How to Better Understand the Battle of Waterloo
What was the Battle of Waterloo?The Battle of Waterloo was an event that took place in what is now known as modern Belgium. Great Britain allied with the European states to defeat Napoleon Bonaparte June 1815. It was a devastating strategic defeat for the self-proclaimed emperor of Europe as he was soon exiled to the Isle of Elba. He died shortly thereafter in 1812. To better understand the Battle of Waterloo, you need to know a couple of things:
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Better Understand the Battle of Waterloo
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Understand Napoleon. His quick rise to power upset people throughout Europe. Bonaparte turned France back to a monarchy as well. This is significant because the French peasants had violently removed the previous monarchy during the French Revolution. The battle signified an end of an era. It has been said it gave “punctuation marks on the pages of secular History.”
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Know the history. Friedrich Nietzsche once said that “history is written by the winners.” Take this into consideration when learning about the Battle of Waterloo. Although some people view Napoleon as a horrible tyrant, he did tend to keep aristocratic privilege at bay.
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Learn about the most significant days. The most significant events of the Battle of Waterloo took place between June 15 and June 18 of 1815. Casualties numbers soared to more than 100,000 people.
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Study the prehistory. There were several significant events that led to the Battle of Waterloo. In February 1815, Napoleon escaped from Porto Ferrajo on Elba on a small ship. He had about a thousand soldiers during his initial exile who all dispersed at Cannes, Antibes as well as a few other locations in the south of France.
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Tips & Warnings
Bonaparte was a genius military strategist. Knowing military strategy might help you better understand the Battle of Waterloo.
Napoleon was a great rhetorician. He was know to speak to men's “souls.” He rewarded loyalty with medals, honors and lavished the faithful with attention.
This article in no way can tell you everything you need to know about the Battle of Waterloo. It was a dramatically complicated strategic engagement.
