In late February 1815, the former Emperor of France Napoleon Bonaparte escaped his exile on the island of Elba landing on the mainland near Cannes. Upon learning that the forces sent to intercept him had since joined his ranks King Louis XVIII took fright and fled Paris. He was perhaps right to do so for restored to the throne by Allied bayonets the Bourbons were deeply unpopular and the people were quick to rally behind their former Emperor who had once made them so proud. 
By the summer he had reconstituted his army to something of its former glory and on 16 June he routed the Prussian Army at Ligny. Badly mauled he assumed they would retreat eastwards to protect their lines of communication and so now turned to confront the British Army commanded by the Duke of Wellington that had taken up a position near the village of Waterloo south of Brussels - as the two armies faced one another the fate of Europe lay in the balance. 
These are the reminiscences of Captain Rees Howell Gronow of the Grenadier Guards who was present throughout on that fateful day. 
"About four P.M. the enemy's artillery in front of us ceased firing all of a sudden, and we saw large masses of cavalry advance: not a man present who survived could have forgotten in after-life the awful grandeur of that charge. You discovered at a distance what appeared to be an overwhelming, long moving line, which, ever advancing, glittered like a stormy wave of the sea when it catches the sunlight. On they came until they got near enough, whilst the very earth seemed to vibrate beneath the thundering tramp of the mounted host. One might suppose that nothing could have resisted the shock of this terrible moving mass. They were the famous cuirassiers, almost all old soldiers, who had distinguished themselves on most of the battlefields of Europe. In an almost incredibly short period they were within twenty yards of us, shouting 'Vive l'Empereur!' The word of command, 'Prepare to receive cavalry,' had been given, every man in the front ranks knelt, and a wall bristling with steel, held together by steady hands, presented itself to the infuriated cuirassiers. 
I should observe that just before this charge the duke entered by one of the angles of the square, accompanied only by one aide-de-camp; all the rest of his staff being either killed or wounded. Our r commander-in-chief, as far as I could judge, appeared perfectly composed; but looked very thoughtful and pale. 
Tagged as: Fact File, War
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