54. Napoleon Bonaparte was Emperor of France for a little over ten years but he was forced to abdicate twice. How much time was there between his first and second exile periods?
From Quiz From First to Worst
Answer:
15 Months
Napoleon Bonaparte was a French military hero and revered Emperor of France 1804-1815. The Battle of Dresden (26-27 August 1813) was the last major battle he won but it more than decimated his men and he lost the subsequent Battle of Leipzig in October 1813. The allies offered peace terms but Napoleon did not accept them. The Allies pressed on and took Paris as Napoleon had not enough men to hold it. Under the Treaty of Fontainebleau the Allies forced Napoleon to abdicate. He was exiled to the small island of Elba off the Italian coast on 11 April 1814, where he was given sovereignty of the small island of 12000.
On Elba, he was cut off from his family and the allowance guaranteed to him by the Treaty. He was also aware of rumours he was about to be banished to a remote island in the Atlantic Ocean. He escaped and started to make his way back to Paris where he was met on the way by Marshall Ney, a former loyal senior officer. He had promised the newly restored King Louis XVIII to bring back Napoleon "in a cage". The two travelled together toward Paris attracting a growing army. Louis XVIII fled to Belgium, realising that he had insufficient political support. Powers at the Congress of Vienna declared Napoleon an outlaw. Four days later, Great Britain, Russia, Austria, and Prussia assembled 150,000 men to to end his rule. Napoleon arrived in Paris on 20 March and governed for a period now known as the Hundred Days. He had amassed 200,000 troops, and went on the offensive to split the advancing British and Prussian armies. The French Army of the North crossed the border into the United Kingdom of the Netherlands (Belgium) but was defeated soundly at Waterloo on 18 June 1815.
Napoleon returned to Paris and discovered that he had lost both the legislature and the people (again). He abdicated on 22 June in favour of his son and went into hiding. However all escape routes and ports were blocked so he surrendered to Captain Frederick Maitland on HMS Bellerophon on 15 July 1815 and was sent to St Helena, a remote island 1800 km off the west coast of Africa. His allocated accommodation was in disrepair, and its location was damp, windswept and unhealthy. His health deteriorated rapidly and he died in 1821 aged 51.
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