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|casualties2=1,200 }} The Waterloo Campaign started with a pre-emptive attack by the French Army of the North under the command of Napoleon Bonaparte. The first elements of the Army of the North moved from their peace time depots on 8 June to their rendezvous point just on the French side of the Franco-Belgian border, from where they launched their pre-emptive attack on the two Coalition armies that were cantoned in Belgium—the Anglo-allied army under the command of the Duke of Wellington and a Prussian army under the command of Prince Blücher. Hostilities commencement shortly after the French advanced guard crossed the border and encountered the first Coalition outposts manned by soldiers of the Prussian I Corps (Zieten's) around 03:30 on 15 June. For the rest of the day the I Corps engaged in a fighting retreat against the overwhelming force of the French Army of the North. By midnight of 15/16 July the French had advanced north and through Charleroi and in doing so successfully crossed the river Sambre, the only significant river between the French army and Brussels. At 19:00 on 15 June Marshal Ney, who had ridden up from Paris, met Napoleon near Charleroi, at the point where the road to Fleurus branches off from the one to Brussels. He was ordered to take command of the left wing of the Army of the North and press north up the Charleroi–Brussels road towards the Anglo-allied army and "drive back the enemy" while Napoleon would advance up the Fleurus road and do the same thing to the Prussians. The advance up the two roads continued until darkness but slowed during the evening as Coalition troops fell back on reinforcements. The French planned to renew their advance on 16 June, while the two Coalition armies planned to check them at Quatre Bras and Ligny. ==Prelude== (詳細はNapoleon Bonaparte landed in France after his escape from Elba, he marched on Paris. When it became clear that the troops sent to arrest him would not do so and his arrival in the capital was imminent, Louis XVIII fled. The representatives of the other European powers assembled at the Congress of Vienna issued a declaration outlawing Napoleon and agreed to place armies of at least 150,000 each in the field to oppose him. The Coalition Powers agreed on a coordinated invasion of France to start on 1 July 1815. To this end it was agreed that: *Britain and Prussia would assemble their armies in Belgium (a territory recently acquired by United Kingdom of the Netherlands) *The Russians would assemble an army and advance through Germany towards the French frontier *The Austrians would assemble two armies and advance on the French frontiers *The troops of Bavaria, Baden, Wurtemberg, and Hesse, would assemble their troops on the upper Rhine under the command of the Prince of Württemberg. As soon as it became apparent that the Coalition Powers were determined to use force against him, Napoleon started to prepare for war. He had a choice of two strategies: either to assemble his forces in and around Paris and defeat the Coalition Powers as they attempted to invest the city, or to launch a pre-emptive attack and destroy each of his enemies' armies before they could combine. He chose the latter strategy and decided to attack the two Coalition armies in Belgium which were cantoned close to the borders of France. The Prussian army, commanded by Prince Blücher, was cantoned south east of Brussels with its headquarters in Namur. The Anglo-allied army, commanded by the Duke of Wellington, was cantoned south west Brussels with its headquarters in Brussels. Wellington's army included contingents from the British Army (including the KGL), Hanover (their king was also the king of Britain), Brunswick (until very recently closely associated with Hanover and hence the British), the Kingdom of the Netherlands (Dutch and Belgian troops), and Nassau (had close dynastic ties with the Netherlands and part of the territory had until very recently been ruled by the King of the Netherlands). 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Waterloo Campaign, 8–15 June」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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