The Battle of Waterloo is one of the most important moments in military history. As the might of the French Empire under the leadership of the Emperor Napoleon faced the Coalition army under Duke of Wellington and Gerhard von Blucher for one last time. The battle saw the culmination of a long campaign to destroy Napoleon's forces and halt the growth of the French Empire. Both sides fought bitterly and Wellington later remarked that 'it was the nearest-run thing you ever saw in your life'. Both armies lost over 20,000 men on the battlefield that day, but it was the coalition that emerged victorious in the end. Wellington's army counter-attacked and threw the French troops into disarray as they fled from the field. The coalition forces entered France and restored Louis XVIII to the throne and Napoleon was exiled to the island of Saint Helena, where he later died. Waterloo was a resounding victory for the British Army and changed the course of European history. This Battle Story tells you everything you need to know about his critical battle.

GREGORY FREMONT-BARNES holds a doctorate in Modern History from Oxford University and has served as a Senior Lecturer in the Department of War Studies at the Royal Military Academy at Sandhurst. He has written extensively on a broad range of military history, including Battle Story: Goose Green 1982, Waterloo 1815 and The Falklands 1982: Ground Operations in the South Atlantic, as well as editing Armies of the Napoleonic Wars and the three-volume Encyclopedia of the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars .