# IX: The Unexpected explained — Les Misérables

> Chapter companion for Les Misérables by Victor Hugo.

## What happens

The chapter describes the catastrophic charge of Napoleon's cuirassiers at the Battle of Waterloo, focusing on the moment when the cavalry, in their furious advance, unexpectedly encounter the hidden hollow road of Ohain, leading to a devastating fall that begins the loss of the battle. The narrative reflects on the inevitability of Napoleon's fall as a change in the order of the universe.

## Themes in this chapter

### The Human Condition and Fate

The chapter portrays the battle as a predetermined event where Napoleon's fall is seen as an inevitable correction of the universe's balance, emphasizing fate over human will.

### Suffering and Sacrifice

The graphic description of horses and men plunging into the ravine, crushed and piled together, highlights the immense suffering and sacrifice of war.

## Key lines

> the head of the column of cuirassiers reared up with a frightful clamor. On arriving at the culminating point of the crest, ungovernable, utterly given over to fury and their course of extermination of the squares and cannon, the cuirassiers had just caught sight of a trench⁠—a trench between them and the English.

The leading cuirassiers suddenly screamed in terror as they reached the top of the hill, uncontrollable in their rage to destroy the enemy, and saw a hidden ditch separating them from the English lines.

_This moment captures the sudden reversal of fortune as the cavalry's charge is fatally interrupted by an unseen obstacle._

> Waterloo is not a battle; it is a change of front on the part of the Universe.

Waterloo was not merely a military engagement but a fundamental shift in the cosmic order.

_This philosophical reflection frames the battle as a turning point in history, beyond human agency._

## Links

- HTML: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/les_miserables_se/chapters/ix-the-unexpected
- Book: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/les_miserables_se
- All chapters: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/les_miserables_se/chapters