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Prince Blücher and the Duke of Wellington Meet at the Battle of Waterloo (La Belle Alliance) on June 18, 1815 (19th Century)

The Battle of Waterloo (or La Belle Alliance) on June 18, 1815, marked Napoleon’s final and decisive defeat by a joint force of Prussian troops under the aged and rough-hewn General Field Marshall Gebhard Leberecht von Blücher (1742-1819) and British forces under Field Marshal Arthur Wellesley, Duke of Wellington (1769-1852). When the situation for the British had become precarious, Wellington is said to have exclaimed, “Give me Blücher, or give me night.” The Prussians arrived in time. The two men show their joy by embracing each other while the battle rages in the background. Etching by Gottfried Arnold Lehmann (1766-1819? or 1823?), nineteenth century.

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Prince Blücher and the Duke of Wellington Meet at the Battle of Waterloo (La Belle Alliance) on June 18, 1815 (19th Century)

© Bildarchiv Preußischer Kulturbesitz/ SBB / Ruth Schacht
Original: Handschriftenabteilung, Staatsbibliothek zu Berlin – Preußischer Kulturbesitz