The strategy of the central position was a key tactical doctrine followed by Napoleon in the Napoleonic Wars. It involved attacking two cooperating armies at their hinge, swinging around to fight one until it fled, then turning to face the other. The strategy allowed the use of a smaller force to defeat a larger one. However, these tactics, while successful at the battles of Ligny and Quatre Bras, failed at the Battle of Waterloo, and Napoleon was defeated because he was not able to prevent the joining of the British and Dutch forces by the Prussian forces.