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BATTLEFIELD TOURS
WATERLOO
1815
Composite photo courtesy Denis McCarthy "Personalised War Histories" © 2005
By commencing your tour of the French and Belgian battlefields in Brussels with Colin Gillard you gain the advantage of being able to step back to a much earlier era and visit this most historic of sites.
At Waterloo you can visit the stage on which the final battle of Napoleon Bonaparte was enacted almost 200 years ago.
The historic site is located less than 30 kilometres from Brussels, a brief journey by coach or car with our informed guide taking you into a setting which contains much of the original structures and landscape where the famous clash of 18 June 1815 occurred.
Prominent locations still visible include la Ferme de la Haye Sainte and le Château d'Hougomont, these farms being the scene of aggressive attack and courageous defence in the battle in which 128,000 French soldiers under Napoleon engaged the 200,000 strong Allied army of British (led by the Duke of Wellington) together with Prussian (German), Hanoverian, Brunswick, Dutch, Belgian, and Nassau troops.
How we can reflect on the changing allegiances which were to evolve by the time of the wars of the 20th Century!
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The modern Waterloo features several means by which the details of the battle and the historical context of the period can be understood. The "Butte du Lion" or the Lion Mound is itself an historical structure, having been completed in 1826. To scale its 226 steps provides the reward of a perfect vantage point to view the entire Waterloo battlefield. The well equipped Visitors' Centre, the Wax Museum and the Panorama are all located adjacent to the Butte while the historic Wellington Museum is situated in the centre of the town of Waterloo. |
La "Butte du Lion" |
A visit to Waterloo helps one to understand its significance, not only for the scale and drama of the battle that took place here, but also for its impact on the fate of one of history's great figures, and on the changed shape of the European political environment of the 19th Century and beyond.
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Email: colingillard@orange.fr
Unless otherwise acknowledged all web content and graphics are copyright © 2005 courtesy of Denis McCarthy "Personalised War Histories"
