Battle of Quatre Bras

Battle of Quatre Bras
Part of the Waterloo campaign

The Prince of Orange at the Battle of Quatre-Bras, by Jan Willem Pieneman
Date16 June 1815[1]
Location
Quatre Bras, present-day Belgium
50°34′17″N 4°27′12″E / 50.57139°N 4.45333°E / 50.57139; 4.45333
Result Inconclusive
Belligerents
 France
Commanders and leaders
Strength
20,000–21,000[1] 32,000[1]–36,000
Casualties and losses
4,140–4,400[1] killed or wounded 4,800[2]–5,600[1] killed or wounded
Map
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500km
300miles
Rochefort
7
Surrender of Napoleon on 15 July 1815
Waterloo
6
Battle of Waterloo on 18 June 1815
5
Battle of Wavre from 18 to 19 June 1815
4
Battle of Ligny on 16 June 1815
3
Paris
2
Champ de Mai on 1 June 1815
Elba
1
Exile_to_Elba from 30 May 1814 to 26 February 1815
  current battle
  Napoleon in command
  Napoleon not in command

The Battle of Quatre Bras was fought on 16 June 1815, as a preliminary engagement to the decisive Battle of Waterloo that occurred two days later. The battle took place near the strategic crossroads of Quatre Bras[a] and was contested between elements of the Duke of Wellington's Anglo-allied army and the left wing of Napoleon Bonaparte's French Armée du Nord under Marshal Michel Ney. The battle was a tactical victory for Wellington (as he possessed the field at dusk), but because Ney prevented him going to the aid of Blucher's Prussians who were fighting a larger French army under the command of Napoleon Bonaparte at Ligny it was a strategic victory for the French.

  1. ^ a b c d e Bodart 1908, p. 486.
  2. ^ Hofschröer 2005, p. 71.


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