Battle of Ligny

battle_name=Battle of Ligny

Conclusion

If Ney's 2nd Corps and 3rd Cavalry Corps had not blocked the Allied army at Battle of Quatre Bras on the same day, then units of the Allied army would have arrived down the Nivelles-Namur road on the right hand side of the Prussian position much as the Prussians arrived on the left flank of the Allied lines at the Battle of Waterloo two days later. This is why Napoleon sent Ney to block the road at the Quatre Bras cross roads. It had been his strategy to cross the border in secret and attack the Allied armies before they could combine, because if they combined then they would outnumber his army. If he was able to engage them separately then his army outnumbered theirs in the individual engagements. In Wellington's words "he humbugged me". In driving the Prussians back onto their lines of communications and sending Grouchy's with a corps to pursue them, to stop them reforming and coming to the aid of Wellington's allied formations, he judged that he had done enough to prevent this happening.

Related Topics:
Battle of Quatre Bras - Battle of Waterloo - Quatre Bras - Grouchy

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There has been much debate of what would have happened if d'Erlon's 1st Corps had engaged at either Ligny or Quatre Bras, but he did not and Napoleon went on to his meet his destiny at Waterloo.

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