School trips to Waterloo

Why visit Waterloo?

Discover the Battle of Waterloo

Despite its unassuming nature, this small Belgian town is world-famous as the setting of the decisive battle which saw Napoleon’s final defeat and the end of the Napoleonic Wars. This makes it a fantastic choice for a history school trip focused on the history of warfare and its development throughout the 19 th and 20 th centuries.

When the Battle of Waterloo took place in 1815, it was at the end of a 12 year period of major conflicts between the French Empire and her allies, and other powerful coalitions of European states.

Some of the top attractions around Waterloo include the Lion’s Mound and the Wellington Museum. The Lion’s Mound is a memorial to the casualties of the Battle of Waterloo.

It marks the spot where William II of the Netherlands was hit by a musket ball and fell from his horse. The hill is crowned with a statue of a lion on a pedestal and offers panoramic views of the battlefield.

The Wellington Museum is housed in the inn chosen by the British for army staff headquarters and tells the story of the Waterloo Campaign and the Duke of Wellington.

Your history students will really enjoy this opportunity to learn more about war through the ages, discovering first-hand accounts and seeing artefacts from the period.

Explore the history of warfare

The Battle of Waterloo was not only a decisive event in the Napoleonic Wars, it was also a turning point in European history.

By this time, the Industrial Revolution was at its peak and warfare was already changing, as European states began to enlarge their armies, with France very much leading the way, with innovations including the developments of separate corps, which allowed for the efficient command of larger numbers of troops by one commander, and enabling the troops to live off the land so that supply arrangements didn’t need to be scaled up to such a large degree.

You could choose to combine your history school trip to Waterloo with visits to nearby Ypres and Dunkirk, which would allow your group to learn about the history of warfare and to better understand how it developed from the cavalries of the Napoleonic Wars to the industrialised warfare of WW1.