One big reason to be considered is not bringing Davout to the battle.

Ney had been humiliatingly reprimanded by Napoleon for inaction at Quatre Bras. Perhaps this partly explains his recklessly repeated cavalry charges.

I don’t think it’s that decisive,Even if Napoleon win this battle he will still need to fight the full force of the coalition.Basically a repeat of 1814 with less marshals and troop.

Arthur Wellesley, who was made the 1st Duke of Wellington in 1814, won more than 32 battles in his career; he was never defeated even though he was outnumbered  in nearly every battle. After vanquishing the French for the last time at Waterloo, the Duke wept at the loss of life and swore he'd never fight again.

If you look back through  most of Wellingtons battles in the peninsular war. He was very careful where he choose to fight the French.  He well knew that he couldnt afford to hit the french head on in any major battles so Wellington choose the landscape to help him defeat the french on the peninsular wars.if he able to.

Super documentary. Imagine the horror of having to slog across that muddy field, straight into the firepower of Wellington's army.

Our History is One of my favorite channels on YT..

When asked why he did not join his worshiped Emperor in the Waterloo campaign, Joseph Conrad's old uncle who had survived the Russian campaign, said this, "No money, no horse, too far to walk."

The heavy rain the night before, the quality of the army after the Russian disaster, the quality of the Duke's army, Bluchers timely intervention, Grouchy's failure to intervene, Napoleons poor health on the day,  etc etc

Both Napoleon and Ney,  when late in the day, finally released the famous Imperial Guard, in what was called  'The Crisis' they were used in the wrong formations. They were sent forward in 2 Columns, each about 60 man frontage. They were 9 man deep, this then wwas called 'close column' Wellington had shielded his men by having them prone behind the ridge, therefore they were well rested. They were in line, 4 lines deep and had some  400 muskets available for each of the lines,presumeably 2 firing while the other 2 reloaded. The Garde were formed in so tight a frontage that possibly only 2 or 3 lines could fire. This discrepancy in firepower caused a devastating slaughter of the French. The British front was so long that several Battalions on each flank were able to pivot and engage the French Columns from the flanks.  As you can imagine by the time that the French were only 30 yds from the Redcoats someone heard the cry "Le Garde Recule" and the French turned and fled. That was the end of Napoleon and his Empire.

Interesting point from the boffin about Wellington being a surveyor.
He has always been noted as a defensive commander but this doesn’t take into account that he virtually always had small armies and more often than not heavily outnumbered, so he would have had to become an expert to choose his battlefield to reflect this.

An fascinating almost forensic exploration of the battle. I had no idea that ridiculous monumental mound had destroyed the topography of the battlefield. So Napoleon delayed the battle thy several hours to allow the ground to dry out he left the battlefield due to his ill health. As someone who suffers badly from IBS I can fully appreciate just how debilitating that can be- there is no way anyone can focus on anything else when suffering from a severe attack. The rich detail contained in this documentary is excellent and helps to further explain just why the battle played out as it did.

That same mud saved my uncle's life in WW 2. A V2 rocket landed right next to his jeep, but instead of going "boom" it went "floop"!

Two additional things....
1. Wellington had visited Belgium the year before and seen the Waterloo ridge. He identified it as a place to make a firm defense. The next year, his troop movements were designed to draw Napoleon to that place. and
2. Victor Hugo is one of our primary sources for the movements of the battle from the French side. He notes that Ney's cavalry charge was not only broken up by the fighting square, but also by a "ravine" unseen from the French lines. The ravine slowed the charge as the horses needed to jump or otherwise navigate it. Could this have been the road mentioned early in the video? Hugo is the only source I've read who mentions it, but he's also one of the closest sources as a contemporary.

Just before The Battle of Waterloo Napoleon had fought the Battle of Ligny (16 June 1815) against The Prussians and defeated them. He sent Grouchy and 33,000 troops to pursue. The Prussians Rallied after retreating parallel to Wellingtons line of march which kept the Prussians in Contact with the Allied Army. The Prussians organised and marched to Waterloo and Grouchy did not. So Prussians on his flank and Allies heavily engaged to his front Napoleon was Screwed.

A few decades later in the American Civil war at Gettysburg, similar events took place with Confederate artillery being ineffective, followed by a march of soldiers straight into Union Cannons and rifles. I visited that battlefield last year. Incredible place to see. i would like to visit Waterloo as well. Gen. Lee should have studied this battle before Gburg.

Many of the factors which have been brought here appear in the Italian-Soviet coproduction Waterloo starring Rod Steiger as Napoleon and Christopher Plummer as Wellington. For fans of the battle I recommend it if you haven't seen it. Director Sergei Bondarchuk had the use of the Red Army as extras. Ney's cavalry charge alone is worth the price of admission. I also wonder if Napoleon's stomach troubles at this stage of his life were symptoms of arsenic poisoning. His favourite uniform was that of the chasseurs a cheval of the Imperial guard. It had a bright green jacket whose colour came from arsenic salts.

Napoleon was finished during the Battle of Leipzig in 1813. That is an even more interesting battle you should spotlight.

For me....the canister fire demonstration was the most chilling.  Can you imaging marching in line into that kind of fire???!!!   (Even today, people fear a shotgun being pointed at them more than any other weapon.)

Wellington fought the battle the way he wanted, and Napoleon fought the battle the way that Wellington wanted.