Napoleon Bonaparte suffered his final defeat at the Battle of Waterloo on June 18, 1815. This pivotal confrontation took place in present-day Belgium and pitted Napoleon's French army against the Seventh Coalition forces, led by the Duke of Wellington and Prussian Field Marshal Gebhard Leberecht von Blücher. The battle marked the end of the Napoleonic Wars and resulted in Napoleon's abdication and subsequent exile to Saint Helena. Waterloo is often viewed as a decisive moment in European history, reshaping the continent's political landscape and ushering in a period of relative peace and stability in Europe.