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In depth information about the Battle of Waterloo in the BBC web site "Wars and Conflicts"
(Click on logo)

The three protagonists of the Battle of Waterloo:
The Duke of Wellington, Napoleon Bonaparte and Marshal Blücher)

In 1814 Napoleon had been exiled to the Island of Elba, but escaped to France in March 1815. Very quickly he managed to form a new army with which he wanted to reconquer his lost empire. The first part that he wanted to reconquer was Belgium and Holland. The European powers, at Congress in Vienna, mobilized their armies to defeat Napoleon. Two major armies made their way to Belgium. The first one was an army consisting of divisions from different countries (Belgian, Dutch, British) under the command of the Duke of Wellington. The second army came from Prussia and was led by Marshal Blücher.

THE PRELIMINARY BATTLES AT LIGNY AND QUATRE BRAS.

The armies already clashed before the actual battle took place. Blücher and the Prussian army fought Napoleon at Ligny, a village north east of Charleroi on the 16th of June. However, Blücher and his troops were forced to retreat. A part of the army of the Duke of Wellington tried to drive the French army back at Quatre Bras, the crossroads of the Brussels-Charleroi and Namur-Nivelles roads. Also Wellington did not succeed and he had to retire to the plains south of Waterloo where he waited for the big confrontation on the 18th. Blücher managed to send a message to Wellington that he would be able to join him on the battlefield at Waterloo, but probably only later in the day. Napoleon thought that the Prussian army had been defeated and that he would only have to face the Wellington troops.

(Picture above : The monument for the Belgians who fought at the battle of Waterloo (on both sides !)

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