The bloody culmination of the Waterloo Campaign, the Battle of Waterloo was one of the most explosive of the 19th century, with a British-led allied army under the command of Arthur Wellesley, the Duke of Wellington, defeating a French army under the command of Napoleon Bonaparte and ending the latter’s 100-day reign as emperor of France.
The war had begun after Napoleon I returned from exile on Elba (an island off Tuscany) to Paris on 20 March 1815. This set into motion a chain of events that would see Napoleon reclaim his position as emperor, the Congress of Vienna declare him an outlaw and the Seventh Coalition pledge to field a large army to bring his rule to an end.
With hundreds of thousands of soldiers drafted to take Napoleon down, it was only a matter of time before blood was spilt - something that occurred two days prior to Waterloo when Napoleon struck at the Prussian army before it could join up with Wellington’s on 16 June.