Monarchical Restoration and Napoleon’s Return 509based on a very restricted franchise. Although the document affirmed
monarchical rule by divine right, it confirmed some of the important victo
ries of the Revolution, including equality before the law and freedom of
expression and religion, although Catholicism would be the religion of the
state (see Chapter 15). A coterie of fanatical nobles and their followers (the
Ultra-royalists) convinced the king to enact some measures, however, that
were highly unpopular. Many in France disapproved of the substitution of
the white flag of the Bourbon family for the tricolor, the description of the
Charter as a “gift” from the king to the French people, the retiring of 14,000
officers at half pay, the restoration of returned emigres to high positions in
the army, and the return to their original owners of national lands that had
not been sold. But most of the French were simply exhausted from years of
wars and sacrifice.
The 100 Days
In March 1815, just months after his exile, Napoleon boldly escaped from
Elba and landed near Antibes on the French Mediterranean coast. He
knew that he retained considerable popularity in France. Furthermore, so
much time had passed and so many dramatic events had occurred since the
execution of Louis XVI that one of the monarchy’s staunchest supporters
claimed, with some exaggeration, “The Bourbons were as unknown in France
as the Ptolemies.”
The word that Napoleon had landed in France stunned everyone. Mar
shal Ney, who had offered his services to the Bourbons, promised to bring
Napoleon back to Paris in a cage. But upon seeing Napoleon, Ney fell into
his arms. Regiment after regiment went over to Napoleon as he marched
north. With Bonaparte nearing Paris, Louis XVIII and his family and advis
ers fled to Belgium, which had become part of the Kingdom of Holland.
Soon Napoleon again paced frenetically through the Tuileries Palace, mak
ing plans to raise new armies.
It was not to be. The allies quickly raised an enormous army of more
than 700,000 troops. Napoleon led an army of 200,000 men into the Aus
trian Netherlands, engaging Prussian and British forces south of Brussels
on June 16, 1815. He forced the Prussians to retreat and ordered one of
his generals to pursue them with his army. Napoleon then moved against
the British forces commanded by Wellington, his old nemesis. The armies
met near the village of Waterloo on June 18, 1815. Wellington had skill
fully hidden the extent of his superior infantry behind a ridge. Napoleon
watched in horror as a Prussian army arrived to reinforce Wellington. The
general sent in pursuit of the Prussians, like all Napoleon’s commanders,
had been taught to follow Napoleon’s directives to the letter and not to
improvise. He held back until it was too late. When the imperial guard
broke ranks and retreated, much of the rest of the French army did the
same. The defeat was devastating and total.