There is a saying that details determine success or failure. In war, many times, there is often a negligence on a small aspect that has a significant impact. In the end, for this small negligence, a huge price was paid, and even caused the defeat of the war. In the case of the Napoleonic Wars in the West, this phenomenon has occurred many times.
On June 24, 1812, Napoleon led the French army into Russia and began his most difficult war against Russia. Before starting the war, Napoleon made more adequate preparations. He mobilized superior troops, prepared sufficient food and grass for them, and established logistical support lines. For this war, he even prepared fake rubles for the purchase of supplies from Russian peasants.
However, under the stubborn resistance of the Russian military and civilians, after many bloody battles, although Napoleon captured Moscow, he also suffered heavy losses. As the harsh russian winter approached, Napoleon was forced to withdraw from Moscow and prepare to return to the rear for the winter, waiting until the following year.
However, on the way to the withdrawal, Napoleon's French army encountered a harsh winter that had arrived early. In the windy weather, under the resistance of the Russian people, Napoleon's army suffered a catastrophe. Of Napoleon's losses, the most serious was the loss of cavalry units.
His chief of staff, Berthier, gave Victor the order, "The legionnaires have no mounts, and all their horses are frozen to death." Finally, in Napoleon's communiqué, it was also stated: "Our cavalry has no horses to ride, so that we have to gather the officers who still have one horse together to form four companies, each with one hundred and fifty men, with the general as a captain and the colonel as a sergeant." This sacred cavalry was commanded by General Grouchy, who was directly under the command of the King of Naples and accompanied the Emperor in all his actions. By this time, there were only a few hundred cavalry left in the entire French army. Could it really be that the cold winter in Russia froze the horses of the French cavalry to death?
No, the truth is not. In fact, most of the French horses fell in the snow and broke their legs and died. The reason for this situation is very simple, due to the negligence of the French army, the French war horses did not have top skids on the paws. In this way, when passing through frozen rivers and lakes, the French war horses often broke their legs. Because of this, the Russian army once cheered, saying that God made Napoleon forget that there was still winter in Russia.
Due to the heavy loss of war horses, Napoleon's cavalry that once swept through Europe disappeared. In later wars, due to the lack of cavalry, Napoleon was unable to carry out reconnaissance activities, obtained intelligence from the other side, and often misjudged the situation. Even many times his orders were intercepted by enemy cavalry.
In battles, such as the Battle of Lützen and the Battle of Bautzen, because there was no cavalry to expand the results, although the battle was successful, it could only watch the other side safely withdraw under the cover of cavalry. Especially at the Battle of Bautzen, the French did not capture a single prisoner of war or a heavy wagon at the end.
In order to rebuild the cavalry, Napoleon was forced to truce with the enemies Russia and Prussia. However, when the war resumed, Austria took part in the war again. The outnumbered Napoleon was forced to retreat.
When the war hit the country, the cavalry problem still plagued Napoleon. Eventually, because the cavalry intercepted Napoleon's report to Paris, the Allies ignored Napoleon, who had entered his rear, and instead approached Paris.
After the capture of Paris, Napoleon was forced to abdicate, acknowledging the defeat of the war. It all has to do with that little cleat.
By the time of the Battle of Waterloo, Napoleon had made more mistakes in the details. For example, accepting the advice of his subordinates, postponing the launch of the campaign and delaying the fighters. Otherwise, he would have defeated the British before prussian reinforcements arrived.
When Gruch was informed to return reinforcements, his newly appointed chief of staff had no experience and merely sent a messenger to deliver the order. When Napoleon knew about it, he shouted, if it was the former chief of staff, at least a squad of messengers would be sent to convey the order.
In the end, Grusch did not get this order and rushed to the battlefield at a critical moment. Napoleon was defeated by the British and Prussian armies.
In the course of the battle, there was a dramatic scene. The French cavalry bravely launched an attack on the British, occupying the British artillery positions during the battle and capturing all the British artillery. However, since the cavalry had no way to deal with the artillery, they had to ignore the artillery. As a result, when the French cavalry withdrew, the artillery returned to the British and continued to bombard the French.
Later, some people commented that if the French army had brought a hammer and a nail and nailed the door of the British artillery, the French army would have won a victory long ago. Napoleon's defeat at Waterloo was a hammer and a nail.
Details determine success or failure, and this is not only a matter of details, but also a matter of responsibility hidden behind the details. An army without a sense of responsibility, of course, is a poorly disciplined and poorly organized army, and failure is inevitable. Napoleon has been in the limelight for so many years, first defeating the anti-slip nails, and then defeating the gun door nails, who knows that a small nail led to his demise.