The Prussian IV Corps in the Battle of Waterloo
Friedrich Wilhelm Freiherr von Bülow was the commander of the IV Corps of the Prussians. The soldiers he commanded were highly skilled in combat. Bülow was a white man who wore a white wig with a small ponytail, a red and dark blue high-collar jacket, and epaulets that look like braided ropes. There were many moving parts of the Prussian Army, and one of them was the IV Corps. The IV Corps usually battled in long lines of soldiers, stretching horizontally as far as the eye could see. They had no more than 10 rows of soldiers, but huge columns made of these rows.
The Prussians’ IV Corps consisted of about 32,000 soldiers in total, double the size of Napoléon’s IV Corps. There wasn’t just one IV Corps in the Battle of Waterloo. The French had their own: the commander of the French IV Corps was Marshal Nicolas Soult. To give you an idea of the IV Corps’ size, let’s study its components. General Bülow’s Prussian IV Corps was composed of the 13th, 14th, 15th, and 16th Brigades. The 13th Brigade was commanded by von Hacke with 6,560 men, the 14th Brigade was commanded by Ryssel with 7,138 men, the 15th Brigade was commanded by von Losthin with 7,143 men, and the 16th Brigade was commanded by von Hiller with 6,423 men. In the IV Corps cavalry, the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd Brigades were commanded by Prince Williams of Prussia, consisting of 5,586 men on horses, almost five times more than the French IV Corps’ cavalry. Finally, in the artillery, commanded by Braun, there were 1,202 men, which was about six times bigger than the French IV Corps’ Division d’Artillerie.
The Duke of Wellington was the commander of the Anglo-Allied Armies, Napoléon Bonaparte was the commander of the French Armies, and Gebhard von Blücher was the commander of the Prussian Armies. Napoleon’s army had 72,000 soldiers while Blücher had 50,000 and Wellington had 68,000. Napoleon’s enemies had a slight disadvantage with the numbers when they fought, but when they joined their armies in the end, they had 118,000 soldiers, which was 46,000 more soldiers than Napoleon. The I, II, and III Corps consisted of a total 32,500, 33,000, and 25,000 soldiers, respectively. So why was the Prussian IV Corps so well known after their victory at the Bois de Paris Road? Well, the Prussian IV Corps had lost every battle prior to this. But in the Battle of Waterloo, the Prussian IV Corps was instrumental, especially the 15th Brigade, in preventing more of the French army from arriving at Frichermont, and from using the Bois de Paris Road.
In every battle leading up to Waterloo, the Allied armies had been unable to defeat Napoléon. In the Battle of Ligny (June 16, 1815), the Prussians lost to Napoléon. The Battle of Quatre-Bras was where the Anglo-Allied Armies lost but the Prussians held a the French at the Battle of Wavre. On June 17th, 1815, the Anglo Allied Armies arrived at Waterloo first, in the morning. Then at night, Napoléon’s army arrived. They started fighting the next day before the Prussians arrived. When Wellington was in trouble, the Prussians came, and together the Prussian Army and the Anglo-Allied Armies fought together long and hard, determined to end Napoléon’s reign over France.
Napoléon Bonaparte was born 15 August, 1769. He was of Italian nobility, born in Ajaccio, Corsica, a French Mediterranean island. He was teased when he was in school for his Italian accent. He was the second born of eleven, with eight of his siblings, Joseph, Napoléon, Lucien, Elisa, Louis, Pauline, Caroline, and Jérôme Bonaparte, making it through early childhood. His parents were Leticia and Carlo Bonaparte. His first wife was Joséphine da Beauharnais, and was the first empress of France. Since she didn’t bear Napoléon any children, he divorced her and married Marie Louise of Austria. She agreed to marry Napoléon, even though she was raised to despise the French. They had one son together.
When Napoléon was 35 years old, the Senate declared him emperor of France. The weird thing was that his father was an anti-French lawyer. In school, Napoléon was very focused on his studies, which was part of the fact why he was chosen to be emperor. From being studious, he thought of more intricate and complex battle strategies and he could read the battlefield like an open book. Napoléon’s reform was called the Napoleonic Code. The Napoleonic Code was one of the few documents that have influenced the whole world, according to historian Robert Holtman. This code forbade special privileges given to one, based on who you were born to, and the code embraced freedom of religion and made it possible for the more qualified to land a better job, not just because they were blood-related. This code also replaced feudal law, which had allowed lords to protect the people that worked on the land, who basically had to work for free. This code was spread throughout Europe, making a great impact on civil laws. Napoléon led his country to many victories around Europe for nine years as emperor. He kept winning territory for France until in 1813 he was exiled to the island of Elba, a Mediterranean island near Tuscany, Italy. He stayed there for a year before he escaped and made it back to France. His soldiers were so loyal to him that when he came back, they cheered and they executed the emperor who was assuming the throne. The people said that the old king wasn’t as great as Napoléon was. Napoléon was also very inspirational. He increased his army in preparation for the Battle of Waterloo from 200,000 to 300,000 by encouraging many of his veterans to reenlist.
Napoléon defeated many coalitions before the Battle of Waterloo, including the First Coalition from 1792-1797, when Napoléon was attacked by the Habsburg monarchy of Austria. Napoléon’s France invaded Central Europe, Italy, Belgium, Netherlands, Spain, and the West Indies. The Second Coalition, the Habsburg monarchy of Austria and the Russian Empire, from 1798-1802, tried to eliminate Napoléon. He was attacked in Europe, the Middle East, Mediterranean Sea, and the Caribbean Sea. The Third Coalition, an alliance of Austria, Portugal, Russia, Great Britain, and Italy, from 1803-1806, was defeated by Napoléon in Central Europe, Italy, and on the Atlantic Ocean. The Fourth Coalition, (Prussia, Russia, Saxony, Sweden, and the United Kingdom), from 1806-1807, lost to Napoléon. They fought in Saxony, Prussia, Poland, and East Prussia. The Fifth Coalition, the Austrian Empire and the United Kingdom, in 1809, lost to Napoléon and Bavaria. They fought in Central Europe, Italy, and the Netherlands. The only coalition to defeat Napoléon before the Battle of Waterloo was the Sixth Coalition, (Austria, Prussia, Russia, the United Kingdom, Portugal, Sweden, Spain, and many German states), from 1812-1814. They fought in all of Europe and Napoléon’s defeat led to his exile to the Mediterranean island of Elba, near Tuscany, Italy. But he escaped that same year to return to his rightful throne.
Napoléon wasn’t really happy to go into the Battle of Waterloo. He didn’t really want to go to battle about one year after he escaped his exile. He asked both the Austrians and Prince Regent of England for peace, but both ignored him and the letter to the Prince Regent of England was returned unopened. Napoléon requested his father-in-law, the Emperor of Austria to send his wife and son to him so if he died, his son would take his place as emperor, but the request was ignored. Napoléon told the National Guard to protect France while he was gone, so France wouldn’t be open to attacks.
The Prussian IV Corps knew to be at the Bois de Paris Road to stop the French, because the Duke of Wellington and Gebhard von Blücher were exchanging telegrams (through Semaphore lines, a telegraph system that used towers and pivoting shutters) a day before the battle. During the battle when Wellington requested Prussia’s aid, Blücher came right away. The IV Corps of the Prussian army was sent first to stop the French.
Napoléon knew in his mind that he was triumphing over Wellington’s armies. Many soldiers were on the ground either dead or seriously wounded and a murky smoke was covering the entire battlefield from the cannons blasting. Wellington was about to surrender and was trying to make his last stand: his soldiers were getting weak and tired from battling and they were starting to slip out of their long rows. He was worried, but then at around 16:30, the sound of thundering horses came roaring into the clearing. The Prussian IV Corps has arrived! The IV Corps has arrived! Wellington’s eyes lit up; he was saved! Bülow gave Napoléon one last chance to surrender, but he refused. “Charge!” yelled Bülow and his soldiers went running and screaming into battle. The French were in trouble as Bülow surrounded Napoléon’s men, arranging them into bunches inside their circle. The Prussians defeated the French easily, because the IV Corps coming in as reinforcements almost instantly defeated Napoléon’s men; the entire Allied/Prussian army was not needed.
The overwhelming numbers of the Anglo-Allied and Prussians weren’t enough alone, but when they fought together, they made Napoléon surrender. After Napoléon was defeated at the Battle of Waterloo, he was exiled to the island of Saint Helena. He stayed there for six years until he died. The Prussian IV Corps saved the day! If they had not came to Wellington’s aid, Napoleon would not have had to abdicate the throne and he would have still been conquering more territory for the French. The Prussian IV Corps ended Napoleon’s 15-year domination.