Battle of Waterloo

The Battle of Waterloo, fought on 18 June 1815, was Napoleon Bonaparte's last battle. His defeat put a final end to his rule as Emperor of the French. The Battle of Waterloo also marked the end of the period known as the Hundred Days, which began in March 1815 after Napoleon's return from Elba, where he had been exiled after his defeats at the battle of Leipzig in 1813 and the campaigns of 1814 in France.

After Napoleon returned to power, many countries which had previously resisted his rule began to assemble armies to oppose him. The principal armies of Napoleon's opponents were commanded by the United Kingdom's Duke of Wellington, and Prussia's Gebhard von Blücher. These armies were close to France's north-east frontier, and Napoleon chose to attack them rather than wait for them to cross into France.

The campaign consisted of 4 major battles of which the decisive battle was the Battle of Waterloo. Allied forces, under Wellington, withstood a final French attack, and counter-attacked while the Prussians, arriving in force, broke through on Napoleon's right flank.

The battlefield is in present-day Belgium, about 12 kilometres (7.5 mi) SSE of Brussels, and 2 kilometres (1.2 mi) from the town of Waterloo, at 50°40′45″N, 4°24′25″E.