Battle of Waterloo: French Cavalry Charge
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- Опубліковано 27 лис 2007
- A little before 16:00, Ney noted an apparent exodus from Wellington's centre. He mistook the movement of casualties to the rear for the beginnings of a retreat, and sought to exploit it. Following the defeat of d'Erlon's Corps, Ney had few infantry reserves left, as most of the infantry been committed either to the futile Hougoumont attack or to the defence of the French right. Ney therefore tried to break Wellington's centre with cavalry alone. Wellington's army responded by forming squares (hollow box-formations four ranks deep).
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_o...
From the movie Waterloo.
www.imdb.com/title/tt0066549/ - Розваги
“How can a man go forward with the cavalry without infantry support?!” *Every Total War player nods in agreement*
Foreal lol was thinking the same thing
Many battles have I lost charging the core with cavalry. A harsh lesson for any general.
Isn't that completely wrong though? Ney thought that he was pursuing a retreating enemy, infantry running after infantry is useless since they keep the same pace. Cav can run them down easily. What he needed was ARTILLERY, since it can smash infantry squares with ease. Cav is useless if they have to stick around with the infantry, they lose all their speed. Horse drawn artillery could be pretty damn fast.
It's kinda like rock paper scissors. Infantry square beats cavalry, artillery beats infantry square.
@@sdsd2e2321 Well getting into formation takes time. If the enemy is basicly immobile because of the threat of cavalry, you can move your troops into position. And if the enemy does try to run away then you run them down. But I do agree that artillery would also be really good.
Ney's charge made perfect sense, given his mistaken belief that Wellington was retreating, rather than simply transporting his wounded off the battlefield. Cavalry are typically unleashed in the immediate aftermath of a successful engagement, either to break the teetering morale of a wavering enemy, or to harry and pursue him while in retreat and inflict maximum casualties. Ney's stupidity was to persist with the cavalry charges after it became clear that Wellington was not retreating, but rather that the British infantry were fully prepared to receive him. Yet he did.
I love the way Napoleon speaks like a new york gangster. "What's the matta with you"
The English: All posh sounding gentlemen, accurate
The French: angry Italian from New York
Well he was ethnically Italian.
@@hellenicboi14 lmao that's true
He always spoke French with a noticeable corsican accent, so I guess this may actually be a somewhat accurate representation.
It's amazing what you can do with two divisions of the Red Army.
Also, 500 horses that are not frighten of explosions and activity. Most of the horses that are in military re-enactments are retired polo horses, because the are specially broken in for activity and noises and being around other horses.
Lieutenant Ivan Yes horse are not frightened but the men in square are frightened of charge instead. I remember reading somewhere that say during filming the square break several time despite the fact that the cavalry charge won't hit square directly.
The horse riders in the film came from a soviet cavalry unit.
@C caymer kewl can you do it in full galop, wearing armour and a saber?
@ So Waterloo was filmed roughly 20 years after WW2. The Soviet Union had dedicated cavalry divisions during WW2, and while the WW2 cavalry units mostly fought dismounted as infantry, they were probably *trained* in marching and drill with their horses - like any 19th century cavalryman.
So in 1960's Soviet Union, you would probably not be *too* hard pressed to find veteran cavalrymen in their 40's who had gone through the drills and rode in formation, albeit presumably not in combat. Go back further, and you could probably still find some veterans in their 60's who were around during the big cavalry battles of the Polish-Soviet war in the 1920's. A war that saw melee combat between cavalry - with sabres and all.
Finally, most armies keep cavalry guards units for ceremonial purposes who tend to keep old drills alive.
No CGI, that's expensive, amazing.
Ash ez Not as much as you'd think, most of the extras are soviet soldiers.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Waterloo_(1970_film)
Oliver H
Still rallying that many people to shoot a perfect scene takes some doing.
Ash ez But it helps tremendously when they are all soldiers used to doing as they are told and not requiring much training to march in formation...
if you using red army that wouldn't be expensive
You have to ask though what were the french thinking, charging on like that to a heavy well formed barricaded army. When you see the scene makes you wonder what the exact strategy was and why.
This looks more real and impressive than any film made in the last 20 years
Clembo The budgets of the movies in the mid 1900s would've been bigger than they are now.
Fernando Ramos you cant be serious mate
@@eafabregas inflation, mate
pretty sure it's more impressive than the real thing
More real? Really lol?
Director sees something wrong:
Stop stop stop! We are shooting this scene all over again.
God I can imagine the ensuing chaos🤣In fact, the director of this film, Sergei Bondarchuk, had multiple heart attacks when shooting similar huge scale battle scenes for his War and Peace epic.
“CUT! WROOOOOONG!” *BONK*
Camera man: “Wow that was a great scene. It’s going to look so good on the…. Wait a minute… I forgot to turn on the camera.”
@@giraffeman326 lmfao
@@giraffeman326 😂🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣
To recreate the battlefield "authentically", the Soviets bulldozed away two hills, laid five miles of roads, transplanted 5,000 trees, sowed fields of rye, barley and wildflowers and reconstructed four historic buildings. To create the mud, more than six miles of underground irrigation piping was specially laid. Most of the battle scenes were filmed using five Panavision cameras simultaneously - from ground level, from 100-foot towers, from a helicopter, and from an overhead railway built right across the location.[13][14] However, the authentic nature of the topography is questionable and has more to do with dramatic panoramic filmshots rather than topographical accuracy: in reality the Waterloo site is laid out as a series of low hillocks with few opportunities for long views. In particular La Haye Sainte is almost invisible from the north and west, sitting in a small south-facing hollow.
Bloody hell. And I thought all of the extras in the film was an impressive feat.
@@LoudaroundLincoln Soviet filmmakers did nothing halfway, makes their movies truly a sight to behold
@@whensomethingcriesagain as much as I hate the soviet union, they were definitely one of the most dedicated movie filmers in all of history
@@mad1478 they were also very dedicated at protecting their workers and their economy 👍glad I could let you know
@@hamish8790 hahaha
Wellington actually travelled through Belgium during the peace of 1814 and, oddly enough, surveyed areas for their tactical soundness - it may have been a hobby of his. He made special note of the ground around La Belle Alliance as being, in his mind, one of the best locations he had seen to stage a defensive action on the road to Brussels. He may have been a little crazy but in the end it meant he was very well prepared.
hobby. right. he was simply the finest general of his time. as a general, he never lost.
He got an officer of the Royal Engineers to do the actual survey work but he was the one who issued the order.
@@knotkool1 He was loosing Waterloo lol. He only avoided bigger army of his time and capitalized on Prussia to save him.
@Sherlock Whole mess it didn't really work, even Wellington himself said it.
@Sherlock Whole mess blantantly defeat France on its own ? Tf ? He was loosing, his line was dead, Prussia did the job. His tactic failed, he couldnt hold even with ground advantage and if it wasn't because they outnumbered the french, it would have been a massacre at the end
A film today would use CGI.
Waterloo used the red army.
And they are wearing RED uniforms.
The Red Army seems to have had an astounding number of trained horsemen in 1970.
@@MichaelLee-tt7gm They brought in cavalry from all over europe actually. The foot soldiers are all red army though
and use germans prisioners to die
Red are chads
Came back to watch this masterpiece after seeing Ridley Scott's garbage.
Yes! This movie is a half century older and the cinematography gives you a much more grand view of the battle than the similar square formation scene from "Napoleon". That movie makes it look like a small skirmish. This movie really demonstrates the epic scale and ferocity of these battles.
>charging cav without infantry
campaign only player spotted
+Ihaz Noame fuckin CA-SUAL TOTAL WAR NOOBS ALWAYS DO THAT HAHAHA
+Ihaz Noame I would just pound the squares with unicorns, because I can.
Ihaz Noame damn it, ney should have used unrestricted camera to see that the infantry formed square
Who calls it 'cav'?
@@spacebeam6480 most people.
The British gunners must have had bigger balls than the ones they were firing to leave it that late before withdrawing into the squares. Those last stragglers practically had French hooves and sabres up their arses by the time they got to safety.
And one battery commanded by captain mercer didn’t abandon their guns at all, they held their ground and saw the cavalry off repeatedly through canister shot and the bodies forming an obstruction to hinder subsequent charges.
@@darman12able Mercer was worried that if they left, an adjoining unit of Brunswickers who looked rather shaky would flee the field, so that was the main reason he stayed put.
@@stevekaczynski3793 Mercer was a top lad
@@darman12able Boy, That must have been frightening. That’s a Victoria Cross-type action if there is one.
@@infinitecanadian Bit difficult getting a Victoria Cross in Georgian times.
Fun fact: If you wondered why the squares were shown breaking up and dissolving its mostly because the extras were panicking
Without this movie, I can not imagine how different Lord of the Rings would have been under Peter Jackson. This was one of the inspirations for Peter Jackson for the Ride of the Rohirrim.
Really?
During the Napoleonic era square formations with interlocking supporting fire would defeat a cavalry charge any day if the formations were formed in time. Most of the horses would simply refuse to charge into the formation when they saw a way to run around it. Once that initial charge was over with, the horses would start to get tired and slow down, making the riders easy targets. Once spend, the cavalry would just run away and regroup somewhere out of sight. Also by this time large cavalry formations had become prime artillery targets and would sometimes be decimated even before they closed with the enemy - a tactic that Napoleon came up with and was then in-turn used to great effect against him towards the end of the war.
Yup, the warhorse of the middle ages, willing to actually charge into a wall of spears was long gone... Even then they rarely did that. But a square formation like this is horribly vulnerable to artillery.
Fun fact: The British specifying "Fire at the horse!"/"Shoot at the horses!" is a show of desperation since troops were usually trained to attack the rider instead. So cavalrymen with their sabers were taught to aim high (and with saber fencing it's the same targets, which is how I learned this), killing the rider but leaving the horse ready to be captured. War Horses were uite an investment - particularly in the time department as you had to condition horses to NOT try to swerve or panic when a battle is going on. So capturing war horses alive and relatively unhurt was actually a damn good thing economically - you get more remounts for your own soldiers, and if you have too many you can always sell them for a nice profit. And for a long time, loot was a very important supplement - no, an expectation - for a soldier's income.
+Luke Danger Thanks for the fun fact, you've taught me something outside of school today. The more you know!:)
+Tunaland Gaming Yeah m2
Actually firing at the horses was the common practice when the infantry is in the square formation. If the volley is fired at the exact right time and distance, it could take an entire line of cavalry down and begin to create a pile of bodies that would form up over time and make it impossible for the living cavalrymen to get to the square. Basically they intentionally killed the horses to avoid the rest of the men from getting to them via a wall of dead bodies.
Luke Danger the horse would present bigger targets I presume
There is a recorded case of a French square being broken at the battle of Vitoria in the Peninsular War of 1812.
In retreat, being pursued by the KGL - I think - they formed square against the cavalry charge. Unfortunately, they left the volley too late, though they killed the horses, one of them had its momentum carry it forward and it broke through the square ranks before dying. The ones behind it exploited the opening, got in and wreaked havoc. The square broke and was annihilated.
In reality Ney intended for infantry to follow the charge. He intended to force the enemy into squares which would make them very vulnerable to infantry and artillery.
Either through mis communication or Napoleon thinking the risk too great, no support came for Ney. Had infantry been sent in, Neys attack would likely be considered a great success that saved the army,
Edit: upon further reading it seems to be the case that all available infantry reserves were hurriedly redirected to the village of Plancenmois on the French right, to face the arriving Prussians, the young guard was sent and even the old guard were required at one stage. It was this draining of French reserves that arguably saved Wellingtons centre
Maybe miscommunication, napoleon was very aggresive in his tactics
Still the Square Formation was very devastating for cavalry cavalry are very good at manuevering in the battlefield as the French Currasier are quite elite cavalry Marshall Ney expect support from infantry and artillery but he was too hasty in decision to charge head on they never expected that many British have form many square formation with reserves inside and great officers that saw combat during the Peninsular War were always presented there
@@aldrichcruz9321
The French intended for the British to form squares, because squares are very east for cannons and infantry to destroy
@@rhysnichols8608 well are the French infantry busy fighting other Regiments what happened to Ney Old Guard where are they why aren't they supporting him when he's leading the charge on cavalry horse ride?
@@a_skellington to think of it Ney couldn't have infantry reserved in center with artillery supporting they were very very busy with other strong adversary you see the British are quite a formidable foe these guys have been in combat experience while some or few have been reassigned and were Veteran of the Peninsular War in Spain Ney would expect support from Artillery and Infantry but they were caught up from other Regiments that is hindering the Infantry their progress Wellington have been in Belgium to study the terrain and other plain of roads areas and wide range of battlefield to come up a battle strategy he need to seek other coalition Allied to help that was exceptional since all Nations tried to oppress Napoleons Regime till Prussia in secret are in a stage of hatred and vengeance for the humility they received from recent worst defeat from Napoleon and his Grand Army that's why Blucher promise the people of Prussia they will have revenge also I forgot to mention Austria is apart of it as well they were offering the coalition some volunteer regiment for their same thing from Prussia they send some Skirmishers and Rankers and link up with Prussian Cavalry to match the French Currasier Cavalry since they were Mixed with French Polish Cavalry men Lancer and Hussar also Also the Warsaw of Poland favored Napoleon for his allegiance and till Poland fuck that up and were pushed back and in return of a peace treaty by the Russians and British Expedition leaving Napoleon no allies to call
online napoleon total war player: Charge cavalry into a seemingly undefended artillery inside a forest
My jager: Oh yeah its all coming together.
0:30 I'd imagine how back then, it'd be terrifying to be in the squares. Think about it. You got cavalry all over the place. If all the rifleman opened fire, there's a chance you'd friendly fire another person in a different square.
When it happened way back then, the squares were positioned in diamond formation and spread out far enough that even if they missed the enemy's charging cavalry units, the shots couldn't go far enough to hit allied forces due to drop-off.
That's muskets not rifles 😁 less accuracy
it would be a scary sight, but tactically speaking it's a very safe position to engage cavalry from
had the same chance to hit the enemy as you would a friend
@@amitmangsulikar7153 Rifles were still used by skirmishers during the Napoleonic wars
RIP Christopher Plummer, you did a great job in this movie
Just realised that Wellington is played by Plummer. Sublime actor
Ney made a similar attack in Jena. He was as dangerous to the French Army as he was to it's enemy
that was fake movie...
Had his horse shot from under him 5 times apparently.
....and twice as bulletproof
Ney was the Bravest of the Brave. He wasn't the smartest of the smart.
I don't know about Jena, but he did at Qatre Bras, I believe one or two days before Waterloo.
There can't be such a big reenactment group :D
Columbia Pictures published a 28-page, full-colour pictorial guide when it released Waterloo in 1970. According to the guidebook, Italian producer Dino De Laurentiis had difficulty finding financial backers for the massive undertaking until he finally began talks with the Russians in the late 1960s and reached agreement with the Mosfilm organization. Final costs were over £12 million (UK) (equivalent to about US $38.3 million in 1970), making Waterloo, for its time, one of the most expensive movies ever made. Had the movie been filmed in the West, costs might have been as much as three times this. Mosfilm contributed more than £4 million of the costs, nearly 16,000 soldiers of the Soviet Army, a full brigade of Soviet cavalry, and a host of engineers and labourers to prepare the battlefield in the rolling farmland outside Uzhhorod, Ukraine (then part of the Soviet Union).
To recreate the battlefield authentically, the Russians bulldozed away two hills, laid five miles of roads, transplanted 5,000 trees, sowed fields of rye, barley and wildflowers and reconstructed four historic buildings. To create the mud, more than six miles of underground irrigation piping was specially laid. Most of the battle scenes were filmed using five Panavision cameras simultaneously-from ground level, from 100 foot towers, from a helicopter, and from an overhead railway built right across the location.
Actual filming was accomplished over 28 weeks, which included 16 days of delay (principally due to bad weather). Many of the battle scenes were filmed in the summer of 1969 in often sweltering heat. In addition to the battlefield in Ukraine, filming also took place on location in Caserta, Italy, while interior scenes were filmed on the large De Laurentiis Studios lot in Rome. A massive quantity of period props were built by E. Rancati and hundreds of pairs of footwear were supplied by Pompei.[2]
Months before the cameras started filming, the 16,000 Soviet Army soldiers began training to learn 1815 drill and battle formations, as well as the use of sabres, bayonets and handling cannon. A selected 2,000 additional men were also taught to load and fire muskets. This army lived in a large encampment next to the battlefield. Each day after breakfast, they marched to a large wardrobe building, donned their French, British or Prussian uniforms and fifteen minutes later were in position. The soldiers were commanded by officers who took orders from director Sergei Bondarchuk by walkie-talkie. To assist in the direction of this huge, multi-national undertaking, the Russian director had four interpreters permanently at his side: one each for English, Italian, French and Serbo-Croatian.
jim l I had never heard of the film until this clip was linked to me on a forum, but after reading your comment, I'm going to be watching it as soon as I can. The lengths that they went to in order to create realistic battles before proper CGI is simply amazing, thank you for the explanation!
+jim l If you think that GTA 5 had a budget of 265 Million and Pirates of the Caribbean (the third one) had 300 million, it's really insane what budgets are this days and for what they are used to for. Well at least as far as movies are involved, games are a whole different world
+Jokester The Mighty
You should take into account that $40 million in ~1970 is worth roughly as much as $300 Million today due to inflation.
Anybody else wanna see a movie like this made in modern day with no CGI whatsoever
I love the effect of a few of the squares routing, it makes it really authentic.
It’s kind of false though, the only time the famous British square was recorded “broken” (i.e. routed) was during the Sudan War at the Battle of Abu Klea and even that was false because the breach was small and they immediately reformed and contained the enemy combatants. The squares during Waterloo only moved to allow wounded and stragglers in, otherwise they stood firm and ripped the French cavalry to shreds.
@@LordHoth_09 yeah, squares wouldn't usually rout
2 days before waterloo, ney had destroyed(the squares didn't rout, they were practically destroyed) British and allied squares at Quatre Bras, but that too when there werent nearly as much squares as at waterloo, the squares were widely dispersed and formed at different times of the battle and it took the entire French reserve heavy cavalry to break them( like an entire heavy cavalry corps to break just 2-3 isolated squares if i remember)
And at waterloo, no squares were broken, and the experience of quatre bras meant that French heavy cavalry commanders actually tried to not mention the heaviest cavalry units to Ney cause they didn't wanted them to be destroyed as they knew the charges would be futile
(Although ney eventually found this out and had them committed cause he,and even later on Napoleon, thought that as the charges had begun it was better to keep the momentum going)
Those were the actors being scared by the horses even though the director said the horses wouldn’t ram into the squares
@@MrBiplaneDude Pretty cool if that's true, do you have a source for it?
It must be one hell of an experience to participate in this. It must've feel like you're actually in Waterloo with that amount of people and smoke around.
Those bloody squares were beautiful.
They were bloody you mean. Quite literally.
@@Malamockqthat's why it's beutiful
@@einerheit5871 You sound demented. The FBI should investigate you.
French cavalry looked better
@@raymondacbot4007 The French cavalry did look better. As corpses.
I came from the latest Stuntmen React episode in Corridor Crew.
Some of these aerial shots are fecking magnificent, with the sheer number of horses and people and the smoke covering them
The artillerymen running to the squares is a nice detail.
I love war battle movies like Waterloo or War and Peace which were made in the 1950s 1960s. No CGI, real armies, real explosions, real artillery, real fire, real horses, and real open field. The film Waterloo (1970) was shot in Ukraine, 15,000 Soviet soldiers wearing British and French Napoleonic uniforms.
A big blow to Ney's charge was the location of a "sunken road" at the base of the plateau that the English were stationed on. The road was something like 10 feet deep and 10 feet wide and the French cavalry charged right into it. It took a lot of time and dead Frenchmen and their horses to fill up and blunted a lot of the momentum of the charge.
What surprises me is that it was the Soviets that made this and not some western nation. Really cool. Also this really shows how horses having a mind of their own unlike cars and tanks could really mess things up in a battle.
Much better than the 2023 Napoleon movie. This 1970 co-production with the Soviet Red Army is a masterpiece !!
I believe that Ridley Scott abbreviated many portions of the battle when he filmed it, so timelines and specific incidents and true movements are abbreviated for time sick, trying to film it all within a 2 and a 1/2 hour movie he had to cut corners someplace, I supposed to Napoleon's life being a 3 part Mini series or something I believe the battle of waterloo could have been shown better in a 4 or 6 hour, 3 part Thing
@@Defender78regardless, people who make that argument and ridley scott himself forgot what made Napoleon great. It wasn't the social life or how he rose to such a prominent position. It was the fact he changed warfare while his opponents were out numbering him, out gunning him, and yet he was quicker and thought outside the box, his downfall was that his opponents eventually did the same. Nobody dared to oppose or make light of him until after he was defeated, put in a chokehold and spit on. Napoleon sucked, Waterloo is much superior and they did it in 2 hours....if he really wanted to fit every detail about Napoleon on film, he should have made a show. Except he didnt, he decided to poke fun at him and focus on weird garbage. And that is why they'll piss on his grave.
@@Defender78 It's not just abbreviating things for plot, which is understandable when you're making a biopic. Watch the scene in 2023 "Napoleon" with cavalry charging into infantry in square formation and compare it with this. With all of the modern techniques and cgi, they make the battle of Waterloo look like a small skirmish while the film "Waterloo" is able to show a very similar scene and give you a much better sense of the epic scale of these battles. Ridley Scott was just being a lazy director.
OUR MEN R RUNNIN FRUM DEH BATTURFIELD MAH LAWRD. SHAMEFRU DISPRAY.
Wrong time period wrong country wrong continent
Hahahah
Only HALF our forces remains
@@NapoleonBonaparde Shamefur Dispray still applies to the bullshit Ney is pulling here though
one of the most epic scenes ever
Those Soviet troops must have had a blast, I would have loved to do something like this while in the military.
The best war scene ever filmed.
this is the kind of war movie we need, screw CGI, nowadays its all about explosion but no depth of how war supposed to be
vn01208503 Unfortunately the world will never see this awesomeness again. Too expensive compared to crummy CGI. :'(
EmpiricalPragmatist i know :( i remember watching old war movie like saving private ryan when movie show how brutality a war could be. Nowadays, its too much CGI and main characters just running back n forth to be a hero. THey need to show the soldiers around him more as their role also important
The problem is most of these extra are soldiers from the Soviet Union that lend the film makers manpower to film, Russia or any country today would not lend soldiers for the sake of filming. Plus paying extras today are not that cheap.
I agree, but some cgi is needed for tracers.
They could make this movie, but better today with CGI. In those long distance shots no one would be able to tell a difference. You non-CGI fanatics are so boring
Damn. I always wondered about how much friendly fire there was between the British soldiers in those formations.
My absolute favorite sequence from the movie. The aerial shots are breathtaking.
Real soldiers on real horses! What a challenge to choreograph this historic battle!
Ehe, I always chuckle when Napoleon goes "What's that matter with you?!"
0:22 onwards gave me goosebumps. Holy shit.
How the hell did they manage to get the Red Army to just hand over a division and just let Sergei just refight Waterloo?
The British: invent Marquess of Queensbury Rules.
Also the British: “SHOOT AT THE HORSES!!!”
Wow! Those aerial shots of the squares are amazing! I wish movies would use shots like that and not just go straight to cgi.
Lord Wellington knows his ground and he defeated the french calvary.
Amazing , and the view of the battlefield from above is terrifying. Pretty good.
Definitely won’t see movies made like this anymore
@aspiringdrummer17, It wasn't exactly a stalemate by 7:00 pm during the battle. Wellington was about to be crushed, and it was only a matter of time. Even the Duke acknowledged that he was very close to defeat. I have to admit that he is very good when fighting on the defense.
Fun fact: after the capture of Haye Sainte, Ney was able to advance horse artillery and skirmishers, this artillery was able to pulverize Wellington's squares with grapeshot at close range, two entire regiments (30 and 73) had to join to form a consistent square, another regiment the 27th suffer almost 500 casualties after many hours holding the fire from la haye sainte
French cavalryman: What could go wrong if we ride between squares of enemy troops that will shoot at us?
FORM SQUARE!
(1:30 Forms Triangle)
YOURE DOING IT WRONG!!
XD
The Squares was a deadly formation as it created lots of kill zones.
goddammit Ney!
such a fool
Danox94 He didn't know that Wellington moved the army back 100 paces behind the hills, did he?
No, but he should have waited.
Fuckn Ney
Get f***ing ney-ney, Napoleon boi.
Wellington was a great General, he took the right decision by leaving "quatre bras" crossroads and then taking good defensive positions at "Mont St Jean" , waiting for Blucher reinforcement.
Few people know he was a foreign student in a French military school (Angers, France) !!
Wellington had no option but to give up the ground regained at Quatre Bras - the Prussian withdrawal had left him horribly exposed. Finding out as late as he did, he was lucky that the weather turned bad and there was a complete lack of French reaction which allowed him to pull back to the ridge at Mont St Jean. Napoleon was not best pleased.
all hail the might the power the tenacity of the infantry square facing down calvary
This looks expensive.
The commies made it
Even Marshal Davout's military career is completely flawless of defeats, since he was the only commander of his time who was never defeated in battle.
Krasny seemed like a defeat to me
One of the most magnificent moments in wonderful film...
This was a pretty big blunder from the French side. Beside failing to get Wellingston's reserve forces to commit on the left side, this was one of the main reasons why they lost the battle at Waterloo.
Ney was right to attack he correctly sensed weakness, mis communication or confusion ruined it. If infantry had been sent in, the British squares would’ve been decimated. Ney intended this to happen, but his support never came
The pure laziness of films made today by Hollywood. Smh the bastardization.
What a beautiful scene, if only modern movies did more stuff like this.
well i mean if you can get a couple army divisions of the Russian army to make a film knock your self out
11 years later and this comment still holds up
Esse ano vai ter o filme de Napoleão com Joaquim Phoenix! Vai mostrar essa cena
@@hugopabst4886 that film is so trash, unfortunately
Im floored at this masterpiece. You just cant get the same thing from cgi. Each individual man with a duty to make the battle look as authentic as possible. If the soviet union was good for anything, it was that they could call up vast amounts of manpower to do something like this.
Just before French cavalry charge, English troops were stepping back in order to prevent them from intensive shelling.
Ney has clearly been misled by redcoats deployment (ordered by Wellington), thinking, by error, retreat began .. Wellington took care of his troops !
Do not blame Ney too much: great cavalry charges was used successfully in other battles, as Eylau ( 8,000 riders charge, more than Waterloo !!).
It was reported, Napoleon himself spoke about a huge cavalry movement ...
wow I such awesome footage that gives you a feeling of being at waterloo , I heard they had trouble keeping the actors in formation during these cavalry scenes as even though its pretend the sheer sight of a cavalry charge was terrifying to men not used to it and they ended up routing lol
Fun fact:
During the filming of the cavalry charge scenes, the directors had the problem with the discipline of the extras (who were, as we know, actual soviet soldiers). Confronted with a bunch of horses charging right at them, many would drop the muskets and run, despite the obvious fact that it was all choreographed and fake and filming of a movie, not a real battle. So only after repeated failures did they make those guys stand still and withstand the charge. Now imagine what kind of balls you would need to stand still when actual cavalry is coming to actually kill you in an actual battle? Crazy.
no matter how many times I watch this scene.... it still gives me chills
With a name like Brighton I'm not surprised-think of England!
The reveal of how many squares there are is honestly a bit terrifying with that music
Thank you very much for the lesson. There is a simple strategy game around the net that lets you play as Napoleon in Waterloo. Out of all the possible moves, only 1 keads to victory, wich included that his men head to fight very harshly, making it a non-glorious victory anyway.
Napoleon simply couldn't win, after the bad decisions by Ney for example. He still remains one of the greatest strategists of all times, especially at Austerlitz. See next comment for question.
Wow this is 14 years old
@@santiagoamado9056 I still wanna know what the game is called
@@kadenproductions9056 Napoleon Total war
@@santiagoamado9056 I actually have that, I ended up finding the game he was talking about but its defunct because flash is gone
@@kadenproductions9056 considering how old this message is, its probably the game called ''waterloo'' by Personal Software Services, though i haven't played it and its pretty old, there are probably videos about it on youtube
If Ney had spiked the guns the french would have probably won
A fair depiction of the squares hiding behind a relatively small rise in what appeared to be almost featureless terrain. The bloody part for Wellington's army was pretending to stand, then retreating behind the rise, where they were arrayed in squares, waiting for just such a blunder by the French. There's no question. Wellington knew what he was doing. But he had to let his front lines get chewed up by the classic French combined-arms attack, to provoke the ill-fated charge(s). Skirmishers, Cavalry and Artillery made life a living hell for Bonaparte's enemies. You had to form square against cavalry. Then skirmishers would pick them off like flies and one cannon ball could take out a dozen or more men in those packed formations. If they spread out to combat the skirmishers and artillery, the cavalry would swoop in and destroy them.
One account I read said they didn't just charge over that rise ONCE, but regrouped and tried AGAIN, even though for the second attempt, they KNEW the British were waiting for them. The French artillery could've done a lot more damage to those squares with indirect fire, firing just over the crest, and they were doing just that, when the cavalry got tired of waiting and blundered it all away.
Squares weren't perfect. Damn near, though. But as described in other comments, a dead horse (and rider) could still plow into a square on sheer momentum, and once one square was broken, there was a good chance others would be broken by their own men from the broken squares, fleeing in terror for the "safety" of the next square. It could cascade into a rout, even if you were formed in square. It was rare, but it was spectacular when it happened.
This all begs the question "What the hell kind of leaders would make it come down to such horrific battles?"
I’ve heard accounts that the horses would simply refuse to charge into the pointed rows of bayonets so the French cavalrymen, out of frustration, would fire off their flintlocks or throw their lances into the squares like javelins with the weakest points of the formation being on the corners.
If an enemy nation declares war on you, you have little choice but to fight, unfortunately war is very profitable, and private banks lend money at interest.
Neys cavalry charge was sound, had infantry been brought up the squares would’ve been decimated. This was clearly Neys intention to force them into square then use infantry to crush them. Clearly there was a communication error
this is a huge production nice
"Think of England..." repeats Lord James Hay until shot in the head. That bullet, you'd be forgiven for thinking, didn't come too soon. Two days late, as it happens, since he was killed at Quatre Bras whilst serving as aide-de-camp to General Maitland. Oh and as a Scot, I really doubt he'd have shouted any such thing!
Bryon Adamson I think any officer in the squares shouted more to the tune of, "Kill the Garlic-eating bastards!"
I think back then, the term 'England' was synonymous with 'Britain'; thus, it perhaps induced no difference. However, thou mayst be correct anyway.
Maitland's regiment was English...
pity it was nae Nicola sturgeon and the SNP
Seeing as the French all had sabers and lances out who shot the poor fellow? And Maitland's regiment was English, despite Lord Hay being a Scot.
if only Murrat not pursuing his personal 'King-ing' this battle would be a different stories. Also, for note that Marshall Davout not sitting on Paris instead of fucking idiotic Grouchy who pursued the Prussian with failure. This battle will be on France hands. And yes i forgot about a mysterious death of Napoleon Chief of staff Berthier, right before the brussels campaign started.
Yep. Davout was seriously needed here. I honestly believe that if he had been involved in the campaign, then there would not have been a Prussian army to join up with Wellington. Possibly no battle defending Mont St Jean at all.
You can say that about pratically any battle...draw back strategically and Napoleon was never winning this campaign. The British would only have gotten stronger
@@Robskit6 Highly unlikely...the British and Prussians were hellbent on linking up and coordinated extremely well...testament to Wellington's diplomacy as well as generalship.
He fought at Waterloo, a. because he'd picked the ground the year before, but b. and more importantly he had instructed blucher to be there the next day and knew he was coming.
If he hadn't know that, both would have retreated on Brussels to unite in strength.
@@angloirishcad Davout wont make the same mistake Grouchy did though that was the point. And Berthier dying was a bigger blow to Napoleon since his his normal cryptic orders was not connveyed properly to his Marshals.
@@senpainoticeme9675 Both armies had many drawbacks...Wellington didn't have many of his best regiments (in America) and had to command a hastily assembled multi-national force, most of whom wouldn't have served under him before.
Either way, we can't know that Davout would have actually stopped Blucher from arriving. Maybe he would have marched to the battle, but then both Blucher and Davout would both reach the battle.
The key point is that Wellington and Blucher coordinated extremely well and it was very unlikely that the French would be able to stop them from unifying and forming a stronger force than Napoleons.
Wellington deserves a lot of credit for this, in terms of his planning and diplomatic skills. Napoleon was used to dysfunctional enemies who often didn't coordinate properly.
Napoleon : Bagguette , i am leaving for 1 minute , dont you dare do-
The Officer after sniffing 3 gram of gunpowder : *Its Charging time*
what an amazing cinematic achievement this is will likely never be equalled
Oh look it's the Red Army, seriously tho the scale of this movie is insane
Yes, by December '41 it was clear that the attack had been a strategic failure. I thought your point was that the USSR was unbeatable no matter what its enemies would have done.
For the Germans, two main reasons why '41 was a failure:
- Hitler's decision not to press on to Moscow at the end of July, but to divert forces to the north and south. Moscow was the main industrial and political center of the USSR, but also a critical transport hub.The Moscow-Leningrad railway would have been cut, too.
You can see these hardened Soviet soldiers, break formation at the sight of a faux heavy cavalry charge. A real charge must have been terrifying on a magnitude beyond modern comprehension, and required inhuman discipline to stand.
That is by and far the most insanely packed cast of extras I have ever seen in one film - fuck, THE TEN COMMANDMENTS had a smaller cast than this!
"some animals were harmed in the making of this film"
I know my first ancestor to come from England (William Gibbard), Immigrated to the Republic Of Texas in 1839 when he was 20 years old, I often wonder if any of his relatives fought at Waterloo, or Trafalgar, or any of the other British battles against Napoleon. Even as a brash and boorish American, I'd take pride in knowing the service, battles, and Rank and File of my English ancestors.
Know What I Mean?
This movie looks more real than the actual Waterloo war
You neveropend a history book to say such rubbish
Спасибо, Кэп. Твоя помощь неоценима!
A lesson learned from Napoleon's failure would be, "The time will come when subordinates need to act independently. Therefore, help them to develop as leaders. If you micromanage everything, subordinates will not know what to do in your absence."
I think it's awesome how they wait for the horses, then open fire
Nice format.
Surely one of the most majestic scenes in cinema history, the organising of this beggars the mind and I don't think the words... take 22 action, was ever heard. 10,000 horses were killed a Waterloo, yet another tragic figure to go with the 50,000 men killed..
2019 Game of Thrones Dothraki charge. My view @ 1:17
Hahahaha
Funnily enough, even though they knew how it would go, and that it was obviously fake and a movie capture, the people playing the english ran away several times during cavalry charges because of how terrifying they were to them. And many of these people were soldiers of the Red Army and many took part in WW2.... That's to say about the terror factor of a cavalry charge on the mind of the infantry especially when you know they are REALLY charging you.
Great Battle scenes !
You know what i love about this film, and old films which large battles. It's the directing, planning and the AMOUNT OF PEOPLE INVOLVED!
They didn't have CG back then, but didn't need it. Sure it was a lot of money to get that many people, costumes, props and a location to cause some mayhem in. But the end result is fantastic. It's believable. I don't deny the great use CG can be put to but now it's small numbers of people duplicated into entire cg armies, or just models with simple AI.
1:25Top 5 officer betray general
Typical of inept officers same as our British officers in Great World War.
What is Ney doing!?
TurpDotNet He's mistaking the retreat behind the ridge to get out of the artillery fire for a full-out retreat and decides he'll give Wellington the coup de grace.
Sorry was quoting the film lol!
+TurpDotNet I think Ney mounted a similar frontal assault against eh Russians which was successful, but at Waterloo it didn't work
@@fdsdh1 i think he did something similar at Borodino... could easily be wrong though
Can you imagine all the drifting horses on the field after the battle?
Its a shame that we will never seen another film with numbers like this again
Being a frenchman i find it interesting reading your comments , you seem to know a lot about that crucial battle and i respect that, being on the losing end is not really easy to swallow but i just wonder if Wellington realized the irony of the fact he was fighting a battle to preserve European royalty versus an Europe being sweeped ( the wrong way by war ) by new revolutionary ideas ( freedom of the press and speeche and an extensive "civil code" .My point of vue of the battle?
Had Napoleon won at Waterloo, he would have still lost to the Austrians and Russians
*Cavalry charge*
Duke of Wellington: "FORM A SQUARE FORMATION TO DEFEND AGAINST CAVALRY!"
French's Cannon: "I'm 'bout to end this man's whole career."
Doesn’t really work when Wellington’s victory at this battle basically made his career.
The guy became prime minister
@@helwrecht1637 Wellington won at Waterloo because Napoleon's fight in a rush condition. The Prussia army is coming closer and closer and Wellington knows that he can win if he can stall them. That's why Napoleon has to fight the unwinnable battle. If Prussia isn't coming to help, Wellington could be just another fallen guy.
awesome birds eye view.
The best depiction of Waterloo battle 👍👍👍
Can I leave the field for a minute?!
God I love that line