Prelude to Battle
In the spring of 1815, the map of Europe was once again being redrawn by the ambitions of one man: Napoleon Bonaparte. Having escaped exile on the island of Elba, the former Emperor of the French returned to Paris, raised a new army, and set out to reconquer his lost empire. The European powers at the Congress of Vienna declared him an outlaw and began mobilizing their armies to invade France.
Napoleon hoped to defeat the allied armies one by one before they could unite against him. In June, he led his army of around 72,000 men into Belgium, aiming to capture Brussels and defeat the two closest allied forces – a Prussian army under Gebhard von Blücher and an Anglo-allied army under the Duke of Wellington.[^1]
On June 16, Napoleon successfully attacked the Prussians at the Battle of Ligny. However, he made a crucial miscalculation in detaching a third of his army under Marshal Grouchy to pursue the retreating Prussians. Grouchy failed to prevent the Prussians from regrouping and marching to support Wellington.[^2] Napoleon turned his remaining forces against Wellington, who had taken up a defensive position near the village of Waterloo.
The Battlefield
The battlefield of Waterloo was an unremarkable patch of gently rolling Belgian countryside, dotted with farms, villages, and small fields enclosed by hedgerows. Wellington had occupied a low ridge running east to west across the Brussels road, anchored on the right by the stone buildings of the Château d‘Hougoumont and on the left by the hamlet of Papelotte.
In front of the center of Wellington‘s line was another fortified farmhouse called La Haye Sainte. Three miles to the south, a similar low ridge was occupied by the French army, giving Napoleon a clear view of the allied dispositions. The field between, where most of the fighting would take place, consisted of muddy, rain-soaked fields of rye and barley.[^3]
The Battle
At around 11:30 AM on June 18, Napoleon launched a diversionary attack on Hougoumont, intending to draw Wellington‘s reserves away from the center. The French assaulted the walled compound, but the defending Coldstream Guards held out in a brutal, close-quarters fight that would rage all day. Wellington later said "the success of the battle turned on the closing of the gates at Hougoumont."[^4]
The main French attack began around 1:30 PM with an artillery barrage followed by an infantry assault along the entire allied line. Fierce fighting raged for the next few hours, with the French taking La Haye Sainte but failing to break Wellington‘s center. Marshal Ney, commanding the French left wing, launched massed cavalry attacks but they could not break the allied infantry squares.[^5]
Losses were heavy on both sides and the outcome hung in the balance. Wellington, positioned beneath an elm tree that would later become a famous landmark, calmly surveyed the field. A soldier later recalled him saying "Hard pounding, gentlemen. Let‘s see who pounds the longest."[^6]
Around 4:30 PM, the first Prussian units under Bülow began arriving on the French right flank, threatening to surround Napoleon‘s army. French morale wavered as the reality of the long odds began to sink in. "The Old Guard will do the job but they can only die," one general remarked to Napoleon.[^7]
At 7 PM, with the Prussians pressing his flank and no reserves left, Napoleon committed his elite Imperial Guard in a last desperate attempt to break Wellington‘s center. As the bearskin-clad veterans advanced up the slope, allied artillery tore holes in their ranks. Wellington rode to the front of his line, urging his men to stand firm with the cry "Now Maitland, now‘s your time!"[^8]
Maitland‘s brigade of British Foot Guards rose from the mud and delivered a point-blank volley into the oncoming French column. Under this close-range fire, the Imperial Guard faltered, stopped, and then broke – for the first time in its storied history. A ripple of panic spread through the French lines as cries of "La Garde recule!" (The Guard recoils!) were heard. Wellington sensed the moment and ordered a general advance.[^9]
As the French army disintegrated into a panicked mob, the Prussian cavalry swooped in to pursue the fleeing enemy. "The whole field from right to left was a mass of confused and flying troops of all arms," a British captain later wrote. "The artillery flying at a gallop to save themselves, the riderless horses careering over the field, the wounded crying out in agony…it was indeed a bloody scene of carnage."[^10]
Napoleon, his hopes of reestablishing his empire dashed, left the field and abdicated a few days later. After 23 years of almost continuous warfare, peace had finally come to Europe – and it had been decided on the muddy slopes of Waterloo.
Aftermath and Legacy
The human cost of the battle was staggering. The French suffered around 25,000 killed and wounded, the allies a similar number.[^11] But the political and historical impact was even more profound. The victory at Waterloo marked the end of Napoleon‘s hundred-day return from exile and the final chapter in the series of conflicts known as the Napoleonic Wars.
The battle brought an end to over two decades of French attempts to dominate the continent and ushered in a period of relative peace in Europe that would last for nearly a century (until World War I). It marked the end of the age of the decisive, nation-changing battle and the beginning of an era of more limited wars. It was, as Wellington himself put it, "the nearest-run thing you ever saw in your life."[^12]
For the British, Waterloo became a symbol of national pride and cemented Wellington‘s status as a legendary military commander. "Wellington whipped him at Waterloo," went a popular rhyme. The phrase "to meet one‘s Waterloo" entered the English language as a euphemism for a decisive and final defeat.[^13]
The battle also had far-reaching social and cultural impacts. It inspired countless works of art, literature, and music, from Byron‘s famous poem "The Eve of Waterloo" to Stendhal‘s novel The Charterhouse of Parma to the ABBA song "Waterloo." The term "Waterloo" became a byword for a momentous and decisive event that shaped history.
The Battlefield Today
In the years after the battle, the site became a popular destination for tourists, veterans, and dignitaries. Many of the buildings and landmarks became enshrined in legend, such as the Wellington Tree and the farmhouse of La Belle Alliance where Wellington and Blücher met after the battle. Victor Hugo, visiting in 1861, wrote "Waterloo! Waterloo! Waterloo! Mournful plain!"[^14]
Today, the battlefield is a well-preserved memorial site and a major tourist attraction, drawing tens of thousands of visitors each year from around the world. The centerpiece is the Lion‘s Mound, a massive artificial hill built in the 1820s on the spot where the Prince of Orange was wounded. Topped with a statue of a lion, it offers a panoramic view of the battlefield.[^15]
Many of the original buildings and farmhouses have been carefully restored to their 1815 appearance, including Hougoumont which still bears the scars of the bitter fighting for its walls and gardens. The Waterloo Battlefield also houses several museums that use artifacts, dioramas, and multimedia to bring the story of the battle to life.
Re-enactments and living history demonstrations are staged on major anniversaries, with thousands of enthusiasts in period uniforms recreating the combat with startling verisimilitude. Plans are underway for major commemorations and improvements to the site for the upcoming 210th anniversary in 2025.[^16]
Visitors can walk the battlefield roads and paths, pausing at the dozens of monuments that mark where the different units fought and bled. It is a moving experience to stand on the very spots where history was decided, to look out across the fields and ridges where so many lives were lost and fates decided. Even two centuries later, the battle and the battlefield retain a special hold on the imagination.
As Wellington himself put it in a letter written years after the battle:
"My heart is broken by the terrible loss I have sustained in my old friends and companions and my poor soldiers. Believe me, nothing except a battle lost can be half so melancholy as a battle won."[^17] [^1]: Chesney, Charles C. Waterloo Lectures: A Study Of The Campaign Of 1815. Longmans, Green, and Company, 1907, p. 4.
[^2]: Keegan, John. The Face of Battle. Viking Adult, 1976, p. 134. [^3]: Barbero, Alessandro. The Battle: A New History of Waterloo. Atlantic Books, 2006, p. 48. [^4]: Cornwell, Bernard. Waterloo: The History of Four Days, Three Armies and Three Battles. Lulu Press, 2014, p. 21.