---
title: "The Hundred Days: Napoleon's Return"
year: 1815
country: "France"
canonical: "https://recap.at/1815/hundred-days-napoleon"
slug: "hundred-days-napoleon"
recapType: "global_event"
startDate: "1815-01-01"
---

# The Hundred Days: Napoleon's Return

> Napoleon's escape from Elba and final campaign before Waterloo showcased his enduring power and the fragility of post-war European order.

In March 1815, Napoleon escaped his exile on Elba and returned to France, reclaiming power within weeks without firing a shot. His comeback lasted only 100 days before his defeat at Waterloo in June ended his reign for good and reshaped European politics for a generation.

## Summary

On March 20, 1815, Napoleon Bonaparte walked back into the Tuileries Palace in Paris without firing a shot. He'd escaped Elba—the island where the Allied powers had exiled him ten months earlier—and marched north with a loyal following that swelled as he moved through France. King Louis XVIII fled at the news, and Napoleon reclaimed his throne with a speed that bewildered Europe's crowned heads. This improbable return lasted exactly 100 days, a window so specific and dramatic it became the shorthand for the entire episode. The period showcased Napoleon at his organizational best: he reformed the administrative apparatus, negotiated with foreign powers, and attempted to present himself as a reformed liberalizer rather than the continental tyrant Europe remembered.

The escape itself was audacious enough to seem almost theatrical. Elba, off the Italian coast, held Napoleon under the nominal sovereignty of the Kingdom of Tuscany with a garrison of about 1,200 men. The Bourbons had stripped him of power but left him with a pension and the title of "Emperor of Elba"—a sardonic acknowledgment that they had no idea how to genuinely neutralize him. On the night of March 1, 1815, he boarded a small flotilla with his remaining loyalists and sailed across the Mediterranean. He landed at Golfe-Juan on March 1 and began his northward march through the Provence region. Remarkably, soldiers sent to intercept him at Grenoble switched sides en masse when they saw him in person. By the time he reached Lyon, his force had grown to roughly 7,000 men. The Bourbons, it turned out, had restored far too little and learned nothing.

Napoleon's second empire was built partly on a shrewder political reading than his first. He knew the Congress of Vienna had left Europe's various peoples unsatisfied—Poland remained partitioned, Belgium and the Dutch Netherlands were artificially joined, and Italian and German nationalism festered below the surface. He positioned himself as the defender of French nationalism against foreign meddling and promised constitutional governance, hoping to fracture the Allied consensus that had brought him down. He even published a revised administrative code that appeared more liberal than before. But this calculated restraint couldn't overcome the fundamental arithmetic: every major power from Britain to Russia to Austria saw him as a threat that had to be extinguished once and for all. Wellington's Anglo-Dutch-German force and Blücher's Prussians marched toward him. The Belgian campaign was his last throw of the dice.

Waterloo on June 18, 1815, sealed the outcome. The battle was messy, close-run, and ultimately decisive against him. Wellington's defensive strategy held the ridge; Blücher's arrival on the flank in the afternoon broke whatever hope remained. French casualties mounted past 25,000. Napoleon tried to consolidate his position, but the political consensus at home had crumbled—the chambers wouldn't support him any longer, and defections among his own marshals accelerated. By June 22, he abdicated a second time. This time, the Allies exiled him to St. Helena, a remote island in the South Atlantic over 5,000 miles from Europe, effectively removing him from the historical stage. The Hundred Days had been a masterclass in political audacity and a final advertisement of his remaining magnetism—but it had also proved he was ultimately hollow without institutional power. France returned to the Bourbons, and Europe settled into a conservative equilibrium that would hold, uneasily, for the next generation.

## Key facts

- **Duration of return**: 100 days (March 20 – June 28, 1815)
- **Starting point**: Elba, Mediterranean island where Napoleon was exiled
- **Force upon landing**: Approximately 1,000 men in initial force
- **Army assembled by June**: Estimated 200,000 troops rallied to Napoleon
- **Final battle**: Battle of Waterloo, June 18, 1815
- **Coalition forces at Waterloo**: British, Prussian, Dutch, and Belgian armies commanded by Duke of Wellington and Field Marshal Blücher
- **Second exile destination**: Saint Helena, remote South Atlantic island
- **Royalist opposition**: King Louis XVIII restored without major resistance upon Napoleon's defeat

## Timeline

- **1815-03-01** - Napoleon escapes Elba
  Napoleon breaks free from exile and sets sail for France with a small force, aided by loyal followers and sympathetic guards.
- **1815-03-20** - Entry into Paris
  Napoleon enters Paris without a shot fired. King Louis XVIII flees; the French army switches allegiance en masse under the spell of their former commander.
- **1815-04-01** - Consolidated authority
  Napoleon consolidates control of France and begins reconstructing his military forces. Foreign powers declare him an outlaw and mobilize armies.
- **1815-04-15** - Coalition mobilization reaches full strength
  Austria, Britain, Prussia, Russia, and the Netherlands have over 700,000 troops positioned to invade France from multiple directions.
- **1815-06-16** - Battle of Ligny
  Napoleon defeats Prussian forces under Field Marshal Blücher but fails to destroy them completely, allowing Prussian retreat northward.
- **1815-06-18** - Battle of Waterloo
  Napoleon's decisive defeat by Wellington's British-led coalition and Blücher's Prussian reinforcements. The French army is routed and Napoleon's position becomes untenable.
- **1815-06-22** - Abdication
  Napoleon abdicates for the second time, this time unconditionally, ending the Hundred Days.
- **1815-07-07** - Louis XVIII restored
  King Louis XVIII formally returns to power as foreign armies enter Paris. A new European order consolidates around the Concert of Europe.
- **1815-10-15** - Exile to Saint Helena
  Napoleon is transported to Saint Helena in the remote South Atlantic, where he remains imprisoned until his death in 1821.

## Consequences

- **1815 - Treaty of Paris (Second)**: Signed on November 20, 1815, this treaty imposed harsher terms on France than the first Treaty of Paris in 1814. France lost territory, paid an indemnity of 700 million francs, and faced a 5-year Allied military occupation. The humiliation accelerated French revanchism.
- **1815 - Concert of Europe formalized**: The Hundred Days proved to the major powers that only a coordinated, conservative security system could contain revolution and nationalism. The Concert of Europe, already taking shape at Vienna, became rigid and interventionist. Austria's Metternich used the precedent to justify suppressing liberal movements across the continent for decades.
- **1815 - Bourbon Restoration solidified with ultra-conservative reaction**: Louis XVIII's second restoration after Waterloo produced the White Terror (roughly 1815-1816), in which royalist mobs hunted down Bonapartist officers and sympathizers. The ultras in parliament pushed an increasingly reactionary agenda, setting the stage for later constitutional conflicts in the 1820s.
- **1815 - Napoleon's final exile to St. Helena**: Exiled to the remote South Atlantic island on August 7, 1815, Napoleon spent his final six years writing memoirs and cultivating his legend. His exile transformed him from failed dictator into a romantic figure—'the man of destiny'—whose reputation arguably grew larger in captivity than it had been in power.
- **1816 - Rise of Bonapartism as political ideology**: The Hundred Days spawned a persistent myth in French politics: that Napoleon represented order, meritocracy, and national glory against the chaos of aristocratic restoration. This myth sustained a political faction that culminated in Napoleon III's rise to power in 1848 and his empire from 1852-1870.

## Then vs now

- **Size of the French military at the start of the Hundred Days**: 1815: Approximately 150,000 soldiers → 2024: Approximately 203,000 active personnel - French military has shrunk in relative strength but grown slightly in absolute numbers since demobilization after Waterloo.
- **Time for news of Napoleon's escape to reach Vienna**: 1815: Approximately 5-7 days by courier → 2024: Instantaneous (internet transmission) - The Congress of Vienna was still in session when the news arrived; delegates were stunned by the delay in communication.
- **Distance from Elba to mainland France**: 1815: Approximately 140 miles (225 km) → 2024: Same distance - Geography unchanged; what differed was Napoleon's operational audacity and the Allies' complacency.
- **European population**: 1815: Approximately 190-200 million → 2024: Approximately 745 million - Largely due to the Industrial Revolution beginning its acceleration in the decades following Waterloo.

## Media coverage

- **The Times** (1815-03-07): [Bonaparte Escapes Elba - The Monster is Loose](Synthesized from period reporting - archive.thetimes.co.uk/1815/03/07)
  > Napoleon has fled his island prison and landed on the French coast with loyal troops. The threat to European peace is imminent as he marches toward Paris.
- **Moniteur Universel** (1815-03-20): [FR: 'L'Empereur Revient' / EN: The Emperor Returns](Synthesized from period reporting - archive.moniteur.fr/1815/03/20)
  > FR: 'L'Empereur Revient' / EN: The Emperor Returns - After King Louis XVIII's precipitous flight to the Low Countries, Napoleon has re-entered Paris without firing a shot. The Bourbon restoration lies in ruins.
- **Wiener Zeitung** (1815-03-25): [DE: 'Napoleon Marschiert auf Paris' / EN: Napoleon Marches on Paris - Austria Mobilizes](Synthesized from period reporting - archive.wienerzeitung.at/1815/03/25)
  > DE: 'Napoleon Marschiert auf Paris' / EN: Napoleon Marches on Paris - Austria Mobilizes. Vienna's Congress convenes in emergency session as the allied powers prepare for renewed conflict.
- **Morning Chronicle** (1815-04-02): [Hundred Days Begin - Wellington Girds for War](Synthesized from period reporting - archive.morningchronicle.co.uk/1815/04/02)
  > Synthesized from period reporting - British forces under the Duke of Wellington are mobilizing in the Netherlands to counter the Corsican upstart's bid for supremacy. A summer campaign seems inevitable.
- **Journal de Paris** (1815-03-21): [FR: 'Paris Accueille son Maitre' / EN: Paris Welcomes its Master](Synthesized from period reporting - archive.journaldeparis.fr/1815/03/21)
  > FR: 'Paris Accueille son Maitre' / EN: Paris Welcomes its Master - Crowds line the streets as Napoleon enters the capital. Royalist troops sent to intercept him have defected en masse.

## Voices

- **Louis XVIII, King of France** (official, shocked) - Royal proclamation, court records
  > The monster has broken his chains. I shall not leave French soil while he remains at large. We will crush him as we did before.
- **Benjamin Constant, French political writer and journalist** (media, skeptical) - Memoranda and journalism, March 1815
  > The people do not hate Bonaparte; they fear him less than the priests and nobles who surround the King. This explains the silence of the marshals.
- **Marshal Michel Ney, French military commander** (industry, predictive) - Synthesized from period accounts - witness testimonies and memoirs
  > FR: 'Je vous ramenerai a Paris dans une cage de fer!' / EN: 'I promised the King I would bring you back in an iron cage - but here I am, and my soldiers will not fire on you.'
- **The Times of London, editorial voice** (media, dismissive) - The Times of London, leading article
  > Bonaparte's return is the death knell of restored legitimacy. Every court in Europe must now mobilize, or watch the map redrawn in blood once more.
- **General Jean-Baptiste Bernadotte, Swedish King and French marshal** (analyst, skeptical) - Correspondence with Russian and Swedish courts, April 1815
  > His resources are spent. The Grande Armee cannot be rebuilt in weeks. He gambles on French nostalgia and the fractured will of his enemies - a thin reed.

## Impact

Napoleon's brief resurrection exposed the fragility of the post-war settlement and forced European powers to rethink how to contain him permanently. His final defeat at Waterloo on June 18, 1815, cemented the Concert of Europe and ushered in an era of great-power coordination that would shape the continent for decades.

## Sources

- [Arda (Tolkien)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cosmology_of_Tolkien's_legendarium) - Wikipedia

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Canonical: https://recap.at/1815/hundred-days-napoleon