Waterloo

a village in Belgium in Brabant Province, south of Brussels. Population over 10,000.

On June 18, 1815, the army of Napoleon I was defeated at Waterloo by the British and Prussian troops (at the end of the so-called One Hundred Days). Napoleon with his army of 120,000 entered Belgium with the intention of defeating in detail the Anglo-Dutch army commanded by the British field marshal A. Wellington and the Prussian Army of the Lower Rhine commanded by Field Marshal G. L. Blücher. On June 16 at Ligny he defeated the Prussian army and ordered Marshal Grouchy’s corps of 33,000 men to pursue it. Grouchy acted indecisively and on June 18 failed to reach Waterloo to help the French army. Napoleon sent his main forces, numbering 72,000 men, to Waterloo against the British army of 68,000 men. The persistent frontal attacks of the French troops were repelled with heavy losses for the French. In the heat of battle the Prussian troops came up from the east and with a flank attack decided the outcome of the battle. The French lost 32,000 men and all their artillery; the allies lost 23,000 men. The disorderly retreat of the French turned into a rout. Napoleon abandoned the remnants of his army and fled to Paris.

At Waterloo, Napoleon displayed indecision and made a number of mistakes (such as poorly organizing reconnaissance and communication, making faulty estimates of the situation, and extending infantry columns too deeply). An important factor was the loss of morale in the French army, caused by serious economic and political crises in the Napoleonic Empire. As a result of this crushing defeat at Waterloo, the Napoleonic Empire suffered its final downfall. A monument has been erected at Waterloo to the Battle of 1815.

a city in the northern USA, in the state of Iowa, on the Cedar River. Population, 73,000 (1975; 130,000 including suburbs). Waterloo is the trade and transportation center of an agricultural region in which corn and oats are grown and livestock is raised. Industry is represented by food processing, metalworking, and the production of agricultural machinery.