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__/) ░░▒▒▓▓████████████████████████▓▓▒▒░░ (\__
|~~| ░▒▓██ ██▓▒░ |~~|
|__| ░▒▓█ W A T E R L O O █▓▒░ |__|
^ /||\ ░▒▓█ 18 JUNE 1815 █▓▒░ /||\ ^
/|\ |||| ░▒▓█ █▓▒░ |||| /|\
/ | \ |||| ░▒▓█ "La Garde recule!" █▓▒░ |||| / | \
/ | \ |||| ░▒▓██ ██▓▒░ |||| / | \
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▲▲▲ ▲▲▲ ▲▲▲ WELLINGTON NAPOLEON ▲▲▲ ▲▲▲ ▲▲▲
░░░░░ ░░░░░ ░░░░░ Mount St. Jean La Belle Alliance ░░░░░ ░░░░░ ░░░░░
╔════╗╔════╗╔════╗ ╔════╗╔════╗╔════╗
║████║║████║║████║ ← ALLIED FORCES ║▓▓▓▓║║▓▓▓▓║║▓▓▓▓║
╚════╝╚════╝╚════╝ FRENCH FORCES → ╚════╝╚════╝╚════╝
A meditation on the Battle of Waterloo
By 9:30 PM, the battle was over. The field was covered with dead and dying men, dead horses, wrecked cannon, scattered eagles.
Casualties: ~47,000 killed or wounded in nine hours. The rye fields ran red.
Napoleon abdicated four days later. Exiled to St. Helena where he died in 1821.
The Congress of Vienna map of Europe stood for nearly a century.
Britain emerged as the world's dominant power. The Pax Britannica began.
Wellington became a national hero, later Prime Minister.
Blücher died in 1819, celebrated as Prussia's savior.
Many Imperial Guard officers were executed in the White Terror that followed.
The battlefield became a pilgrimage site almost immediately.
Victor Hugo visited in 1861, researched for Les Misérables.
The Lion's Mound was built 1820-1826, moving thousands of tons of earth from the battlefield.
Napoleon fled the field, reached Paris, abdicated on June 22. He surrendered to the British, hoping for asylum in England. Instead, he was exiled to St. Helena, a volcanic rock in the South Atlantic.
He spent six years dictating his memoirs, rewriting history, creating his own legend. He died on May 5, 1821. His last words reportedly included 'France, armée, tête d'armée, Joséphine.'