On what date was the Battle of Waterloo fought?

The Battle of Waterloo was fought on 18 June 1815, near Waterloo in present-day Belgium. It was Napoleon Bonaparte’s final major battle and ended his brief return to power during the period known as the Hundred Days.

Napoleon’s French Army of the North faced two Seventh Coalition forces: the Anglo-allied army led by Arthur Wellesley, Duke of Wellington, and a Prussian army commanded by Gebhard Leberecht von Blücher. Wellington held a defensive ridge south of Waterloo while Napoleon launched repeated attacks. Prussian troops gradually arrived from the east and struck the French flank, helping turn the battle decisively against Napoleon.

The date is sometimes confused with 16 June, when the related battles of Ligny and Quatre Bras took place, or 18–19 June, the dates of the separate Battle of Wavre. Waterloo itself was fought on 18 June. Napoleon abdicated for the second and final time on 22 June, and the defeat ended his political and military rule in France.