Battle of Waterloo - the last battle of the army of Napoleon

The Battle of Waterloo took place on 18 June 1815 between the united army of European states (England, the Netherlands, Prussia) and the troops of Napoleon Bonaparte. The tiny Waterloo, an ordinary Belgian town near Brussels, not only went down in history, but also became a sign of an insulting loss, an annoying defeat; And this is true - after all, at Waterloo Napoleon suffered a single unconditional defeat in his military career.

The Battle of Waterloo was the culmination, the completion of the famous Napoleonic "100 days"; After this defeat all claims Bonaparte to create a world empire is a thing of the past. Moreover, he could not even remain "just" a French emperor.

After the extremely unsuccessful military campaigns of 1812-1814, Napoleon was forced to accept all the conditions of the victorious countries (Prussia, Sweden, Britain, the Russian Empire), abdicate and set out on an honorable reference to the Mediterranean island of Elba. But even there, far from the turbulent European events, Bonaparte left no hope to return to France, "recoup", again become an active politician. On March 1, 1815 the emperor landed on the coast of France, from this day 100 days of Napoleon are counted. In just a few days, Bonaparte made his way from Cannes to Paris, everywhere meeting an enthusiastic reception and demonstrating devotion (especially loyal to the emperor were soldiers of the old Napoleonic guard). Louis Bourbon, who ruled France after the abdication of Emperor Napoleon, fled abroad with his court.

All this adventurous venture alarmed the European monarchs in earnest. It was decided to put an end to the twenty-year era of continuous Napoleonic wars and finally deliver a crushing blow to the Corsican "upstart". The Seventh Coalition of European States (Austria, Russia, Britain, Prussia) was organized, this time directed not against France, but against Napoleon personally. Emperor Bonaparte was outlawed. It was decided to expose against the French troops a joint army, the total number of which reached one million people. The gradual concentration of Allied forces went in late spring or early summer of 1815 in Belgium, along the eastern borders of France. Part of the Allied forces had to come from Northern Italy.

This truly cyclopean army, Napoleon was able to oppose relatively small forces (up to 300,000 people). His army lacked not only ordinary soldiers, but also officers; The Battle of Waterloo ended in an unfortunate defeat, including because of the confusion in the management of the army, unjustified personnel appointments.

The Battle of Waterloo began early in the morning on June 18, 1815, with the attack of the French army on the castle of Ugumon. The main goal - to disorganize the English compounds under the command of Wellington - the French could not be achieved. On the contrary, all distracting maneuvers inflicted perceptible damage on the Imperial army itself.
The numerical superiority of the Allied forces, the poor organization and management of the Napoleonic army, the wrong tactics chosen - all this led to a crushing defeat of the French army. The Battle of Waterloo became one of the most bloody battles of world history: the total number of victims reached 16,000 people killed and about 70,000 wounded.

After the defeat, Napoleon was forced to surrender to his worst enemies - the British. He was forced to renounce the throne and again sent to exile, this time to the distant island of St. Helena. The Battle of Waterloo was the last battle that ended the era of Napoleonic wars.