Battle of Wavre and Grouchy's Retreat: A study of an obscure part of the Waterloo campaign

The Battle of Wavre - ten miles from Waterloo - may have sealed Napoleon's fate.

The dazzling magnitude of the great battle of Waterloo itself has obscured a part of the campaign which is seldom studied - the battle against Thielemann, and Grouchy's skilful retreat from Wavre.

This classic account serves useful lessons because the operations leading up to the battle around Wavre are of great interest; and because a campaign full of mistakes should be studied as carefully as a campaign free from error.

The long struggle of the Napoleonic wars famously culminated in the Battle of Waterloo. Undoubtedly Napoleon Bonaparte's greatest defeat, this engagement would signal the end of the French emperor's 100-day return from exile.