The 100 days & Napoleon's defeat

State of Paris in 1814

Paris was occupied by various countries & at the same time the allies and France met at the Vienna Congress hosted by the Austrian Emperor to decide what should happen to France & how the European map should be redrawn. They Viscount Cattlereagh & Prince Metternich - the French, British & Austrian foreign ministers,

Louis’ introduction as king

He was made to accept a charter of 74 articles that guaranteed fair taxation, equality before the law, a constitution & 2 chamber assembly, abolition of conscription, freedom of the individual & worship, a pardon to former revolutionaries, a relatively free press & the allowed the owners of the bien nationaux to keep their land. This granted Louis some acceptance from the people of his new position but he declared these freedoms as his personal gifts to the people & didn’t stick to them.

The conditions of the Treaty of Paris

Louis had to agree to the borders of 1792 in order for the allies to withdraw from France. This meant France lost Italy, Belgium, Holland & Germany but did introduce 500000 more people into the country as the borders expanded east of the Rhine. France were also allowed to keep their looted artworks & faced no war indemnity.

Napoleon’s arrival in France

He had initially been happy in exile & he had introduced a new constitution & flag into Elba & developed new roads but he quickly grew bored. He landed in France on March 1st 1815 with 1000 men & news arrived to the allies in Vienna about it a week later. Two days after they declared him an outlaw & offered Louis their assistance to resist any attempt he made to regain power.

How Napoleon regained support

He moved northwards through France & gained a growing force of supporters from towns & cities - he had 72000 by the time news reached Vienna. He was able to gain support so easily because Louis had put the army on half pay & hadn’t removed the Bonapartists from it, taxes were high due to French debts despite promises to improve them, rumours began to circulate that the bien nationaux would be seized & given back to original owners & there was hostility to the continuing of conscription. On the 19th March the ‘royal’ army outside Paris defected to Napoleon & Louis took refuge in Ghant.

Reaction to Napoleon re-entering Paris

He made multiple promises upon his return including ones of ‘peace’ & spoke so persuasively that the French press who’d previously labelled him a scoundrel begun referring to him as ‘our great & beloved emperor’

The Acte Additionel

Was a proclamation Napoleon used to put forward a new constitution for France in an attempt to appeal to the liberals. It promised free elections, a free press & a constitutional monarchy with a 2 chamber government - showing that Napoleon was willing to change to regain power.

Napoleon’s aims in restarting war with Europe

He had raised an army of 300000 against the 4th coalition who outnumbered him but he was was optimistic that the allies would be unable to cooperate & he would be able to pick them off one by one & sign separate peace deals.

Why he lost at Waterloo

He defeated the Prussians at the Battle of Ligny on the 16th June but failed to follow through on his victory & wrongly assumed they had fled. He then attacked Wellington’s forces but was defeated when the British received support from 81000 Prussian troops & France was forced to retreat.

Napoleon’s final surrender

He made his way back to Paris & abdicated the throne on 22nd June 1815. He tried to promote his son as successor but this was rejected. He surrendered to the British on the 15th July & was exiled to St Helena where the British guarded him until he died in 1821.

The return of Louis XVIII

He returned to France after Napoleon’s defeat. Some French fortresses which had refused to surrender to the allies were persuaded to do so for the king & on 26th June Louis issued a proclamation pardoning all but the ‘instigators’ of those who served Napoleon in his hundred days. Louis re entered Paris in July & thousands turned out to greet & cheer him.

The 2nd Peace of Paris - November 1815

The allied begun to rethink their generous treatment of France due to the support Napoleon had received & after Waterloo the Vienna Congress was reconvened. - more determined than ever to prevent France from ever again threating European peace. The 2nd Peace of Paris meant: French frontiers were reduced to that of 1790, they had to pay an indemnity of 700 million Francs & the cost of defensive fortifications in neighbouring countries, they had to return all looted art & would have an army of occupation under Wellington for 5 years or until the indemnity was paid.

Continuation of the European alliance

Britain, Austria, Russia & Prussia agreed to work together in a quadruple alliance after Napoleon’s defeat & renewed their pledge to hold regular meetings to preserve Europe’s peace & resist any further attempt by Napoleon or his family to return to France. This was backed by a guarantee of 60000 men each.

Condition of France in 1815

The Vienna settlement had recast the map of Europe & created a series of buffer states known as the cordon sanitaire around France to contain it. France had appeared to have come full circle with the restoration of a Bourbon monarch who had aristocratic advisors & was Catholic - years of exile caused Louis to not fully appreciate how deep republican & Bonapartist sentiment had run in France.

Condition of France in 1815 continued

However, France in 1815 was very different to the Ancien Regime - the departements, prefects, tax system, Bank of France, Napoleonic code & courts all remained & the uniform system of law & careers open to talent allowed the bourgeois professional class to continue to dominate political & social life. Those who had benefitted from the revolution & Napoleon continued to do well & the restoration failed to reverse the decline of noble influence despite Louis’ appointment of them as nobles. The clergy had to accept the loss of their lands.

Louis’ government of France

He relied on moderate advisors in 1815 rather than royalists, however ‘ultras’ (royalists) like his brother came to dominate the new chamber of deputies & their demands made political life difficult. After 1815 however a general economic recovery occurred in France as industry began to prosper once free of the continental system & agriculture thrived. France escaped much of the devastation brought by the wars elsewhere in Europe.