Waterloo, Belgium Waterloo, Belgium Waterloo (, , ) is a Walloon municipality in the province of Walloon Brabant, Belgium, which in 2011 had a population of 29,706 and an area of . It is north of Braine-l'Alleud, which is the site of the Battle of Waterloo, where the resurgent Napoleon was defeated for the final time in 1815. Waterloo is a Francophone town. The placename has Brabantian Dutch origins. The first element is most likely "water", but it should be understood locally as "wet". The second element is "lo(o)", an ancient word for "forest" or "clearing in a forest", coming either from
Battle of Waterloo his last reserves, the French Imperial Guard, 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 four 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