Channel 4 - Napoleon's Waterloo (2002)
On the morning of June 18th 1815, Napoleon Bonaparte, the master military tactician, empire builder and arch gambler faced his ultimate challenge. Across a non-descript piece of Belgian farmland we now call Waterloo stood his enemy the Duke of Wellington, the man chosen by Europe to lead the coalition armies against him and to crush him once and for all. Just four months earlier, Napoleon had been all but forgotten, living in ignominious exile on the tiny island of Elba. But now he was back, at the head of a truly elite French army. Napoleon's Waterloo' not only examines the bloody conflict between the French and Coalition forces, but also the intense personal rivalry between Napoleon and his nemesis, Arthur Wellesley, the Duke of Wellington. When Napoleon broke free from exile and once more threatened Europe, the European rulers turned to Britain and Wellington as their only hope. Napoleon knew that only Wellington stood between him and glory, the fight to stop him at Waterloo would claim 50,000 lives…