How volcano helped us win at Waterloo

THE Battle of Waterloo was won with the help of a huge volcanic eruption two months earlier – on the other side of the world.

Electrified ash from Mount Tambora, Indonsesia, caused heavy rain across Europe in 1815, scientists at Imperial College, London, now believe. The wet and muddy conditions played a key role in French emperor Napoleon Bonaparte’s defeat in June.

The eruption, on the island of Sumbawa, killed 100,000 and sent huge amounts of ash 62 miles into the upper atmosphere where clouds are formed.