La batalla de Waterloo (francés: watɛʁ'lo) fue un enfrentamiento entre el ejército francés comandado por el emperador Napoleón Bonaparte y el ejército prusiano del mariscal de campo Gebhard Leberecht von Blücher y las tropas británicas, holandesas y alemanas dirigidas por el duque de Wellington, cerca de la localidad de Waterloo (Bélgica), el 18 de junio de 1815. Tras la vuelta del emperador de su exilio en la isla de Elba y, al reunirse la Séptima Coalición contra él, Napoleón decidió invadir los Países Bajos, lugar de reunión de las tropas de la nueva alianza. Esta iniciativa se enmarca dentro de los denominados Cien Días, periodo histórico que pone fin a las Guerras Napoleónicas. Se consideran parte de la campaña de Waterloo todos los combates entablados desde los primeros encuentros entre las tropas francesas con los destacamentos prusianos del 15 de junio hasta la retirada final del ejército francés el día 18. Se incluyen en esta definición los combates librados en el pueblo de Ligny, en Quatre Bras, Wavre y el monte Saint-Jean.

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The Battle of Waterloo was fought on Sunday, 18 June 1815, near Waterloo in present-day Belgium, then part of the United Kingdom of the Netherlands. A French army under the command of Napoleon Bonaparte was defeated by two of the armies of the Seventh Coalition: an Anglo-led Allied army under the command of the Duke of Wellington, and a Prussian army under the command of Gebhard Leberecht von Blücher, Prince of Wahlstatt. Upon Napoleon's return to power in March 1815, many states that had opposed him formed the Seventh Coalition, and began to mobilize armies. Wellington and Blücher's armies were cantoned close to the north-eastern border of France. Napoleon chose to attack them in the hope of destroying them before they could join in a coordinated invasion of France with other members of the coalition. Napoleon successfully attacked the Prussians at the Battle of Ligny, while at the same time attacking the British at the Battle of Quatre Bras. Despite holding his ground at Quatre Bras, the defeat of the Prussians forced Wellington to withdraw to Waterloo. Napoleon sent a third of his forces to pursue the Prussians, who had withdrawn parallel to Wellington. This resulted in the separate and simultaneous Battle of Wavre with the Prussian rear-guard. Upon learning that the Prussian army was able to support him, Wellington decided to offer battle on the Mont-Saint-Jean escarpment, across the Brussels road. Here he withstood repeated attacks by the French throughout the afternoon, aided by the progressively arriving Prussians. In the evening Napoleon committed his last reserves to a desperate final attack, which was narrowly beaten back. With the Prussians breaking through on the French right flank Wellington's Anglo-allied army counter-attacked in the centre, and the French army was routed. Waterloo was the decisive engagement of the Waterloo Campaign and Napoleon's last. According to Wellington, the battle was "the nearest-run thing you ever saw in your life". Napoleon abdicated 4 days later, and on 7 July coalition forces entered Paris. The defeat at Waterloo ended Napoleon's rule as Emperor of the French, and marked the end of his Hundred Days return from exile.The battle also ended the First French Empire, and set a chronological milestone between serial European wars and decades of relative peace. The battlefield is located in the municipalities of Braine-l'Alleud and Lasne, about 15 kilometres (9.3 mi) south of Brussels, and about 2 kilometres (1.2 mi) from the town of Waterloo. The site of the battlefield today is dominated by a large monument, the Lion's Mound. As this mound was constructed from earth taken from the battlefield itself, the contemporary topography of the battlefield near the mound has not been preserved.

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