A French army under the command of Napoleon was defeated by the armies of the Seventh Coalition, comprising an Anglo-allied army under the command of the Duke of Wellington, combined with a Prussian army under the command of Prince Blücher. Two large forces under Wellington and Blücher assembled close to the north-eastern border of France. Napoleon chose to attack in the hope of destroying them before they could join in a coordinated invasion of France with other members of the coalition. Waterloo was the decisive engagement of the Waterloo Campaign and Napoleon's last. The defeat at Waterloo ended Napoleon's rule as Emperor of the French, and marked the end of his Hundred Days return from exile.
Waterloo cost Wellington around 15,000 dead or wounded and Blücher some 7,000 (810 of which were suffered by just one unit: the 18th Regiment, which served in Bülow's 15th Brigade, had fought at both Frichermont and Plancenoit, and won 33 Iron Crosses). Napoleon's losses were 24,000 to 26,000 killed or wounded and included 6,000 to 7,000 captured with an additional 15,000 deserting subsequent to the battle and over the following days.
In 1820, the Netherlands' King William I ordered the construction of a monument. The Lion Mound (
visit link) , a giant mound, was constructed here using 300,000 cubic metres. Apart from the Lion Mound, there are several other monuments throughout the battlefield.
Gordon Monument)is probably one of the most symbolic and best known monuments on battlefield. It is also one of the oldest monuments on the battlefield, after the suppression of the individual tombs of British officers when the memorial at the Brussels cemetery was built. This column was built in July 1817 by Gordon's family.
LtCol Sir Alexander Gordon was aide de camp to the duke of Wellington and was mortally wounded at his side, near the square of the 2/30th Foot at the moment of the attack of the Middle Guard. A cannon ball took away his leg. Sergeant-Major Wood of the 30th Foot transported him, probably first to the Mont-Saint-Jean farm, for some first help, and after that, to the Bodenghien inn at Waterloo, Wellington's HQ (now Wellington Museum), where he died at 3h30 in the morning of 19 June, after the amputation of his leg. Hearing of Gordon's death, Wellington said : "Thank God, I do not know what it is to lose a battle, but certainly nothing can be more painful than to win one with the loss of so many of one’s friends."
Gordon was first buried at the Saint-Gilles cemetery in Brussels, but was transferred to the Evere cemetery on the 28th May 1889, into the crypt of the British monument at the Evere cemetery on the 25th July 1890.
His name is also mentioned on the plaque to the 2nd battalion 3rd Foot Guards in the Waterloo church and on the Guards Officers Memorial in the Royal Military Chapel, Wellington Barracks, London.