The Waterloo Lion, from the top of the hill, you can see I the whole battlefield.
This is not one of the five suggested viewpoints, but the climb is worth making to
get your hearings. The Waterloo lion is almost in the middle of Wellington's line.
You see, running left and right from the the Waterloo Lion hill, the lane
on top of a ridge which he chose to defend against Napoleon's army, which was coming
up the main road from the direction of Charleroi.
To the east, the lane is now a motor road to the point where it crosses the main
Brussels-Charleroi road. To the west, it is still as narrow as it was then, but it
has been tarred in recent years. Wellington deployed his infantry, British, Belgian,
Dutch and German, in a line two deep all dong this lane from the Nivelles road on
the right to a point about half a mile beyond the Charleroi road. The artillery were
among them, and the cavalry and reserves were two or three hundred yards behind the
line.
Beyond the shallow valley to the I south, you see the opposite ridge, I two-thirds
of a mile away, where Napoleon drew up bis forces for the attack Among trees close
to the Nivelles road is the farm of Hougoumont, which was under attack all day; and
on the Charleroi road the farm of La Haie Sainte, which was captured by the French
in the afternoon.
The French made three main attacks. The first ,by infantry and cavalry, was on the
far side of the Charleroi road, at the first of the viewpoints described here. The
other two - first by cavalry and then by the infantry of the Garde Impériaie - were
here where The Waterloo Lion Hill stands, and to the right of it; these you wil1
best appreciate from the third viewpoint. But, of course, the top of this hill is
a point of view which nobody had on the day of battle. From this height, the slopes
of the ground seem flattened - and it was on these gentle slopes that the tactics
of the battle depended. It is much more evocative to see the field from ground level,
as the soldiers saw it.
Perhaps the main impression from the top of The Waterloo Lion hill is that the field
on which 140,000 men fought such a desperate battle is so small
The Waterloo Lion Hill 
Continue tour the battle begun at Hougoumont farm
