The battle that marked the end of the Napoleonic Wars was the Battle of Waterloo, fought on June 18, 1815. This decisive encounter saw the forces of the Duke of Wellington and Prussian Field Marshal Gebhard Leberecht von Blücher confront Napoleon Bonaparte's army. The defeat led to Napoleon's abdication and exile to the island of Saint Helena, effectively concluding his rule and ending the series of conflicts that had engulfed Europe since the French Revolution. Waterloo's outcome reshaped the European political landscape and initiated a period of relative peace known as the Congress of Vienna.