Tsouras - Napoleon Victorious!: an Alternative History of the Battle of Waterloo

Napoleon Victorious!

For Patty, the love of my life my wife, dearest friend, conscience, counsellor, and the mother of three wonderful children!

A N A LTERNATE H ISTORY OF THE

B ATTLE OF W ATERLOO

Peter G. Tsouras

Napoleon Victorious: An Alternate History of the Battle of Waterloo

Greenhill Books, c/o Pen & Sword Books Ltd,

47 Church Street, Barnsley, S. Yorkshire, S70 2AS

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Copyright Peter G. Tsouras, 2018

The right of Peter G. Tsouras to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted in accordance with Section 77 of the Copyrights Designs and Patents Act 1988.

CIP data records for this title are available from the British Library

ISBN 978-1-78438-208-7

eISBN 978-1-78438-210-0

Mobi ISBN 978-1-78438-209-4

I was barely 10 when I buried my father. Notre Dame glittered with uniforms of all the marshals of France, a battalions worth of generals, and a regiment of colonels, not to mention the jewels and high fashion of their wives. The clergy added even more colour along with clouds of incense. The choir was perfect. The funeral itself had even been delayed long enough for the Pope to arrive to officiate. Nothing was spared. My regal mothers false tears were convincing to everyone but me.

Every eye seemed focused on the gilded bronze sarcophagus in front of the altar with the tricolour draped over it. On top of it rested his sword and simple black campaign hat. From corners of the coffin eagles flashed. All so regal, yet so cold. But my tears were warm and real. He called me his little eagle, and he loved me. I shall miss him till the day they lay me out in the same spot.

When the service was finished, his marshals flanked the coffin as official pallbearers while it was carried out by a dozen of the strongest members of the Old Guard. Mother and I followed, the mass of mourners rippling in bows as we passed. Outside, the Old Guard was massed. Our carriage rode past their ranks, and I could not miss the tears streaming down countless faces, as warm as mine.

Long after I was supposed to be asleep, I found my secret way, as 10-year-old boys are wont to do, to the garden and the moonlit bench in the arbour where Father and I would go to be alone. I could feel him still there, an invisible yet powerful presence. I remembered all the hours we spent there as he regaled me with stories of his wars, and as I would realize later much wisdom on the leading of men. The sergeant of the guard found me sound asleep. Through the haze of my sleep, I heard, Ah, Eaglet, what are you doing here? as he gently scooped me up in his arms.

The next night I slipped out again and forced myself to stay awake until the sergeant made his rounds. This time he bowed as he said, Your Majesty should not be here alone. May I escort you back to your rooms?

My father said a little time alone was the most precious gift a monarch could have.

Ah, that sounds like the Emperor, he replied.

He was an old soldier, grey in the service of my father, his moustache long and drooping, de rigueur for one of the Old Guard. Countless men had served my father, but how many had known him? Tell me, I asked, where did you serve with my father?

The sergeant laughed quietly and said, It would be a shorter list to say where I did not serve him, Majesty.

Were you at Mont St Jean?

Indeed, Your Majesty. I was with him when he broke the English.

Extract from the memoirs of Napoleon II,

Emperor of the French

Napoleon escapes from Elba

Napoleon reviews the Old Guard the the great parade

The Red Lancers of the Imperial Guard

The army renews its oath to Napoleon

Marshal Jean-de-Dieu Soult

Marshal Adolphe Edouard Mortier, Duke of Treviso

Marshal Emmanuel Grouchy

Marshal Louis Davout

General Jean-Baptiste Drouet, Comte dErlon

General Dominique Rene, Comte Vandamme

Prince Jrme Bonaparte

Marshal Louis Alexandre Berthier, Prince of Neuchtel and Wagram

General tienne-Maurice Grard

The Duke of Wellington

Lieutenant General Henry William Paget, first Marquess of Anglesey and second Earl of Uxbridge

Lieutenant General Sir Thomas Picton

Richard Hussey Vivian, first Baron Vivian

John Cameron, commander of the 92nd Foot at Waterloo

William, Prince of Orange

General David Hendrik Chass, General Bayonet

Field Marshal Prince Gebhardt von Blcher

General Count Neidhardt von Gneisenau

Hans Ernst von Zieten

The Prussian attack at Ligny

Gneisenau covering the retreat at Ligny

The Duchess of Richmonds Ball

A Prussian general at Waterloo

A sub-lieutenant breaks through the courtyard gate at Hougoumont

The French counterattack at Hougoumont

The Scots Guards counterattack at Braine lAlleud

Vive LEmpereur! The attack of French hussars at Braine lAlleud

Sergeant Charles Ewart capturing the eagle of the French 100th Regiment of the Line at the Battle of Waterloo

French soldiers presenting captured colours to Napoleon at his headquarters on Ronsomme Hill

Early use of a French balloon in 1795

To the last bullet the defence of La Haye Sainte

The loss of a British colour in the collapse of Wellingtons left flank

Napoleons forward headquarters at the inn at La Belle Alliance

A general leading the charge against Wellingtons right at Waterloo

Charge of the Red Lancers of the Guard through the gap in the British line

The final cavalry attack at Mont St Jean

Napoleon before the storm of Mont St Jean