page_title: Military history of the Netherlands
section_title: Battle of Waterloo
hierarchical_section_title: Military history of the Netherlands / Batavian Republic and French rule / Battle of Waterloo
caption_attribution_description: Français&#160;: Panorama Champ de bataille de Waterloo
context_page_description: The Netherlands, as a nation-state, dates to 1568, when the Dutch Revolt created the Dutch Empire. Previously, the Germanic tribes had no written language during the ancient and early medieval periods, so what we know about their early military history comes from accounts written in Latin and from archaeology. This causes significant gaps in the historic timeline. Germanic wars against the Romans are fairly well documented from the Roman perspective; however, Germanic wars against the early Celts remain mysterious because neither side recorded the events. Wars between the Germanic tribes in Northern Belgium and the present day Netherlands, and various Celtic tribes that bordered their lands, are likely due to their geographical proximity.
  Belgium, a country with a Dutch-speaking majority, became an independent state in 1830 when it seceded from the Netherlands. Despite the contemporary political boundaries, they share much of the same military history.
context_section_description: The Battle of Waterloo was to involve 73,000 French soldiers; while the Allied army from Britain, Hanover, Brunswick, and the Netherlands and Nassau were about 67,000 men strong. (Of the 26 infantry brigades in Wellington's army, nine were British; of the 12 cavalry brigades, 7 were British. Half the 29 batteries of guns were Hanoverian or Dutch).
caption: A panorama of the Waterloo battlefield in 2012.
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