The Allies against Napoleon wanted a long lasting peace when they signed
the Treaty of Fontainebleau. However, it wasn’t long after Napoleon
had been sent to Elba that Louis XVIII began to refuse to send the
payments to Napoleon, which had been agreed upon by the Allies.
Napoleon was also hearing rumours of intent by some to assassinate him.
On top of that he was bored stiff with his quiet life on the tiny
island.
On February 28, 1815 Napoleon and his tiny fleet with just over a thousand soldiers set sail for France. On March 1, they landed near Cannes. Reaction was mixed. The march north was not easy. Royal forces were mustered. Reassurances were sent to Paris informing the king that Napoleon and his troops wouldn’t advance far into the country. Napoleon’s force marched towards Grenoble.
In Marseilles, Marshall Massena was slow in reacting, claiming that all he had heard of was fifty men and nothing about their objective.
Grenoble would be where Napoleon would either win or lose his gamble. The Fifth Infantry Regiment faced Napoleon with guns pointed at him. When he told them that he was their emperor, they downed their weapons and flicked to him. With other regiments at his disposal, Napoleon now has eight thousand troops in Grenoble. On the ninth of March, Napoleon marched towards Lyon, the next obstacle in his path to Paris.
Lyon didn’t resist, and by the 13th Napoleon left onward to Paris. He was unaware that Marshall Ney was blocking his path. By now, throughout France people were rising up in support of Napoleon. However, Ney suddenly gave his support to Napoleon. The way to Paris was now open.
By 1813 the aristocracy set up by Napoleon was draining the economy of the country. The aristocracy was wealthy enough that they could ignore the orders of their emperor. Obviously the constant state of war was also a drain on the workforce as men were conscripted into the army. Fields began to lie fallow as there was no one to work them. In 1815, Napoleon couldn’t see that he was the one responsible for the dire straights the country was in. He laid the blame at the feet of the Bourbons.
Yet, as Napoleon advanced on the capital, soldiers weren’t interested in putting their lives on the line for a king who had been absent for twenty-five years, and was so obese that he couldn’t stand up to review his own Household Guard! Louis XVIII fled Paris on March 20, 1815. With the way open, Napoleon was in the Tuileries the following day.
During Napoleon’s reign his brothers, Joseph, Lucien and Jerome felt entitled, and were treated as such by the emperor despite each of them causing him grief one way or another. Having now returned to power, they would be there to support him.
At the Congress of Vienna, France’s Talleyrand succeeded in dividing the Allies amongst themselves, which he hopes would benefit France in the long run. Talleyrand had also argued against keeping Napoleon so close on Elba. However, despite the Allies suggestion that he be sent to St. Helena, the moderate view of Czar Alexander won out. On the other hand, when Napoleon left Elba, the Congress basically declared him an outlaw. Great Britain, Austria, Russia and Prussia signed a treaty agreeing to mobilise against Napoleon.
Wellington immediately left Vienna to take charge of the armies in the Low Countries. In Paris, Napoleon began to assemble his cabinet. Some were quick to regain their positions while others refused. One who came back was the police minister who had been powerful during the days of the Reign of Terror, was Joseph Fouche. As much as Napoleon had uses for Fouche, he regarded him as a ‘magnificent plotter’. Fouche had filed on virtually everyone in France, including the Bonaparte family. Napoleon ordered Fouche to see about beginning negotiations to ease the tense international situation.
Governing now isn’t going to be as easy as it once was for Napoleon. Some were prepared to attack the aristocracy while others didn’t trust Napoleon. All knew that outside powers were gathering to go to war with France. Would they punish France severely this time if they won? The people of France as well as Napoleon were on edge. Support for the emperor was dwindling. No one wanted another costly war, let alone the possibility of a civil war.
Despite letters to the contrary to the leaders of the Allies, Napoleon was bent on making France ready for war. The question now was, how was Napoleon going to finance a war when the country was tired, financially of paying his past war bills? There were past debts to be paid before money could be raised to cover the forthcoming war. First to be mothballed was the navy with the exception of a few small vessels to protect the Channel ports. The army on the other hand needed solid leadership, but few of Napoleon’s former marshalls and generals stepped forward.
Unfortunately for Napoleon it was proving hard to get men to come out and join the army, even at bayonet point! Some units of the army had to be sent out to maintain order in areas, which were resisting Napoleon’s orders. He blamed the French resistance to his authority on the English.
Meanwhile to the north an allied army was massing. Knowing that, Napoleon prepared an armed defence around and inside Paris. On June 12, 1815 Napoleon departed Paris for Soissons. Facing him in the field would be Wellington, a man well known for his successes in India and during the Peninsular War. Despite having defeated numerous of his marshals and generals, Napoleon had no respect for this “mere Sepoy General”.
With over 100 000 troops, Napoleon was sure of a quick victory. However, due to incompetence the road to Charleroi was jammed and units were late in arriving. There Napoleon gave command of the left flank to Marshal Ney and the right to Marshal Grouchy. In addition, Napoleon’s battle plans were in the hands of the Prussians.
Wellington wasn’t without his difficulties, too. He had officers in charge who had no experience whatsoever, such as The Prince of Orange who insisted on military privilege, to which he had no right to claim. The Belgian regiments were without their German officers, replaced by officers who had no experience, or had trained under Bonaparte, thus undermining the integrity of the whole army. Fortunately Wellington had been appointed Commander-in-Chief of the force.
Wellington also had difficulty gathering British troops because many of his battle hardened men had been sent to Canada and the government in Britain didn’t want to use the militia because war hadn’t been officially declared. He decided to mix his troops in with the Allies thereby giving them backbone. He couldn’t count on the Austrian army being on time and the Russians were demanding compensation before they would commit. The one Allied leader Wellington trusted was Field Marshal Blucher of Prussia.
Was Napoleon’s attack on Charleroi the main focus or did he have other plans? Wellington was forced to wait for reports to come in. He decided to attend a ball in Brussels as most of his senior officers were also going to be in attendance. He set up his defences such that the road north from Charleroi was undefended.
An act of insubordination by a Dutch commander to move troops to Quatre Bras changes the course of the entire campaign. Napoleon ordered Grouchy to advance on Blucher, but Grouchy was slow in his advance. Ney also didn’t seem to be in any hurry to advance on Quatre Bras. Napoleon assumes he would easily defeat the Prussians on the right while Ney would advance beyond Quatre Bras on the sixteenth.
The Battle of Ligny opened the confrontation between the French and the Prussians. Napoleon was surprised at the strength of the Prussian defence, so ordered Ney to join the battle. Mistakes on both sides proved costly, but it was the Prussians who were in full retreat by nightfall. The Prussians managed an orderly retreat, and the following morning when Napoleon ordered Grouchy to pursue, it was too late.
Meanwhile at Quatre Bras, Ney was taking on Wellington. Savage cavalry charges by the French were met by murderous volleys of canister shot and musket fire. The Prince of Orange almost lost the battle when he ordered a British unit into thin lines. Wellington’s intervention by reforming them into squares saved the day. Losses on both sides were massive.
With Blucher injured, Chief of Staff Gneisenau ordered the Prussians to retreat towards Leige. Only Blucher’s reappearance on the morning of the seventeenth was that order rescinded. Blucher ordered the army to march to Wavre in order to regroup and help Wellington. Wellington couldn’t stay in Quatre Bras, he needed to retreat to a point in line with the Prussians. Napoleon would be just too strong for him if he stayed put. Wellington decided to retreat to Mont Saint-Jean, about three miles south of Waterloo. He expected Blucher to send at least one corps in support.
Leaving Quatre Bras, with the French in hot pursuit, Wellington’s army was saved by a tremendous thunderstorm, which turned the tracks to mud, thereby slowing the French down. By 6:30 that evening Wellington’s army was at Mont Saint-Jean. The French set up camp to the south. Napoleon was worried that Wellington’s army might escape during the night. However, Wellington wanted a decisive battle as did his opponent.
Numerically similar, the two armies had many differences. The French were by far more experienced and had more guns and better cavalry. On the other hand Wellington had chosen this site for a battle a year earlier. It was a good position to defend.
Due to the massive rainfall the night before, Napoleon’s attack, which he had planned for 9:00 a. m. was delayed until 11:50 a. m. Shortly after that, he became aware of the Prussians advancing from his right. He ordered troops to protect that flank. At 1:30 p. m. Napoleon used his cannons on the centre of the British line. At 2:00 p. m. the infantry advanced straight ahead by column. This was an expensive mistake, costing many lives.
At 4:00 p. m., Ney, assuming the British were in full retreat ordered a cavalry charge up a slope that was muddy. The horses were exhausted by the time they got to the top and there they were met by British squares and massive volleys of musket and rifle fire.
Two hours later another attack was launched on the much weakened British centre. Ney demanded fresh reserves, but Napoleon declined, feeling the need for them later in the battle.
By 5:00 p. m., Blucher’s army had entered the fray. Napoleon had a couple of options now; either retreat or launch his Old Guard at Wellington’s centre. He chose the latter. It was a fatal mistake. Wellington had men concealed behind an embankment, and they now emerged with a lethal fire that caused the Old Guard to turn and flee.
By 8:00 p. m., Napoleon himself had fled the battlefield. The French army was fleeing south in a panic.
When Wellington and Blucher met after the battle, it was at Wellington’s insistence that the battle was named for Waterloo.
Back in Paris, Napoleon decided against creating a new army. Rather he would go to America and do scientific exploration. On June twenty-first La Fayette called for Napoleon’s abdication and a special commission to negotiate with the Allied Coalition. A majority vote carried the motions. The following day Napoleon abdicated for the second time. By the twenty-fifth, he was virtually a prisoner at La Malmaison. On the twenty-ninth, with the Prussians on the outskirts of Paris Napoleon left for the coast.
On July eighth Napoleon was at the port of Rochefort where two frigates awaited to take him to America. Unfortunately he was unable to sail, because the British had the port blockaded. On the fifteenth Napoleon boarded the British ship Bellerophon. A few hours later he watched France disappear from his sight forever.
It wasn’t until November 20, 1815 that a second Treaty of Paris was signed, reducing France to her boundaries of 1789, plus being forced to pay war indemnities and accept a large army of occupation. On the orders of Louis XVIII, Marshal Ney was executed on December 7, 1815.
With Napoleon sent to St. Helena the Napoleonic era was at an end.
Author Alan Schom’s history of Napoleon’s 100 Days is thorough and well written. With plenty of detail this book is worth reading for fans of the Napoleonic Era and for history fans in general.
On February 28, 1815 Napoleon and his tiny fleet with just over a thousand soldiers set sail for France. On March 1, they landed near Cannes. Reaction was mixed. The march north was not easy. Royal forces were mustered. Reassurances were sent to Paris informing the king that Napoleon and his troops wouldn’t advance far into the country. Napoleon’s force marched towards Grenoble.
In Marseilles, Marshall Massena was slow in reacting, claiming that all he had heard of was fifty men and nothing about their objective.
Grenoble would be where Napoleon would either win or lose his gamble. The Fifth Infantry Regiment faced Napoleon with guns pointed at him. When he told them that he was their emperor, they downed their weapons and flicked to him. With other regiments at his disposal, Napoleon now has eight thousand troops in Grenoble. On the ninth of March, Napoleon marched towards Lyon, the next obstacle in his path to Paris.
Lyon didn’t resist, and by the 13th Napoleon left onward to Paris. He was unaware that Marshall Ney was blocking his path. By now, throughout France people were rising up in support of Napoleon. However, Ney suddenly gave his support to Napoleon. The way to Paris was now open.
By 1813 the aristocracy set up by Napoleon was draining the economy of the country. The aristocracy was wealthy enough that they could ignore the orders of their emperor. Obviously the constant state of war was also a drain on the workforce as men were conscripted into the army. Fields began to lie fallow as there was no one to work them. In 1815, Napoleon couldn’t see that he was the one responsible for the dire straights the country was in. He laid the blame at the feet of the Bourbons.
Yet, as Napoleon advanced on the capital, soldiers weren’t interested in putting their lives on the line for a king who had been absent for twenty-five years, and was so obese that he couldn’t stand up to review his own Household Guard! Louis XVIII fled Paris on March 20, 1815. With the way open, Napoleon was in the Tuileries the following day.
During Napoleon’s reign his brothers, Joseph, Lucien and Jerome felt entitled, and were treated as such by the emperor despite each of them causing him grief one way or another. Having now returned to power, they would be there to support him.
At the Congress of Vienna, France’s Talleyrand succeeded in dividing the Allies amongst themselves, which he hopes would benefit France in the long run. Talleyrand had also argued against keeping Napoleon so close on Elba. However, despite the Allies suggestion that he be sent to St. Helena, the moderate view of Czar Alexander won out. On the other hand, when Napoleon left Elba, the Congress basically declared him an outlaw. Great Britain, Austria, Russia and Prussia signed a treaty agreeing to mobilise against Napoleon.
Wellington immediately left Vienna to take charge of the armies in the Low Countries. In Paris, Napoleon began to assemble his cabinet. Some were quick to regain their positions while others refused. One who came back was the police minister who had been powerful during the days of the Reign of Terror, was Joseph Fouche. As much as Napoleon had uses for Fouche, he regarded him as a ‘magnificent plotter’. Fouche had filed on virtually everyone in France, including the Bonaparte family. Napoleon ordered Fouche to see about beginning negotiations to ease the tense international situation.
Governing now isn’t going to be as easy as it once was for Napoleon. Some were prepared to attack the aristocracy while others didn’t trust Napoleon. All knew that outside powers were gathering to go to war with France. Would they punish France severely this time if they won? The people of France as well as Napoleon were on edge. Support for the emperor was dwindling. No one wanted another costly war, let alone the possibility of a civil war.
Despite letters to the contrary to the leaders of the Allies, Napoleon was bent on making France ready for war. The question now was, how was Napoleon going to finance a war when the country was tired, financially of paying his past war bills? There were past debts to be paid before money could be raised to cover the forthcoming war. First to be mothballed was the navy with the exception of a few small vessels to protect the Channel ports. The army on the other hand needed solid leadership, but few of Napoleon’s former marshalls and generals stepped forward.
Unfortunately for Napoleon it was proving hard to get men to come out and join the army, even at bayonet point! Some units of the army had to be sent out to maintain order in areas, which were resisting Napoleon’s orders. He blamed the French resistance to his authority on the English.
Meanwhile to the north an allied army was massing. Knowing that, Napoleon prepared an armed defence around and inside Paris. On June 12, 1815 Napoleon departed Paris for Soissons. Facing him in the field would be Wellington, a man well known for his successes in India and during the Peninsular War. Despite having defeated numerous of his marshals and generals, Napoleon had no respect for this “mere Sepoy General”.
With over 100 000 troops, Napoleon was sure of a quick victory. However, due to incompetence the road to Charleroi was jammed and units were late in arriving. There Napoleon gave command of the left flank to Marshal Ney and the right to Marshal Grouchy. In addition, Napoleon’s battle plans were in the hands of the Prussians.
Wellington wasn’t without his difficulties, too. He had officers in charge who had no experience whatsoever, such as The Prince of Orange who insisted on military privilege, to which he had no right to claim. The Belgian regiments were without their German officers, replaced by officers who had no experience, or had trained under Bonaparte, thus undermining the integrity of the whole army. Fortunately Wellington had been appointed Commander-in-Chief of the force.
Wellington also had difficulty gathering British troops because many of his battle hardened men had been sent to Canada and the government in Britain didn’t want to use the militia because war hadn’t been officially declared. He decided to mix his troops in with the Allies thereby giving them backbone. He couldn’t count on the Austrian army being on time and the Russians were demanding compensation before they would commit. The one Allied leader Wellington trusted was Field Marshal Blucher of Prussia.
Was Napoleon’s attack on Charleroi the main focus or did he have other plans? Wellington was forced to wait for reports to come in. He decided to attend a ball in Brussels as most of his senior officers were also going to be in attendance. He set up his defences such that the road north from Charleroi was undefended.
An act of insubordination by a Dutch commander to move troops to Quatre Bras changes the course of the entire campaign. Napoleon ordered Grouchy to advance on Blucher, but Grouchy was slow in his advance. Ney also didn’t seem to be in any hurry to advance on Quatre Bras. Napoleon assumes he would easily defeat the Prussians on the right while Ney would advance beyond Quatre Bras on the sixteenth.
The Battle of Ligny opened the confrontation between the French and the Prussians. Napoleon was surprised at the strength of the Prussian defence, so ordered Ney to join the battle. Mistakes on both sides proved costly, but it was the Prussians who were in full retreat by nightfall. The Prussians managed an orderly retreat, and the following morning when Napoleon ordered Grouchy to pursue, it was too late.
Meanwhile at Quatre Bras, Ney was taking on Wellington. Savage cavalry charges by the French were met by murderous volleys of canister shot and musket fire. The Prince of Orange almost lost the battle when he ordered a British unit into thin lines. Wellington’s intervention by reforming them into squares saved the day. Losses on both sides were massive.
With Blucher injured, Chief of Staff Gneisenau ordered the Prussians to retreat towards Leige. Only Blucher’s reappearance on the morning of the seventeenth was that order rescinded. Blucher ordered the army to march to Wavre in order to regroup and help Wellington. Wellington couldn’t stay in Quatre Bras, he needed to retreat to a point in line with the Prussians. Napoleon would be just too strong for him if he stayed put. Wellington decided to retreat to Mont Saint-Jean, about three miles south of Waterloo. He expected Blucher to send at least one corps in support.
Leaving Quatre Bras, with the French in hot pursuit, Wellington’s army was saved by a tremendous thunderstorm, which turned the tracks to mud, thereby slowing the French down. By 6:30 that evening Wellington’s army was at Mont Saint-Jean. The French set up camp to the south. Napoleon was worried that Wellington’s army might escape during the night. However, Wellington wanted a decisive battle as did his opponent.
Numerically similar, the two armies had many differences. The French were by far more experienced and had more guns and better cavalry. On the other hand Wellington had chosen this site for a battle a year earlier. It was a good position to defend.
Due to the massive rainfall the night before, Napoleon’s attack, which he had planned for 9:00 a. m. was delayed until 11:50 a. m. Shortly after that, he became aware of the Prussians advancing from his right. He ordered troops to protect that flank. At 1:30 p. m. Napoleon used his cannons on the centre of the British line. At 2:00 p. m. the infantry advanced straight ahead by column. This was an expensive mistake, costing many lives.
At 4:00 p. m., Ney, assuming the British were in full retreat ordered a cavalry charge up a slope that was muddy. The horses were exhausted by the time they got to the top and there they were met by British squares and massive volleys of musket and rifle fire.
Two hours later another attack was launched on the much weakened British centre. Ney demanded fresh reserves, but Napoleon declined, feeling the need for them later in the battle.
By 5:00 p. m., Blucher’s army had entered the fray. Napoleon had a couple of options now; either retreat or launch his Old Guard at Wellington’s centre. He chose the latter. It was a fatal mistake. Wellington had men concealed behind an embankment, and they now emerged with a lethal fire that caused the Old Guard to turn and flee.
By 8:00 p. m., Napoleon himself had fled the battlefield. The French army was fleeing south in a panic.
When Wellington and Blucher met after the battle, it was at Wellington’s insistence that the battle was named for Waterloo.
Back in Paris, Napoleon decided against creating a new army. Rather he would go to America and do scientific exploration. On June twenty-first La Fayette called for Napoleon’s abdication and a special commission to negotiate with the Allied Coalition. A majority vote carried the motions. The following day Napoleon abdicated for the second time. By the twenty-fifth, he was virtually a prisoner at La Malmaison. On the twenty-ninth, with the Prussians on the outskirts of Paris Napoleon left for the coast.
On July eighth Napoleon was at the port of Rochefort where two frigates awaited to take him to America. Unfortunately he was unable to sail, because the British had the port blockaded. On the fifteenth Napoleon boarded the British ship Bellerophon. A few hours later he watched France disappear from his sight forever.
It wasn’t until November 20, 1815 that a second Treaty of Paris was signed, reducing France to her boundaries of 1789, plus being forced to pay war indemnities and accept a large army of occupation. On the orders of Louis XVIII, Marshal Ney was executed on December 7, 1815.
With Napoleon sent to St. Helena the Napoleonic era was at an end.
Author Alan Schom’s history of Napoleon’s 100 Days is thorough and well written. With plenty of detail this book is worth reading for fans of the Napoleonic Era and for history fans in general.
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