Waterloo at 211 — and the Battles History Never Saw

On this day — 18 June — in 1815, the fields south of Brussels decided the fate of a continent. Two hundred and eleven years on, Waterloo remains the most famous battle of the Napoleonic age.

By the 18th, Napoleon had already split his enemies: two days earlier he had mauled Blücher’s Prussians at Ligny while Marshal Ney contested the crossroads at Quatre Bras. But Wellington chose his ground well along the ridge of Mont-Saint-Jean and dug in to wait — for the Prussians to march to his aid.

Some 72,000 Frenchmen threw themselves at Wellington’s 68,000 British, Dutch, Belgian and German troops through a long, bloody day. Four great assaults broke against the allied centre. As the afternoon wore on, Blücher’s 45,000 Prussians arrived on the French right — the hammer to Wellington’s anvil. By nightfall the Grande Armée was streaming from the field; more than sixty thousand men on both sides had been killed, wounded or taken. Within weeks Napoleon abdicated for the last time, and twenty-three years of war were over.

Why does a battle from 1815 matter to a game set in 1808? Because in Austerlitz, none of it has happened yet. Our campaigns open with the Eagle still ascendant and the map of Europe unwritten. The coalition that broke Napoleon at Waterloo might never form; a cannier Emperor — or a bolder alliance — could rewrite the whole story. That is the promise of play-by-email: history is yours to make.

So on this anniversary, raise a glass to the men of 1815 — then come and fight the battles history never saw.

New players are always welcome — request a position here.

— Sam