Hundred Days
On the 1st of March 1815, a tiny fleet slipped away from Portoferraio. The brig Inconstant carried some 1,000 men toward the French coast. They landed at Golfe-Juan between Cannes and Antibes. Napoleon had spent only nine months and twenty-one days in exile on the island of Elba. He watched events in France with great interest while the Congress of Vienna gathered nearby. His return triggered a rapid march back to Paris that would last just over three weeks. Royalist troops tried to stop him but failed to hold their ground. On the 5th of March the nominally royalist 5th Infantry Regiment at Grenoble went over to Napoleon en masse. The next day they were joined by the 7th Infantry Regiment under its colonel Charles de la Bédoyère. An anecdote illustrates his charisma: when royalist troops were deployed to stop the march before Grenoble at Laffrey, Napoleon stepped out in front of them. He ripped open his coat and said if any of you will shoot his Emperor here I am. The men joined his cause. Marshal Ney now one of Louis XVIII's commanders had said that Napoleon ought to be brought to Paris in an iron cage. On the 14th of March in Lons-le-Saulnier Ney joined Napoleon with a small army of 6,000 men. Four days later Napoleon entered the capital from where Louis XVIII had recently fled.
Napoleon returned while the Congress of Vienna was sitting. On the 13th of March seven days before Napoleon reached Paris the powers at the Congress declared him an outlaw. Austria Prussia Russia and the United Kingdom bound themselves to put 150,000 men each into the field to end his rule. Tsar Alexander I of Russia expected to absorb much of Poland and leave a Polish puppet state as a buffer against further invasion. The renewed Prussian state demanded all of the Kingdom of Saxony. Austria wanted to allow neither of these things while it expected to regain control of northern Italy. Castlereagh of the United Kingdom supported France represented by Talleyrand and Austria and was at variance with his own Parliament. This almost caused a war to break out when the Tsar pointed out to Castlereagh that Russia had 450,000 men near Poland and Saxony. Alexander stated I shall be the King of Poland and the King of Prussia will be the King of Saxony. A breach among the four Great Powers was avoided when members of Britain's Parliament sent word to the Russian ambassador that Castlereagh had exceeded his authority. The conflicting demands of major powers were for a time so exorbitant as to bring the Powers at the Congress of Vienna to the verge of war with each other. Every scrap of news reaching remote Elba looked favourable to Napoleon to retake power.
During the Hundred Days the Coalition nations as well as Napoleon mobilised for war. Upon re-assumption of the throne Napoleon found that Louis XVIII had left him with few resources. There were 56,000 soldiers of which 46,000 were ready to campaign. By the end of May the total armed forces available to Napoleon had reached 198,000 with 66,000 more in depots training up but not yet ready for deployment. Napoleon chose to attack which entailed a pre-emptive strike at his enemies before they were all fully assembled. He believed he could destroy some of the major Coalition armies then bring the governments of the Seventh Coalition to the peace table. The British troops in Belgium were largely second-line troops; most of the veterans of the Peninsular War had been sent to America to fight the War of 1812. Politically a French victory might trigger a friendly revolution in French-speaking Brussels. For the defence of France Napoleon deployed his remaining forces within France with the intention of delaying his foreign enemies while he suppressed his domestic ones. V Corps commanded by Rapp was cantoned near Strasbourg. VII Corps commanded by Suchet was cantoned at Lyon. I Corps of Observation commanded by Lecourbe was cantoned at Belfort. II Corps of Observation commanded by Brune was based at Toulon. III Corps of Observation commanded by Decaen was based at Toulouse. IV Corps of Observation commanded by Clauzel was based at Bordeaux.
Hostilities started on the 15th of June when the French drove in the Prussian outposts and crossed the Sambre at Charleroi. They secured Napoleon's favoured central position at the junction between the cantonment areas of Wellington's army to the west and Blücher's army to the east. On the 16th of June the French prevailed with Marshal Ney commanding the left wing holding Wellington at the Battle of Quatre Bras. Napoleon defeated Blücher at the Battle of Ligny. On the 17th of June Napoleon left Grouchy with the right wing to pursue the Prussians while he took the reserves to pursue Wellington towards Brussels. The next day the Battle of Waterloo proved to be the decisive battle of the campaign. The Anglo-allied army stood fast against repeated French attacks until with the aid of several Prussian corps that arrived on the east of the battlefield they managed to rout the French Army. Grouchy engaged a Prussian rearguard at the simultaneous Battle of Wavre although his failure to prevent the Prussians marching to Waterloo meant that his actions contributed to the French defeat. The two Coalition armies hotly pursued the French army to the gates of Paris during which time the French turned and fought some delaying actions.
The Neapolitan War between the Napoleonic Kingdom of Naples and the Austrian Empire started on the 15th of March 1815 when Marshal Joachim Murat declared war on Austria. It ended on the 20th of May 1815 with the signing of the Treaty of Casalanza. Napoleon had made his brother-in-law Joachim Murat King of Naples on the 1st of August 1808. After Napoleon's defeat in 1813 Murat reached an agreement with Austria to save his own throne. He realized that the European Powers meeting as the Congress of Vienna planned to remove him and return Naples to its Bourbon rulers. So after issuing the so-called Rimini Proclamation urging Italian patriots to fight for independence Murat moved north to fight against the Austrians. The war was triggered by a pro-Napoleon uprising in Naples. The Austrians were prepared for war; their suspicions were aroused weeks earlier when Murat applied for permission to march through Austrian territory to attack the south of France. The war ended after a decisive Austrian victory at the Battle of Tolentino. Ferdinand IV was reinstated as King of Naples. Ferdinand then sent Neapolitan troops under General Onasco to help the Austrian army in Italy attack southern France.
On arriving at Paris three days after Waterloo Napoleon still clung to the hope of concerted national resistance but the temper of the chambers forbade any such attempt. Napoleon and his brother Lucien Bonaparte were almost alone in believing that by dissolving the chambers they could save France from the armies converging on Paris. Even Davout minister of war advised Napoleon that the destiny of France rested solely with the chambers. On the 22nd of June 1815 he abdicated in favour of his son Napoleon II well knowing that it was a formality as his four-year-old son was in Austria. A provisional government with Joseph Fouché as President of the Executive Commission was formed under the nominal authority of Napoleon II. On the 29th of June the near approach of the Prussians who had orders to seize Napoleon caused him to retire westwards toward Rochefort. The presence of blockading Royal Navy warships under Vice Admiral Henry Hotham forestalled this plan. On the 7th of July the two Coalition armies entered Paris. The Chamber of Peers terminated its sittings; the Chamber of Representatives protested but in vain. Their President Lanjuinais resigned his chair and on the following day the doors were closed and the approaches guarded by Coalition troops.
On the 8th of July the French King Louis XVIII made his public entry into Paris amidst the acclamations of the people. Count Chabrol prefect of the department of the Seine addressed the King in a speech that began Sire One hundred days have passed away since your majesty forced to tear yourself from your dearest affections left your capital amidst tears and public consternation. Unable to remain in France or escape from it Napoleon surrendered to Captain Frederick Maitland of the Bellerophon in the early morning of the 15th of July 1815. He was transported to England then taken to the island of Saint Helena where he died as a prisoner in May 1821. The Treaty of Paris was signed on the 20th of November 1815 bringing the Napoleonic Wars to a formal end. Under the treaty France was reduced to its 1790 boundaries; it lost the territorial gains of the Revolutionary armies in 1790, 1792. France was now also ordered to pay 700 million francs in indemnities in five yearly installments. It had to maintain at its own expense a Coalition army of occupation of 150,000 soldiers in the eastern border territories of France for a maximum of five years.
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Common questions
When did Napoleon return to France from Elba in 1815?
Napoleon returned to France on the 1st of March 1815 when he landed at Golfe-Juan. He had spent nine months and twenty-one days in exile on the island of Elba before this event.
What happened during the Hundred Days period for Napoleon?
The Hundred Days began with Napoleon's return on the 1st of March 1815 and ended with his surrender on the 15th of July 1815. This period included military campaigns such as the Battle of Waterloo on the 18th of June 1815 and concluded with Napoleon's exile to Saint Helena where he died in May 1821.
Who declared war on Austria during the Neapolitan War in 1815?
Marshal Joachim Murat declared war on Austria on the 15th of March 1815 while serving as King of Naples. The conflict ended on the 20th of May 1815 after a decisive Austrian victory at the Battle of Tolentino.
When did the Congress of Vienna declare Napoleon an outlaw?
The powers at the Congress of Vienna declared Napoleon an outlaw on the 13th of March 1815. Seven days later on the 20th of November 1815 the Treaty of Paris formally ended the Napoleonic Wars.
How many soldiers were available to Napoleon by the end of May 1815?
By the end of May 1815 the total armed forces available to Napoleon had reached 198,000 men. An additional 66,000 troops remained in depots training up but not yet ready for deployment.