A muddy battlefield in Belgium, two hundred years ago today.<br /><br />A clash between two armies that would shape the map of the European continent for the decades that followed.<br /><br />The Battle of Waterloo brought about the final downfall of Napoleon Bonaparte and his attempts to redraw Europe’s borders by force<br /><br />Senior royalty, and top politicians gathered at Waterloo earlier to make a battle that would leave more than fifty thousand men killed or wounded.<br /><br />None, however, were there from France.<br /><br />It seems that Napoleon’s defeat two hundred years ago remains too much for Gallic pride to swallow.<br /><br />Although the country’s ambassador to Belgium was there to fly the tricolor for France.<br /><br />The ceremony marked the first part of the celebrations; a three-day reconstruction of the battle will last until Sunday.
