La Belle Alliance

 

On the morning June 18th 1815, Napoleon moved his headquarters from at Le Caillou, which is also the same place where he had spent the night passed the farm of Rossomme and moved up the road north to La Bella Alliance which was a small inn south of Brussels. This is where he spent most of his time at the Battle of Waterloo and where the Old Guard were deployed. This was at the centre of Napoleon’s line and he had a good view of the valley and of the battlefield around him. Late afternoon the Inn became a dressing station for the French soldiers but it was hit a few times when the Prussians advanced from Plancenoit.

 

After the battle at around 9pm, the Duke of Wellington and Blücher met close to the inn. Blücher suggested that the battle should be remembered as la Belle Alliance, to commemorate the European Seventh Coalition of Britain, Russia, Prussia, the Netherlands, Sweden, Austria, Spain, Portugal, Sardinia, and a large number of German States who had all joined the coalition to defeat the French.

Wellington, who had made the decision to stand his ground near Waterloo and commanded the allied army which had been in action all day with the French, instead recommended Waterloo, the village just north of the battlefield, where he had spent the previous night. The Duke commenting that it would not do to name the battle after the enemy’s command post. Nevertheless in 1815 the Rondell plaza in Berlin was renamed Belle-Alliance-Platz to commemorate the victory against the French.

 

 

Today, the building is currently a night club.