This is one of the best recounting of the British, Hanoverian, and Nassau light troop who defenced Hougoument at the battle of Waterloo I've seen in a long time. Thank you.
And soooooo many of them. And despite this they never pronounce Blücher's name correctly. After all this time and so many bloody docs, could somebody get his fu**ing name right?
@@koekum oh I noticed alright. I recheck the figures of the allied troops on the Warfare History Network. So the garrison of Hougoumont consisted of; 800 men of the 1st Battalion of the 2nd Regiment (1st/2nd) of Nassau. the light companies of the 2nd/2nd and 2nd/3rd British Foot Guards, (about 200 men). a company of the Hanoverian Feld-Jäger (about 100 men). That's a force of 1,100 Allies defending the farm building initially reinforcement where sent of Allies troops so altogether during time the Battle of Waterloo lasted 3500 defended Hougoumont with about 1500 killed or wounded. But what is important was the Allied troops tied up about 14, 000 French Troops who were much needed to reinforce the center of the French line. The French killed in the attack on just Hougoumont were put at 7500. For the Allies during the campaign against Napoleon suffered around 22,000 casualties thats men who were killed, wounded, or captured. The French however lost about 40,000 men killed or wounded or captured during Napoleon's campaign.
and of course, the location just happened to be led by a colonel, who personally saved Wellesley himself, in charge of a rifle company who were all crack shots, alongside a sergeant who wielded by a multi-barrel gun
Exceptional. I've read and watched many accounts of the defence of Hougoument - this is the clearest account, with excellent visual aids linking the account into a clear and understandable timeline. Well done!
@@BattleGuideVT The perspsctive added by the drone work is exceptional. The layout of the buildings, gardens and orchards is more plain to see. Great story telling!
The buildings had been degrading steadily in the 00's and early 10's. The famous gate had been damaged twice by a wrong move with a tractor. For a long time we were worried that it would remain in a decrepit state, but they certainly were able to clean it up nicely.
Wellington having a complete engineering map of the battlefield made a huge difference! Plus thp fact that he could count on Bloucher's force coming if humanly possible mada huge difference. He could have fought to a standatill without Bloucher but with the Prussians Napoleans flank could be turned? Brillant I never heard the supply officer story before! What an unlikely hero to the story. Thank you.
Waterloo was a french department, just a few years prior, and it has been mapped well before that. Blucher marching from Wavre to Mont St Jean is the true miracle, nothing on the map explains it, they must have marched ankle deep in the mud.
Not actually- Wellington's centre was close to being ruptured just nefore 7 pm..... the arrival of Vivian and Vandeleur's cavalry brigades from the left wing to the centre stabilized the situation. Furthermore, the Prussian arrival halfway into the battle had forced Napoleon to divert almost 20% of his army to try and stop their advance. The Prussian arrival allowed Vivian and Vandeleur to move to the centre at the crisis point there. General Vivian himself highly acknowledged in his memoirs that the Prussian arrival was the reason for victory.
Very nice 3D model and superb narration. 2:00 : Anglo-allied army > the expression 'anglo-dutch' ignores the presence of Belgians and several large German contingents in the army. and 7:00 one shouldn't ignore the several Dutch-Belgian brigades in the centre too. Napoeon's specific orders was for Jerome to take the woods of Hougoumont which he accomplished within one hour. Napoleon could not see the chateau directly, with the woods in the way. 13:15 : The first battery to fire at Waterloo was German , Cleve's KGL battery firing at a column moving toward Hougoumont. 16:00 : around an hour after Jerome started his attack, Ney actually personally ordered one of Foy's brigades (Tissert) to join the attack. These were the troops that first attacked the orchard area, with engineers getting to the hedgeline and hacking the thick bushes down with axes. The French didn't retreat fully back, but engaged in firefights at the orchard border line at that moment. 17:45 : Germans were also in the defence during this episode. One recalled his hand getting chopped by a French attackers axe. 19:00 : It should be noted, what is ignored by most Waterloo books > the diversion sucked a lot of Wellington's reserves towards Hougoumont by 2 pm. Wellington first sent down Byng's guards brigade into Hougoumont as mentioned, which lefy a gap that was filled by bringing up the reserve of the Brunswick Legion, quickly, these were largey deployed closer to Hougoumone, and in their place came Adam's British Light infantry brigade also from reseve position.... which by mid afternoon was pushed forward in the open ground between Hougoumont and the main line. Around the same time, the KGL brigade of DuPlat and H.Halkett's Hanoverian brigades were also brought forward from the reserve in direct back line support of Hougoumont. The idea that by mid afternoon Hougoumont was defended by a steadily shriinking group of defenders is quite wrong; they had massive support from reinforcing and suppoting battalions helping defend in and around the buildings. So, all in all, Jerome accomplished his mission of taking the woods and Wellington poured his reserves on his right towards the frontline in and behind Hougoumont. The French made several breaking into the Hougoumont complex altogether. If Jerome's attack had captured the chateau, writers would be praising him as a determined heroic leader rather than his status now as a stubborn waster of troops.
Thanks for an excellent video. I was lucky enough to visit the battlefield last October and was having difficulty envisioning how each line was laid out. This made it clear to me. If you can make it there be sure to go. It is well worth it with a lot to see.
Thanks for your work. Bones are rare. After Waterloo, more than 27K tons of human/animal bones from Napoleonic battlefields were imported through the port of Hull to be processed into fertilizer. The young soldiers still had good teeth and these were used to make dentures, they were called "Waterloo teeth" at the time.
@@brandonzhou2233 It is ! The dentures provided (as it was called) a "Healthy Waterloo Smile" for London's elite. All this is not only valid for the dead from Waterloo but also for the heroes from The Charge Of The Light Brigade. Sources from the 1860s report that bones from the Crimean War (1853-1856) were transported to England as well, and in 1881 a newspaper reported that skeletons from the Russo-Turkish War (1877-1878) were found in a shipload of bones in the port of Hull. Currently "historians" are trying to rewrite this ugly episode in British history.
@@martinb4272 Those were different times. The dentures provided (as it was called) a "Healthy Waterloo Smile" for London's elite. All this is not only valid for the dead from Waterloo but also for the heroes from The Charge Of The Light Brigade. Sources from the 1860s report that bones from the Crimean War (1853-1856) were transported to England as well, and in 1881 a newspaper reported that skeletons from the Russo-Turkish War (1877-1878) were found in a shipload of bones in the port of Hull. Currently "historians" are trying to rewrite this ugly episode in British history.
@@martinb4272 Those were different times. The dentures provided (as it was called) a "Healthy Waterloo Smile" for London's elite. All this is not only valid for the dead from Waterloo but also for the heroes from The Charge Of The Light Brigade. Sources from the 1860s report that bones from the Crimean War (1853-1856) were transported to England as well, and in 1881 a newspaper reported that skeletons from the Russo-Turkish War (1877-1878) were found in a shipload of bones in the port of Hull. Currently "historians" are trying to rewrite this ugly episode in British history.
My father, a Coldstream officer in the 50’s, served with a brother officer whose family had served, father and son without a break in the Coldstream since Hougoumont! His other favourite story is that of McConnell’s wife, who said of her husband, with a atouch of chagrin “That after closing the gates at Hougoumont, he never closed another door for the rest of his life”! Nulli Secundus.
An excellent presentation, as an "Old Coldstreamer", I can attest that the exploits of Sergeant Graham are still celebrated annually in the tradition of" Hanging the Brick".
First vid I’ve watched on this channel. Really enjoyed the modern overlay since it gives a great real life perspective that you can better wrap your head around.
@BattleGuideVT Great video loved it, and the Napoleonic siege video you did. All of your videos are great honestly but I'm a big Napoleonic Wars fan. Seeing how the battlefields looked when the battles were fought is really interesting and helps to understand tactics used. Hearing personal accounts from the battles too really puts you there when imagining it. Cheers for the great work looking forward to future videos
Wow ...what a well presented documentary ...we all know the facts but this was delivered with great pictures, 3D and goggle, not to mention the great dialogue with facts !!! !! one of the best so far ...hope to see a lot more in the future .....I'm riveted , well done all
Superb video, Battle Guide. The maps were really helpful as were the photos of the farmhouse as well as the descriptions of the defenses. You did a great job in describing the fighting at the farmhouse. I had learned a bit about the Battle of Waterloo (particularly at the farmhouse), but it's been about ten years or so since I last read about it. So, this video is helpful and refreshed my memory. Awesome work again (and excellent narration by Dan). Have a great week!
I was there as a tourist. While the climb up the Lion's Mound was memorable, the place resembles little of the historic battle two centuries earlier. One cannot help but appreciate the brilliance of Wellington who used every bit of the landscape to his advantage despite being so outnumbered. As for Napoleon, he might have helped his cause with better intelligence and a little more patience-something thing he was not known for.
I remember reading about a Parisian socialite who had intimate relations with both Wellesley and Bonaparte. Of the two, she said, Wellesley was the more vigorous lover. Makes you proud to be British!
One of my ancestors was among the valiant Scots Guards who held off successive waves of French infantry, to successfully defend and hold Hougoumont Farm. The heroism of these brave men have earned them a well deserved place in history
That's a remarkable rendition. The strategic scale animations at the beginning reminds me of when back in 2005 I cut the chapters of the Bayeux tapestry and placed each of them on Google Earth, with small icons and movements back and forth across the Channel. It immediately made sense of the events leading up to the battle of Hastings. Perhaps you want to do that too?
Le point clé de la défaite n'est pas la ferme fortifiée d'Hougoumont mais c'est un homme : Emmanuel de Grouchy qui n'a rien fait pour empêcher que les forces prussiennes défaites le 16 juin à Ligny rejoignent celles de Wellington à Waterloo le 18 juin. La clé de la défaite est là. Bizarre que ce type ait été nommé maréchal et ait reçu tous les honneurs de l'empereur alors qu'il n’était pas un Lannes, un Murat, un Ney et surtout pas un Davout ! Il n'avait jamais eu la responsabilité de commander plus de 30.000 hommes, rien que cela et c'est ces 30.000 hommes qui firent défaut à Napoléon le 18 juin 1815. Aucun de ces 4-là n'aurait failli à cette mission donnée par l'empereur : rattraper et neutraliser les fuyards prussiens et les empêcher de faire jonction avec les anglais. Mais cette défaite de Waterloo peut s'analyser sous différents angle : 1- Napoléon malade qui n'est pas aussi vif qu'à l'ordinaire. 2- Le chef d'état-major durant la bataille, le maréchal Soult contrairement à son prédécesseur Berthier n'a pas le charisme suffisant et la rigueur intellectuelle pour commander, diriger et surtout interpréter les ordres de Napoléon et savoir les retranscrire pour les unités subordonnées. 3- La météo pluvieuse du 18 juin qui rend inefficace l'effet dévastateur des boulets d'artillerie, qui s'enfoncent dans le sol boueux au lieu de rebondir et de faire des trous dans les carrés et les lignes ennemies. 4- Le choix du terrain qui s'est imposé à l'empereur alors que très souvent c'est lui qui décidait où devait se tenir la bataille pour offrir ainsi la victoire à la France 5- La charge stupide de Ney qui n'attend pas les ordres et qui contrairement aux règles d'emploi de la cavalerie charge une infanterie sans soutien d'artillerie préalable. Murat n'aurait jamais fait cette erreur majeure, jamais il n'aurait attaqué sans ordres et jamais il n'aurait envoyé ses cavaliers sans appui. Ney était brave, le brave des braves cependant il n'était pas un cavalier de formation. Il avait conduit la retraite de Russie de main de maitre, réduisant les pertes et transformant une déroute en victoire, celle de la Moskova cependant sa trahison de 1814 le força moralement à en faire plus, à en faire trop, à en faire trop mal ! 6- Les généraux de 1804 ne sont plus là et la relève n’est pas du même niveau en termes de qualités militaires. Lannes est mort, Lasalle est mort, Davout est chargé de la formation et est resté à Paris, Berthier est en exil avec Louis XVIII et se suicide probablement le 1er juin 1815, Murat ! Murat n’a pas été retenue par l’empereur son beau-frère qui lui en veut pour sa trahison de 1814. 7-Des décisions prises sans reconnaissance de terrain. Victor Hugo consacre 80 pages de son monumental ouvrage les Misérables sur la bataille de Waterloo et l’on découvre avec stupeur le rôle de ce civil belge qui induit sciemment en erreur Napoléon et qui conduit ainsi la cavalerie française durant la charge stupide de Ney dans une énorme fondrière, une ornière véritable fossé anti char naturel dans lequel des régiments entiers s‘écraseront. Pourtant tout généraux sait que l’on n’engage pas une force sur un terrain inconnu, le général Lasalle aurait forcement eu son mot à dire en tant que commandant de cavalerie légère de reconnaissance, il est mort des années auparavant et personne ne l’a remplacé, il était irremplaçable dans ce rôle ! Ce petit résumé simplement pour dire que l’épisode de la ferme fortifiée n’est pas le point clé de la défaite, elle y a concouru mais même si Napoléon avait enlevé la ferme cela n’aurait pas empêché Blücher de rejoindre Wellington.
La clé est Napoleon qui déjeune avec confidence à 10 heures la ou Blucher marche sur le Mont St.Jean dés 4 heures. Cela après que Napoleon ai retenu Grouchy toute la matinée précédente pour faire une parade pour feter Ligny.
Defended by The German Leguon , Weelingtons Army always described as British but there were substantial numbers of Belgian, Dutch, Portugese in it and not to forget the Prussians who appeared just as Wellington was preparing to order the retrat of his army
@@joseph-sj7do 25000 of the British "Dutch" actually many speaking low German, which sounds Dutch were actually Germans. Add the Prussians and the Germans made the vast majority of troops that defeated Napoleon.
Excellent IMHO More details than I have seen or read elsewhere was there for the 200th anniversary and remember the presentation in the barn Had a great chat with a Canadian re-enactor; he and his group were actually War of 1812 re-enactors but he explained that they weren’t going to miss the 200th! Looking forward to more videos in this series
Jerome wasn't supposed to flat out attack the farmhouse, he was supposed to keep Wellington's right interested while, D'Erlon's 1st Corp smashed Wellington's left. He lost seven thousand men dead and trashed the Second corp.
Blücher was the key. Without his army moving toward Waterloo there would not have been a need for Napoleon to assault and Wellington probably would not even be there.
The biggest thing that stands out to me about Hougoumont is the firing slits designed into the buildings. It's as if it was designed for war like medieval castles.
Wonder why the wall and house in general couldnt just be broken with cannon fire. Couldnt they get cannons into position or were cannons just that inaccurate back then for concentrated and sustained fire?
Yes! Please keep the Napoleonic stuff coming!! And keep doing the world wars too - naturally. And some more left field stuff. Basically just do a completely unreasonable amount of work, if you wouldn’t mind 😂
8:53 - in August 2014 - I sat with my Wife and had picnic exactly where the South Wall is - we watched tractors go by - tending the fields. No one went by for 90 mins - everyone was up at the visitor centre. I soaked it up - the atmosphere - the fields. As I packed up the basket and went to leave 8 or so 40-45 year old men in red trousers and chino's turned up.... It was a Higher Command and Staff course from the Defence College at Shrivenham having a private tour. We chatted and they were all off the UK MOD jobs and Defence Attache and other jobs. Strange how 100,000's of people will visit but almost no one will walk down the hill and visit Hougoumont? It seems it is a very British Pilgrimage - much like Ypres.
Nice vid. On that day, Napoleon helped Wellington to defeat him. He wasn't any longer the brilliant strategist he used to be and made a lot of mistakes.
Yeah , you would know , Hannibal ! The french won 3 battles in the days before Waterloo . The one making tectical errors was Wellington , being caught by surprise at Quatre Bras ! Had the french under Ney succeeded , the batlle would have been at the gates of Brussels, in stead of wellingtons pre selected ridge at Warerloo. And Wellington and Blucher would have been far apart to support each other . Wellington was at the back foot, near collapse, in the late afternoon, until the Prussians arrived just in time. Napoleon gambled and nearly had won the battle again. If so Napoleon still would be defeated as he had no reserve troops beyond the units at Waterloo. He was outnumbered 4:1 with the Austrians, approaching Russians and what Prussia had in reserve .
The key to Waterloo is the late start of the battle due to the mud from the rain the prior evening (11:35 AM), and the arrival of the Prussians (around 16:00), not the farmhouse.
The key to Waterloo was not Hougoumont, but rather La Haye Sainte, which stood in the centre of the battlefield, adjacent to the main North-South road. Huogoumont's only real importance was to anchor Wellington's right flank in order to secure his supply, communication and potential escape route to the West. Whereas La Haye Sainte's location in the absolute centre of the battlefield caused Napoleon to have to split any attacking force sufficiently either to the right or left of La Haye Sainte, and to suffer flanking fire as the French passed the farmhouse. The critical importance of La Haye Sainte is further emphasised by the fact when it eventually fell in the early evening, the French quickly advanced on the Allied positions, creating increasingly difficult pressure on the Allied front. Your own aerial maps shown at 6.50 - 7.40 also show the strategic importance of La Haye Sainte. While Hougoumont may have developed into a battle within a battle, it has been considered by modern historians to be a diversion by Napoleon to force Wellington to shift his focus, and it nearly worked.
not at all, napoleon's fate was sealed after Leipzing, in 1813, in the so called "Battle of the Nations". waterloo was just a hopeless gambling bloated by the english to make people believe they defeated napoleon while actually the russians, prussians, spaniards and the austrians did 80 percent of the job. england just throw money for 10 years in the war machine. Fun Fact: the prussians saved the english-dutch army in waterloo yet ever since the english have overlooked this fact
@@ososnake97Fun fact. Wellington and Blucher had agreed Wellington would stand and hold whilst Blucher would move across to join the battle. Fun Fact 2 Like Napoleon and Hitler after him you fail to recognise the role of the Royal Navy.
❤ vielen Dank für das posten. Wobei ich selber Denke das der Meyer Hof im Zentrum ein wenig wichtiger wahr, aber da gehen die Meinungen ja auseinander. Ich war vor 5 Jahren auf dem Schachtfeld und beim Besuch von hougemont, stellen sich einem die Haare hoch, LG aus dem Schwarzwald ❤️
Ich habe davon immer wieder erzählt und meine Jahrgänge verband dies. Mache das weiter solange mein Herz schlägt ! Und um es für die Neider und Unverständigen vornehm zu sagen: Denkt an Götz von Berlichingen
After 2 defeats, I am very surprised that it was Tsar Alexander I who, not once but twice, rejected the execution of Napoleon. Perhaps their initial meeting at Tilsit created a bond strong enough to influence his decision but I also know the Tsar's position of wanting peace.
It is their dimensions. The larger calibre of the Brown Bess musket (.75) compared with the Charleville musket (.69), means that British musket balls are slightly bigger than French musket balls.
It wasn't as two more armies were marching against Napoleon and they would have beaten him. By the way the battle was won by the Prussians as they bound parts of Napoleon's cavalry abd their arrival finished Napoleon.
Thanks! Hmm, not sure, we are referring specifically to Howitzers rather than cannons, as they were employed because they could fire a shell on a higher trajectory than a cannon.
This is one of the best recounting of the British, Hanoverian, and Nassau light troop who defenced Hougoument at the battle of Waterloo I've seen in a long time. Thank you.
Well, if you had listened a bit more carefully, you would have noticed that it wasn't solely british.
And soooooo many of them.
And despite this they never pronounce Blücher's name correctly.
After all this time and so many bloody docs, could somebody get his fu**ing name right?
@@koekum 🙄
@@koekum oh I noticed alright. I recheck the figures of the allied troops on the Warfare History Network. So the garrison of Hougoumont consisted of;
800 men of the 1st Battalion of the 2nd Regiment (1st/2nd) of Nassau.
the light companies of the 2nd/2nd and 2nd/3rd British Foot Guards, (about 200 men).
a company of the Hanoverian Feld-Jäger (about 100 men).
That's a force of 1,100 Allies defending the farm building initially reinforcement where sent of Allies troops so altogether during time the Battle of Waterloo lasted 3500 defended Hougoumont with about 1500 killed or wounded.
But what is important was the Allied troops tied up about 14, 000 French Troops who were much needed to reinforce the center of the French line. The French killed in the attack on just Hougoumont were put at 7500.
For the Allies during the campaign against Napoleon suffered around 22,000 casualties thats men who were killed, wounded, or captured.
The French however lost about 40,000 men killed or wounded or captured during Napoleon's campaign.
Idiot
and of course, the location just happened to be led by a colonel, who personally saved Wellesley himself, in charge of a rifle company who were all crack shots, alongside a sergeant who wielded by a multi-barrel gun
😀
"King George demands and we obey,
Over the hill and far away"🎶
@@michaelstadnikfilm Doo-dah, doo-dah day.😀🍻
Lieutenant colonel.
Now that’s soldiering
Been waiting for this one!
I love your work, the sheer quality and effort put into the episodes is shocking! Keep it up!
Brilliant... thanks for watching and being part of the community.
Wow eine sehr detailreiche und aufschlussreiche Analyse von Waterloo und Hougoumont, hast mein Abo (:
Fantastic channel! Amazingly high quality, you crush it my guy🙏
Glad you enjoy it!
Exceptional. I've read and watched many accounts of the defence of Hougoument - this is the clearest account, with excellent visual aids linking the account into a clear and understandable timeline. Well done!
Thank you very much... we are delighted you enjoyed it.... please do share it with your network.
@@BattleGuideVT The perspsctive added by the drone work is exceptional. The layout of the buildings, gardens and orchards is more plain to see. Great story telling!
Definitely the coolest spot to visit at Waterloo! Beautifully reconstructed for the 200th anniversary.
Yes it was!
The buildings had been degrading steadily in the 00's and early 10's. The famous gate had been damaged twice by a wrong move with a tractor. For a long time we were worried that it would remain in a decrepit state, but they certainly were able to clean it up nicely.
This was excellent, so glad i stumbled on this . Thank you.
Thank you very much Paul... we are delighted you enjoyed it.... please do share it with your network.
This is a high quality production.
Wellington having a complete engineering map of the battlefield made a huge difference! Plus thp fact that he could count on Bloucher's force coming if humanly possible mada huge difference. He could have fought to a standatill without Bloucher but with the Prussians Napoleans flank could be turned? Brillant I never heard the supply officer story before! What an unlikely hero to the story. Thank you.
Butcher was financed by guess who??
The Jewish people in his town🧐🇮🇪✡️
Waterloo was a french department, just a few years prior, and it has been mapped well before that. Blucher marching from Wavre to Mont St Jean is the true miracle, nothing on the map explains it, they must have marched ankle deep in the mud.
Not actually- Wellington's centre was close to being ruptured just nefore 7 pm..... the arrival of Vivian and Vandeleur's cavalry brigades from the left wing to the centre stabilized the situation.
Furthermore, the Prussian arrival halfway into the battle had forced Napoleon to divert almost 20% of his army to try and stop their advance.
The Prussian arrival allowed Vivian and Vandeleur to move to the centre at the crisis point there.
General Vivian himself highly acknowledged in his memoirs that the Prussian arrival was the reason for victory.
The fulcrums of history are incredibly fascinating!
Very nice 3D model and superb narration.
2:00 : Anglo-allied army > the expression 'anglo-dutch' ignores the presence of Belgians and several large German contingents in the army. and 7:00 one shouldn't ignore the several Dutch-Belgian brigades in the centre too.
Napoeon's specific orders was for Jerome to take the woods of Hougoumont which he accomplished within one hour. Napoleon could not see the chateau directly, with the woods in the way.
13:15 : The first battery to fire at Waterloo was German , Cleve's KGL battery firing at a column moving toward Hougoumont.
16:00 : around an hour after Jerome started his attack, Ney actually personally ordered one of Foy's brigades (Tissert) to join the attack. These were the troops that first attacked the orchard area, with engineers getting to the hedgeline and hacking the thick bushes down with axes. The French didn't retreat fully back, but engaged in firefights at the orchard border line at that moment.
17:45 : Germans were also in the defence during this episode. One recalled his hand getting chopped by a French attackers axe.
19:00 : It should be noted, what is ignored by most Waterloo books > the diversion sucked a lot of Wellington's reserves towards Hougoumont by 2 pm.
Wellington first sent down Byng's guards brigade into Hougoumont as mentioned, which lefy a gap that was filled by bringing up the reserve of the Brunswick Legion, quickly, these were largey deployed closer to Hougoumone, and in their place came Adam's British Light infantry brigade also from reseve position.... which by mid afternoon was pushed forward in the open ground between Hougoumont and the main line.
Around the same time, the KGL brigade of DuPlat and H.Halkett's Hanoverian brigades were also brought forward from the reserve in direct back line support of Hougoumont.
The idea that by mid afternoon Hougoumont was defended by a steadily shriinking group of defenders is quite wrong; they had massive support from reinforcing and suppoting battalions helping defend in and around the buildings.
So, all in all, Jerome accomplished his mission of taking the woods and Wellington poured his reserves on his right towards the frontline in and behind Hougoumont.
The French made several breaking into the Hougoumont complex altogether.
If Jerome's attack had captured the chateau, writers would be praising him as a determined heroic leader rather than his status now as a stubborn waster of troops.
Superb detailed content thanks!
Thanks Stephen glad you enjoyed it.
Thanks for an excellent video. I was lucky enough to visit the battlefield last October and was having difficulty envisioning how each line was laid out. This made it clear to me. If you can make it there be sure to go. It is well worth it with a lot to see.
Thanks for your work. Bones are rare. After Waterloo, more than 27K tons of human/animal bones from Napoleonic battlefields were imported through the port of Hull to be processed into fertilizer. The young soldiers still had good teeth and these were used to make dentures, they were called "Waterloo teeth" at the time.
Well that sounds very macabre
@@brandonzhou2233 It is ! The dentures provided (as it was called) a "Healthy Waterloo Smile" for London's elite. All this is not only valid for the dead from Waterloo but also for the heroes from The Charge Of The Light Brigade. Sources from the 1860s report that bones from the Crimean War (1853-1856) were transported to England as well, and in 1881 a newspaper reported that skeletons from the Russo-Turkish War (1877-1878) were found in a shipload of bones in the port of Hull. Currently "historians" are trying to rewrite this ugly episode in British history.
Such is the value of a human life.
@@martinb4272 Those were different times. The dentures provided (as it was called) a "Healthy Waterloo Smile" for London's elite. All this is not only valid for the dead from Waterloo but also for the heroes from The Charge Of The Light Brigade. Sources from the 1860s report that bones from the Crimean War (1853-1856) were transported to England as well, and in 1881 a newspaper reported that skeletons from the Russo-Turkish War (1877-1878) were found in a shipload of bones in the port of Hull. Currently "historians" are trying to rewrite this ugly episode in British history.
@@martinb4272 Those were different times. The dentures provided (as it was called) a "Healthy Waterloo Smile" for London's elite. All this is not only valid for the dead from Waterloo but also for the heroes from The Charge Of The Light Brigade. Sources from the 1860s report that bones from the Crimean War (1853-1856) were transported to England as well, and in 1881 a newspaper reported that skeletons from the Russo-Turkish War (1877-1878) were found in a shipload of bones in the port of Hull. Currently "historians" are trying to rewrite this ugly episode in British history.
My father, a Coldstream officer in the 50’s, served with a brother officer whose family had served, father and son without a break in the Coldstream since Hougoumont!
His other favourite story is that of McConnell’s wife, who said of her husband, with a atouch of chagrin “That after closing the gates at Hougoumont, he never closed another door for the rest of his life”!
Nulli Secundus.
Been there! Great museum and battlefield. It’s amazing how small the area is where all this history took place.
An excellent presentation, as an "Old Coldstreamer", I can attest that the exploits of Sergeant Graham are still celebrated annually in the tradition of" Hanging the Brick".
Thank you very much... we are delighted you enjoyed it.... please do share it with your network.
First vid I’ve watched on this channel. Really enjoyed the modern overlay since it gives a great real life perspective that you can better wrap your head around.
Another great battlefield presentation from Battle Guides. Well done
Thank you very much... we are delighted you enjoyed it.... please do share it with your network.
Great work! Visiting Hougoumont Château is a very moving experience.
It really is!
Thank you for this!
You are very welcome.. please do let us know what you think of it once you have watched it all.
@BattleGuideVT Great video loved it, and the Napoleonic siege video you did. All of your videos are great honestly but I'm a big Napoleonic Wars fan. Seeing how the battlefields looked when the battles were fought is really interesting and helps to understand tactics used. Hearing personal accounts from the battles too really puts you there when imagining it. Cheers for the great work looking forward to future videos
Awesome work fellas. Brilliant stuff 👍💛👊
Thank you! Cheers!
Another well done video full of great information.
Wow ...what a well presented documentary ...we all know the facts but this was delivered with great pictures, 3D and goggle, not to mention the great dialogue with facts !!! !! one of the best so far ...hope to see a lot more in the future .....I'm riveted , well done all
Thank you kindly!
A lively and gripping retelling of this action. Very well done indeed
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Superb video, Battle Guide. The maps were really helpful as were the photos of the farmhouse as well as the descriptions of the defenses.
You did a great job in describing the fighting at the farmhouse.
I had learned a bit about the Battle of Waterloo (particularly at the farmhouse), but it's been about ten years or so since I last read about it. So, this video is helpful and refreshed my memory.
Awesome work again (and excellent narration by Dan). Have a great week!
Once again thank you. Your support means a lot to the team.
@@BattleGuideVT You're welcome! I really enjoy the Battle Guide channel. You and your team do excellent work. :)
Great video, you must do this for a living. Thanks much, I learned some new aspects to this battle.
Brilliant video! Thank you!
I was there as a tourist. While the climb up the Lion's Mound was memorable, the place resembles little of the historic battle two centuries earlier. One cannot help but appreciate the brilliance of Wellington who used every bit of the landscape to his advantage despite being so outnumbered. As for Napoleon, he might have helped his cause with better intelligence and a little more patience-something thing he was not known for.
What a great video, keeping the history alive.
great video, absolute quality and the effort put into the episodes is amazing! keep it up!
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absolutely epic - thank you mate :)
I remember reading about a Parisian socialite who had intimate relations with both Wellesley and Bonaparte. Of the two, she said, Wellesley was the more vigorous lover. Makes you proud to be British!
🤦♀️
Evidently, British balls are bigger than French ones!
That comes from a centuries long tradition of screwing over the world.
One of my ancestors was among the valiant Scots Guards who held off successive waves of French infantry, to successfully defend and hold Hougoumont Farm. The heroism of these brave men have earned them a well deserved place in history
Awesome as always..
Thank you so much 😀
This is a particularly impressive documentary!
A riveting watch thank you and well done
Thank you so much.
enjoyed that very much thank you very insightful
Superb content. Many thanks.
Brilliant work. Thank you. Subscribed.
Great piece. Love the real life comparisons
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That's a remarkable rendition. The strategic scale animations at the beginning reminds me of when back in 2005 I cut the chapters of the Bayeux tapestry and placed each of them on Google Earth, with small icons and movements back and forth across the Channel. It immediately made sense of the events leading up to the battle of Hastings. Perhaps you want to do that too?
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Le point clé de la défaite n'est pas la ferme fortifiée d'Hougoumont mais c'est un homme : Emmanuel de Grouchy qui n'a rien fait pour empêcher que les forces prussiennes défaites le 16 juin à Ligny rejoignent celles de Wellington à Waterloo le 18 juin. La clé de la défaite est là. Bizarre que ce type ait été nommé maréchal et ait reçu tous les honneurs de l'empereur alors qu'il n’était pas un Lannes, un Murat, un Ney et surtout pas un Davout ! Il n'avait jamais eu la responsabilité de commander plus de 30.000 hommes, rien que cela et c'est ces 30.000 hommes qui firent défaut à Napoléon le 18 juin 1815. Aucun de ces 4-là n'aurait failli à cette mission donnée par l'empereur : rattraper et neutraliser les fuyards prussiens et les empêcher de faire jonction avec les anglais. Mais cette défaite de Waterloo peut s'analyser sous différents angle : 1- Napoléon malade qui n'est pas aussi vif qu'à l'ordinaire. 2- Le chef d'état-major durant la bataille, le maréchal Soult contrairement à son prédécesseur Berthier n'a pas le charisme suffisant et la rigueur intellectuelle pour commander, diriger et surtout interpréter les ordres de Napoléon et savoir les retranscrire pour les unités subordonnées. 3- La météo pluvieuse du 18 juin qui rend inefficace l'effet dévastateur des boulets d'artillerie, qui s'enfoncent dans le sol boueux au lieu de rebondir et de faire des trous dans les carrés et les lignes ennemies. 4- Le choix du terrain qui s'est imposé à l'empereur alors que très souvent c'est lui qui décidait où devait se tenir la bataille pour offrir ainsi la victoire à la France 5- La charge stupide de Ney qui n'attend pas les ordres et qui contrairement aux règles d'emploi de la cavalerie charge une infanterie sans soutien d'artillerie préalable. Murat n'aurait jamais fait cette erreur majeure, jamais il n'aurait attaqué sans ordres et jamais il n'aurait envoyé ses cavaliers sans appui. Ney était brave, le brave des braves cependant il n'était pas un cavalier de formation. Il avait conduit la retraite de Russie de main de maitre, réduisant les pertes et transformant une déroute en victoire, celle de la Moskova cependant sa trahison de 1814 le força moralement à en faire plus, à en faire trop, à en faire trop mal ! 6- Les généraux de 1804 ne sont plus là et la relève n’est pas du même niveau en termes de qualités militaires. Lannes est mort, Lasalle est mort, Davout est chargé de la formation et est resté à Paris, Berthier est en exil avec Louis XVIII et se suicide probablement le 1er juin 1815, Murat ! Murat n’a pas été retenue par l’empereur son beau-frère qui lui en veut pour sa trahison de 1814. 7-Des décisions prises sans reconnaissance de terrain. Victor Hugo consacre 80 pages de son monumental ouvrage les Misérables sur la bataille de Waterloo et l’on découvre avec stupeur le rôle de ce civil belge qui induit sciemment en erreur Napoléon et qui conduit ainsi la cavalerie française durant la charge stupide de Ney dans une énorme fondrière, une ornière véritable fossé anti char naturel dans lequel des régiments entiers s‘écraseront. Pourtant tout généraux sait que l’on n’engage pas une force sur un terrain inconnu, le général Lasalle aurait forcement eu son mot à dire en tant que commandant de cavalerie légère de reconnaissance, il est mort des années auparavant et personne ne l’a remplacé, il était irremplaçable dans ce rôle ! Ce petit résumé simplement pour dire que l’épisode de la ferme fortifiée n’est pas le point clé de la défaite, elle y a concouru mais même si Napoléon avait enlevé la ferme cela n’aurait pas empêché Blücher de rejoindre Wellington.
La clé est Napoleon qui déjeune avec confidence à 10 heures la ou Blucher marche sur le Mont St.Jean dés 4 heures. Cela après que Napoleon ai retenu Grouchy toute la matinée précédente pour faire une parade pour feter Ligny.
Brilliantly done
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Defended by The German Leguon , Weelingtons Army always described as British but there were substantial numbers of Belgian, Dutch, Portugese in it and not to forget the Prussians who appeared just as Wellington was preparing to order the retrat of his army
@@joseph-sj7do 25000 of the British "Dutch" actually many speaking low German, which sounds Dutch were actually Germans.
Add the Prussians and the Germans made the vast majority of troops that defeated Napoleon.
Exceptional video.
Many thanks!
Superb, just superb.
Excellent IMHO
More details than I have seen or read elsewhere
was there for the 200th anniversary and remember the presentation in the barn
Had a great chat with a Canadian re-enactor; he and his group were actually War of 1812 re-enactors but he explained that they weren’t going to miss the 200th!
Looking forward to more videos in this series
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Brilliant work, great video
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Thank you for the kind comment.
Amazing !!!!
Glad you enjoyed it Taff.
TY 🙏🙏
Excellent work.
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Quality is off the charts! Would love to see more from the Napoleanic wars, or maybe something like the Ottoman battle of Vienna from 1683. 👍
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Nicely done!
Excellent
Thank you! Cheers!
Great work.
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Kompliment. Sehr gut gemacht. Vor allem durch den Einbau von den Einzel Schicksalen. 👍👍😉
Love the visuals. Curious, how much of the battlefield and area is protected?
Excellent. 👍
Thanks for the visit
great video.
Jerome wasn't supposed to flat out attack the farmhouse, he was supposed to keep Wellington's right interested while, D'Erlon's 1st Corp smashed Wellington's left. He lost seven thousand men dead and trashed the Second corp.
Great video.
Blücher was the key.
Without his army moving toward Waterloo there would not have been a need for Napoleon to assault and Wellington probably would not even be there.
Blu .who ?! Shtt , don't mention The Germans ! The Brits think they themselves beat Napoleon !
The biggest thing that stands out to me about Hougoumont is the firing slits designed into the buildings. It's as if it was designed for war like medieval castles.
Been there many times. James MacDonell must have been one hell of a tough CO!
Excellent!!. just started checking out Napoleon, great War History 😊
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Storming the gate of Hougoumont with an axe, that's soldiering!
Wonder why the wall and house in general couldnt just be broken with cannon fire. Couldnt they get cannons into position or were cannons just that inaccurate back then for concentrated and sustained fire?
superb!
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Very interesting video thank you.
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Love the content. Cheers from Estonia
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19:51 Blimey a Frog giving the Scottish a mention?! Bravo ❤.
Yes! Please keep the Napoleonic stuff coming!!
And keep doing the world wars too - naturally.
And some more left field stuff.
Basically just do a completely unreasonable amount of work, if you wouldn’t mind 😂
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Wonderfull history ¡¡.
Good work really interesting, thanks, but were the first 6 minutes necessary?
how do you mean?
Your storytelling is 🎉🪖💥💯❤️🤍💙
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Recommend Sharpes Waterloo Audio book here on UA-cam. Quite accurate apart from the obvious.
15:50
Ehrungen für die "bösen", das können auch nur die Franzosen :D
8:53 - in August 2014 - I sat with my Wife and had picnic exactly where the South Wall is - we watched tractors go by - tending the fields. No one went by for 90 mins - everyone was up at the visitor centre. I soaked it up - the atmosphere - the fields. As I packed up the basket and went to leave 8 or so 40-45 year old men in red trousers and chino's turned up.... It was a Higher Command and Staff course from the Defence College at Shrivenham having a private tour. We chatted and they were all off the UK MOD jobs and Defence Attache and other jobs. Strange how 100,000's of people will visit but almost no one will walk down the hill and visit Hougoumont? It seems it is a very British Pilgrimage - much like Ypres.
Nice vid. On that day, Napoleon helped Wellington to defeat him. He wasn't any longer the brilliant strategist he used to be and made a lot of mistakes.
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Yeah , you would know , Hannibal ! The french won 3 battles in the days before Waterloo . The one making tectical errors was Wellington , being caught by surprise at Quatre Bras ! Had the french under Ney succeeded , the batlle would have been at the gates of Brussels, in stead of wellingtons pre selected ridge at Warerloo. And Wellington and Blucher would have been far apart to support each other . Wellington was at the back foot, near collapse, in the late afternoon, until the Prussians arrived just in time.
Napoleon gambled and nearly had won the battle again.
If so Napoleon still would be defeated as he had no reserve troops beyond the units at Waterloo. He was outnumbered 4:1 with the Austrians, approaching Russians and what Prussia had in reserve .
if you could only do Hans-Joachim Marseille with the same production....I live in hope
Maybe one day. :)
The key to Waterloo is the late start of the battle due to the mud from the rain the prior evening (11:35 AM), and the arrival of the Prussians (around 16:00), not the farmhouse.
Actually it was all of it together.
You've been reading from the same book I have, an excellent book. Can Napoleon's demise be blamed on piles?
The key to Waterloo was not Hougoumont, but rather La Haye Sainte, which stood in the centre of the battlefield, adjacent to the main North-South road. Huogoumont's only real importance was to anchor Wellington's right flank in order to secure his supply, communication and potential escape route to the West. Whereas La Haye Sainte's location in the absolute centre of the battlefield caused Napoleon to have to split any attacking force sufficiently either to the right or left of La Haye Sainte, and to suffer flanking fire as the French passed the farmhouse. The critical importance of La Haye Sainte is further emphasised by the fact when it eventually fell in the early evening, the French quickly advanced on the Allied positions, creating increasingly difficult pressure on the Allied front. Your own aerial maps shown at 6.50 - 7.40 also show the strategic importance of La Haye Sainte. While Hougoumont may have developed into a battle within a battle, it has been considered by modern historians to be a diversion by Napoleon to force Wellington to shift his focus, and it nearly worked.
Did you watch the video?
It belongs to the Landmark Trust now and you can stay there as a holiday home.
The battle who changed Europe history
Indeed!
not at all, napoleon's fate was sealed after Leipzing, in 1813, in the so called "Battle of the Nations". waterloo was just a hopeless gambling bloated by the english to make people believe they defeated napoleon while actually the russians, prussians, spaniards and the austrians did 80 percent of the job. england just throw money for 10 years in the war machine.
Fun Fact: the prussians saved the english-dutch army in waterloo yet ever since the english have overlooked this fact
@@ososnake97Fun fact. Wellington and Blucher had agreed Wellington would stand and hold whilst Blucher would move across to join the battle. Fun Fact 2 Like Napoleon and Hitler after him you fail to recognise the role of the Royal Navy.
Vive l empereur 🇨🇵
❤ vielen Dank für das posten. Wobei ich selber Denke das der Meyer Hof im Zentrum ein wenig wichtiger wahr, aber da gehen die Meinungen ja auseinander. Ich war vor 5 Jahren auf dem Schachtfeld und beim Besuch von hougemont, stellen sich einem die Haare hoch, LG aus dem Schwarzwald ❤️
I'm sorry, but on the contemporary map where is No 7??? It's really bugging me.
Ich habe davon immer wieder erzählt und meine Jahrgänge verband dies. Mache das weiter solange mein Herz schlägt !
Und um es für die Neider und Unverständigen vornehm zu sagen: Denkt an Götz von Berlichingen
After 2 defeats, I am very surprised that it was Tsar Alexander I who, not once but twice, rejected the execution of Napoleon. Perhaps their initial meeting at Tilsit created a bond strong enough to influence his decision but I also know the Tsar's position of wanting peace.
He might also have been worried about setting a precedent if an emperor was executed.
@@Alsemenor yea exactly that was actual main reason why he first rejected the execution. we all know napoleon was popular and a monarch.
How were the musket balls determined to be from either side? Weren't they all made from Lead.
It is their dimensions. The larger calibre of the Brown Bess musket (.75) compared with the Charleville musket (.69), means that British musket balls are slightly bigger than French musket balls.
There were various differences in the construction of them.
Different calibre between the British and French manufactured firearms.
Some of the French ammunition has “Made in France “ stamped on them.
@@BattleGuideVT
The British had bigger balls. 🤔
My favorite map from Mount and Blade Napoleonic Wars.
Amazing telling of this part of one of the most consequential battles of all time.
It wasn't as two more armies were marching against Napoleon and they would have beaten him. By the way the battle was won by the Prussians as they bound parts of Napoleon's cavalry abd their arrival finished Napoleon.
Great video, thank you.
Why am I so triggered by your description of british weapons as "Howitzer", instead of Cannon ?
Thanks! Hmm, not sure, we are referring specifically to Howitzers rather than cannons, as they were employed because they could fire a shell on a higher trajectory than a cannon.
@@BattleGuideVT Thank you. Completely unaware the British had Howitzer in 1815 !
Yep. Mortars too!@onahi2002
Thank the Lord for Sharpe😊
“His main strength… is beyond that hill. What he shows is only a facade! He is cleaver… cleaver. We’ll begin the attack there. At Hugomount.”
It was only supposed to be a feint , but Jerome increasingly got a bee in his bonnet about it , and kept feeding more and more troops into it.
Why not have North up when showing maps and battle lines?
Were actually working on a dynamic compass at the moment but it's technically tricky to do.
My home ❤❤
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