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.
The plague on wall of Mont-Saint-Jean farm
IN MEMORY OF
DEPUTY INSPECTOR GUNNING
PRINCIPAL MEDICAL OFFICER OF THE 1ST CORPS
THE SURGEONS AND OTHERS MEMBERS
OF THE FIELD HOSPITAL
WHICH WAS ESTABLISHED IN THIS FARM
TO CARE FOR THE WOUNDED OF THE BATTLEFIELD
18TH JUNE 1815
THIS TABLET WAS ERECTED IN 1981
BY THE ROYAL ARMY MEDICAL CORPS
This commemorative plaque is dedicated to Deputy Inspector Gunning and to the British Army Medical Services.
After having taken part in the Flanders campaign of 1793, John Gunning had been appointed Staff Surgeon on the 1st of September 1803 and Deputy Inspector of Hospitals on 17 September 1812. During the Peninsular war, he had been present at Vimeiro, Talavera, Bussaco, Fuentes, Ciudad Rodrigo, Badajoz, Salamanca, Vitoria, San Sebastian and Orthez. He later became Deputy Inspector General and the King's Surgeon. He died in 1863 in Paris and was buried at the Montmartre cemetery (32nd division (avenue Saint-Charles, opposite Thiard in the 15th division).