Mont-Saint-Jean, Belgium
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Mont-Saint-Jean is a village located in the province of Walloon Brabant, Belgium south of Waterloo the Brussels road (N5) forks for Charleroi and Nivelles.
Mont-Saint-Jean is on the reverse slope of the escarpment where the Battle of Waterloo was fought, and is the name Napoleon Bonaparte gave to the the battle (la bataille de Mont-Saint-Jean). At the time of the battle there was a farm called Mont-Saint-Jean Farm, on the Charleroi–Brussels road about halfway between the edge of the escarpment and the village.
In the novel Les Miserables by Victor Hugo, Chapter X is called "The Plateau of Mont-Saint-Jean" and it describes the massive French cavalry attacks on the British infantry squares situated on the reverse slope of the escarpment at the height of the battle.
References
- Victor Hugo. Les Miserables, Chapter X: The Plateau of Mont-Saint-Jean
- Napoleon Bonaparte (1820). Mémoires pour servir à l'histoire de France en 1815, avec le plan de la bataille de Mont-Saint-Jean
- Staff. Mont-Saint-Jean The Columbia Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition. 2001-05.
- Staff. Battle of Waterloo: Section V Mont-Saint-Jean Encarta