Waterloo campaign in the context of "War of the Seventh Coalition"

A cantonment (/kænˈtɒnmənt/, /kænˈtoʊnmənt/, or UK: /kænˈtuːnmənt/) is a type of military base. In South Asia, a cantonment refers to a permanent military station (a term from the British Raj). In United States military parlance, a cantonment is, essentially, "a permanent residential section (i.e., barrack) of a fort or other military installation".

The word cantonment, derived from the French word canton, meaning corner or district, refers to a temporary military or winter encampment. For example, at the start of the Waterloo campaign in 1815, while the Duke of Wellington's headquarters were in Brussels, most of his Anglo–allied army of 93,000 soldiers were cantoned, or stationed, to the south of Brussels.

The Grande Armée (pronounced [ɡʁɑ̃d aʁme]; French for 'Grand Army') was the primary field army of the French Imperial Army during the Napoleonic Wars. Commanded by Napoleon, from 1804 to 1808 it won a series of military victories that allowed the First French Empire to exercise unprecedented control over most of Europe. Widely acknowledged to be one of the greatest fighting forces ever assembled, it suffered catastrophic losses during the disastrous French invasion of Russia, after which it never recovered its strategic superiority and ended its military career with a total defeat during the Hundred Days in 1815.

The Grande Armée was formed in 1804 from the Armée des côtes de l'Océan (Army of the Ocean Coasts) more commonly referred to as the Armée d'Angleterre (Army of England), a field army of over 100,000 men assembled for Napoleon's planned invasion of the United Kingdom. He subsequently led the field army to Central Europe and defeated Austrian and Russian forces as part of the War of the Third Coalition. Thereafter, the Grande Armée was the principal field army deployed in the War of the Fourth Coalition, Peninsular War and War of the Fifth Coalition, where the French army slowly lost a large portion of its veteran soldiers, strength and prestige, and in the invasion of Russia, War of the Sixth Coalition and Hundred Days. The term Grande Armée is often used to refer to multinational armies led by Napoleon in his campaigns; however, during the War of the Fifth Coalition and the Waterloo campaign (part of the Hundred Days), other formations were led by him de facto, namely the Army of Germany and the Army of the North, respectively.

Marshal General Jean-de-Dieu Soult, 1st Duke of Dalmatia (French: [ʒɑ̃dədjø sult]; 29 March 1769 – 26 November 1851) was a French general and statesman. He was a Marshal of the Empire during the Napoleonic Wars, and served three times as President of the Council of Ministers (prime minister) of France. Soult is referred to as one of the outstanding military commanders of the modern era.

Son of a country notary from southern France, Soult enlisted in the French Royal Army in 1785 and quickly rose through the ranks during the French Revolution. He was promoted to brigadier general after distinguishing himself at the Battle of Fleurus in 1794, and by 1799 he was a division general. He fought a drawn battle against equally numbered troops of Alexander Suvorov at Glarus in 1799 and in the same year notably defeated the Austrians under the lead of Friedrich von Hotze at the Linth River as Hotze died at the very beginning of battle leaving his Austrians without organization. In 1804, Napoleon made Soult one of his first eighteen Marshals of the Empire. Soult played a key role in many of Napoleon's campaigns, most notably in the Ulm campaign (e.g., Battle of Memmingen) and at the Battle of Austerlitz, where his corps delivered the decisive attack that secured French victory. He was subsequently created Duke of Dalmatia. From 1808, he commanded French forces during the Peninsular War. At the Battle of Corunna, Soult clashed with the British under generals John Moore and John Hope; during Soult's attack, his troops were outflanked by numerically superior infantry and retreated to their original positions as did the British troops, but eventually the battlefield remained his due to the British retreat to their ships, thus Spain was left without British support for a while. At the Battle of Albuera, against superior Anglo-allied forces of William Beresford, he again fought to a draw. Despite several initial victories, for instance at the Battle of Ocaña, Soult was eventually outmaneuvered and driven out of Spain by the coalition forces under the command of Arthur Wellesley (later Duke of Wellington), which were superior to the army given to Soult in terms of the quality of troops and supplies. Soult then stubbornly fought Wellington at Toulouse in 1814, days after Napoleon's first abdication. Soult declared himself a royalist following the Bourbon Restoration, but rejoined Napoleon during the Hundred Days. He was Napoleon's chief of staff during the Waterloo campaign in 1815, where the emperor suffered a final defeat; in this role Soult proved himself less capable than as a field commander.

Field Marshal FitzRoy James Henry Somerset, 1st Baron Raglan, GCB, PC (30 September 1788 – 28 June 1855), known before 1852 as Lord FitzRoy Somerset, was a British Army officer. When a junior officer, he served in the Peninsular War and the Waterloo campaign, latterly as military secretary to the Duke of Wellington. He also took part in politics as Tory Member of Parliament for Truro, before becoming Master-General of the Ordnance.

He became commander of the British troops sent to the Crimea in 1854: his primary objective was to defend Constantinople, and he was also ordered to besiege the Russian port of Sevastopol. After an early success at the Battle of the Alma, a failure to deliver orders with sufficient clarity caused the fateful Charge of the Light Brigade at the Battle of Balaclava. Despite further success at the Battle of Inkerman, a poorly coordinated allied assault on Sevastopol in June 1855 was a complete failure. Raglan died later that month, after having dysentery and depression.

The Grande Armée (pronounced [ɡʁɑ̃d aʁme]; French for 'Great Army') was the primary field army of the French Imperial Army during the Napoleonic Wars. Commanded by Napoleon, from 1804 to 1808 it won a series of military victories that allowed the First French Empire to exercise unprecedented control over most of Europe. Widely acknowledged to be one of the greatest fighting forces ever assembled, it suffered catastrophic losses during the disastrous French invasion of Russia, after which it never recovered its strategic superiority and ended its military career with a total defeat during the Hundred Days in 1815.

The Grande Armée was formed in 1804 from the Armée des côtes de l'Océan (Army of the Ocean Coasts) more commonly referred to as the Armée d'Angleterre (Army of England), a field army of over 100,000 men assembled for Napoleon's planned invasion of the United Kingdom. He subsequently led the field army to Central Europe and defeated Austrian and Russian forces as part of the War of the Third Coalition. Thereafter, the Grande Armée was the principal field army deployed in the War of the Fourth Coalition, Peninsular War and War of the Fifth Coalition, where the French army slowly lost a large portion of its veteran soldiers, strength and prestige, and in the invasion of Russia, War of the Sixth Coalition and Hundred Days. The term Grande Armée is often used to refer to multinational armies led by Napoleon in his campaigns; however, during the War of the Fifth Coalition and the Waterloo campaign (part of the Hundred Days), other formations were led by him de facto, namely the Army of Germany and the Army of the North, respectively.