Army of the North ( France ) The Army of the North or Armée du Nord is a name given to several historical units of the French Army . The first was one of the French Revolutionary Armies that fought with distinction against the First Coalition from 1792 to 1795 . Others existed during the Peninsular War , the Hundred Days and the Franco - Prussian War . Campaigns . 1791 to 1797 . At the creation of the Army of the North on 14 December 1791 , the government of the First French Republic appointed Jean - Baptiste Donatien de Vimeur , comte de Rochambeau , as its commander . Rochambeau was replaced in May 1792 , and he retired from service . The suspicious government of the First French Republic later charged him with treason and he barely escaped execution . In 1792 - 1794 , the guillotine awaited military commanders who either failed , belonged to the nobility , or displayed insufficient revolutionary zeal . In the Army of the North these unfortunates included Nicolas Luckner , Adam Custine , and Jean Houchard . Under Charles François Dumouriez , the Army of the North helped blunt the Prussian invasion at the Battle of Valmy on 20 September 1792 . It also made up a large part of Dumouriez ' s expedition into the Austrian Netherlands which resulted in victory at the Battle of Jemappes on 6 November 1792 . On 18 March 1793 , the Austrians defeated Dumouriez at the Battle of Neerwinden . Auguste Dampierre was killed in battle on 8 May at the Battle of Raismes near Valenciennes . Under François Lamarche , the army lost again at the Battle of Famars on 23 May . Charles Edward Jennings de Kilmaine skirmished with the Coalition army at Caesar ' s Camp near Cambrai on 7 August . Houchard won the Battle of Hondshoote in September , forcing the English to raise the Siege of Dunkirk . Nevertheless , the government arrested Houchard for not following up his victory and executed him . Jean - Baptiste Jourdan won the Battle of Wattignies in October . On 17 – 18 May 1794 , the Army of the North won a victory at the Battle of Tourcoing while under the temporary leadership of Joseph Souham . The right wing of the army fought under Jourdan in an important victory at the Battle of Fleurus on 26 June . Soon after this , the Allied position in Flanders collapsed , leading to Austria ' s loss of Belgium and the extinction of the Dutch Republic in the winter of 1794 - 1795 . During this period , the army was engaged in mopping up operations and sieges . On 25 October 1797 , the Army of the North officially ceased to exist and its troops became an army of occupation in the newly created Batavian Republic . The Army of the North ' s commanders are listed as follows . 1811 to 1813 . The Army of the North in Spain formed in January 1811 and included soldiers from the Imperial Guard . Its duties included holding cities and fortresses in northern Spain , fighting guerillas , and keeping the roads to France clear . On 3 – 5 May 1811 , about 1 , 600 cavalry and six artillery pieces belonging to the army fought at the Battle of Fuentes de Onoro . The Spanish beat a 1 , 500 - man detachment on 23 June at Cogorderos in León ( province ) . This action prevented the army from helping in the fight against Arthur Wellesley , Duke of Wellington ' s Anglo - Portuguese Army . Only 800 men fought at the Battle of Vitoria in June 1813 . After the disastrous defeat at Vitoria , the Army of the North became part of the reorganized Army of Spain . Its commanders were as follows . 1815 . This name was also given to the force commanded by Napoleon Bonaparte during the Waterloo Campaign in 1815 . At its height , ( including reserves , ) it numbered 130 , 000 strong and consisted of many veterans from previous campaigns . In terms of quality it was the best army Napoleon had commanded since 1812 when he had led his Grande Armée ( Grand Army ) to disaster in Russia . It also fielded proportionally more artillery ( 344 pieces ) and significantly more cavalry , than had French armies in the campaigns of 1813 and 1814 . Its left and right wings ( " Aile Gauche " and " Aile Droite " ) were under the independent command of Marshals Ney and Grouchy respectively , when Napoleon himself was not present to direct them . This " Armée du Nord " is often mistakenly regarded as separate from " Armée de la Réserve " ( Reserve Army ) , which it fought beside during the 1815 campaign . In fact the " Armée de la Réserve " was simply a large corps of the " Armée du Nord " that Napoleon placed directly under his command . For more detailed organizational details on this " Armée du Nord " , see Order of Battle of the Waterloo Campaign .