In Spring of 1815 the exiled Napoleon Bonaparte, one of history's most accomplished generals, escaped his jailers and returned to Paris in what is known as the 'Hundred Days'. After receiving the news, the powers of Europe formed the Seventh Coalition to remove Napoleon from the French throne and raised a huge army. Napoleon responded by marching into Belgium with the objective of splitting Allied forces and capturing Brussels. He pushed a Prussian army back at the Battle of Ligny on 15 June 1815, and three days later attacked an Anglo-Allied force led by the Duke of Wellington near the village of Waterloo. The battle that followed would be a watershed moment in European history, finally ending Napoleon's military career and ushering in a new era of relative peace.
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