How he must have rued in pensive isolation, brooding over his coffee at the thought of his undignified defeat at Waterloo. An empire born of genius but barely lasting a generation. Of course he had a lot of time on his hands now. After all he was Napoleon Bonaparte; he could command whatever he could want even if he could demand that his morning coffee would be served on the finest porcelain. Alone and outcast on St. Helena would he be remembered at all for his services to his nation France? Had Napoleon Bonaparte been a
voracious coffee drinker earlier in his life as he had become on St. Helens, perhaps the fate of Europe may have been different on that fateful day in Belgium on June 18, 1815. Napoleon had arrived on St Helena on 16 October 1815 after the defeat that summer by the British Allied forces at Waterloo. Alone and miserable he could only cling to his coffee mug and his wistful hopes that the politics in France would change and that the populace would recall the glory of France that he himself gave to the nation and rescue their Emperor for a third time from the isolation of exile. Nothing could be further from the truth. Europe was now tired of wars. Europe was tired of Napoleon. But worse; France had become fatigued of it's own Emperor. France was tired of the wars that followed the social chaos of the French revolution. It was time for peace in Europe; too much blood had been shed. Europe was tired of war. The French monarchy needed to be restored but this time upon the British constitutional model to satisfy all elements of modern society.
It was a miserable morning to say the least; it had rained two whole days and when Napoleon woke that morning doubtless he would have missed his customary 6am cup of coffee! Awakening with a grand scheme to organize a resounding victory, Napoleon was shocked to witness that the French army was in utter and uncharacteristic disarray as the sun rose over Waterloo. Much to the delight of his adversary, the English commander, The 1st Duke of Wellington, Arthur Wellesley, the French were utterly disorganized as the morning broke. Mud everywhere! Men, gun, troops and cavalry all toiling to find their positions. Time was on the side of the Allied forces. It would be only a matter of time before Prussian reinforcements would arrive to reinforce the safely ensconced British forces atop the ridge. The Duke of Wellington had chose his terrain well by fortifying his ridge before the little village Waterloo, some fifteen miles south of Brussels. All the Allies needed to do was to sit on that ridge and hold off the French at all costs.
There stood 25,000 British troops with 43,000 allied forces (Netherlands, Hanover, Brunswick, Nassau) and 50,000 Prussian forces totaling 118,000 Allied forces with 156 gun against 73,000 men of the great French Grande Armée and 252 guns. Arthur Wellesley, the 1st Duke of Wellington, Marshal Blucher and the Prince of Orange. at the outset the Allies were numerically outnumbered and outgunned with the absence of the Prussian forces on the field. Thus the great French General, the Emperor Napoleon, himself striding on his white horse, decided that at Waterloo the overall strategy would be to drive a wedge between the Allies and the Prussians and finish each army off in two great battles, first by seizing the crest at Waterloo and dealing with the Duke of Wellington.
Twenty years earlier a revolution had created a whole new social order in France based upon the ideas of such giants as Voltaire and Jean Jacques Rousseau. Needless to say such literary giants of the age drew inspiration from large and copious brews of the humble and roasted coffee bean! Thus from the chaos emerged a young artillery officer who became a man of destiny, a general and an emperor all of his own fashion, as piece by piece Napoleon Bonaparte would dismantle the military structures of Europe itself and expand the power and glory of France.
Austerlitz, ever immortal in name. At the greatest French victory of 2nd December, 1805; Napoleon had startled two Emperors on the fields of Pratzen and tore apart their forces with an early cut and thrust that threw the entire Austrian and Russian armies into an abysmal retreat. From that very famous battle came the immortal words of the victor, Napoleon's famous maxim
'On s'engage et puis on voit' or ‘Let's jump into the fray and then figure out what to do next”. William Pitt, the Younger, Prime Minister of Great Britain, upon hearing the news of the devastating defeat had cried
"Roll up that map; it will not be wanted these ten years."
Almost ten years later, with William Pitt having passed away in 1806, his words came back to haunt the mighty Napoleon. Indeed, the lands of Waterloo were not the lands of Austerlitz, and had Napoleon been well versed in the writings of the famed Chinese writer Sun Tzu he would then have had grave misgivings and cause for concern on that fateful day in 1815, taking note that the weather and the terrain acted totally against the valor of his troops as the final determining factors of the battle of Waterloo.
Earlier the Prussians under Marshall Blucher were routed at Ligny and driven back to the East leaving Napoleon to chase the British whilst Marshall Grouchy followed Marshall Blucher’s retreat. Napoleon caught up with the British troops at a town called Quatre Bras and successfully managed to drive the British away without a full commitment of troops on both sides of the battle. The Duke of Wellington fell back to Brussels. Noticing the terrain on the Brussels road near the woods of Soignies, the British commander spotted the village of Waterloo which stood before a significant valley. From the Forest south of the road to Brussels the road that led north descended softly into a valley before rising again to another ridge by the village. The terrain was perfect for a sturdy defence and a lethal trap for the advancing enemy forces that would get stuck in the valley below. Inside that valley by the first crest, facing north, lay La Haye Sante Farm that would slope up to Waterloo. This was used as headquarters by the Prussians. Then within the same valley towards the south lay another farm, the La Belle Alliance Farm, which was seized by the advancing French and used as a field headquarters.
For the Duke of Wellington that morning his officers were high spirited with the effects of morning tea and the unbelievable vision of French calamity unfolding before them. As sunlight broke the British officers one by one drew their scopes in astonishment as they could clearly see the proximity of the French forces massing in the valley below with toilsome ability.
The night of 17th June was dismal with incessant rain. Napoleon did not sleep well at all; by fits and starts of two hours, wake and rest, from the very beginning things were starting to go wrong and compound themselves into overwhelming reasons and causes not to give fight to the British that day. That his customary morning coffee could not alert him to this danger of his choice of terrain will remain one of the most startling arguments in military history. Everything about the battle plan was at fault from conception to implementation. But as astounding as this battle plan became was the unquestionable genius and indefatigable confidence displayed by the man who fought at Austerlitz and Jenna and Dresden before. Waking with the sunrise Napoleon was totally aghast to see his French army completely stuck in the mud trying to move their canon as much as the Duke of Wellington and his aides de camp watching through looking glasses were equally amused at the sorry spectacle unfolding! Napoleon was absolutely furious and barked at his generals to hasten with all speed. How could he retreat in the face of the British foe? How could he drop his visage of fearlessness before the Allies? He could not let the British be reinforced by the scattered Prussians of Marshall Blucher. Unthinkable! He must lead his men uphill as soon as possible at all costs for the brave shall surely surmount. But where are the guns? Sunrise and still the French army were still stuck in the thick mud and struggling to find their positions! By 6am at Austerlitz Napoleon was already advancing to assault the fields of Pratzen! For certain Napoleon had not the composure and repose to consume his favorite beverage! In all probability Napoleon was too furious to start the day with his customary morning coffee and that indeed would be a fine topic of discussion over the complete lack of tactical inspiration drawn from a hot brew that very morning!
Eleven am in the morning and finally the silence of the fields was broken by the roar of the French gun. Finally the sun was drying out the fields. Finally the French had got out of the mud, but nearly half the day was already spent! With fury some 252 French gun commenced their bombardment of the British positions atop the sodden ridge
at Waterloo. The Duke of Wellington immediately called for his men to lie down face down to avoid flying missiles and shrapnel. The French rounds were not landing on hard ground at all with calculated precision and explosive power. The mud! Everywhere the mud! Instead the French artillery rounds were landing with a soft thud on the wet hill top and bouncing at shoulder height until they could find some hard surface to impact and explode. In horror Napoleon watched as his gun pounded the British crest with little effect. Napoleon ordered his gun to focus on the Hougoumont Farm, on the extreme right of the Allied line atop the crest. Frustrated at the lack of damage caused by the artillery Napoleon then ordered Jerome to make an infantry assault on the allied right Hougoumont at 1.30pm and Marshal Ney to march uphill and take 74 short range gun and 17,000 infantry to challenge the allied center and left.
En avance! Marshall Ney then led a furious assault on the farm La Haye Sante before the ridge of Allied troops. The Prussians ran out of ammunition and were forced to flee or risk annihilation. Ney led the brave French infantry to the top, but then the British fired a resounding volley, the French infantry stuttered in shock and then the British cavalry led by Major-General William Ponsonby, 'The Honourable' charged down upon them and pushed back the French down the slope. It was now 3pm already and the plan of Napoleon was badly falling apart.
At this point had Napoleon simply withdrew to the first crest of the valley with the woods behind him he may yet have retained an over-whelming tactical advantage given the shape of the terrain and the advantage of gun. Moreover, his foe, even with the Prussians arriving on the field late in the day, may not have been as powerful enough to envelop and surround his powerfully organized army. Under the strains of serious challenge the Allies were relatively inexperienced and could have disintegrated into a motley crew in the face of serious artillery barrage as the field dried out from the morning rain.
At 3pm only on the Allied right at Hougoument there was fighting still in continuity. But overall the French forces had ground to a halt in bewilderment at the British resolution to hold the crest. The Duke of Wellington could already see the arrival of Blucher on the field at some distance. Napoleon then ordered Marshall Ney to advance on La Haye Sante and hold this vital point. Marshall Ney observing movement on the ridge immediately thought the Allies were preparing to withdraw and took two battalions for the assault. Had he known that the movement during the lull was the wounded being carried away perhaps Ney would have taken a larger force as he ran into an organized army quite prepared to drive the French away for the second time in the day. A massive cavalry attack was launched to once and for all seize the moment and the ridge from the allies. The British seeing the advance immediately formed into squares to allow the cavalry to flow through and receive maximum damage by being shot at form all sides. Here the battle was to be decided. In the next three hours between 3pm and 6pm that afternoon, Napoleon committed his entire cavalry force to overwhelm the allies. But The British infantry organized themselves so mightily that each time the heavy cavalry rode in, each time they would be repulsed. In utter frustration Marshall Ney was seen striking his sword at the British gun whilst in retreat as the French cavalry failed to spike the guns. Twelve times the French Cuirassiers rode up the slope in monumental waves only to be beaten back with the ferocious force of gunshot as the British squares held their ground! At 5.30pm Marshall Ney led the final cavalry assault in complete and total exhaustion.
At 5.30pm Napoleon ordered Marshall Ney to launch the final infantry assault. Marshall Blucher's front guard was already arriving on the British right to reinforce. Fatigued, the army reorganized itself as Napoleon led the Old Guard, the veterans and backbone of the French arm. it was now 7.30pm with very little time left in the day. Marshall Ney threw his 5 battalions of the Young Guard onto the British right in the face of the same British guns which he failed to immobilize earlier with the initial cavalry assault. With desperate force the French came down upon the British on top the ridge. Napoleon's 4 battalions of Old and Middle Guard, with Generals Friant and Poret de Morvan, now hurled themselves at the British center and threw back the British battalions of Halkett’s
Brigade with over-powering strength. But the Belgian and Dutch infantry of General
Chassé and Colonel Detmers came to the rescue as the french slammed into the British and then step by step drove them back down the hill. It was at this moment the Duke of Wellington raised his voice with his immortal words “Now Maitland.
Now’s your time”, he called to the brigade commander at the center “Up Guards, ready”! at once the British Foot Guards all stood up, fired a deadly volley at the French and charged with flashing bayonets in desperate hand to hand combat as they forced the French Guard back down the hill with the anguished cry of
“La Garde recule”!
"La Garde recule. Sauve qui peut!" The Duke of Wellington in complete excitement stood in his stirrups and waived his hat in the air urging his men to get up and at em!
To compound the misery of Napoleon that other great notable coffee drinker and adversary Marshall Blucher himself was now arriving on the field with full force but Napoleon had threw in his lot with the last march of the Old Guard. To halt the rout Napoleon ordered the mingled regiments to stand their ground with the surviving 3 Imperial Guard Reserve battalions south of La Haye Sainte on flat ground for a last stand. But the allies were now tearing down in full force with the cavalry at the front demanding that the French immediately surrender and to which the french Old Guard retorted "
La Garde meurt, elle ne se rend pas!" or "The Guard dies, it does not surrender!" The French that did not retreat were cut down thus in their refusal to surrender.
Napoleon's disintegrating forces regrouped at the farm
La Belle Alliance had not the stomach to fight anymore than offer a fierce regard defence on the other side of the valley and the British and Prussian cavalry advanced no more, though some cavalry pursued retreating French on the flanks till 10pm. Dusk had set and both sets of forces at the center withdrew from the field in organized silence. That evening after 9pm the French remnants in the center organized a dignified retreat from the field of Waterloo. The Duke of Wellington and Marshall Blucher met at Genappe around 10pm that evening with to signal the end of the battle.
Of the 73,000 men of the great French Grande Armée that started the day 26,000 were either killed or wounded, 7,000 captured
and an additional 15,000 rapidly deserted the retreating army on the road back to Paris in
the following days. The Duke of Wellington lost 15,000 Allied troops whilst the Prussians lost 7,000 men. Thus the age of war had come to an end in Europe.
Had Napoleon simply sounded a tactical retreat at 3pm and poured himself a
simple cup of coffee to warm his spirit, he may yet have had the last
laugh to throw the gauntlet into the face of the Duke of Wellington. But
this was not the kind of man to sit and wait as Austerlitz had shown
the world before. This was a man that would not flinch before the brutal Russian winter as he threw his finest men into the Battle of Borodino and which resulted in 70,000 French casualties. This was a man who force marched his army on a retreat through ice and snow, and which saw his men resort to eating their own shoes and even their horses to stay alive. He could not possibly sit and wait for the Allies to group, even with territorial and gun advantage and a rear of trees which could never allow the Allies to envelop him.
Jamais!
In battles before Napoleon had been known to retire to
his tent and take 30 minute naps to re-energize before. But this time he let his anger get the better of him; could
not bare the fact that he could not budge the Allies from the ridge. With uncharacteristic loss of judgement on the field with compounding exasperation he over-estimated the potency of a
Prussian force he had already defeated at Ligny and his pride would not allow him to merely sit and wait for the combined forces to attack his own sturdy defence. His rage and pride got the better of him and so he thrust the rest of his forces into that roiling cauldron of fire and the rest of the narrative becomes a history of despair as France's finest soldier's were mercilessly cut down before the Allies.
The man who would take a crown from the Pope's very own hands became the architect of his own ruin with his own stubborn pride and inability to contain his confidence and learn when to yield and fight for another moment. Patience was not a word an Emperor could live with.
Could it be said that the fate of nations could have been decided over a hot brew of coffee; or in this narrative, the complete lack of it? After all it was the man himself who had uttered - “I would rather suffer with coffee than be senseless.” Logic would therefore dictate that indeed the great man was utterly senseless on that fateful day and bereft of sufferings of coffee as he threw the French finest up the crest at Waterloo.
The man who became an Emperor was now a complete outcast. But even on
his deathbed Napoleon would ask for a spoonful of coffee whilst saying “I would rather suffer with coffee than be senseless.” His final autopsy revealed a stomach full of coffee.
As the British poet Thomas Gray had written in 1747:
The boast of heraldry, the pomp of pow'r,
And all that beauty, all that wealth e'er gave,
Awaits alike th' inevitable hour.
The paths of glory lead but to the grave.
- Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard.
Reflections upon the life of Napoleon Bonaparte and his passion for coffee.
- Pieter Bergli, lover of fine coffees, historical narratives and anecdotes.
My Art Musings
his game under the candlelight. It is said that his greatest operatic work: The Magic Flute was completed under the Divine inspiration of this revered dark and aromatic beverage. The famous opera premiered on 30 September 1791 at Schikaneder's theatre in Vienna. So successful did the opera become that it even celebrated its 100th performance in November 1792 in a short year! But Mozart did
not have the personal satisfaction to watch his own redemption as he had died on 5
December 1791 at the age of just 35 years.
member of the world famous Accademia
Filarmonica. There in Rome, Mozart listened twice to performance of Gregorio Allegri's Miserere in the Sistine Chapel and was so profoundly moved that he actually wrote a replica out from memory, and thus producing
the first ever copy of a work belonging to the Vatican. Thereafter in 1770 Mozart wrote the opera Mitridate, re di Ponto, which was performed with such success in Milan and which led to further enquirers and operatic commissions. At the age of 17, Mozart was engaged as a court musician in Salzburg to the court of its ruler, Prince-Archbishop Hieronymus Colloredo. But
the young musician grew tired and restless and gravitated towards Vienna, in spite of a great many number of new friends and admirers the young musician established in Salzburg. 
weeks in
Vienna. Eventually, Mozart died after years of financial distress and debt
unable to afford the lifestyle he craved that started with his marriage to Constanze and all her social aspirations. In 1791, aged a mere 35 years, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart succumbed. 
