<P> 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 of the 18th, aided by the progressively arriving Prussians . In the evening Napoleon committed 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 . </P> <P> 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 return from exile . This ended the First French Empire, and set a chronological milestone between serial European wars and decades of relative peace . </P> <P> 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 . </P> <P> On 13 March 1815, six days before Napoleon reached Paris, the powers at the Congress of Vienna declared him an outlaw . Four days later, the United Kingdom, Russia, Austria, and Prussia mobilised armies to defeat Napoleon . Critically outnumbered, Napoleon knew that once his attempts at dissuading one or more members of the Seventh Coalition from invading France had failed, his only chance of remaining in power was to attack before the coalition mobilised . </P>

Where did the battle of waterloo take place