Napoleon's Iberian Trap: The War That Broke Him

Napoleon escaped from exile on Elba on March 1, 1815, with approximately one thousand soldiers, landed on the southern coast of France, and marched north toward Paris. Every regiment sent to stop him defected to his side instead. He reportedly approached one contingent, opened his coat, and said "Let him who wishes to kill his Emperor, fire." No one fired. Within three weeks, the restored Bourbon monarchy had collapsed and Napoleon was back in the Tuileries Palace, governing France again. The episode, known as the Hundred Days, was the most dramatic political comeback in modern European history. Louis XVIII fled Paris without a fight. The other European powers, who had exiled Napoleon just ten months earlier, immediately formed the Seventh Coalition and began mobilizing armies. Napoleon moved to strike first, invading Belgium in June to defeat the British and Prussian armies before they could combine. He came close. At Ligny on June 16, he defeated the Prussian army under Blücher, and at Quatre Bras on the same day, French forces fought Wellington's army to a standstill. But two days later, at Waterloo on June 18, 1815, the British line held long enough for Blücher's regrouped Prussians to arrive on Napoleon's flank. The result was catastrophic. The French army was destroyed. Napoleon abdicated on June 22 and attempted to flee to the United States, but British warships blockaded the port at Rochefort. He surrendered to Captain Frederick Maitland aboard HMS Bellerophon on July 15. He was exiled to Saint Helena, a remote island in the South Atlantic. He died there on May 5, 1821, at age 51.