When you think of Waterloo, it’s hard not to think about Napoleon and, of course, ABBA. Waterloo is where Napoleon’s arrogance met its match on June 18th, 1815. The “small man with the big ego” finally got what was coming to him!
For nearly twenty years, Napoleon waged wars across Europe, making himself more unpopular and power-hungry. What started as a noble vision of unifying Europe ended with the loss of thousands of lives.
Napoleon was a product of the French Revolution and embodied Enlightenment values like Liberty, Equality, and Fraternity, which he aimed to spread across Europe. He introduced many reforms, such as creating a tax code, enhancing education, building roads and sewer systems, introducing the metric system, establishing the Banque de France, and reducing the Catholic Church’s influence.
However, the allure of power corrupted him. In 1804, he crowned himself “Emperor of the French,” and victories at battles like Austerlitz and Jena only inflated his ego. Even though he signed the Act of Abdication in 1814, naming himself as the main hurdle to peace in Europe, he couldn’t stay in exile for long. After just one year on Elba Island, he returned to take charge of France again. By then, the rest of Europe had had enough. Great Britain, Russia, Austria, and Prussia vowed to end his reign.
The Battle of Waterloo wasn’t Napoleon’s longest or deadliest battle, but it was his final one. Visiting Waterloo today offers valuable insight into a Europe on the brink of becoming what it is now—a coalition of nations striving for peace and prosperity through freedom and equality.
The Napoleonic Wars brought massive changes to Europe. French influence spread various liberal ideas from the French Revolution, such as democracy, the abolition of servitude, due process in courts, reducing the power of the Catholic Church, and limiting the powers of monarchs. The growing power of the middle class meant that European monarchs had to keep many of Napoleon’s reforms even after he was defeated.
Napoleon’s legacy endures, especially through the Napoleonic Code, adopted in many parts of Europe and remaining in force even after his fall. Napoleon once said that his true glory wasn’t in winning battles but in his Civil Code, which still holds significance in numerous places around the world, including Europe, the Americas, and Africa.
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