I had a plan, no less audacious than that of French Emperor Napoleon, to cycle from Brussels along the canal to Halle. Then to cut across the Halle Bos into Wallonia and the small town of Waterloo. I’d then head south to the open country where the Battle of Waterloo raged in 1815. I’d traverse the battlefield to the village of Plancenoit, and then head north through the glorious Sonian Forest back to Brussels.
Not unlike Napoleon on that fateful June day in 1815, in the depths of the Sonian Forest I met my Waterloo. I had a choice to make: surrender to the inevitable and return to Waterloo to catch the train, or struggle onwards with only a slim chance of success? The train was very comfortable, I even had time to try a locally brewed Waterloo Triple Blond beer. Failure can occasionally be rewarding.
Not so for Napoleon. The Battle of Waterloo is one of history’s great ‘Cleopatra’s Nose’ moments. A huge “What if?” hangs in the air over the site of perhaps the most famous modern European battle. Had Napoleon won the day the course of history would have been very different. Instead, it was the Duke of Wellington who on the night of 18 June, 1815, after hours of bloodshed, would celebrate victory.
In Waterloo, I headed to the building that housed Wellington’s headquarters during the battle. It is now a small but interesting museum. It was here that Wellington wrote his victory report and briefly mourned the death of his aide de camp and friend, Alexander Gordon, who died in this building. More importantly, after winning Eurovision in 1974, ABBA visited Wellington’s headquarters. Their winning song? Waterloo.
Opposite is the Church of Saint Joseph. Dating to the 17th century, it is famed today because of the Belgian, Dutch and English soldiers interred here after the battle. I made a quick visit before cycling to the battlefield, stopping at the Ferme de Mont Saint Jean, where Wellington set up a field hospital and which is now the brewery making Waterloo beer.
It’s a short distance to the Lion’s Mound, a 43m high mound topped by a 4.5 m high cast iron lion. Completed in 1826, it marks the spot where Willem, Prince of Orange, was hit in the shoulder by a musket ball that knocked him off his horse. He was treated at Ferme de Mont Saint Jean before being sent to Brussels. The Butte du Lion was still closed, as was the panorama of the battle, so I carried on my way to Hougoumont Farm.
What becomes obvious when you cycle around the battlefield is just how vast it is, how hard it must have been to understand exactly what was happening. Yet, in this landscape, over 200,000 soldiers, cavalry and supply wagons blasted away relentlessly at each other for around ten hours. There were cannons delivering death from afar, but mostly this was up close and personal slaughter.
Over 54,000 soldiers were killed or wounded. I cycled to Hougoumont Farm, the scene of intense fighting, and on to Plancenoit. This village was fought over repeatedly by French and Prussian forces, much of it was destroyed, but the Prussian victory here contributed to Napoleon’s defeat. A Prussian memorial on the outskirts of the village commemorates the battle. The metalwork reminded me of similar monuments in Berlin.
In the cemetery of Plancenoit’s Eglise Sainte-Catherine is a plaque to the French dead. The church was destroyed in 1815 and rebuilt. Waterloo is close to Brussels and, after the battle was over, officers of the victorious allies returned to the city to attend magnificent balls and parties. It was time for me to do the same, although I just wanted a shower. It took the intervention of a train, but I made it home.
PS2. Come to think of it, you probably weren’t born. It was in ’66 or ’67… 😳
PS. I did visit. A long time ago, when we were stationed in Amsterdam. We went to visit some Belgian friends and stopped at Waterloo. (Not the station) 😬
Waterloo? Waterloo? Isn’t that a Railway station in London?
I suspect the train station is the more visited and popular of the two, Brian! I didn’t know before that the big mound was built by the Dutch on the spot where the Prince of Orange was shot, very impressive.
I suspect so too… 😉
Yes that mound wasn’t there on the day of the battle…