The Role of Critical Thinking in Business Essays

The Role of Critical Thinking in Business Essays The Role of Critical Thinking in Business Essay The Role of Critical Thinking in Business Essay Essay Topic: Critical Thinking Management could have used critical thinking and adjust the personnel to fill in the position for the missing personnel to cover down on the events. Management ignored the requirement for the events and told his counterpart that they will have to cover down on the event, even though he fell short in analyzing the up-coming situation that required at least four personnel. Although his actions showed that, he did not care and blamed someone else for the shortness of personnel. If management had used reasoning and critical thinking, he could have covered down on the tuition to avoid the situation noticed of his ability to manage personnel. The use of critical thinking and analyzing the situation will give the individual better results to the outcome of any problem that arise. Definition Free will is the power to make choices freely without any constraints or compulsions. Free will is a voluntary decision and an independent choice. It is the capacity to respond in ways that oppose even the strongest influences (Ruggeri, 2012). People possess free will. This is the reason why peoples decisions are unpredictable. Free will helps a person form thoughts. No matter the pressure or force placed on a person, the person will act on his or her own free will when making decisions. Truth is the reality of the matter, as distinguished from what people wish so, believes to be son, or assert to be so (Ruggeri, 2012). Truth is a fact. It does not change, only our knowledge change. Forming thoughts based on truth discards any doubt and places the evidence on the subject. Knowledge is what understood and known to be true. Thoughts formed through knowledge obtained through experience, observation, and report from others. Opinions are %intensely personal (Ruggeri, 2012). It is a personal way to express ones judgment Thoughts formed through opinions are mostly personal perceptions of how they interpret or believe the idea is (Ruggeri, 2012). Hindrances The three hindrances to the critical think process are the mine-is-better hub resistance to change, and conformity. Mine-is-better habit is the habit that hinders thinking through preferring own ideas for no other reasons that the are yours. The concept of handling situations that arise will highlight this tag f mind set. This concept or idea slows down the thought process of the group from excelling. Management normally takes the easy way out, but waits for the situation to fail before he places the right person or adjust his mind set for the best results. Resistance Resistance to change is the tendency to reject new ideas and new way: of seeing or doing without examining them fairly. The normal reason why w reject change in my line of work is the older ways worked and produced go results. A good example is using computers to record and track information UT we try not to understand the process of how Microsoft applications Word to generate faster results. The denial of change slows down growth and progress of technology adapting to society advancements. The best way to overcome resistance is sit back and analyze the situation by using the decision-making process to achieve the best outcome. Conformity Conformity is thinking the way others from the group believe to avoid being different. This process destroys an individuals idea for a person trying to grow. You normally will see situation like this when it involves a superior ND the fear of looking mentally challenged around your leaders and peers. The best counter-act this situation is present facts or evidence that support: your comments. Advertising Messages Red bull drink advertisements, both on radio and in television, involve selling more than just the drink, but wings that enable a person to fly. It taps into TFH human psyche and tries to sell the drink linking it to a higher power, masculinity and energy. Red bull advertisement usually tries to appeal to HTH other senses.

Middle School and High School Intervention Programs

Middle School and High School Intervention Programs Intervention has become an important tool for servicing students who struggle academically particularly in reading and/or math. School intervention programs are very popular in elementary schools, but what about middle school and high school? The truth is that the older the student is, the more difficult it becomes to get a student who is behind back on grade level. That doesn’t mean that schools shouldn’t have intervention programs in place for their middle school and high school students. However, these programs should embrace the middle school/high school culture where motivating students becomes half the battle. Motivating students will lead to improvement and growth in all areas of academics. It is important to understand that what works for one school may not work in another. Each school has its own culture shaped by many external factors. Principals and teachers need to work together to figure out what aspects of a program are applicable to their school’s unique situation. With that in mind, we explore two different middle school/high school intervention programs. They were designed to motivate students to succeed academically to give those struggling students some much needed extra assistance 8th Hour/Saturday School Premise: Most students do not want to spend extra time at school. This program is aimed at two primary groups of students: Those students are below grade level in reading and/or mathThose students who often fail to complete or turn in work This  intervention program has been designed  with several strategies to help these students. Those include: Requiring students to complete incomplete or missing assignmentsProviding extra assistance on assignmentsProviding extra time to complete assignments when a student has been absentBuilding reading and math skills so as to prepare a student for state testing The intervention program should be run by a reading specialist or certified teacher and could be held during an 8th hour, or an immediate extension of the school day running every day. Students could also participate in this intervention by serving a Saturday School. This is not intended as student discipline but as an academic aid to success. Each of the four components is broken down below: Requiring students to complete incomplete assignments or missing assignments Any student who turns in an incomplete or a zero would be required to serve an 8th hour the day that assignment was due.If they complete the assignment on that day, then they would  receive full credit for that assignment. However, if they do not complete it that day, they should continue to serve 8th hour until the assignment is complete and turned in. The student would only receive 70% credit if they do not turn it in that day. Each additional day it takes to complete an assignment would also add to the count towards a Saturday School as discussed in point four.After three missing/incomplete assignments, then the maximum a student may  score on any missing/incomplete assignment thereafter is 70%. This would penalize students who continuously fail to complete work.If a student turns in a combination of 3 incomplete and/or zeros during a half-term period, then the student would be required to serve a Saturday School. After they have served a Saturday School, it would reset, and t hey would have 3 more incomplete/zeros before they are required to serve another Saturday School. This would reset at the end of each half term. Providing students with  extra assistance on assignments Any student who needs extra help or tutoring on assignments may voluntarily come in during 8th hour to receive that help. Students should take the initiative for this. Providing extra time to complete assignments when a student has been absent If a student is absent, they would  be required to spend the day that they returned in 8th hour. This would allow extra time to get the assignments and to complete them, so there is not as much to do at home.The student would  be required to collect their assignments the morning they return. Building reading and math skills so as to prepare a student for state testing After cross referencing state testing scores and/or other assessment programs, a small group of students could be selected to be pulled in two days a week to help improve either their reading level or math level. These students would be assessed periodically to monitor their progress. Once they reach their grade level, then they would graduate out in that area. This part of the program is intended to give students skills they are missing and needing to be more successful in math and reading. Fast Friday Premise: Students like to get out of school early. This program provides an incentive for students who maintain at least a 70% in all subject areas. The Fast Friday intervention has been designed to motivate students to keep their grades above a 70% and to provide extra assistance for those students who have grades below a 70%. Fast Fridays would occur on a bi-weekly basis. On Fast Friday our daily class schedule would be shortened from the traditional school schedule to accommodate an early dismissal following lunch. This privilege would be extended only to students maintaining grades of 70% or above. Students who have only one class in which they are below a 70% would be required to stay after lunch only for a short time, during which they will receive extra assistance in the class which they are struggling. Students who have two or more classes in which they have below a 70% would be required to stay until the normal dismissal time, during which they will receive extra assistance in each class they are struggling.

Marketing Plan- Marketing metrics Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Marketing Plan- Marketing metrics - Essay Example This will involve advertising campaigns. There has been significant improvement in database technologies which has made it possible for companies to gain access of customer specific information as well as competitor specific information. GGI should use such information while devising their strategies. They should identify innovative drivers to determine customer value. They need to work on enhancing their brand image since they are a relatively new entrant in the retail market. They have to build a favorable image for their brand in the customer’s mind and find out ways to attract greater number of customers and retain their existing customers. Identified Key Marketing Metrics GGI is planning to open 10 new retail stores in addition to the one it already has. This will involve substantial expenditures which have necessitated the identification of certain key marketing metrics that will enable GGI to justify their marketing expenditure. These marketing metrics will facilitate t hem to formulate strategies to enhance the performance of the company. The company can use a wide range of marketing metrics namely brand value metrics, word of mouth and referral value metrics, acquisition and retention metrics, customer value metrics, multichannel shopping metrics, product return metrics and cross buying and up buying metrics (Peterson & Et. Al., 2009). Other metrics include direct mail response rates and advertising, market share, wallet share, return on investment and customer relationship management (CRM). Recommendation on How GGI Can Improve on the Key Marketing Metrics The brand image is an extremely important intangible asset of a company. The brand image determines the future purchases made by customers, helps in developing customer loyalty and ensures customer retention. Thus, the brand value metrics is very important for GGI since it is a new entrant in the retail industry. The brand value metrics can be improved by creating an ethical and responsible im age for the company and stressing on quality of products. A company can experience considerably high purchases based on word of mouth publicity generated for the company. The predicted referral value score of each customer determines which customers should be targeted during the next period by providing them referral incentives. The word of mouth and referral value metrics and acquisition and retention metrics can be improved by enhancing the experience of the existing customers by providing superior quality products and excellent services. Multichannel shopping metrics can be improved by introducing innovative methods of purchase. The company can introduce online purchases. Improvements in cross buying and up buying metrics depend on special efforts on the part of the sales personnel. The enhanced efforts of the sales personnel makes customer buy products that they may not have planned to purchase earlier. The direct mails should be increased. The advertising should be done through multiple advertising vehicles. Wallet share refers to the amount of business generated from specific customers. Reaching out to wider range of customers by providing a wider range of products helps in increasing wallet share. This will also help in improving the ROI metrics. The CRM should be made more interactive. A closer watch on the competitors’

AFRICAN AMERICAN HISTORY Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

AFRICAN AMERICAN HISTORY - Essay Example Malcolm X changed considerably reading about his life and while I had previously considered him to be one of the leaders who suggested that violence is necessary to obtain political gains, after reading about him I feel that Malcolm X was quite more about creating a sense of unity rather than discord. The life that Malcolm X lived is quite stunning considering the fact that he started off as little more than a thief and ended up as one of the most famous leaders in American history (Gallen, 1992). At the same time, I could not help but compare his life to other leaders who went through trials before coming to terms with their inner thoughts and their own understanding about American society. In these terms, the development of Malcolm X as a leader is quite remarkable. However, it becomes rather difficult to understand how those who respected and followed him when he was advocating an extremist view could not come to accept his more liberal approach to America and Islam. After he came back from his visit to the holy shrines in Mecca, Malcolm became more open towards white Muslims and other Muslims who he had thought to be lesser than black Muslims like himself. While his own vision of Islam had been changed dramatically with time and understand, those of his followers remained quite the same. On reflection, it seems the Nation of Islam was nothing more than a violent organisation where deviation from the rules of the party can result in ouster from the group. On the other hand, Malcolm X comes across as an open minded Muslim who becomes more accepting of all creeds and considers the differences between them to be arbitrary if they can agree on the fundamentals of what they follow (Gallen, 1992). If an individual like Malcolm X can come to understand our differences and not consider them to be a dividing line between races or genders, there is no reason why we cannot develop means by which we can solve differences today. These differences may be local, regional,

High Level Design (HLD)

High Level Design (HLD) High level design High level design (HLD) gives the complete system design of functional architecture and database design. For the developers it is very much important to understand how the flow of the system is. In this phase the system design team testers team and the customers plays an important role. For this entry criteria are required the document that is SRS and the then exit criteria will be high level design, projects standards, functional design documents, and the database design documents. Problem specification Data has to be processed in a effective and efficient way. Time consumption should be less. Easy to implement. Data Definition/ Dictionary Data dictionary is a repository that contains all the description of all data produced by the application. It is an organization listing of all data elements that are pertinent to the system. Tables Tables For Colud Sever 1 FIELD NAME DATA TYPE SIZE KEY FName Varchar 30 primary Sk Int 10 Owner Varchar 30 CloudName Varchar 15 Table 5.1: Owner File [Table Design] FIELD NAME DATA TYPE SIZE KEY Vm Int 10 primary Owner Varchar 20 Memory Int 10 Thrushold Int 10 Status Varchar 30 AttackerIP Int 10 Attempts Int 10 Table 5.2: Virtual Memory1 [Table Design] FIELD NAME DATA TYPE SIZE KEY FileName Varchar 30 primary Owner Varchar 20 Sk Int 10 Table 5.3: CloudFile1 Table [Table Design] FIELD NAME DATA TYPE SIZE KEY Owner Varchar 30 primary FileName Varchar 20 Sk Int 10 Table 5.4: Receive File1 Table [Table Design] FIELD NAME DATA TYPE SIZE KEY RemoteUser Varchar 30 primary Owner Varchar 20 Table 5.5: Remote File Table [Table Design] FIELD NAME DATA TYPE SIZE KEY Attacker Varchar 30 primary AttackerName Varchar 20 IP-Address Int 10 Table 5.6: Attacker1 Table [Table Design] Tables For Cloud Sever 2 FIELD NAME DATA TYPE SIZE KEY Vm Int 10 primary Owner Varchar 20 Memory Int 10 Thrushold Int 10 Status Varchar 30 AttackerIP Int 10 Attempts Int 10 Table 5.7: Virtual Memory2 Table [Table Design] FIELD NAME DATA TYPE SIZE KEY FileName Varchar 30 primary Owner Varchar 20 Sk Int 10 Table 5.8: Cloud File2 Table [Table Design] FIELD NAME DATA TYPE SIZE KEY Owner Varchar 30 primary FileName Varchar 20 Sk Int 10 Table 5.9: Receive File2 Table [Table Design] Remote File2 Table FIELD NAME DATA TYPE SIZE KEY RemoteUser Varchar 30 primary Owner Varchar 20 Table 5.10: Remote File2 Table [Table Design] FIELD NAME DATA TYPE SIZE KEY Attacker Varchar 30 primary AttackerName Varchar 20 IP-Address Int 10 Table 5.11: Attacker2 Table [Table Design] Assumptions and dependencies The user should know the authentication details to prevent the unauthorized access of the system. The user must be aware of the government rules and regulations that are to be implemented on the terms. The user must be aware of the flow at which the process of system takes place. Low level design Low level design (LLD) is like detailing the High level design. It defines the real logic for each and the each every component of the system. Class diagrams with the methods and relation between the classes comes under the low level design. The main phase of the object oriented approach is as follows:- Object modeling Dynamic modeling Object modeling Object modeling technique describes a method for the analysis, design, and implementation of a system using an object-oriented technique. Object modeling technique consists of four phases, which can be performed iteratively are Analysis, system design, object design, implementation Dynamic modeling The dynamic model describes the functionalities involved in the project and the person performing those functionalities. Following are the different kind of dynamic diagrams namely; Use case, Sequence, Activity diagrams. Use case diagram Ause case diagramis the simple and it is a represented as the user’s interaction with the system and describes the specifications of ause case. A use case diagram can represent the different kinds of users of a system and the different ways that they will interact with the system. Such diagrams is typically used in conjunction with the textualuse caseas well as it will often be accompanied by other kinds of diagrams. It is the high level piece of functionality that the system provides. An actor is one who interacts with the system. This Use Case diagrams are included into two modeling languages defined by the Object Management Group (OMG). Both the UML and SysML standards define a graphical notation for modeling use cases with diagrams. One complain is that they will not define the format for depicting these use cases. Generally both the graphical notation and the descriptions are very important as they document the use case and it is showing the reason for which an actor uses a system. The use case diagram shows the place of use case with the other use cases. As organizing the mechanism a set of consistent and coherent use cases promotes important figure of system behavior and have a common understanding between the customer or owner or user and the development team. Sequence diagrams Asequence diagramis a kind ofinteraction diagramthat shows how processes is operated with one another and in what order the processes is operated. It is the construction of aMessage Sequence Chart. A sequence diagram shows how the object interaction is arranged in time sequence. It describes the objects and classes which is involved in the scenario as well as in the sequence of messages that has been exchanged between the objects and it is needed to carry out the functions of the scenario. Sequence diagrams are typically mixed with use case in the Logical View of the system in the development. Sequence diagrams are calledevent diagrams orevent scenarios andtiming diagrams. A sequence diagram shows the parallel vertical lines (lifelines), the different processes or objects that live parallel and the horizontal arrow. The messages exchanged between them in an order in which they have occurred. This allows the specification of simple runtime in a graphical manner. Sequence diagrams Create the account Account Acceptance res Upload the file File received confirmation Create the End User account Account confirmation Request the file File request confirmation File sending response VM’s details Threshold Details Account details Figure 5.2 : Sequence diagrams Activity diagram Activity diagrams is a graphical representations of flow of work of steps that have taken in the activities and actions with support for choice and interact and concurrency. In the UML activity diagrams are intends to for both the computational and also for the organizational processes (i.e. workflows).. Activity diagrams 1 Figure 5.3 : Activity diagrams 1 Activity diagrams 2 Figure 5.4 : Activity diagrams 2 Functional modeling Afunction modelorfunctional modelinsystems engineeringandsoftware engineering is a structured representation of thefunctions(activities,actions,processes,operations) within the modeledsystemor subject area. A function model, similar with theactivity modelorprocess model, is a graphical representation of anenterprises function within a defined scope. The main purposes of the function model is to describe the functions and processes, and help with discovery of information needs and also help to identify opportunities, and establish a basis for determine the product and the actual service costs. Data flow diagram Adata flow diagram(DFD) is a graphical representation of the flow of data through aninformation system modeling its process. The step is used to create an overall view of the system which can be elaborated later. DFDs are also used for visualizationofdata processing(structured design). A DFD shows what type of information will be input to and what type of information will the output from the system, and from where the comes and from where it goes to, and where the data will be exactly stored in the system. It does not show information about the time of processes or gives the information about the processes will operate in parallel way or in a sequence way (which is shown on aflowchart). DFDs are the model of the proposed system. They should clearly show the requirements on which the new system should be built. Later during the design activity is taken as the basis for drawing the system’s structure charts. The Basic Notation used to create a DFD’s are as follows: 1. Dataflow: Data move in a specific direction from an origin to a destination. 2. Process: People, procedures, or devices that use or produce (Transform) Data. The physical component is not identified. 3. Source: External sources or destination of data, which may be People, programs, organizations or other entities 4. Data Store: Here data are stored or referenced by a process in the System. ER Diagram An ER model is an abstract way of describing adatabase. In the case of arelational database, which stores data in tables, some of the data in these tables point to data in other tables. It is essential to have one of these if you want to create a good database design. The patterns help focus on how the database actual works with all of the interactions and data flows. Building Blocks of Entity Diagram are: Entities: An entity is a ‘’thing† that exists and can be uniquely identià ¯Ã‚ ¬Ã‚ ed. Relations: A (binary) relationship type is an association between two entity types. Attributes: Attribute names (or simply attributes) are properties of entity types. The Main Advantages of Entity relation diagrams are: They are relatively simple They are user friendly They can provide a unique view of data, which is independent of any data models Module Description NICE Systems consists of following sub modules such as: Data Owner Cloud Service Provider (CSP) Virtual Machine for Cloud data storage Attack Analyzer Remote User Data Owner: Users who have the data and that have to be stored in the cloud and rely on the cloud for data computation, it consist of both the individual consumers and the organizations. Cloud Service Provider (CSP): A Cloud Service Provider (CSP) who has significant resources and who are expert in building and managing distributed cloud storage servers on different virtual machines, owns and operates live Cloud Computing systems. Virtual Machine for Cloud data storage Cloud data storage, a user will stores his data through a Cloud Service Provider (CSP) into a group of cloud servers, which are running in a simultaneous, the user interacts with the cloud servers via CSP to access or retrieve his data. In some cases, the user may need to perform block level operations on his data. Users should be equipped with security means so that they can make continuous correctness assurance of their stored data even without the existence of local copies. The cloud consists of different Virtual machines on which the owner data will be allocated and shared and the cloud will listen the different types of attackers called Stable. There does not exist any known vulnerability on the VM. Vulnerable. Presence of one or more vulnerabilities on a VM, which remains unexploited.

Bhopal Gas Leak and BP Oil Spill

Bhopal and BP. They are two names that would ring a bell with anyone who is familiar with industrial disasters. Bhopal is a city in India where an industrial disaster in 1984 killed thousands people and maimed hundreds of thousands. BP (British Petroleum, BP Plc. ,), on the other hand is the name of a petroleum company (an energy industry super major) that appeared in international headlines recently for causing the worst marine oil spill in history.The number of casualties associated with BP oil spill is rather negligible but damage the spill caused on environment and economy of some American states were immense and it is ranked amongst major industrial disasters. In both these disasters it was the corporate houses that were in the wrong. Union Carbide (UCC), the company that ran the pesticide plant in Bhopal, neglected the safety measures required while handling toxic materials and in the BP oils spill it is the negligence of British Petroleum that led to the accident on the oil ri g â€Å"Deepwater Horizon† that ended up in the oil spill, which the company couldn’t stop for weeks.Though separated in time by decades and space by thousands of miles, both these disasters are connected in many respects. Curiously enough the final court verdict on the corporate culprits of Bhopal disaster came at a time when BP was busy capping the oil leak thousands of meters beneath the sea. In 1984 when the methyl isocyanate gas leak killed thousands in Bhopal the first thing Union Carbide management did was to put the blame on somebody else. In those years when Sikh militancy and terrorism were high in India UCC said the accident was the result of terrorist activity (nobody paid any attention to it).This year when the oil spill began in the Gulf of Mexico the first thing BP too tried to do was to put the blame on others –on Transocean Ltd (the company which owned the oil rig) and Halliburton, the company which manufactured the blow out presenter valve on t he oil well. The media mocked this and BP dropped the strategy. In the Bhopal the US based corporation then argued that it should not be held legally responsible because the Indian subsidiary was a separate legal person with very minimal ties with US. At the time of the accident the UCC-based in New York City – owned 50. 9% of the UCC India Ltd. , 22% owned by govt.of India and the rest by Indian citizens. The US court hearing the plea against UCC accepted the company’s contention and dismissed India’s pleas for justice. Later on humanitarian ground the company agreed to pay $470 million as compensation to victims of gas tragedy. In that pre-globalization period, India as a developing country had practically no clout over the US multinational company and finally it had to satisfy itself with prosecuting the Indian man agent of UCC India Ltd. In the case of BP oil spill too it was an instance of a company registered in one country creating problems in another cou ntry.In the initial stage BP management tried to portray the liability issues as US action against British industry and ward of penal actions. In the case of BP oil spill, along with the news of gushing crude spreading all over the Gulf of Mexico, talks about pinning the corporate responsibility on BP also appeared in the headlines. There was intense pressure on president Osama’s administration to act tough on BP and it made BP to pay up $20 billion for the clean up operation. In the BP oil spill case the corporation had to bow before the government. It was a company from a weaker country against a global super power; US finally had its way.The chief executive of BP had to own up responsibility for the fiasco and step down. 1 Pearce, Frank, Tombs, Steve (1990), ‘Ideology, Hegemony, And Empiricism: Compliance Theories of Regulation’, The British Journal of Criminology 30:423-443 2 Murru ,Maurizio (2004), ‘Bhopal 20 Years On: Globalization And Corporate Respo nsibility’, Health Policy And Development 250 volume 2 number 3 December 3 Amnesty International, 2004, Clouds of injustice, Bhopal disaster 20 years on, London 4 Broughton, Edward (2005), ‘The Bhopal disaster and its aftermath: a review’, Environmental Health: A Global Access Science Source, 4:6

Napoleonic Wars Battle of Waterloo, 1815

The Battle of Waterloo was fought June 18, 1815, during the Napoleonic Wars (1803-1815). Armies Commanders in the Battle of Waterloo Seventh Coalition Duke of WellingtonField Marshal Gebhard von Blà ¼cher118,000 men French Napoleon Bonaparte72,000 men Battle of Waterloo Background Escaping exile in Elba, Napoleon landed in France in March 1815. Advancing on Paris, his former supporters flocked to his banner and his army was quickly re-formed. Declared an outlaw by the Congress of Vienna, Napoleon worked to consolidate his return to power. Assessing the strategic situation, he determined that a swift victory was required before the Seventh Coalition could fully mobilize its forces against him. To achieve this, Napoleon intended to destroy the Duke of Wellingtons coalition army south of Brussels before turning east to defeat the Prussians. Moving north, Napoleon divided his army in three giving command of the left wing to Marshal Michel Ney, the right wing to Marshal Emmanuel de Grouchy, while retaining personal command of a reserve force. Crossing the border at Charleroi on June 15, Napoleon sought to place his army between those of Wellington and Prussian commander Field Marshal Gebhard von Blà ¼cher. Alerted to this movement, Wellington ordered his army to concentrate at the crossroads of Quatre Bras. Attacking on June 16, Napoleon defeated the Prussians at the Battle of Ligny while Ney was fought to a draw at Quatre Bras. Moving to Waterloo With the Prussian defeat, Wellington was forced to abandon Quatre Bras and withdraw north to a low ridge near Mont Saint Jean just south of Waterloo. Having scouted the position the previous year, Wellington formed his army on the reverse slope of the ridge, out of sight to the south, as well as garrisoned the chateau of Hougoumont forward of his right flank. He also posted troops to the farmhouse of La Haye Sainte, in front of his center, and the hamlet of Papelotte forward of his left flank and guarding the road east towards the Prussians. Having been beaten at Ligny, Blà ¼cher elected to quietly retreat north to Wavre rather than east towards his base. This allowed him to remain in supporting distance to Wellington and the two commanders were in constant communication. On June 17, Napoleon ordered Grouchy to take 33,000 men and pursue the Prussians while he joined Ney to deal with Wellington. Moving north, Napoleon approached Wellingtons army, but little fighting occurred. Unable to get a clear view of Wellingtons position, Napoleon deployed his army on a ridge to the south straddling the Brussels road. Here he deployed Marshal Comte dErlons I Corps on the right and Marshal Honorà © Reilles II Corps on the left. To support their efforts he held the Imperial Guard and Marshal Comte de Lobaus VI Corps in reserve near the La Belle Alliance inn. In the right rear of this position was the village of Plancenoit. On the morning of June 18, the Prussians began moving west to aid Wellington. Late in the morning, Napoleon ordered Reille and dErlon to advance north to take the village of Mont Saint Jean. Supported by a grand battery, he expected dErlon to break Wellingtons line and roll it up from east to west. The Battle of Waterloo As the French troops advanced, heavy fighting began in the vicinity of Hougoumont. Defended by British troops as well as those from Hanover and Nassau, the chateau was viewed by some on both sides as key to commanding the field. One of the few parts of the fight that he could see from his headquarters, Napoleon directed forces against it throughout the afternoon and the battle for the chateau became a costly diversion. As the fighting raged at Hougoumont, Ney worked to push forward the main assault on the Coalitions lines. Driving ahead, dErlons men were able to isolate La Haye Sainte   but did not take it. Attacking, the French had success in pushing back the Dutch and Belgian troops in Wellingtons front line. The attack was slowed by Lieutenant General Sir Thomas Pictons men and counterattacks by the Prince of Orange. Outnumbered, the Coalition infantry was hard-pressed by DErlons corps. Seeing this, the Earl of Uxbridge led forward two brigades of heavy cavalry. Slamming into the French, they broke up dErlons attack. Carried forward by their momentum, they drove past La Haye Sainte and assaulted the French grand battery. Counterattacked by the French, they withdrew having taken heavy losses. Having been thwarted in this initial assault, Napoleon was forced to dispatch Lobaus corps and two cavalry divisions east to block the approach of the advancing Prussians. Around 4:00 PM, Ney mistook the removal of Coalition casualties for the beginnings of a retreat. Lacking infantry reserves after dErlons failed attack, he ordered cavalry units forward to exploit the situation. Ultimately feeding around 9,000 horsemen into the attack, Ney directed them against the coalition lines west of Le Haye Sainte. Forming defensive squares, Wellingtons men defeated numerous charges against their position. Though the cavalry failed to break the enemys lines, it allowed dErlon to advance and finally take La Haye Sainte. Moving up artillery, he was able to inflict heavy losses on some of Wellingtons squares. To the southeast, General Friedrich von Bà ¼lows IV Corps began to arrive on the field. Pushing west, he intended to take Plancenoit before attacking the French rear. While sending men to link up with Wellingtons left, he attacked Lobau and drove him out of the village of Frichermont. Supported by Major General Georg Pirchs II Corps, Bà ¼low attacked Lobau at Plancenoit forcing Napoleon to send reinforcements from the Imperial Guard. As the fighting raged, Lieutenant General Hans von Zietens I Corps arrived on Wellingtons left. This allowed Wellington to shift men to his embattled center as the Prussians took over the fight near Papelotte and La Haie. In an effort to win a quick victory and exploit the fall of La Haye Sainte, Napoleon ordered forward elements of the Imperial Guard to assault the enemy center. Attacking around 7:30 PM, they were turned back by a determined Coalition defense and a counterattack by Lieutenant General David Chassà ©s division. Having held, Wellington ordered a general advance. The Guards defeat coincided with Zieten overwhelming dErlons men and driving on the Brussels Road. Those French units that remained intact attempted to rally near La Belle Alliance. As the French position in the north collapsed, the Prussians succeeded in capturing Plancenoit. Driving forward, they encountered French troops fleeing from the advancing Coalition forces. With the army in full retreat, Napoleon was escorted from the field by the surviving units of the Imperial Guard. Battle of Waterloo Aftermath In the fighting at Waterloo, Napoleon lost around 25,000 killed and wounded as well as 8,000 captured and 15,000 missing. Coalition losses numbered around 22,000-24,000 killed and wounded. Though Grouchy won a minor victory at Wavre over the Prussian rearguard, Napoleons cause was effectively lost. Fleeing to Paris, he briefly attempted to rally the nation but was convinced to step aside. Abdicating on June 22, he sought to flee to America via Rochefort  but was prevented from so by the Royal Navys blockade. Surrendering on July 15, he was exiled to St. Helena where he died in 1821. The victory at Waterloo effectively ended more than two decades of near-continuous fighting in Europe.