The Battle of Waterloo was the final defeat of Napoleon, and the end of the Napoleonic Wars. On the one side were the French, led by Napoleon. On the other side was the alliance between the Prussians under Gebhard Leberecht von Blücher, and a larger force led by Arthur Wellesley, Duke Wellington of the United Kingdom, which also included forces from the Netherlands, and from the independent German principalities of Hanover, Nassau and Brunswick. Despite the name of the battle, it actually took place at Mont Saint-Jean (in what is now Belgium), where Wellington’s forces had planned to give battle to the French. In the event, the French attacked them first – Napoleon sought to divide the coalition army from the Prussian army. But the Prussians were late to the battle, delayed by muddy roads and other causes.
The remaining forces facing Napoleon were more or less a match for his own, and the battle continued throughout the day. As the afternoon dragged on, the coalition was slowly losing, sustaining greater casualties than the French. The arrival of the Prussians at around 4:30 in the afternoon decisively turned the tide of battle – not only did their numbers bolster the coalition ranks, but they also flanked Napoleon’s forces. As dusk fell, both sides withdrew to their positions – but the French artillery had been captured, and French morale was in tatters. Napoleon himself had escaped, returning to Paris, but abdicated on the 24th. While it is celebrated as a great victory for the alliance, and Wellington in particular was lauded, he himself attributed the victory much more to luck and the timely arrival of the Prussians.
