Today in History (18 June): The Battle of Waterloo in 1815

The Battle of Waterloo, which took place in Belgium on 18 June 1815, marked the final defeat of French military leader and emperor Napoleon Bonaparte (1769-1821).

Source

Napoleon was born on 15 August 1769 on the Mediterranean island of Corsica.

After graduating from a French military academy in 1785, he joined the French army. Four years later (1789) the French Revolution erupted and during this decade-long revolution, Napoleon rose rapidly through the ranks.

In 1799 he seized political power in a coup d’état and became France’s political leader and was crowned emperor of France in 1804.

Under Napoleon, France engaged in a successful series of battles against various coalitions of European nations. The French empire expanded across most of western and central Europe. In 1812 the tide turns against him with a disastrous invasion of Russia.

More battles followed where Napoleon’s army was defeated and he eventually captured and exiled to the island Elba in the Mediterranean Sea.

Less than a year later, on 26 February 1815, Napoleon escaped to the French mainland.

Back in France, Napoleon built up an army again and In June 1815 his forces marched into Belgium where he at the Battle of Ligny (16 June) defeated the Prussians army.

Two days later, on June 18, he led his army against the British army near the village of Waterloo. Napoleon made a critical blunder not attacking immediately and thereby allow the remnant of the Prussian army which he defeated two days ago, to join the British Army.

Napoleon’s troops were now outnumbered and this advantage of the British army determine the outcome of the battle and Napoleon’s final defeat.

On 22 June 1815, Napoleon was exiled to the remote, British-held island of Saint Helena, in the South Atlantic Ocean. He died there on 5 May 1821, at age 51.

Sources:
http://www.history.com/topics/british-history/battle-of-waterloo