The Battle of Waterloo is one of the most famous battles in European history. The actual battle began when Napoleon escaped from Elba and returned to France. The battle was fought at Waterloo (Spielvogel 600). The battle was fought between the French army and the Allied forces, which consisted of the Dutch, Prussians, Germans, Belgians and British. Emperor Napoleon Bonaparte was in control of the French Grande Armée (Battle of Waterloo 1). The Duke of Wellington, of Great Britain, and General Blücher of Prussia took control of the Allied army (BBC 1). With shots fired across the battlefield on the afternoon of June 18, 1815, the Battle of Waterloo had begun. “On 26 February 1815 Napoleon escaped from his exile on the island of Elba and returned to mainland France. King Louis XVIII sent Marshal Ney to recapture the former emperor and bring him to Paris” (Gumm 1). Napoleon heard about this and decided to write to Marshal Ney calling him the “bravest of the brave” (Gumm 1). On March 13, 1815, the Seven Powers, Austria, Spain, England, Portugal, Prussia, Russia and Sweden signed a manifesto declaring Napoleon an outlaw. Four days after the signing of the manifesto of the Seven Powers, a treaty was made between England, Austria, Prussia and Russia, "by which the rulers of those countries undertook to enforce that decree and to prosecute the war until Napoleon should be driven out from the throne of France and rendered incapable of disturbing the peace of Europe” (Creasy 346). On March 20, 1815, Napoleon entered Paris, hoping to convince some of the “individual aligned nations of the Seventh Coalition not to invade France, but he failed” (Gumm 1). He resided in Paris and decided to devise strategies. He needed to reconstruct... halfway through the paper... 11."Battle of Waterloo." Historical events. Famous Historical Events, 2010. Web. 14 April 2011. "Battle of Waterloo 1815: La Belle Alliance: Napoleon: Wellington: Blucher." The transition to Napoleon Bonaparte. Network. 12 April 2011.BBC - History - British History in Depth: The Battle of Waterloo. " BBC - Homepage. Web. 5 April 2011. Creasy, Edward Shepherd. The Fifteen Decisive Battles of the World: From Marathon to Waterloo. Mineola, NY: Dover Publications, 2008. Print. Gumm, Ian R. "The Waterloo Campaign 1815 - Consequences". Network. 10 April 2011. Roberts, Andrew. Napoleon and Wellington. London: Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 2001. Print. Stevenson, Roy. "The Battle of Waterloo." Roy Stevenson, freelance writer. Network. 19 April. "The Battle of Waterloo, 18 June 1815." British Battles: Analysis and Documentation of British Battles of Previous Centuries. 22 March 2011.