Battle of Waterloo (1815)

The Battle of Waterloo on June 18, 1815, delivered a final and irreversible blow to Napoleon Bonaparte's ambitions. The combined forces of Wellington and Blücher decisively defeated the French army, effectively ending 23 years of intermittent warfare across Europe and dissolving the Napoleonic Empire. This momentous defeat led to Napoleon's permanent exile to St. Helena, thereby concluding French imperial expansion. The battle, which saw over 25,000 French casualties, significantly reshaped European borders and the balance of power, with many of its political consequences enduring until World War I. The subsequent Congress of Vienna established the Concert of Europe, a system that helped maintain relative peace among the great powers for nearly a century.