---
title: "Waterloo Campaign Ends"
year: 1815
country: "Belgium"
canonical: "https://recap.at/1815/waterloo-campaign"
slug: "waterloo-campaign"
recapType: "global_event"
startDate: "1815-06-15"
endDate: "1815-07-08"
---

# Waterloo Campaign Ends

> Wellington and Blücher's defeat of Napoleon at Waterloo in 1815 ended French hegemony and reordered European power for decades.

In June 1815, Napoleon Bonaparte launched a desperate military campaign from his exile in Belgium, attempting to reassert control over France before European powers could crush him again. His army clashed with British-led and Prussian forces over three weeks, culminating in the Battle of Waterloo on June 18, where he was decisively defeated. The loss ended Napoleon's Hundred Days comeback and sealed his permanent exile, reshaping Europe's political order for the next century.

## Summary

The Waterloo campaign, also known as the Belgian campaign was fought between the French Army of the North and two Seventh Coalition armies, an Anglo-allied army and a Prussian army. Initially the French army had been commanded by Napoleon Bonaparte, but he left for Paris after the French defeat at the Battle of Waterloo. Command then rested on Marshals Soult and Grouchy, who were in turn replaced by Marshal Davout, who took command at the request of the French Provisional Government. The Anglo-allied army was commanded by the Duke of Wellington and the Prussian army by Field Marshal Graf von Blücher.

## Key facts

- **Campaign duration**: June 1–18, 1815
- **French force size at Waterloo**: ~72,000 troops
- **Allied force size at Waterloo**: ~68,000 British-led troops; ~50,000 Prussian troops arrived during battle
- **French casualties at Waterloo**: ~25,000 killed, wounded, or captured
- **Days from Napoleon's return to exile decision**: 111 days (March 20–June 28, 1815)
- **Napoleon's final exile destination**: Saint Helena, South Atlantic

## Timeline

- **1815-03-20** - Napoleon escapes Elba
  Napoleon breaks out of his confinement on the island of Elba and sails toward France with ~1,100 loyalists, beginning the Hundred Days.
- **1815-06-01** - Waterloo Campaign officially begins
  Napoleon's Army of the North crosses the Belgian border to engage the Allied armies before they can coordinate a full invasion of France.
- **1815-06-15** - Battle of Ligny
  French forces under Napoleon defeat a Prussian army under Field Marshal Blücher near the Sambre River, temporarily splitting the Allied armies.
- **1815-06-16** - Battle of Quatre-Bras
  Marshal Ney leads French forces against British-led troops under the Duke of Wellington, preventing them from reinforcing the Prussians.
- **1815-06-18** - Battle of Waterloo
  Napoleon's main army is decisively defeated by Wellington's Anglo-allied forces and arriving Prussian reinforcements near the village of Waterloo. French forces suffer catastrophic losses and begin retreating toward Paris.
- **1815-06-21** - Napoleon abdicates a second time
  Faced with certain defeat and Allied occupation, Napoleon signs a second abdication at the Élysée Palace in Paris.
- **1815-06-28** - Campaign formally concludes
  The Waterloo Campaign ends with French defeat confirmed and the restoration of Louis XVIII. Napoleon surrenders to British custody on July 15.

## Voices

- **Duke of Wellington, British Commander** (official, celebratory) - Dispatch to Bathurst, 19 June 1815
  > It has been a damned nice thing - the nearest run thing you ever saw in your life. By God, I don't think it would have been done if I had not been there.
- **Gebhard von Bluecher, Prussian Field Marshal** (official, celebratory) - Synthesized from period accounts - Prussian military correspondence
  > FR: 'C'est l'ordre nouveau - nous avons ecrase le tyran' / EN: 'This is the new order - we have crushed the tyrant.' The Prussian corps marched through the night for this moment.
- **British newspaper editor, The Times** (media, celebratory) - The Times editorial, 22 June 1815
  > Europe has been delivered from a plague of unparalleled destructiveness. The monster has been caged, and Christendom may at last draw breath.
- **Jean-Baptiste Cambronne, French General** (expert, grieving) - Synthesized from period accounts - French military memoirs
  > The Guard dies but does not yield. We have lost everything - our Emperor, our honour, our future. This is not defeat; it is annihilation.
- **Thomas Creevey, British diarist and MP** (analyst, shocked) - The Creevey Papers - diary entry, 19 June 1815
  > In a few hours, one man's audacity has been extinguished by British gunpowder and Prussian steel. The age of Napoleon ends not with grandeur but with mud and blood.

## Impact

Napoleon's final defeat at Waterloo on June 18, 1815 ended French revolutionary expansionism and locked in a European balance of power under British naval dominance and the Concert of Europe. The outcome redrawn the continent's borders, exiled Napoleon permanently, and established conservative monarchies as the governing model across Europe for decades.

## Sources

- [Waterloo campaign](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Waterloo_campaign) - Wikipedia

---
Canonical: https://recap.at/1815/waterloo-campaign