Waterloo War Walks

Waterloo is a crossroads of history. It ended 20 years of European war

and saw the downfall of Napoleon, the colossus of his age.

But the battlefield is tiny -

a couple of miles from side to side and a mile in depth.

I can cover all of it in a few hours' walk.

In June 1815, these few acres just south of Brussels decided the fate of Europe.

The area has changed, with a scatter of monuments and the rise of tourism.

It is Europe's most visited battlefield.

Here, you can leave your wellingtons in the boot and find yourself surrounded by an army of Napoleons.

The diminutive dictator may have lost the battle,

but he's victorious in the afterlife.

An extraordinary series of events had brought Napoleon to Waterloo.

He had made a spectacular comeback from exile, formed a large army

and threatened to dominate Europe again.

He marched into Belgium, where two armies,

one led by the Duke of Wellington, opposed him.

The battle takes its name

from the village two miles north of the battlefield, Wellington's headquarters.

Wellington spent the night before

in this inn in the village of Waterloo.

He was 46, the same age as his opponent,

but very different in temperament.

Respected, rather than loved, he disapproved of being cheered.

"If you let them cheer you one day, they might boo you the next."

When he got up on the 18th of June,

Wellington knew he faced his sternest test yet.

It all depended on the staying power of his infantry and the arrival of the Prussians.

He realised that without the help of the Prussian army

he had little chance of winning.

Their commander, Blucher, had promised his support,

but his army had been badly beaten a day earlier and had retreated.

On the eve of Waterloo they were ten miles away

and might never reach the battlefield in time.

Napoleon's headquarters was at Le Caillou farm,

three miles south of Wellington.

The officers who stayed here were the central nervous system of an army of over 70,000 men

that was outside in the rain, coiled up like some great beast.

Their names had made Europe tremble,

but their army was curiously patchy.

Veterans rubbed shoulders with conscripts,

supporters of Napoleon with secret supporters of the exiled king.

The army looked much better than it really was

and it depended absolutely on the presiding genius of one man -

Napoleon.

The campaign was going his way, but Napoleon was not at his best.

He was sometimes lethargic, sometimes restless,

certainly unfit, possibly even ill.

But when he turned out of bed next morning, he seemed confident.

Marshal Soult, his chief of staff, advised caution.

But Napoleon said, "Because he has beaten you, you think Wellington is a good general.

"But he is a bad general and the English are breakfast."

It was a filthy night.

While senior officers found shelter, soldiers were left in the rain.

Private William Wheeler of the 51st Regiment describes the time he had.

"We sat on our knapsacks until daylight without fires.

"There was no shelter from the weather. Water ran from the cuffs of our jackets.

"We were as wet as if we had been plunged in a river.

"We had one consolation -

"the enemy were in the same plight."

The weather was a disaster for Napoleon.

Because of the Prussian threat, he needed to beat Wellington quickly.

But the ground was too wet to move his guns

so he was forced to delay the battle for several hours.

It was easy, when Frenchmen were looking for some excuse for his failure, to blame this.

Victor Hugo wrote, "A few drops of water, more or less, were what decided Napoleon's fate."

The armies formed up early.

From his observation point, Napoleon could see

much of Wellington's army of over 60,000 men.

The need to delay must have been agonising.

This is one of his observation points. It gives a good view of Wellington's position.

Wellington had a wonderful eye for the ground. His position wasn't perfect, but it had natural strength.

On Wellington's left

was the farm complex of Papalotte.

In his centre, La Haye Sainte.

Behind those trees, Hougoumont.

The farms had been fortified the day before.

British foot guards had prepared the defences of Hougoumont

and La Haye Sainte was strongly garrisoned by German troops.

These farms were crucial to Wellington's battle plan.

His army was partly shielded by the high corn that grew here in 1815

and also protected by the slope of the ridge.

The lion monument was built in the 1820s

and stands pretty well in the centre of Wellington's position.

The Brussels road bisects the battlefield, just as it did in 1815.

It's no coincidence that the road is here.

If Napoleon could break through Wellington's line, he was just a few hours from Brussels.

And if he could take Brussels, he'd have struck a telling blow at the European alliance opposing him.

Napoleon was an artillery officer by training, and he put 84 12-pounder guns here.

Known as "the emperor's favourite daughters", they fired these -

12lb round shot.

Gunners tried to bounce them in front of the enemy,

so they'd ricochet through his entire formation, causing death and destruction.

At close range, gunners switched to this.

This is case shot - a tin box filled with smaller balls.

This burst, turning the cannon into a gigantic shotgun.

It was a real killer on such a battlefield.

Napoleon's guns opened fire at 11.30.

BOOM!

BOOM!

CRASH! BOOM!

At the same time,

over 5,000 French infantry advanced on Hougoumont.

MILITARY-STYLE DRUMMING

There were about 1,500 troops in the house and orchard, and the French attackers were badly mauled.

The strong walls of Hougoumont made it a natural fortress.

The garrison of British foot guards,

firing through loopholes like this, caused havoc.

Throughout the day, wave after wave of French broke against these walls like a torrent against a boulder.

The French had to get in, regardless of cost.

The attackers and defenders carried flintlock muskets like this.

They were very inaccurate - I'd be hard-pressed to hit that back wall.

To load, you took a cartridge with a musket ball at one end and powder at the other, bit the end off...

..and poured powder into the priming pan...

..closed off the frizzen...

then tipped the rest of the powder down the muzzle...

followed it with the musket ball...

..took out the ramrod...

..and rammed it all home good and tight.

You then remembered to return the ramrod.

Clumsy soldiers sometimes forgot to do this and fired it at the enemy.

Then, with luck, you were ready to fire.

If all else failed, there was the bayonet.

The prospect of 20,000 of these approaching

would often compel people to seek an urgent appointment elsewhere.

DRUMS BEAT

One of the dozens of French attacks got to the north gate of Hougoumont.

It was led by Second Lieutenant Legros, a giant of a man, nicknamed "the Smasher".

He took an axe and beat down the wooden gates which used to stand there,

then led a charge into the courtyard.

The fate of Hougoumont hung in the balance

in a few minutes of vicious fighting,

as Lieutenant Colonel James Macdonell and his men tried to close the gates and kill the French.

Private Matthew Clay tells us just what it was like.

"In the entrance lay many dead bodies of the enemy.

"I saw Lieutenant Colonel Macdonell carrying the trunk of a tree.

"He was hurrying to bar the gates against the enemy's renewed attack,

"which was vigorously repulsed."

Wellington later said

the battle of Waterloo had depended on the closing of the gates of Hougoumont.

Legros, and the men who charged with him, were killed almost to a man.

The sole survivor was an unarmed drummer boy,

who the British spared.

I find Hougoumont the most moving spot on the field of Waterloo.

Indeed, it affects me more than almost any other battlefield.

It makes me glad I'm a military historian.

I can almost reach out and touch the past.

Not a lot of Frenchmen got in during the battle,

but today the place is full of them.

ALL SHOUT: Vive l'empereur!

-Jan, what's the attraction in Waterloo?

-It's special.

It's a turnaround in Europe in 1815.

It changed very much things in those times,

yet we have followed the things of those...of this battle, today.

How did you become interested?

It's a long time ago, when I was a little boy around eight years old.

I was always interested in little tin soldiers of the Napoleonic era,

because they were full of colour.

Those colours attracted me and now I am 1:1 scale soldier!

-Goodbye, and good luck with the war!

-Have a nice way back to England.

This is good Waterloo weather - rain and shine in equal portions.

From the lion monument, I've a good view of the field.

Down there is Hougoumont.

There's the Brussels road and La Haye Sainte.

By early afternoon, Napoleon had hammered Wellington's centre, by the crossroads, with his artillery.

He then sent 18,000 infantry along the road

to strike what he hoped would be the battle-winning blow.

DRUMS BEAT A MARCH

The French infantry marched along here

under artillery fire pretty well the whole way.

The impact of shot sent muskets, knapsacks and limbs flying up into the air,

but the French kept coming.

It looked very much as if they'd break the line and win the battle.

Lord Uxbridge, Wellington's cavalry commander,

had kept two brigades of cavalry just over this ridge, ready for just this moment.

They charged, and hit the French about here.

PIPE BAND PLAYS A MARCH

They were moving fast, their blood was up and they rode right into the columns.

A French officer tells us just what it was like.

"We found ourselves defenceless against a relentless enemy,

"who sabred even our fifers and drummers without mercy.

"Our eagle was captured and I saw death close at hand,

"for my friends fell around me and I expected the same fate,

"while wielding my sword mechanically."

The cavalry charged too far. They got on to the far ridge and were counterattacked.

But the charge had done its job. Napoleon's first proper infantry attack was stopped in its tracks.

His infantry's failure to break Wellington's line was a setback.

The allied army had been badly damaged and a properly co-ordinated attack might have beaten it.

Instead, the French launched a series of spasmodic cavalry charges.

The horsemen must have looked splendid in their plumes and armour

and they were very serious opponents.

This gentleman isn't just decorative.

He's a French cuirassier, trained to ride down and break enemy infantry and cavalry

by the sheer momentum of his armoured charge.

They were respected adversaries.

A British officer being charged by them said,

"By God! Those fellows deserve Bonaparte. They fight so nobly for him."

-Philippe, merci et au revoir.

-Merci.

At about 3.30, over 4,000 French horsemen swept across the field.

Their objective was simple -

hit Wellington's infantry hard, break it and win the battle.

The infantry had been in lines,

but as the French cavalry bore down,

they had to move fast into square formations to keep the horsemen out.

PIPE BAND PLAYS

Although the square was a good defence against cavalry,

it was vulnerable to artillery.

For three long hours, the French sent in wave after wave of cavalry,

forcing the infantry to stay in their squares.

Between the charges, the infantry were hammered by French artillery.

BOOM!

BOOM!

BOOM!

The cruellest trial for the infantry came standing up here in square with round shot crashing in,

because they were an easy artillery target.

The 27th Regiment stood here.

It went into battle 747 men strong.

By the end of the day, it had lost almost 500.

One eyewitness said that it was lying dead in square.

This is its memorial.

The French attacked La Haye Sainte throughout the day

and were repulsed each time.

It was right in front of the line.

If he could take it, Napoleon could attack from very close range.

At 6.30, the French attacked again, in strength.

This time, they took the farm.

Of the entire allied garrison,

a mere 42 men escaped with their lives.

At last, the battle seemed to be going Napoleon's way.

Then the young Prince of Orange, one of Wellington's generals,

ordered the veteran Colonel Ompteda to counterattack.

Ompteda knew that it was impossible, protested, but attacked anyway.

He was shot almost immediately.

Lieutenant Edmund Wheatley charged with Colonel Ompteda.

He was knocked unconscious and then dragged into La Haye Sainte.

He gives us a wonderful description of just what it was like.

"The inside I found completely destroyed,

"nothing but the rafters and props remaining.

"The bodies of German infantry and French tirailleurs were everywhere.

"The carnage had been very great in this place."

La Haye Sainte is still a working farm, owned by Paul Van Achter.

-Bonjour.

-Bonjour.

Oh, excellent. Ca, c'est un morceau de pipe.

This is a piece of French pipe with a grenadier's moustache on it.

Musket balls - a rather small French one and a larger English one.

This is a piece of canister shot from a cannon...

A real killer, particularly at close range.

It gives some idea of how intense the fighting was,

if things like this are still being ploughed up.

-Tres interessant. Merci.

-De rien. Au revoir et bon retour.

La Haye Sainte was a boost to French morale but rejoicing was short-lived.

The Prussians had arrived and were already attacking the right flank.

Time was running out for the emperor.

At seven o'clock, Napoleon played his last card.

He sent about 6,000 of his imperial guards up this slope.

Part of the column came this way, approaching a British Guards brigade lying down along the crest line.

Wellington was just behind the line

and he couldn't resist giving the crucial orders himself.

Stand up, Guards!

Make ready! Fire!

Even these veterans couldn't stand that sort of punishment and they were pushed back.

When Wellington saw them retreat, he doffed his cap

and motioned his army forward.

He knew the battle was won.

As the victorious allies advanced,

Napoleon's great army fled,

leaving the field littered with dead and dying.

Many of the wounded lay out overnight,

and often simply died where they lay.

The fortunate were brought to an improvised field hospital,

where surgeons operated without anaesthetic...

laying open deep muscle wounds...

probing for musket balls

and amputating shattered limbs.

Some soldiers bore all this surprisingly well.

They came from a hard world where stoicism was admired.

Sergeant Michael Connolly reprimanded a man for groaning.

"For God's sake", he said, "die like a man before these Frenchies."

And in these terrible surroundings that's exactly what many did.

Nearly 50,000 of the men who fought at Waterloo were killed or wounded.

Artists managed to romanticise death on the battlefield,

but most of the dead were simply tumbled into huge gravepits.

This wounded eagle, by the busy Brussels road,

marks where some of the guard fought long enough

to enable Napoleon to escape amongst his broken army.

Victor Hugo said Waterloo was a change in the direction of the world.

Napoleon was packed off to a rocky island

and kept there till he died.

Waterloo ushered in 50 years of peace in Europe

and it was 99 years before a British soldier next fired a shot in Europe.

Ironically, it was just a few miles down this road, in August 1914.

Subtitles on 888 by Mairi Macleod BBC Scotland - 1996