Vanity Fair

What of the Waterloo combatants? The British (23,000 men) together with 44,000 allied Germans, Belgians, Dutch and Prussians (and their 160 guns) fought against 74,000 members of the French Grande Armée (and their 250 guns). Approximately 141,000 men fought on the Waterloo battlefield that day.  (Some accounts put the numbers even higher.)

• The French Army before the battle begins.
  
  
• French Cuirassieres A Paiting of French Cuirassieres at Waterloo a Highland square.
  
  
• Wellington decides that Hougoumont Chateau is key to his position. During the night of June 17th, British troops fortify the palace. Despite tremendous efforts, the French are unable to take Hougoumont. Their dead fill the fields nearby. Defending their position, British losses are also horrific.
  
  
• French cavalry attack a British square with Hougoumont burning in the background.
  
  
• British Cavalry Charge at the Battle of Waterloo.
  
  
• One day later, British casualties still lie on the field of battle.

The British, Belgians, Dutch and Germans sustained 15,000 casualties - or approximately one out of four who fought. The Prussians (under the command of von Blücher) lost 7,000 men. French losses were estimated at 25,000 dead and wounded with 8,000 prisoners taken and 220 guns lost.

Every year, while he lived, the Duke of Wellington held a “Waterloo” banquet for his officers. After he died, the banquet continued and is still held to this day.

It was against the backdrop of Waterloo, as Britain finally settled into peace in the 1820s, that William Makepeace Thackeray wrote his classic novel, Vanity Fair.