June 18 Birthday
On June 18, 1815, the Battle of Waterloo ended Napoleon's career. Wellington's Anglo-Allied army of 68,000 and Blücher's Prussian army of 45,000 defeated Napoleon's force of 73,000. The battle lasted ten hours. The French suffered 41,000 casualties. Napoleon had been back from exile on Elba for only 100 days. He fled to Paris, abdicated, and surrendered to the British. He was exiled to Saint Helena, where he died in 1821. Wellington called Waterloo "the nearest-run thing you ever saw in your life." The rain the night before delayed Napoleon's attack, allowing Blücher time to arrive. Without the rain, Napoleon might have won. Charles de Gaulle broadcast from London on June 18, 1940, calling on the French to continue the fight. France was collapsing. The government had fled. The broadcast was heard by very few people — the BBC estimated later that perhaps a few thousand heard it. But the text was reprinted and distributed, and it became the founding statement of Free France. De Gaulle was a brigadier general who had been Undersecretary of War for ten days. He had no army, no government, no country. He had a microphone. He used it. People born on June 18 fall under the zodiac sign of Gemini. The birthstone is Pearl and the birth flower is Rose. Historical events on June 18 include 1812: US declares war on Britain (War of 1812 begins), 1815: Battle of Waterloo — Napoleon defeated by Wellington and Blücher, 1940: Charles de Gaulle broadcasts appeal for French resistance from London. Famous people born on June 18 include Paul McCartney (1942), Isabella Rossellini (1952), Carol Kane (1952).