The Battle of Ligny was fought on June 16, 1815, between Napoleon’s French army and the Prussian army commanded by Field Marshal Gebhard Leberecht von Blücher.
Napoleon won a tactical victory near Ligny in what is now Belgium. The battle formed part of the Waterloo campaign, during the War of the Seventh Coalition, and was Napoleon’s last battlefield victory. Blücher was wounded and temporarily replaced by his chief of staff, August Neidhardt von Gneisenau.
The victory did not destroy the Prussian army. Much of it withdrew in good order, allowing Blücher to regroup and march toward Wellington’s Anglo-Allied army. The Prussians’ later arrival at Waterloo on June 18 was decisive in Napoleon’s defeat.
A common mix-up is Quatre Bras, another June 16 engagement involving Wellington’s forces, while Wavre occurred on June 18–19. Waterloo itself was fought two days after Ligny.