Napoleon had already suffered two major psychological defeats... Russia and his imprisonment on Corsica.
 
Von Blucher wasnt a great general in my personal opinion. French Fieldmarshal Michael Ney defeated the Prussians soundly.  It is my view that Wellington already had experience against the French and was a very astute tactician himself, and that; Napoleon--for all his genius--exercised poor judgment due to his psychological condition at the time.  If Waterloo would have taken place in 1801 instead of the Battle of Marengo, Wellington and Von Blucher come out losers.
 
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