BRUSSELS — Royalty, dignitaries and soldiers commemorated the 1815 Battle of Waterloo on Thursday, a watershed moment in European history that marked the end of the continent’s domination by France and its emperor Napoleon and the beginning of the British century.
Belgium’s King Philippe led a ceremony for hundreds of guests Thursday, while thousands of re-enactors gathered under the Lion’s Mount monument at the Waterloo battle site. The commemorations took place exactly 200 years after more than 10,000 soldiers died in a half-day battle between French troops and an international coalition led by Britain’s Duke of Wellington.
