If you’re in Belgium, then it makes sense to try to break out to make it out to Waterloo, the grand battle-site where Napoleon lost to Duke of Wellington. This was during Napoleon’s 100 days when he tried to reclaim the Emperor of France throne but lost to the combined allied forces who had no desire to see French dominance in Europe. Napoleon was an excellent military leader, one of the best generals that the world has ever seen due to his ability to utilize tactics to his advantage. However, this time, the Duke of Wellington got the better of him.
It’s called the War Memorial 1815 and not just Waterloo because that is the name of the closest town back then. The town has sure grown over the years and the good thing is that the Belgians would not allow any buildings built on the battlefield. Instead, it’s just farmland all around the War Memorial. Must be nice knowing that the fields were well-fertilized years ago with soldier corpses….
If you go to Waterloo, the site of the grand battle, you can see how the Duke used the terrain to his advantage. In addition, there were other factors that played to the Duke’s advantage and to the French military’s disadvantage. You can read and see all about it if you are there where they had built a museum and of course, the Lion of Waterloo, where there is an elevated, man-made hill which shows how the Duke saw fit to make this Napoleon’s last stop in military affairs.
Didja know that they had a French Guillotine in the museum? I guess we know where Karl Marx got his idea of socialism from – cutting heads of rich people and royalty to feed the poor. Or was it the other way around?…. and everything was mis-interpreted?
Lots of interactive stuff in the museum. If you read some of the stuff, you’ll find out that there was really bad weather (heavy winds preventing a fire from being started) prior to the Battle of Waterloo which the French troops suffered badly in terms of physical strength and morale, which might have played a big role in Napoleon’s defeat.
“Git up there!” Another reason to go to the gym and stay in shape so you can run up the stairs and see the great view up there. Notice that it was a nice sunny day meaning that you can see the terrain advantage by the Duke of Wellington.
Before you go up – you can look up and see the end goal in sight.
Depending on the season, this topside can get crowded so I couldn’t really get a good photo. So all I got was this photo of the Lion perched on top signifying the Battle of Waterloo as one of the significant events in European history.
Napoleon’s loss at Waterloo resulted in his exile to St. Helena where he died several years later supposedly due to poison. France never regained his throne ever again after Napoleon’s departure and this of course, resulted in the allies England, Prussia (along with other German states), Austria-Hungary, and Russia to rise in power, dominance, and prominence. And what did result in? Well, some may argue that it did eventually cause a World War I… and II…