Hundred Days
1815 CE
The Hundred Days is the period between Napoleon Bonaparte’s return to Paris on 20 March 1815 from his exile on Elba, and the restoration of the Bourbon Dynasty under King Louis XVIII on 8 July 1815 (a period of 111 days).
This period is also known as the War of the Seventh Coalition, and includes the Waterloo Campaign and the Neapolitan War.
The phrase les Cent Jours is first used by the prefect of Paris, the comte de Chabrol, in his speech welcoming the King.Napoleon returns during the Congress of Vienna.
On 13 March, seven days before Napoleon reaches Paris, the powers at the Congress of Vienna declare him an outlaw; four days later the United Kingdom, Russia, Austria and Prussia, members of the Seventh Coalition, bind themselves to put 150,000 men each into the field to end his rule.
This sets the stage for the last conflict in the Napoleonic Wars, the defeat of Napoleon at the Battle of Waterloo, the restoration of the French monarchy for the second time and the permanent exile of Napoleon to the island of Saint Helena, where he will die in May 1821.
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Austria, keeping Dalmatia for itself, reduces the privileges of the Dalmatian nobles.
Napoleon, banished by the victorious allies, returns from exile in Elba and lands in the south of France on March 1.
He moves to quickly organize an army to confront the British, Prussian and Dutch forces in what is now Belgium before the Austrians and Russians can reinforce them.
The re-crowned Emperor Napoleon arrives at the Belgian border with one hundred and fifty thousand men sixty days after his return.
In the ensuing Battle of Waterloo on June 18, the Prussian-Anglo-Allied armies under Prussian Marshal Gebhard Blucher and the duke of Wellington, joined eventually by Austrian forces, destroy the reorganized Grand Armée.
Defeated, the emperor retires to Paris, abdicates for a second time, and is exiled permanently to the remote British-held Atlantic island of Saint Helena.
The victors, in the Treaty of Fontainebleau, had exiled Napoleon to Elba, an island of twelve thousand inhabitants in the Mediterranean, twenty kilometers off the Tuscan coast.
Granting him sovereignty over the island, they have allowed him to retain his title of emperor.
Napoleon had attempted suicide with a pill he had carried since a near-capture by Russians on the retreat from Moscow.
Its potency had weakened with age, and he had survived to be exiled while his wife and son took refuge in Austria.
In the first few months on Elba, he had created a small navy and army, developed the iron mines, and issued decrees on modern agricultural methods.
After the new European frontiers are redrawn by the Grand Alliance at the Congress of Vienna, Napoleon, separated from his wife and son, who had come under Austrian control, cut off from the allowance guaranteed to him by the Treaty of Fontainebleau, and aware of rumors he is about to be banished to a remote island in the Atlantic Ocean, escapes from Elba on February 26, 1815.
Napoleon lands at Golfe-Juan on the French mainland, two days after his escape from Elba.
The 5th Regiment is sent to intercept him and makes contact just south of Grenoble on March 7, 1815.
Napoleon approaches the regiment alone, dismounts his horse and, when he is within gunshot range, shouts "Here I am. Kill your Emperor, if you wish."
The soldiers respond with, "Vive L'Empereur!" and march with Napoleon on Paris.
Five days before Napoleon's return to Paris and the beginning of his Hundred Days, Murat deserts his new allies before the War of the Seventh Coalition and, after issuing a proclamation to the Italian patriots in Rimini, moves north to fight against the Austrians in the Neapolitan War to strengthen his rule in Italy by military means.
Napoleon had made Murat a Marshal of France on May 18, 1804, and also granted him the title of "First Horseman of Europe".
He was created Prince of the Empire in 1805, appointed Grand Duke of Berg and Cleves on March 15, 1806 and had held this title until August 1, 1808, when he was named King of Naples.
He was in charge of the French Army in Madrid when the popular May 2 uprising that started the Peninsular War broke out.
Murat had been equally useful in Russian Campaign of 1812 and during the German Campaign of 1813 in the Battle of Leipzig.
Murat originally ruled Naples following the same legal and social system used in France, while still participating in Napoleon's campaigns, but following the disastrous Battle of Leipzig, Murat had abandoned La Grande Armée to try to save his throne.
As defeat in the War of the Sixth Coalition loomed, Murat had increasingly moved away from Napoleon, eventually signing a treaty with Austria in January 1814 and joining the Allied side in order to save his own throne.
As the Congress of Vienna progresses, Murat's position becomes less and less secure as there is growing support to restore Ferdinand to the throne.
The most vocal of all Murat's opponents is the United Kingdom, which has never recognized Murat's claim to the throne and moreover has been guarding Ferdinand in Sicily, ensuring he retains the Sicilian throne.
Informed of Napoleon's plan to escape from exile in Elba on March 1, 1815, Murat had sided with him once more, and declares war on Austria as soon as he learns of Napoleon's return to France.
William Frederick, Prince of Orange, feeling threatened by Napoleon, who has escaped from Elba, proclaims the Netherlands a kingdom on March 16, 1815, at the urging of the powers gathered at the Congress of Vienna.
The Congress of Vienna form,ally confirms as hereditary ruler of what is known as the United Kingdom of the Netherlands, created through a fusion of territories that had belonged to the former Dutch Republic, Austrian Netherlands, and Prince-Bishopric of Liège.
His son, the future king William II, will fight as a commander at the Battle of Waterloo.
After Napoleon has been sent into exile, William will adopt a new constitution that includes many features of the old constitution, such as extensive royal powers.
When he heard of Napoleon's return to France, Ney, determined to keep France at peace and to show his loyalty to Louis XVIII, had organized a force to stop Napoleon's march on Paris. Ney also pledged to bring Napoleon back alive in an iron cage.
Despite Ney’s promise to the King, he joins Napoleon at Auxerre on March 18, 1815.