Battle of Waterloo: Prussian Failed to Rejoin

What if, before the main battle of Waterloo, the Prussian were crushingly defeated at the Ligny, sparing Napolean chase group and failed to rejoin the British ??
 
Napoleon is much stronger and defeats Wellington. Of course if Wellington makes a stand at Waterloo. I'm not sure if he would haved dared to face Napoleon's army without any hope for Prussian help.
 

67th Tigers

Banned
Wellington planned for the contingency, and would have fell back on Antwerp, gathering in all the detachments he'd placed to his rear and out on the extreme right flank, and dig in, waiting for the rest of the British Army to reach him.
 
I think again, if the Prussian were defeated. Napoleon will not needing a chasing party to chase the remnants of Prussian troops, therefore he could easily swept Wellington Army and easily crushed the Russian.

What do you guys think ?
 

67th Tigers

Banned
I think again, if the Prussian were defeated. Napoleon will not needing a chasing party to chase the remnants of Prussian troops, therefore he could easily swept Wellington Army and easily crushed the Russian.

What do you guys think ?

He needed a swift victory then to shift his axis towards Schwartzenburg and de Tolley. A siege of Antwerp was not an option. I think he'd have taken the bulk of his army (leaving a Corps of Observation), gone south and reunited with his 3 Corps on the Rhine and gone straight for Schwartzenburg while he was still strung out on the march.
 
Napoleon's grand strategy in this period went exactly as desired in every theater except at Waterloo. A victory at Waterloo and advance to Brussels may leave his army with more new recruits than it lost at Waterloo. NOT a good thing for the Allies.
 
Napoleon's grand strategy in this period went exactly as desired in every theater except at Waterloo. A victory at Waterloo and advance to Brussels may leave his army with more new recruits than it lost at Waterloo. NOT a good thing for the Allies.

If, as the TL suggests, the Prussians were clearly defeated and wouldn't be able to support Wellington then he wouldn't have stood at waterloo and would have withdrawn through the woods to Antwerp and waited for reinforcements. As such no big victory there and a siege threatened or the need to at least try and screen the British/allied forces while he sought to counter the much larger Russian and Austrian forces heading westward. Napoleon loses no further troops, expect possibly by desertion, but is unlikely to gain many. After so many years of conflict very few people, especially outside France proper, wanted more warfare, especially over their home territories. That is marked by the fact he relied on volunteers for the 1815 conflict as he dare not re-introduce conscription.

Steve
 

67th Tigers

Banned
FWIW: the British kept a force of 50,000 regulars at home (more British than Wellington had ISTR!), and Wellington had a very hard time getting reinforcements. IRL he had another division or two (?) en route from Britain.

The British also kept a force in the Med under Bentinck, and a portion of that (a Corps?) was also moving by sea to reinforce him, as indeed was a Portugeuse force.

If Wellington can hold at Antwerp, and the Dutch don't fall apart he might be able to strike out as Napoleon moves off.

Also, Napoleon has advanced the conscription, calling out next years class. Between Waterloo and crossing the Rhine he can expect significant reinforcement.
 
Top