The Battle of Waterloo

The Battle of Waterloo is one of the most famous battles in European history. The battle itself started when Napoleon escaped from Elba and returned to France. The battle was fought at Waterloo (Spielvogel 600). The battle was fought between the French army and their allied forces, which consisted of the Dutch, Prussians, Germans, Belgians, and British. Emperor Napoleon Bonaparte was in control of the French Grande Armée (The Battle of Waterloo 1). The Duke of Wellington, of Britain, and General Blücher from Prussia took control over the Allied Army (BBC 1). With shots being fired the afternoon of June 18, 1815 across the battlefield, The Battle of Waterloo had begun.

“On 26th February 1815 Napoleon absconded from his exile on the island of Elba and returned to mainland France. King Louis XVIII sent Marshal Ney to recapture the former Emperor and bring him to Paris” (Gumm 1). Napoleon got word of this and decided to write Marshall Ney and call him the “bravest of the brave” (Gumm 1). On March 13, 1815 the Seven Powers, Austria, Spain, England, Portugal, Prussia, Russia, and Sweden signed a manifesto which declared Napoleon an outlaw. Four days after the Seven Powers signed a manifesto, a treaty was made between England, Austria, Prussia, and Russia, “by which the rulers of those countries bound themselves to enforce that decree, and to prosecute the war until Napoleon should be driven from the throne of France and rendered incapable of disturbing the peace of Europe” (Creasy 346). On March 20, 1815 Napoleon entered Paris, hoping to get some of the “individual aligned nations of the Seventh Coalition not to invade France, but failed” (Gumm 1). He resided back in Paris and decided to come up with strategies. He needed to rebuil...

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Creasy, Edward Shepherd. The Fifteen Decisive Battles of the World: from Marathon to Waterloo. Mineola, NY: Dover Publications, 2008. Print.

Gumm, Ian R. "The Waterloo Campaign 1815 - Aftermath.” Web. 10 Apr. 2011.

Roberts, Andrew. Napoleon and Wellington. London: Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 2001. Print.

Stevenson, Roy. "The Battle of Waterloo." Roy Stevenson, Freelance Writer. Web. 19 Apr.

"The Battle of Waterloo 18th June 1815." British Battles - Analysing and Documenting British Battles from the Previous Centuries. Web. 22 March 2011.