The Waterloo Battlefield: What is still there to see?

hi everyone my name is Natalie of the alternative Belgium History Channel and today I want to take you in a little walk through the battlefield of the Battle of Waterloo and what is still there to see today of the actual battle I've been here many times before as a visitor of course as a mom because I love to take my son here and make him climb the 225 steps off the Lions Mount but also of course as a guide so that's why I wanted to show you some of my favorite spots my favorite hidden gems sometimes my favorite remnants of the actual Battle of the actual battlefield of course you can imagine that in 200 years time A lot has disappeared most has disappeared unfortunately but there's still plenty of remnants there's still plenty to see here if you know a little bit where to look but first of all where exactly are we now we're in prenlalu French speaking Belgium two 20 kilometers only south of Brussels but we're not in Waterloo because common misconception the Battle of Waterloo did not take place in Waterloo so why the Battle of Waterloo why was it named like that it's because of Victors the winners of a battle usually pick or usually decide on the name this case Wellington his headquarters were in Waterloo so it became the Battle of Waterloo however the prussians the Germans the other part of the the of The Winning Side they actually still refer to this battle as the Battle of La Bella Lions which makes much more sense because Farm was actually located on the battlefield it's where the two winners the two Victors blucher and Wellington met at the end of the battle kind of considered as the official end of the battle without a doubt the most famous landmark of nowadays of the battlefields is and you can see him behind me up there the Lions Mount the line of Waterloo La bu de Leon it's a large cast iron Lion on top of a huge man-made Hill about 40 meters 140 feet high the hill was built with Earth from all over the battlefield now for the lower half they used horses but for the upper half the Earth was carried up by women with whisker baskets these women were used to doing similar Works in my work and mines but I would say still very very impressive because you will see I will have issues getting up to 225 steps carrying basically nothing now this hill was built in the middle of the battlefields now more precisely on the location where the prince of orange William II was injured and knocked off his horse so no the line is not a symbol for the British whom history of course remembers as the main Victors but of the Dutch royal family of Orange why William II's father was king king of the Netherlands but after the battle he also became the king of this area of Belgium in 1815 hence of course it was not very hard to get the permission to to build this huge man-made Hill with his symbol the lion all the way up there not everybody was happy about that of course in particular the Duke of Wellington Victor go claimed that the Duke of Wellington complained that they had altered his Battlefield this is not confirmed this is just victorugo who claimed this you can imagine from up that hill we will have a beautiful view of the battlefield area but we do have to get up these 225 steps but I promise you it is worth it and otherwise you can just enjoy the video and not go up there when you get here let's go you can just give it as an excuse that you have to take a break because of you is so beautiful Midway the steps what do we see there we see lion unfortunately it's in private hands right now so you cannot actually visit the place but it's still on a very authentic state so we'll see it from up there as well but at least it gives me a good excuse to catch my breath there we have him the lion of what to do 225 steps up definitely worth it peaceful very peaceful landscape you can just not imagine ten thousands of thousands of dead on the 8th in 1815 yes I made it all the way up here here of course we can see the underground Museum the Panorama building that's actually this is the location where of the British lines the British troops were waiting here or the Allied troops I should say this is where the Allied battalions were in square formation waiting for the French Cavalry attacks so you can kind of notice it on the video not as much but it's a slope it's kind of rich and it's on the reverse Ridge that the squares were waiting hidden away from side from side of the French in the back there is behind the lines during the battle there was the English hospital so where the injured of the Allied Forces were were brought and back further away in that direction is where Brussels is so the injured were taken there or even people trying to escape our soldiers trying to escape the fighting as well so most of the fighting actually took place on this location most of the actual fighting even took place underneath the lion's mouth even behind us behind in front of us here where the Allied battalions were in square formation waiting for the French Cavalry attacks so we're now the underground museum is where the parking lot is as well so if you go the other side of the Lion towards the South here in the distance where those wooded areas used to be a lot more trees there that's where ugumu Farm is you can kind of see it pretty well this time of the year it's winter so no leaves on the trees that's where the battles started where they continue to fight all day it's a very strategic location on the right flank of the Allied allies so Wellington wanted to keep it at whatever cost so constant fighting there going on very close to the lines of course it's where the battle started where the fighting was most intense a very strategic place on the right flank of the Allies that had to be defended at all costs by the Allies I would success because the French never took it one of the places that could still be visited and I will cover that in an and I will cover that in the next video without going there in this first one it's one of the places that could still be visited today we will definitely cover that in uh in the video you know I will definitely cover that in the next video so now continue a little bit towards the salt or the French lines where the French troops were it's a very sunny day now there in the distance we can see La Bella lions that's where uh basically the location where Napoleon was most of the time from a distance observing you can see it's also a ridge and it's most of the movement of the troops the battlefield movements were in this Valley in front of us so you can see the the landscape is looks quite flat it's just a little bit you know some slight Hills not even slight ridges but that made a world of difference you could hide your troops as Wellington did so well there we go it's also in that direction a bit further that plants and War where the prussians the little town that was attacked by the French were and where the prussians attacked first where there was a heavy battle within a battle like kindness kind of as well but in the late afternoon that's even more in that direction so you can imagine that Napoleon felt like he was going to be surrounded so here we're looking South towards where the French were positioned on the ridge about halfway away from here have about half a mile away you can see La Bellas I'll zoom in that's more or less a location where Napoleon was most of the time and it's also where blue hair and Wellington met at the end of the battle so Wellington of course coming from this direction and Luke her from behind La Bellas where plants and Noir a little village yes where the French were and the that was attacked by the Persians successfully after a heavy battle in the late afternoon so they met their Leos we continue a little rounder a little walk around then we see here also very strategic and important place during the battle and you can see how close it is to where the British troops were waiting for the French that's lie scent so another one of the Farms are at ugomo Farm on the right flank and this was the central farm license heavy fighting also took place there it was only taken at the end of the battle towards the end of the battle they say if it would have been taken earlier that day that the French could have won that the outcome of the battle could have been different so Leia Sant is in private hands so unfortunately we cannot visit inside we cannot even see it properly from close by because it's a big road just next to it but it's in a very authentic state it still looks basically how it would have looked like at the start of the battle at least like I said we're headed next to this classical looking round building here it's one of the main touristic of one of the many touristic facilities that started popping up right after the battle and there's something very unique inside now believe it or not but we're gonna go upstairs again but up the stairs we'll see what I refer to as a century old immersive experience of The Petal of Waterloo it's a UNESCO world heritage immersive ex experience kind of 110 meters wide or 360 feet for the Americas among you a panorama painting so these were very common in the 19th century in the late 19th century but because of their size and of course their vulnerability not many of them have survived that's why this one was declared UNESCO world heritage immersive because I'm sure you can hear it the battle sounds cannons shooting people yelling and as you will see I turn around that there's also some 3D elements so when you come up the stairs the focus of the painting is here the cavalry charge of Michelle Michelle nay so the French cavalry charge the last one this is of course a snapshot of the battle it's a snapshot at 6 PM the French were still winning the Persians had arrived but they were not dominating yet and it's a time that the when the French were still winning because the painter was friendship french navy artist so you can imagine that he prefers to show a moment in the battle that his side was still on the winning on The Winning Side you can see there in the back burning building that is ugomorph Farm where I mentioned it before where the fighting started where the fighting went on all day a lot of people fell never taken by the French you go a little bit this way and we see some other interesting elements that we saw from on top of the lion's mouth as well way in the background there we see a white building so this is where the French troops were the location more or less where Napoleon was close by most of the time and it's where at the end of the battle blue her and Wellington met the official end of the battle and yes we can actually see not pulled in here as well very hard to see of course because he is serving the battle from the distance Higher Grounds you can see in there in the middle on the White Horse that's Napoleon at the head of his staff if we continue this way we can see here another Farm the second one we have ugomo farm and here is Leia sent Central on the lines close to British British troops British lines so a very strategic location that was at this time of the battle taken by the French you can see it's burning the smoke that you see in the distance here is from the prussians the Prussian batteries they have arrived they are attacking they're not dominating yet but that will really make a difference in this battle you can see it's a sunny day so unfortunately sunlight also enters the Panorama painting there you can see also between the smoke another Farm another building that is more Saint John the English hospital where the wounded the injured were treated and then they were taking in that direction further away towards Brussels as well you can see the counter-attack of the Dutch you see here some of the 3D elements that I mentioned before here you can see Wellington and his troops unfortunately it's on the Sunny Spot who's there in the back so remember nay's attack this is English side of that same attack you see here the British troops the squares that are attacked by nay and that leads us back back to Google Farm there and the cavalry charge by the French seems that uh this whole video is about me doing stairs but here we go again just a few steps this time luckily my legs will start to shake otherwise almost there I'll be here at another viewpoint really interesting funarama as well this was observation platform or the location where Napoleon was following was observing the battle especially from 4 pm onwards as you can see it's a little bit hidden away you can hear the busy Road next to me it's the road that heads to the Village Square of plans and it's the road that if you come from the Lion's man you turn left at La Bella lions and that's the rule heading to planz Noir a little bit for like just a hundred meters or even less on the right hand side you have this beautiful platform the Viewpoint of the emperor himself close to La Bella Lyons you have a beautiful view of La bellions probably the best view is from here it's where before the battle Napoleon inspected his troops he remained close by the entire battle but it's also the location of course of the famous meeting between the two main Victors the main two main winners of the battle at the end of the battle the official end of the battle kind of went blue her and Wellington met near La Bala Leons you can kind of see if you look very closely like a sand there so that would be Central on the on the front line on the battlefield but what's interesting here is if we turn 180 degrees because that is a town of plants and one behind us behind Napoleon that is where the prussians started attacking in the late afternoon and in the evening it's not a battle with a battle they fought very hard chances turned also a few times but you can imagine how when Napoleon was here how he felt the pressure from the back to win or to to decide a battle in the front this was part one of a little tour of the Waterloo Battlefield I hope you enjoyed it and feel inspired to come and see this place in person subscribe to my channel so you don't miss part two and other Belgian history videos

Channel: Alternative Belgium

Views: 21,298

Keywords: battle of waterloo, Battlefield tour, Napoleon, History, Belgium, Belgium history, Waterloo battlefield, history of belgium, belgium tourism

Id: 1cMPTGLK-V0

Length: 17min 22sec (1042 seconds)

Published: Sat Mar 11 2023