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The Battle of Waterloo
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Where did Napoleon and Wellington's armies meet for battle?
14 May 1814. After several years of war, there is peace in Europe. France and Emperor Napoleon are defeated. A peace agreement is signed by eight countries — the loser, France, and the victorious powers: Austria, Russia, Great Britain, Prussia, Spain, Portugal and Sweden. The same eight countries, along with over a hundred other states, will meet in Vienna later that year to plan how to preserve peace and decide what Europe will look like in the future.
The meeting will be called the Congress of Vienna. Napoleon is not allowed to stay in France. He is exiled to an island in the Mediterranean, Elba. To prevent him from escaping, the coast is guarded by the British navy. France is now ruled by King Louis XVIII.
Napoleon has no plans to stay on Elba. On the evening of February 26, 1815, he secretly boards a boat and sails for France. Soon he is standing on French soil, with a thousand men who still support him, ready to take power again. Over in Vienna, the Congress is taking place. Soon a rumor reaches the participants:.
Napoleon is in France and on his way to Paris! The Congress is adjourned immediately. Napoleon and his small army march towards Paris. Many French people like Napoleon and along the way more and more people join him. His army is growing.
The new government in Paris sends troops to arrest Napoleon, but the military changes sides. King Louis XVIII flees. After a three-week march, Napoleon returns to Paris and proclaims himself emperor again. Europe's great powers do not intend to let Napoleon rule France again. They send two large armies.
The Commanding officers are the Duke of Wellington from Great Britain and von Blücher from Prussia. Napoleon and his army meet Wellington's army outside a small town in present-day Belgium, Waterloo. The Prussian army has not yet made it there. Napoleon makes a plan. If he can keep the British and Prussian armies separate, he can defeat them in battle.
He needs to act fast. He divides his army and sends a smaller group to seek out the Prussians and halt them, while the rest attack the British. On the morning of the eighteenth of June, the French attack a large mansion where part of Wellington's army is located. Heavy rain turns the mansion’s grounds into mud and it is difficult to fight. For several hours the advantage wavers back and forth.
Cannon shots mix with the sound of firearms, horses' hooves and the wails of the dying. In the afternoon, von Blücher's army attacks, surprising Napoleon. Napoleon realises his troops failed to hold back the prussian Army. Now everything is lost. At nine o’clock in the evening, the French flee.
The battle is over, although Napoleon does not officially surrender until July 15. Since his return to Paris, Napoleon has ruled for almost 100 days. But now Louis XVIII regains power in France. Meanwhile, The Congress of Vienna continued unaffected despite the outbreak of fighting. The attendees decide to redraw the map of Europe so that several countries will be equally large and strong.
The balance of power will prevent the countries starting more wars, they think. What they don’t know is that the new borders will, in 100 years, lead to new great wars. And what happens to Napoleon? Well, the victors deport him once again. this time to the island of St.
Helena in the middle of the Atlantic. He is guarded by the British military — no one wants to risk him returning to Europe again. Here Napoleon remains until he dies in 1821, aged 51 years. The cause of death is unknown. Some believe he was poisoned, others believe he died of cancer.