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|__| ░▒▓█ W A T E R L O O █▓▒░ |__|
^ /||\ ░▒▓█ 18 JUNE 1815 █▓▒░ /||\ ^
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/ | \ |||| ░▒▓█ "La Garde recule!" █▓▒░ |||| / | \
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▲▲▲ ▲▲▲ ▲▲▲ WELLINGTON NAPOLEON ▲▲▲ ▲▲▲ ▲▲▲
░░░░░ ░░░░░ ░░░░░ Mount St. Jean La Belle Alliance ░░░░░ ░░░░░ ░░░░░
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║████║║████║║████║ ← ALLIED FORCES ║▓▓▓▓║║▓▓▓▓║║▓▓▓▓║
╚════╝╚════╝╚════╝ FRENCH FORCES → ╚════╝╚════╝╚════╝
A meditation on the Battle of Waterloo
Waterloo ended an era and began another. Its legacy echoes still.
Napoleon's Continental System ended. Free trade flourished.
The phrase 'to meet one's Waterloo' entered the language.
Romanticism drew on the battle's tragedy and heroism.
Victor Hugo's Les Misérables features an extended meditation on Waterloo.
Stendhal's The Charterhouse of Parma begins with Waterloo seen from within.
Beethoven wrote Wellington's Victory (though he later regretted it).
The British obsession with Napoleon lasted for decades.
Military doctrine shifted: combined arms, better cavalry discipline, defensive firepower.
The hundredth anniversary in 1915 fell during World War I. No celebrations.
The battlefield is now protected. You can walk where the Guard advanced.
Victor Hugo, Les Misérables (1862): An entire section devoted to Waterloo. 'Would it have been possible for Napoleon to win this battle? We answer No. Why? Because of Wellington? Because of Blücher? No. Because of God.'
Stendhal, The Charterhouse of Parma (1839): Young Fabrizio del Dongo wanders the battlefield, seeing only confusion. The first modern war novel.
Thackeray, Vanity Fair (1848): The battle as distant thunder, felt through the lives it destroyed.
Every year, the wheat grows on the field where the Guard advanced.
You can walk the sunken road. You can stand where Wellington stood.
The Lion's Mound looks over the valley. The guns are silent now.