Battle of Quatre Bras

battle_name= Battle of Quatre-Bras

Prelude

"Napoleon has humbugged me, he has gained twenty-four hours march on me" – the Duke of Wellington

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Wellington's grave mistake at the outbreak of the war was to fail to react to the arrival of news of the outbreak of hostilities on the morning of 15 June. He didn't trust any other sources than British, but it were Prussian outposts under General von Ziethen which were engaged first at 04:30 at Thuin near Charleroi. A number of confirmations of this had to arrive before Wellington issued any orders - from 18:00, almost 10 hours after Wellington had received the first news. That meant it was too late for him to move and rally his army that very day and eventually provide Blücher with the support he needed on 16 June.

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Wellington also failed to order his entire army to Quatre Bras on 16 June, although he was later to claim that he did do so. However, the orders issued and received do not correspond with that claim. He was extremely lucky that the Dutch Headquarters took the initiative and decided to dismiss Wellington's order to rally the Dutch forces in and around Nivelles and instead decided to guard and defend Quatre Bras where they received substantial aid, against the attacking forces of Marshal Ney, through Brunswickers and Nassauers, long before any British troops started to intervene. This decision to make a stand at Quatre Bras would eventually make up for Wellington's late orders, although for the Prussians his orders were by far too late.

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The crossroads of Quatre-Bras was of strategic importance because the side which controlled it could move south-eastward along the Nivelles-Namur road towards the French and Prussian armies at the Battle of Ligny. If Wellington's Anglo-allied army could combine with the Prussians commanded by Gebhard von Blücher, the combined force would be larger than Napoleon's. Napoleon's strategy had been to cross the border into Belgium without alerting the allies and drive a wedge between their forces and subsequently to defeat the Prussians before turning on the Anglo-allied army. Although the coalition commanders did have an overview of French pre-war movements, Napoleon's strategy was initially very successful.

Related Topics:
Battle of Ligny - Gebhard von Blücher

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