Vietnam or Thailand ? Vote for the TOP Country of the Week !
Updated: May 20, 2025
Napoleon was in no situation to manoeuvre leisurely, with all Europe on the march against him. His engrossing aim was to gain immediate victory over his adversaries in Belgium before the Russians and Austrians should close in around him. His expectation was that Bluecher would offer battle about Fleurus and be overwhelmed before the Anglo-Dutch army could come to the support of its Prussian ally.
The Swedes, the Russians under Bennigsen, and a large Austrian division under Colloredo, had not yet arrived. Napoleon might with advantage have again attacked the defeated Austrians under Schwarzenberg or have thrown himself with the whole of his forces upon Bluecher. He had still an opportunity of making an orderly retreat without any great exposure to danger. But he did neither.
Francis Joseph made a visit to Berlin, and was received with great honor. The two principal German sovereigns reviewed the troops of Berlin, in front of the bronze statue of Bluecher. But Napoleon declared that the Empire meant peace, and the other great powers followed the example of England in recognizing his imperial government.
II , ch. vi, vii, and, by the same author, the book on Bluecher listed in the preceding paragraph; C. T. Atkinson, A History of Germany, 1715-1815 , almost exclusively a military history; H. A. L. Fisher, Studies in Napoleonic Statesmanship: Germany , instructive and stimulating.
Ropes considers that on the morning of the 17th Napoleon had thus far in the main fulfilled his programme. This view may be questioned. He had merely defeated two of the four Prussian corps; he had not wrecked Bluecher. He had failed to occupy Quatre Bras; the Anglo-Dutch army had succeeded in effecting a partial concentration and in repulsing his left wing there.
One of the most important naval battles of the war took place on January 24 in the North Sea between a British battle cruiser squadron under Vice-Admiral Sir David Beatty, comprising the battle cruisers Tiger, Lion, Princess Royal, New Zealand and Indomitable, assisted by a few light cruisers and destroyers, on the one hand, and on the other a German squadron, consisting of the battle cruisers Derflinger, Seydlitz and Moltke, the armored cruiser Bluecher, one of the finest in the Kaiser's navy, and several light cruisers.
In the justifiable belief that Ney was duly carrying out his orders Napoleon at half-past one opened the battle of Ligny. He had expected to have to deal with but a single Prussian corps, but the actual fact was that, while he had 74,000 men on the field, Bluecher had 87,000 with a superior strength of artillery. The fighting was long and severe.
Frederick Gurney, the grandson of the late Sir John Gurney, the notes of a "conversation with the Duke of Wellington and Baron Gurney and Mr. Justice Williams, Judges on Circuit, at Strath-fieldsaye House, on 24th February 1837." He said 'No, that was not so. I did not see Bluecher on the day before Waterloo. I saw him the day before, on the day of Quatre Bras.
In this manner was Germany a second time robbed of these provinces. The alarum formerly belonging to Frederick the Great was also missing. Napoleon had it on his person during his flight and made use of it at St. In 1271, an Ulric von Bluecher was bishop of Batzeburg. A legend relates that, during a time of dearth, an empty barn was, on his petitioning Heaven, instantly filled with corn.
At daybreak of the 15th Napoleon took the offensive, driving in Ziethen on and through Charleroi although not without sharp fighting. On that evening three French corps, the Guard, and most of the cavalry, were concentrated about Charleroi and forward toward Fleurus, ready to attack Bluecher next day.
Word Of The Day
Others Looking