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Why did Napoleon attack the Allied armies in the southern Netherlands?

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Historical battle map showing troop positions at the Battle of Waterloo on June 18, 1815, near Brussels, Belgium. Red lines represent Anglo-Dutch infantry and cavalry under Wellington, positioned north of French forces. Blue lines show French infantry and cavalry under Napoleon, with both armies facing each other across a central road. Key locations like Chateau de Goumont (Hougoumont) and Plancenoit are labeled, and an inset map highlights the location within present-day Belgium and Europe. — Battle of Waterloo Battle of Waterloo, June 18, 1815.

Napoleon attacked the Allied armies in the southern Netherlands (modern-day Belgium) in June 1815 as a strategic preemptive strike. After his return to power, the major European powers—Great Britain, Prussia, Austria, and Russia—formed an alliance to overthrow him, planning to assemble nearly 800,000 troops and march on Paris by convergent routes.1

Because the Russian forces required time to reach the Rhine, the full-scale invasion was delayed until early July. Napoleon sought to exploit this window of opportunity by attacking the Allied forces already assembled in the southern Netherlands—specifically those commanded by the Duke of Wellington and Gebhard Leberecht von Blücher. His objective was to defeat these armies decisively before the Austrian and Russian reinforcements could arrive and bring their superior numbers to bear against France.12