had to give up his throne, and be content with ruling over the little island of Elba, which was given him as his kingdom by his victorious foes.
13. Waterloo, 1815.—Louis X VIII., the brother of Louis XVI., was now made King of France, and the Allies began to re-arrange the map of Europe, which had been thrown into sad confusion by Napoleon’s conquests. Before they had made much progress, they were startled by the news that Napoleon had, after eleven months absence, returned to France, and was making his way towards Paris. His old soldiers gladly rallied around him, Louis XVIII. fled from Paris, and Napoleon was once more on the French throne. The Allies hastened to gather their forces to crush him, and England and Prussia soon had armies in the field. Napoleon saw that his only chance was to defeat the English and Prussians separately, before they could unite their forces. He marched north into Belgium, and on June 16, 1815, met and defeated the Prussians at Ligny. The same day the English and Belgians under Wellington were attacked at Quatre Bras by Marshal Ney. Wellington repulsed Ney, but hearing of the Prussian defeat at Ligny, he fell back to the field of Waterloo, nine miles from Brussels, to keep up his line of communication with Blucher, the Prussian general. There, on the. 18th of June, 1815, Wellington and Napoleon met for the first and only time on the battlefield. Wellington’s army was largely made up of Belgians and Germans, while his English troops were, many of them, raw levies and untried in battle. In numbers the armies were nearly equal, but Napoleon had with him the veterans of hisarmy, besides being much superior to Wellington in cavalry and artillery. Wellington’s hope was to hold the French at bay until Blucher and the Prussians could arrive in the early afternoon. Napoleon, on the other hand, hoped by the deadly play of his artillery, and the fierce charges of his cavalry to break the British ranks. As the day wore on, and. Wellington saw his thin lines growing thinner under the desperate charges of the French cavalry and the fire of their artillery, he began to long for “Night or Blucher.” At last, about five in the afternoon, the sound of distant firing was heard, and a little later it was seen that the Prussians had arrived, and were attacking the flank of the French army. Napoleon saw that but one chance remained, and that was by a desperate charge of his Old Guard to break the British lines
