Over four days in June 1815 three battles were fought near Brussels that settled the destiny of Europe and sealed Britain's place as the dominant world power. Napoleon Bonaparte had returned from exile seeking to ward off the kings and princes bent on destroying him and his Revolutionary values. In a lightning campaign he invaded Belgium with the intention of dividing and defeating a Prussian army and an Anglo-German-Netherlands force led by the Duke of Wellington. During the first battle, at Ligny, he nearly succeeded. Had things gone fractionally better for Napoleon, there would have been no Waterloo. Instead, 200,000 men closed in to fight to the death. In 24 hours of desperate drama and concentrated bloodshed, Napoleon's devoted soldiers launched repeated assaults to crush Wellington's doggedly determined army before Blücher's Prussians struggled through mud and flood to reach the field. The history of the Waterloo campaign has been controversial ever since the last shot was fired.

Tim Clayton has used recently discovered first-hand accounts and military records to strip back the layers of later legend, and explain the true sequence of events. In this compelling and definitive narrative he gets into the minds of the commanders as their plans unravelled in smoke and confusion. And he tells the story through the words, aspirations and experiences of the common soldiers of all nations, as well as wives and civilians, to give an unforgettable impression of the frantic marching, extreme weather, hunger, brutal fighting and extraordinary courage of those caught up in the last great battle of the age of horse, musket and cannon shot.