Prince Bernhard enlisted in the
Prussian Army and, in 1806, fought in the Army of
Hohenlohe-Ingelfingen. By 1809, he had enlisted in the
Saxon Army and he fought under
Marshal Bernadotte at
Wagram.
Waterloo campaign Prince Bernhard's 2nd Brigade of the 2nd Dutch Division (
Sedlnitsky) was the first of the
Duke of Wellington's forces to arrive at the cross roads of
Quatre Bras. Prince Bernhard's brigade (joined later by the 1st Brigade,) held the cross roads at
Quatre Bras for almost 24 hours from the late afternoon of 15 June 1815, until about 3 p.m. on the 16 June, preventing
Marshal Michel Ney with the
left wing of the French ''
L'Armée du Nord'' from taking the cross roads before the Duke of Wellington and substantial allied forces arrived to reinforce the 2nd Division and fight the
Battle of Quatre Bras. The successful holding action by the two brigades of the Dutch 2nd Division was one of the most important actions by any of the coalition brigades in the whole of the
Waterloo Campaign. At the
Battle of Waterloo Prince Bernhard commanded the allied forces holding the farms of
Papelotte,
Frischermont and
La Haie on the extreme left of the Duke of Wellington's line of battle. They were strategically important, not just because if the forces holding these positions gave way then the French could out flank Wellington, but because it was from that direction that Wellington expected and received Prussian support. Though in the course of the battle Durutte's 4th French Division obtained a temporary foothold in Papelotte, it was never captured
Commander of the Dutch East Indies Army Bernhard was appointed commander of the
Dutch East Indies Army on December 6, 1848, and arrived on April 14, 1849, in Java. Barely a few weeks after his arrival, the commander of the
third Balinese expedition,
General Andreas Victor Michiels was killed at Kasumba; and Saxe-Weimar offered to the Governor-General to take over the leadership of the expedition, acting according to the rules that had been given to General Michiels. In the winter of 1849 he was promoted to general of the infantry and three years later (1852) he returned to the Netherlands, for his health, after many improvements and having accomplished to restore the East Indies army. He received on October 5, 1853, an honorable retirement.
Later life Prince Bernhard traveled extensively in the United States between 1825 and 1826. A heavily edited account of his travels,
Reise seiner Hoheit des Herzogs Bernhard zu Sachsen-Weimar-Eisenach durch Nord-Amerika (
Journey of His Highness Duke Bernhard of Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach through North America), was published by the historian
Heinrich Luden in 1828. The work was translated into English and published in Philadelphia, also in 1828, as
Travels through North America, during the Years 1825 and 1826. A critical edition of the original manuscript became available in 2017. In the years after Waterloo, Bernhard distinguished himself as commander of a Dutch Division in the Belgian campaign of 1831 (the
Ten Days Campaign), and from 1847 to 1850 held the command of the forces in the
Dutch East Indies. ==Personal life==