Waterloo was a very near-run thing, with Blucher’s arrival in the evening (with one of Napoleon’s commanders failing to harass and delay Blucher as intended due to uncertainty over his orders) reversing what looked to be a hard-won victory by Napoleon. Counterfactuals are always difficult, so I’ll leave it at “It’s very possible that Berthier’s interpretation could’ve made the difference”
Do you think Berthier’s death is why Napoleon lost the battle, or would’ve Napoleon lost anyway?
Waterloo was a very near-run thing, with Blucher’s arrival in the evening (with one of Napoleon’s commanders failing to harass and delay Blucher as intended due to uncertainty over his orders) reversing what looked to be a hard-won victory by Napoleon. Counterfactuals are always difficult, so I’ll leave it at “It’s very possible that Berthier’s interpretation could’ve made the difference”
Napoleon himself thought so:
Btw Berthiers death by defenestration in Bamberg is a great mystery.