The troops of the Dutchy of Brunswick (more accurately Braunschweig-Luneburg-Oels) had fought against the French ever since the middle of the 18th Century. During the Seven Years War (1755-62) the Duke of Brunswick joined the Prussian service and placed his troops at the disposal of the Prussians.

Knotel's painting in the Braunschweigishes Landesmuseum showing the Brunswick Corps at the moment when the Duke was struck, mortally wounded. In the right-foreground is the Leib-Bataillon, righting in a ragged line with, in the left of the picture, a Jager officer of the Avantegarde rushing through the tall rye. In the background is the curve of the Bossu Wood and in the centre or the picture the Duke can be failing from his horse.

The Duke acquired a considerable reputation as a commander during that conflict and when the First Coalition was formed against the fledgling French Republic in 1792 the Duke was nominated General-in-Chief of the Coalition armies. In 1806 the Duke was again asked to command the Prussian Army and he led the Prussians at the Battle of Jena where he was mortally wounded. [1]

Following their success at Jena the French overran northern Germany and on 25 October 1806, the French 15th Dragoons captured the city of Brunswick. The Brunswick Army was disbanded and a number of officers and men were taken into the French service. The state of Brunswick was dissolved with its territory forming part of the Kingdom of Westfalia a French puppet state with Jerome Bonaparte at its head - and the dead Duke's son, Frederich Wilhelm, took refuge in Austria.

In 1809 the Austrians went to war with France, and Frederich Wilhelm raised a small force to fight alongside the Austrians in the. hope of recovering his lost domains. The Brunswick force formed part of a mixed corps along with Austrian and Hessian troops which marched into Bohemia and then invaded Saxony. But the main Austrian army met with defeat at Wagram, and France and Austria agreed upon an armistice. The young Duke of Brunswick, however, did not consider himself bound by the cease-fire and he decided to try and make his way to the coast of northern Germany where he hoped that he could be rescued by the Royal Navy. Fighting his way through Hanover and Brunswick, the Duke's small legion (barely 1,600 strong) reached Elsfleth on the North Sea coast at the beginning of August where it was embarked for England.

The Brunswickers were accepted into Service with the British Army as the "Brunswick-0els Jagers" and, after a period of re-organisation, they were shipped off to join Wellington's army in Portugal. The Brunswick cavalry, formed into a regiment of Hussars, was detached from the infantry and was sent to fight under Sir John Murray in the Mediteranean. [2]

Following Napoleon's disastrous Russian campaign in 1812 the Allied armies drove out the French forces from Westfalia and Friedrich Wilhelm was finally restored to his lands. The Duke immediately began to raise a new national army, and by the Spring of 1814 the Brunswick Army numbered 7,200 infantry with fifty cavalry. Towards the end of the year the Brunswick-Clels Jagers returned from Spain but the Hussars continued in British service for another six months.

The Brunswick Corps at Quatre Bras

Introduction and Background
Brunswick Army 1815
Battle of Quatre Bras
The Brunswick Memorial
Large Map of Quatre Bras Area (slow: 186K)
Brunswick Uniforms 1815 (slow: 104K)