The French made 12 major cavalry charges at Waterloo. These attacks were launched mainly under Marshal Michel Ney during the afternoon of 18 June 1815, as Napoleon’s army tried to break Wellington’s Anglo-allied line.
The best-known assault came after French infantry attacks had failed to dislodge the Allies. Ney appears to have mistaken troop movements and smoke for a general retreat, ordering massed cavalry forward before adequate infantry and artillery support was ready. French cuirassiers and other mounted troops repeatedly charged uphill against Allied infantry formed into defensive squares.
The squares proved extremely difficult to break. Although some Allied formations were disrupted and a few may have been penetrated, most held firm because their rows of bayonets protected them from direct cavalry attack. French horsemen also lacked a practical way to capture the guns and reorganise after each charge.
The number 12 refers to the traditional count of the major French cavalry attacks, not every small mounted action or countercharge. British, Dutch-Belgian, and other Allied cavalry also fought at Waterloo, so the figure should not be read as the total number of cavalry movements during the battle.