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The N5 is a road in Belgium connecting the small ring in Brussels and Philippeville via Charleroi (commonly named French : Route de Philippeville till the ring of Charleroi).
This road could be one of the deadliest of the country. This is not only due to the traffic density and the old fashioned road safety features, but also because many country roads are joining onto a high speed lane, namely the tractors harvesting sugar beet.
It has also been part of the history of Belgium in the Battle of Waterloo, during which the Imperial French Army went through this path to join the battlefield of Quatre-Bras/Ligny [1]
The N5 crosses or borders 17 municipalities in total. 4 municipalities are located in the Brussels Capital Region, 1 in Flemish Brabant, 5 in Walloon Brabant, 4 in Hainaut and 3 in Namur. Full municipality list below, [2] main municipalities are in bold.
Region | Province | Municipality | Population | Length of N5 (km) |
---|---|---|---|---|
Brussels Capital Region | / | City of Brussels | 188737 | 1.0 |
Saint-Gilles | 48837 | 1.5 | ||
Ixelles | 87052 | 1.1 | ||
Uccle | 85099 | 6.2 | ||
Flanders | Flemish Brabant | Sint-Genesius-Rode | 18628 | 3.5 |
Wallonia | Walloon Brabant | Waterloo | 30356 | 6.2 |
Braine-l'Alleud | 40346 | 0.3 | ||
Lasne | 14299 | 3.3 | ||
Genappe | 15611 | 12.1 | ||
Villers-la-Ville | 10970 | 0.1 | ||
Hainaut | Les Bons Villers | 9510 | 7.1 | |
Charleroi | 202421 | 13.4 | ||
Gerpinnes | 12771 | 5.8 | ||
Ham-sur-Heure-Nalinnes | 13725 | 1.9 | ||
Namur | Walcourt | 18429 | 12.0 | |
Philippeville | 9243 | 12.9 | ||
Couvin | 13871 | 20.6 |
Transport in Belgium is facilitated with well-developed road, air, rail and water networks. The rail network has 2,950 km (1,830 mi) of electrified tracks. There are 118,414 km (73,579 mi) of roads, among which there are 1,747 km (1,086 mi) of motorways, 13,892 km (8,632 mi) of main roads and 102,775 km (63,861 mi) of other paved roads. There is also a well-developed urban rail network in Brussels, Antwerp, Ghent and Charleroi. The ports of Antwerp and Bruges-Zeebrugge are two of the biggest seaports in Europe. Brussels Airport is Belgium's biggest airport.
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 tactical victory for the French, but the bulk of the Prussian army survived the battle in good order, was reinforced by Prussian troops who had not fought at Ligny, and played a role two days later at the Battle of Waterloo. The Battle of Ligny was the last victory in Napoleon's military career.
The Battle of Quatre Bras was fought on 16 June 1815, as a preliminary engagement to the decisive Battle of Waterloo that occurred two days later. The battle took place near the strategic crossroads of Quatre Bras and was contested between elements of the Duke of Wellington's Anglo-allied army and the left wing of Napoleon Bonaparte's French Armée du Nord under Marshal Michel Ney. The battle was a tactical victory for Wellington, but because Ney prevented him going to the aid of Blucher's Prussians who were fighting a larger French army under the command of Napoleon Bonaparte at Ligny it was a strategic victory for the French.
Quatre Bras is a hamlet in the municipality of Genappe, Wallonia, Belgium. It lies on the crossroad of the Charleroi–Brussels road and the Nivelles–Namur road south of Genappe.
The Battle of Wavre was the final major military action of the Hundred Days campaign and the Napoleonic Wars. It was fought on 18–19 June 1815 between the Prussian rearguard, consisting of the Prussian III Corps under the command of General Johann von Thielmann and three corps of the French army under the command of Marshal Grouchy. A blocking action, this battle kept 33,000 French soldiers from reaching the Battle of Waterloo and so helped in the defeat of Napoleon at Waterloo.
The Waterloo campaign was fought between the French Army of the North and two Seventh Coalition armies, an Anglo-allied army and a Prussian army. Initially the French army had been commanded by Napoleon Bonaparte, but he left for Paris after the French defeat at the Battle of Waterloo. Command then rested on Marshals Soult and Grouchy, who were in turn replaced by Marshal Davout, who took command at the request of the French Provisional Government. The Anglo-allied army was commanded by the Duke of Wellington and the Prussian army by Field Marshall Graf von Blücher.
This is the complete order of battle for the four major battles of the Waterloo campaign.
Luttre is a village of Wallonia and a district of the municipality of Pont-à-Celles, located in the province of Hainaut, Belgium, about 15 km north of Charleroi and 50 km south of Brussels along the Charleroi-Brussels Canal, railway line and motorway. Its name means crystal clear water.
Mont-Saint-Jean is a hamlet located in Wallonia in the province of Walloon Brabant, Belgium, south of Waterloo located partly on Waterloo and partly on Braine-l'Alleud where the National road (N5) going from Brussels to Charleroi crosses the National road (N234) going from Nivelles to Leuven.
Jean Victor Constant de Rebecque or Jean Victor de Constant Rebecque was a Swiss mercenary and member of the house of Constant de Rebecque who distinguished himself in Dutch service. As chief of staff of the Netherlands Mobile Army, he countermanded the order of the Duke of Wellington to evacuate Dutch troops from Quatre Bras on the eve of the Battle of Quatre Bras, thereby preventing Marshal Michel Ney from occupying that strategic crossroads.
The N2 road in Belgium is a road connecting Brussels and Maastricht passing Leuven, Diest and Hasselt. It starts in Brussels at the Madou crossroad on the small ring, heading northeast as the Chaussée de Louvain/Leuvensesteenweg, which crosses the municipalities of Saint-Josse-ten-Noode, City of Brussels, Schaerbeek, Evere and Woluwe-Saint-Lambert in Brussels, and then enter Flanders via the municipality of Zaventem, Flemish Brabant.
The N3 road in Belgium is a national road connecting the capital city Brussels to Aachen in Germany via Leuven, Tienen, Sint-Truiden and Liège. Its course is quite similar to that of European route E40 between Brussels and Aachen, which it intersects 3 times. The road runs through the 3 Belgian regions and the 3 communities.
The N8 road in Belgium is a road connecting Brussels and Koksijde, passing Ninove, Oudenaarde, Kortrijk, Ypres and Veurne.
Saint-Amand is a village of Wallonia and a district of the municipality of Fleurus, located in the Arrondissement of Charleroi, province of Hainaut, Belgium.
The Waterloo campaign commenced with a pre-emptive attack by the French Army of the North under the command of Napoleon Bonaparte. The first elements of the Army of the North moved from their peacetime depots on 8 June to their rendezvous point just on the French side of the Franco-Belgian border. They launched a pre-emptive attack on the two Coalition armies that were cantoned in Belgium—the Anglo-allied army under the command of the Duke of Wellington, and a Prussian army under the command of Prince Blücher.
Quatre Bras is a crossroads in Wallonia, Belgium, midway between Brussels and Charleroi, where the penultimate Napoleonic battle was fought in 1815.
After the fighting at Quatre Bras the two opposing commanders Marshal Ney and the Duke of Wellington initially held their ground while they obtained information about what had happened at the larger Battle of Ligny. They received intelligence that the Prussian army under the command of Prince Blücher had been defeated by the French Army of the North under the command of Napoleon Bonaparte.
On 16 June 1815, the French defeated the Prussians at the Battle of Ligny. The Prussians successfully disengaged and withdrew north to Wavre where they regrouped, and later advanced westward with three corps to attack the right flank of the French army at the Battle of Waterloo. The French were slow to exploit Ligny; Napoleon wasted the morning of 17 June with a late breakfast and touring the previous day's battlefield before organising a pursuit of the two Coalition armies. Napoleon and Marshal Michel Ney took the French reserves to pursue the Duke of Wellington's Anglo-allied army. Marshal Emmanuel de Grouchy was ordered to pursue and harry the Prussians and prevent them from regrouping.
Brye is a village of Wallonia and a district of the municipality of Fleurus, located in the province of Hainaut, arrondissement of Charleroi, Belgium. Its post code is 6222, and telephone zone code is 071.
50°24′01″N4°27′10″E / 50.40023°N 4.45276°E