Quatre Bras (, French for crossroads; literally "four arms") is a

hamlet ''The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark'', often shortened to ''Hamlet'' (), is a Shakespearean tragedy, tragedy written by William Shakespeare sometime between 1599 and 1601. It is Shakespeare's longest play. Set in Denmark, the play (the ...

in the municipality of

Genappe Genappe (; , ; ) is a municipality and city of Wallonia located in the Belgian province of Walloon Brabant. Demographics As of 2023, the municipality of Genappe boasted a population of 14,266 residents. Spanning a total area of 89.57 km2 , th ...

Wallonia Wallonia ( ; ; or ), officially the Walloon Region ( ; ), is one of the three communities, regions and language areas of Belgium, regions of Belgium—along with Flemish Region, Flanders and Brussels. Covering the southern portion of the c ...

Belgium Belgium, officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. Situated in a coastal lowland region known as the Low Countries, it is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeas ...

. It lies on the crossroad of the

Charleroi Charleroi (, , ; ) is a city and a municipality of Wallonia, located in the province of Hainaut, Belgium. It is the largest city in both Hainaut and Wallonia. The city is situated in the valley of the Sambre, in the south-west of Belgium, not ...

–

Brussels Brussels, officially the Brussels-Capital Region, (All text and all but one graphic show the English name as Brussels-Capital Region.) is a Communities, regions and language areas of Belgium#Regions, region of Belgium comprising #Municipalit ...

road (currently named N5) and the

Nivelles Nivelles (; ; ) is a city and municipality of Wallonia located in the Belgian province of Walloon Brabant. The Nivelles municipality includes the former municipalities of Baulers, Bornival, Thines, and Monstreux. The Nivelles arrondissement ...

–

Namur Namur (; ; ) is a city and municipality in Wallonia, Belgium. It is the capital both of the province of Namur and of Wallonia, hosting the Parliament of Wallonia, the Government of Wallonia and its administration. Namur stands at the confl ...

road south of Genappe. On 16 June 1815, near the crossroads of Quatre Bras, the

Battle of Quatre Bras 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 el ...

(part of the

Waterloo Campaign The Waterloo campaign, also known as the Belgian campaign (15 June – 8 July 1815) was fought between the French Army of the North (France), Army of the North and two War of the Seventh Coalition, Seventh Coalition armies, an Anglo-allied arm ...

) was fought between contingents of the Anglo-Allied army and the left wing of the French Army. There are several monuments to the battle at Quatre Bras. File:Monument aux troupes britanniques et hanovriennes 05.JPG,

Monument to the British and Hanoverian Troops.

File:Monument Brunswick (Genappe) 05.JPG,

Brunswick Monument.

File:Belgique - Genappe - Monument à la cavalerie néerlandaise - 02.jpg,

Monument to the Dutch Cavalry regiments.

File:Monument aux Belges (Quatre Bras) 03.JPG,

Monument to the Belgians.

References

Further reading