Honouring the Historic Anniversary
of the Battle of Waterloo
On 18 June 1815 two giant armies faced off just south of Brussels; an Anglo-Allied army, led by the Duke of Wellington, faced a force led by Napoleon Bonaparte in what would be his last battle – Waterloo.
The Road to Waterloo
Napoleon had been restored as Emperor of France after escaping exile, but the Seventh Coalition of European powers had declared him an outlaw and mobilised a 150,000-strong army to force him out of power. But Napoleon sensed an opportunity to destroy the Allies in a lightning strike on their forces in Belgium.
In June 1815 Napoleon marched north. He crossed into Belgium on 15 June, brilliantly driving a wedge between Wellington’s British and allied army based around Brussels, and a Prussian army at Namur.
As the allies scrambled to respond, Napoleon lunged at the Prussians first, driving them back at Ligny. Napoleon had his first victory of the campaign. It would be his last.
Coalition in retreat
British troops halted a detachment of Napoleon’s army at Quatre-Bras, but as the Prussians retreated, Wellington gave the order to pull back. Lashed by torrential rain, Wellington’s men trudged north. He ordered them to take up position on a defensive ridge he had identified just south of Brussels.
It was a hard night. The men slept in canvas tents that let the water in. Thousands of feet and hooves churned the ground into a sea of mud. But on the morning of 18 June, the storms had passed.
Napoleon planned an assault on the British and allied army, hoping to rout it before the Prussians could come to its aid and capture Brussels. In his way was Wellington’s polyglot, untested allied army. Wellington strengthened his position by turning three great farm complexes into fortresses.
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