THE Battle of Waterloo marked the end of the Napoleonic Era (1799-1815).
The fight lasted only one day, on June 18, 1815. French, English and their allies faced each other on the battlefield that ended with the French defeat.
After the conflict, Napoleon Bonaparte was arrested by the British and taken to the island of Elba, while the victors gathered around the Congress of Vienna to redraw the European map.
Background to the Battle of Waterloo
After ruling France for 15 years, Napoleon Bonaparte is defeated and forced to abdicate. He is arrested with his closest collaborators on the island of Elba off the Italian coast. King Louis XVIII – brother of the guillotine Louis XVI – ascends to the throne of France supported by royalists.
However, the general's rest ends early, as he soon manages to escape the island of Elba and marches on Paris on March 1, 1815. To avoid a civil war, King Louis XVIII takes refuge in the Dutch city of Ghent.
Meanwhile, the European powers, England, Prussia, Austria, condemn Napoleon's attitude and relaunch the war against the emperor.
One Hundred Days Government
Napoleon becomes obsessed with trying to regain his former domains. For this he has two clear objectives: to gather a new army and attack the British troops stationed in the locality of Waterloo (present-day Belgium). This period is called the Hundred Days Government.
Marching towards Waterloo, Napoleon Bonaparte he gets two wins. The first in Ligny, where he defeated the Prussians. Then, in Quatre Bras, where French general Michel Ney manages to partially defeat England on 16 June.
At Waterloo, he would face his great adversary, the English Duke of Wellington (1769-1852).
The Battle – June 18, 1815
Returning to his usual tactics, Napoleon hoped to defeat the Allied armies before entering combat with the bulk of British troops.
However, this time, nothing seemed to go right for the French general. His troops were tired and the day before the battle it had rained in torrents, making it difficult for weapons and soldiers to move over the terrain.
Likewise, his health was not the best. Sick and tired, he could not convey his enthusiasm to his men. With the mud, the cannonballs did not bounce off the battlefield and did not reach the English.
Despite this, he took the initiative to attack throughout the day. The British receive the support of the Prussian army at 7:00 pm and at 9:30 pm, the Prussian and English commanders celebrated the victory. It was the end of the Napoleonic Era.
On the map below we can see the moment when the French troops (dark blue) are surrounded by the British and allies (red) and the Prussian army (black).
Aftermath of the Battle of Waterloo
Napoleon's defeat marks the end of Napoleonic Empire and of French hegemony on the European continent. Bonaparte went to prison on the island of St. Helena, an English possession in the south Atlantic, and died there in 1821.
The Austrian Empire, the Russian Empire and the Kingdom of Prussia unite to form the holy alliance and prevent the advance of liberalism on the European continent.
The map of Europe would be redrawn at the Congress of Vienna held in 1815.
Louis XVIII returns to France, restores the Bourbons to the French throne, and reigns until his death in 1824.
As for the United Kingdom, it begins to expand its colonial empire across Africa and Asia. The British would only fight on European soil again a hundred years later, during the First World War.
