![]() ![]() At Waterloo itself, the British position was a good one though, in truth, they only averted defeat through the arrival of Blücher's Prussians - who made an astonishing decision to still come to Wellington's help despite having suffered serious defeats at Ligny two days earlier, and then at Gilly and Charleroi before that. ![]() Had they done so, Bonaparte's left wing would have reached Brussels while Wellington's army was still scattered across the countryside. Indeed, they were only there at all because one of their commanders ignored Wellington's order to abandon the position. These make it clear that Wellington's position at Quatre Bras was only saved by the tenacity of the Dutch-Belgians, long before the British units arrived there. Field's books on the campaign rely entirely on original sources often previously unpublished in Britain. The two things that struck me from my own research was that the battle was very much NOT an entirely British victory. ![]()
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