Today marks the 200th anniversary of the Battle of Waterloo. Victor Hugo called the battle the “hinge of the 19th century.” It was a day when the destiny of the next 200 years would be changed.

After being exiled to the small Mediterranean island of Elba, Napoleon Bonaparte made a daring escape and landed on mainland France. Within days, he was restored as emperor. The powers of Europe scrambled to confront his unexpected return. In one of history’s most brilliant campaigns, Napoleon, outnumbered and almost out of time, quickly divided the armies fighting under the command of Britain’s Duke of Wellington and the Prussian Field Marshal Gebhard Leberecht von Blücher. Hoping to annihilate each army separately, Napoleon struck at Blücher first, and then turned on Wellington.

All of Europe was amassing its strength to wage against him. One defeat would jeopardize his plans for empirical restoration; success was necessary for survival.

Waterloo was as dramatic as it was significant: The two most celebrated soldiers in Europe, Napoleon and Wellington, faced each other for the first time. Twenty-five thousand men died that day; both sides gave their all. I will not recount the details, but click here for more about the timeline of events. It is worth knowing how our ancestors conducted themselves.

With a triumphant last stand by the British “thin red line” and a counterattack, Wellington’s army repulsed the offensive by the Imperial Guard. Blücher arrived with the bulk of the Prussian Army to carry on the general advance. Napoleon was forced to retreat, which proved to be the final nail in the coffin of Europe’s most celebrated and gifted tyrant.

Allan Mallinson wrote in his book The Making of the British Army:

And so came the army’s (and Wellington’s) greatest test: the battle that defined the rest of the 19th century and whose name is deeply etched in the minds of soldiers today, even if they know little of its details. “Waterloo” stands for something timeless and fundamentally unshakable in the way the British Army conducts itself in defense: endurance to the end by the man with the rifle; self-sacrificing offensive action by the cavalry; limpet devotion by the artillery to its guns; officers standing side by side with their men; the triumph of simple duty; fortitude in the face of seemingly overwhelming odds—and, of course, some brilliance.

When considering the legacy and the significance of Waterloo, it is easy to allow the details, the politicalized issues and personal prejudices to cloud our vision of its effect on history. Let us consider the facts, the clear lessons of the past, and Bible prophecy to analyze this event properly.

Waterloo concluded 23 years of war that had begun with the French Revolution. After nearly a century of European dominance, France was tired, subjugated and broke. The balance of power would shift to a different nation and to a different way of thinking. Many contemporaries at that time could clearly see this change. Field Marshal August Neidhardt von Gneisenau, a distinguished Prussian officer, wrote after Waterloo:

Great Britain has no greater obligation than to this ruffian [Napoleon]. For through the events which he has brought about, England’s greatness, prosperity, and wealth have risen high. She is the mistress of the sea and neither in this dominion nor in world trade has she now a single rival to fear.

Sir Winston Churchill wrote in A History of the English-Speaking Peoples:

The downfall of Napoleon in 1815 left Britain in unchallenged dominion over a large portion of the globe. France and indeed the whole continent of Europe was exhausted. A united Germany had not yet arisen and Italy still lay in fragments. Russia was withdrawing from Western Europe. The Spanish and Portuguese peoples were busy in their peninsula and in their tropical possessions overseas. In the following decades revolution and civil commotion smote many of the powers of Europe, and new nations were born. Britain alone escaped almost unscathed from these years of unrest. There was an unparalleled expansion of the English-speaking peoples both by birth and emigration.

Waterloo secured Great Britain the sole claim to world leadership. The weakened France and still divided Germany allowed Britain to pursue its colonial interests with no threat or preoccupations at home. By this time, Britain was far ahead in industrialization, and dominated Europe in every way economically. Waterloo ushered in Pax Britannica and the Victorian Age, where the empire culture would reach its zenith. The following 30 years of peace in Europe provided all peoples a chance to rest from war.

This is not a point to complacently read over! The fabric of our civilization, as we know it today, is founded upon Anglo-Saxon leadership and the globalization from the British Empire. Victory at Waterloo opened up the world to the spread of law, prosperity and education. This was not done without mistakes, but it was far more successful than the French Revolution, which had the same goal, yet produced another Holy Roman Emperor.

E.S. Creasy, a contemporary of that time period, in his book 15 Decisive Battles of the World reflects on the years of war and the emotional point of view of those who suffered from the Napoleonic Wars:

When we reflect on this, and contrast these 36 years with the period that preceded them—a period of violence, of tumult, of unrestingly destructive energy—a period throughout which the wealth of nations was scattered like sand, and the blood of nations lavished like water, it is impossible not to look with deep interest on the final crisis of that dark and dreadful epoch—the crisis out of which our own happier cycle of years has been evolved. The great battle which ended the 23 years war of the first French Revolution, and which quelled the man whose genius and ambition had so long disturbed and desolated the world, deserves to be regarded by us not only with peculiar gratitude for the repose which it secured for us and for the greater part of the human race.

There have been a number of articles and books, most notably Napoleon the Great by historian Andrew Roberts, that have taken on a more sympathetic view of the French general. In fact, the lore and history of Waterloo dwells in Napoleon’s shadow, despite him being the loser. The French government resisted the issuing of a commemorative coin and has little to no part in the anniversary celebrations. Many try to rewrite the facts and make Waterloo a Napoleonic moral victory, and even paint him as the preferred option for victor.

This thinking can be dangerous. As Creasy and numerous writers from that time period have expressed, people had the same emotions toward Napoleon as they had to Hitler and the Third Reich. Napoleon was one of the greatest military captains, and there is much to learn from him. In the end, however, a despot is a despot. The kettle is still black. He sought to conquer nations by the edge of the sword and carried no ideology, benevolence or moral code. He was the Holy Roman Emperor, and that is not a heritage to cherish.

What if a man rose up in Europe today and sought to unite the Continent through the same means, and in the same spirit as Napoleon or Hitler? Therein lies the danger of exalting tyrants and praising destroyers: It makes it that much easier for them to return.

There is more to Waterloo than the physical facts. Hugo also described that event by writing: “Was it possible that Napoleon should have won the battle? We answer no. Why? Because of Wellington? Because of Blücher? No. Because of God …. Waterloo is not a battle; it is a change of front on the part of the universe.”

Did God have a hand in deciding the victor on June 18, 1815? Was British hegemony a mere coincidence of favorable circumstances, or was there divine timing?

These are questions you need answered, and a story that you need to be well acquainted with. The victory of Waterloo was just one step in a far greater plan in Bible prophecy. This 200th anniversary is a time to learn this plan, and also to consider the future. To learn more, request your free copy of Herbert W. Armstrong’s book The United States and Britain in Prophecy.