Napoleon Bonaparte’s Waterloo army was the last he would ever lead into combat. Returning from exile in March 1815 to a country riven by factionalism and exhausted by two decades of almost unremitting warfare, the French emperor managed in only three months to pull together an army that came achingly close to defeating an allied force with almost double its numbers.
On paper, this army was formidable: veteran soldiers under experienced leaders, buoyed by enthusiasm for their returned emperor. Yet in reality, the force was pasted together: Veterans rubbed shoulders with volunteers, brilliant generals served alongside glorified bureaucrats, and regimentsThe post Why Napoleon’s Makeshift Army Ultimately Lost the Most Famous Battle in European History appeared first on War on the Rocks.