Brye ( wa, Briye) is a village of

Wallonia Wallonia (; french: Wallonie ), or ; nl, Wallonië ; wa, Waloneye or officially the Walloon Region (french: link=no, Région wallonne),; nl, link=no, Waals gewest; wa, link=no, Redjon walone is one of the three regions of Belgium—alo ...

and a district of the municipality of

Fleurus Fleurus (; wa, Fleuru) is a city and municipality of Wallonia located in the province of Hainaut, Belgium. It has been the site of four major battles. The municipality consists of the following districts: Brye, Heppignies, Fleurus, Lambusart, ...

, located in the

province of Hainaut Hainaut (, also , , ; nl, Henegouwen ; wa, Hinnot; pcd, Hénau), historically also known as Heynowes in English, is a province of Wallonia and Belgium. To its south lies the French department of Nord, while within Belgium it borders (clock ...

arrondissement of Charleroi The Arrondissement of Charleroi (; ) is one of the seven administrative arrondissements in the Walloon province of Hainaut, Belgium. It is both an administrative and a judicial arrondissement. However, the Judicial Arrondissement of Charleroi a ...

Belgium Belgium, ; french: Belgique ; german: Belgien officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. The country is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeast, France to th ...

. Its post code is 6222, and telephone zone code is 071. Brye was its own municipality until the

fusion of the Belgian municipalities The fusion of the Belgian municipalities (French: ''fusion des communes'', Dutch: ''fusie van Belgische gemeenten'') was a Belgian political process that rationalized and reduced the number of municipalities in Belgium between 1975 and 1983. In 19 ...

in 1977, when it merged with Fleurus.

History

On 16 June 1815 Brye and the heights nearby, along with a string of other villages, were occupied by the Prussian army commanded by Gebhard von Blücher and defended against the French

Army of the North The Army of the North ( es, link=no, Ejército del Norte), contemporaneously called Army of Peru, was one of the armies deployed by the United Provinces of the Río de la Plata in the Spanish American wars of independence. Its objective was fre ...

commanded by

Napoleon Bonaparte Napoleon Bonaparte ; it, Napoleone Bonaparte, ; co, Napulione Buonaparte. (born Napoleone Buonaparte; 15 August 1769 – 5 May 1821), later known by his regnal name Napoleon I, was a French military commander and political leader who ...

at the

Battle of Ligny The Battle of Ligny, in which French troops of the Armée du Nord under the command of Napoleon I defeated part of a Prussian army under Field Marshal Blücher, was fought on 16 June 1815 near Ligny in what is now Belgium. The result was a ta ...

. On the heights—the highest point of the whole position—stood the Windmill of Buss which was used by Blücher and his staff as an observation point.It was here at around about 13:00 that Blücher,

Wellington Wellington ( mi, Te Whanganui-a-Tara or ) is the capital city of New Zealand. It is located at the south-western tip of the North Island, between Cook Strait and the Remutaka Range. Wellington is the second-largest city in New Zealand by me ...

and their staffs held their conference. After the centre of the Prussian lines were broken by the French, a Prussians rearguard put up a stout resistance in Brye.

Notes

References

* *{{citation , last=Siborne , first=William , year=1848 , title=The Waterloo Campaign, 1815 , edition=4th , location=Westminster , publisher=A. Constable , url=https://archive.org/details/waterloocampaig01sibogoog Former municipalities of Hainaut (province) Battle of Ligny locations