A hundred days
In March 1815 Napoleon escaped from exile on Elba, landed in France and entered Paris without a battle. The great powers declared him an outlaw and gathered their armies. He struck first, into what is now Belgium, hoping to beat the British and the Prussians one by one.
The ridge at Mont-Saint-Jean
On 18 June the Duke of Wellington stood on a low ridge south of the village of Waterloo. Heavy rain had soaked the ground, and the French attack only began around midday. The farm of Hougoumont held out all day. In the afternoon Marshal Ney threw wave after wave of cavalry against Wellington’s squares, without the infantry to support them.
The Prussians arrive
Meanwhile Field Marshal Blücher’s Prussians, beaten two days earlier at Ligny, marched to Wellington’s aid and attacked the French flank at Plancenoit. Early in the evening Napoleon sent forward the Imperial Guard. It was repulsed, and the French army broke.
The end
Napoleon abdicated on 22 June and surrendered to the British weeks later. This time they sent him to an island he could not leave: Saint Helena, in the South Atlantic.