Battle of Waterloo

Waterloo, Belgium, the town where Napoleon surrendered after returning to French power in 1815, having been exiled on the Mediterranean island of Elba since defeat at the Battle of Leipzig. Napoleon entered into what is now Belgium when it was part of the Netherlands where separate troops from Prussia and Britain where camped. The Prussian army saw defeat on 16 June 1815 but he had no idea that while he fought off not only British but German, Belgian and Dutch forces commanded by the Duke of Wellington Arthur Wellesley that the Prussians would turn the tide against France. This was on behalf of a disastrous choice Napoleon made by commanding attack orders at midday due to a rainstorm from the previous night water logging the ground of the battlefield. The French suffered 33,000 casualties while the Prussians and the British suffered more than 22,000 casualties. In floods of tears, Napoleon rode away from the battle with his storied military career over. He had met his Waterloo (a phrase we would use today to say that someone has suffered a decisive, final defeat or setback. A district, bridge and train station in London, England is named after the Belgium town where the Corsican born military leader met his downfall.