10 Things You Didn't Know About Napoleon
7. He Fought Against His Father-in-law At Waterloo
There have been several horror stories throughout history involving father or mother-in-laws and Napoleon was unfortunate enough to fall to a similar forced family fate. After losing rule over France in 1814, Napoleon regained control from the monarchy less than a year later and mounted a second assault against the British.
However, Britain had help this time and the Battle of Waterloo saw Napoleon’s army defeated by the joined forces of Britain, Prussia, Holland, Hanover and Belgium, but Austria did not come to his aid. Austria’s lack of involvement alongside France was particularly unexpected as the Kaiser (Emperor) of Austria at the time, Francis II, was actually Napoleon’s father-in-law. It would seemingly have been a tough decision to side against your son-in-law, but apparently Francis II had no issue with this.
With the Kaiser's daughter and grandson, Napoleon Bonaparte Jr, both already in Austria while a mounting anti-French army grew rapidly in modern day Belgium, not siding with Napoleon seemed like a straightforward decision for Kaiser Francis II. Waterloo went down as one of the bloodiest battles in history, with 65,000 soldiers losing their lives in just one day of action, 41,000 of whom were French.