The Hundred Days (French Cent-Jours) or the Waterloo Campaign commonly refers to the period between 20 March 1815, the date on which Napoleon Bonaparte arrived in Paris after his return from Elba, and 8 July 1815, the date of the restoration of King Louis XVIII. The phrase Cent jours was first used by the prefect of Paris, the comte de Chabrol, in his speech welcoming the King. Combatants Great Britain Austria Prussia Spain Russian Empire Sardinia France The French Revolutionary Wars were a series of major conflicts, beginning in 1792 and lasting until the Treaty of Amiens in 1802, fought between the French Revolutionary government and several European states. ... Combatants Allies: Austrian Empire[1] Kingdom of Portugal Kingdom of Prussia[1] Russian Empire[2] Kingdom of Spain[3] Kingdom of Sweden United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland[4] French Empire - Kingdom of Holland - Kingdom of Italy - Kingdom of Naples - Duchy of Warsaw - Kingdom of Bavaria[5] - Kingdom of... The name First Coalition (1793–1797) designates the first major concerted effort of multiple European powers to contain Revolutionary France. ... This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ... The name Second Coalition (1798 - 1800) designates the second major concerted effort of multiple European powers to contain Revolutionary France. ... In the Napoleonic Wars, the Third Coalition against Napoléon emerged in 1805, and consisted of an alliance of Britain, Austria, Russia, Naples, and Sweden against France. ... In the Napoleonic Wars, the Fourth Coalition was an alliance organized against Napoleons Empire of France in 1806–1807. ... Battle between the frigate HMS Tartar and Norwegian gunboats near Bergen in 1808 The Gunboat War (1807-1814) was the naval conflict between Denmark-Norway against the British navy during the Napoleonic Wars. ... Combatants Spain United Kingdom Portugal French Empire The Peninsular War was a major conflict during the Napoleonic Wars, fought on the Iberian Peninsula by an alliance of Spain, Portugal, and Britain against the Napoleonic French Empire. ... The Fifth Coalition was an alliance between Austria and Great Britain formed in 1809 to fight Napoleon Bonapartes French Empire. ... Combatants First French Empire Russian Empire Commanders Napoleon Eugène de Beauharnais Jérôme Bonaparte Jaques MacDonald Karl Philipp Alexander I of Russia Michael Andreas Barclay de Tolly Pyotr Bagration Strength 771,500 troops 900,000 troops Casualties 300,000 French 70,000 Poles 50,000 Italians 80,000... The Sixth Coalition (1813-1814) was a coalition of the United Kingdom, Russia, Prussia, Sweden, Austria and a number of German States against the Napoleonic France. ... Combatants France Anglo-Allies[1] Commanders Michel Ney Duke of Wellington William II of the Netherlands Strength 18,000 infantry, 2,000 cavalry and 32 guns (a total of 24,000 troops by the end of the battle) 20,000 by the end of the battle Casualties 4,000 4... The Battle of Ligny, fought June 16, 1815, was a French victory under Napoleon against the Prussian army under Gebhard Leberecht von Blücher in the Napoleonic Wars. ... Combatants France Prussia Allied army: -United Kingdom -United Netherlands -Hannover -Nassau -Brunswick Commanders Napoléon Bonaparte Michel Ney Duke of Wellington Gebhard von Blücher Strength 73,000 67,000 Allies 60,000 Prussian (48,000 engaged by about 18:00) Casualties 25,000 dead or wounded 22,000 dead... The Battle of Wavre was a battle of the War of the Seventh Coalition, the last of the Napoleonic Wars. ... March 20 is the 79th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (80th in leap years). ... April 5-12: Mount Tambora explodes, changing climate. ... Napoleon I Bonaparte, Emperor of the French, King of Italy, Mediator of the Swiss Confederation and Protector of the Confederation of the Rhine (15 August 1769 – 5 May 1821) was a general of the French Revolution, the ruler of France as First Consul (Premier Consul) of the French Republic from... City flag City coat of arms Motto: Fluctuat nec mergitur (Latin: Tossed by the waves, she does not sink) Paris Eiffel tower as seen from the esplanade du Trocadéro. ... Elba (bottom centre) from space, February 1994. ... July 8 is the 189th day of the year (190th in leap years) in the Gregorian Calendar, with 176 days remaining. ... April 5-12: Mount Tambora explodes, changing climate. ... Following the ousting of Napoleon I of France in 1814, the Allies restored the Bourbon Dynasty to the French throne. ... Louis XVIII (November 17, 1755 - September 16, 1824) was King of France and Navarre from 1814 (although he declared that he considered his reign to have begun in 1795) until his death in 1824, with a brief break in 1815 due to Napoleons return in the Hundred Days. ... In France and many other French-speaking countries, a préfet (English: prefect) is the States representative in a département or région (in the later case, he is called a préfet de région). ...

This period is also referred to as the War of the Seventh Coalition, since it was the seventh time in the French Revolutionary Wars and Napoleonic Wars that a combination of European countries had allied against France. This was the last conflict in the Napoleonic Wars, and was fought by a Coalition of Britain, Russia, Prussia, the Netherlands, Sweden, Austria, Spain, Portugal, Sardinia, and a number of German States against France. The Allied Coalition powers in Vienna declared Napoleon an outlaw and not the leader of France. The Seventh Coalition was hurriedly prepared during the Napoleonic Wars in 1815 after Napoleons return to France and before his successful entry of Paris. ... Combatants Great Britain Austria Prussia Spain Russian Empire Sardinia France The French Revolutionary Wars were a series of major conflicts, beginning in 1792 and lasting until the Treaty of Amiens in 1802, fought between the French Revolutionary government and several European states. ... Combatants Allies: Austrian Empire[1] Kingdom of Portugal Kingdom of Prussia[1] Russian Empire[2] Kingdom of Spain[3] Kingdom of Sweden United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland[4] French Empire - Kingdom of Holland - Kingdom of Italy - Kingdom of Naples - Duchy of Warsaw - Kingdom of Bavaria[5] - Kingdom of... Flag of Prussia (1894 - 1918) The Kingdom of Prussia existed from 1701 until 1918, and from 1871 was the leading kingdom of the German Empire, comprising in its last form almost two-thirds of the area of the Empire. ... Kingdom of Sardinia, in 1839: Mainland Piedmont, with Savoia upper left (pink) and Nizza (Nice) lower left (brown) both now French, and Sardinia in the inset. ... The German Confederation (German: Deutscher Bund) was the association of Central European states created by the Congress of Vienna in 1815 to organize the surviving states of the Holy Roman Empire, which had been abolished in 1806. ... Vienna (German: , see also other names) is the capital of Austria, and also one of the nine States of Austria. ... For other senses of this word, see outlaw (disambiguation). ... Kings ruled in France from the Middle Ages to 1848. ...

First exile in Elba

Napoleon spent nine months and 21 days in uneasy retirement on Elba (1814–1815), watching events in France with great interest. As he foresaw, the shrinkage of the great Empire into the realm of old France caused infinite disgust, a feeling fed every day by stories of the tactless way in which the Bourbon princes treated veterans of the Grande Armée. Equally threatening was the general situation in Europe. The demands of Czar Alexander I were for a time so exorbitant as to bring the powers at the Congress of Vienna to the verge of war. Thus everything portended a renewal of Napoleon's activity. The return of French prisoners from Russia, Germany, Britain and Spain would furnish him with an army far larger than that which had won renown in 1814. So threatening were the symptoms that the royalists at Paris and the plenipotentiaries at Vienna talked of deporting him to the Azores or to Saint Helena, while others more than hinted at assassination. Elba (bottom centre) from space, February 1994. ... The First French Empire, commonly known as the French Empire or the Napoleonic Empire, covers the period of the domination of France and much of continental Europe by Napoleon I of France. ... Also see:  Early Modern France The House of Bourbon is an important European royal house. ... La Grande Armée (in English, the Big or Grand Army) is the French military term for the main force in a military campaign. ... Tsar, (Bulgarian цар�, Russian царь; often spelled Czar or Tzar in English), was the title used for the autocratic rulers of the First and Second Bulgarian Empires since 913, in Serbia in the middle of the 14th century, and in Russia from 1547 to 1917. ... Aleksandr I Pavlovich (Russian: Александр I Павлович) (December 23, 1777–December 1, 1825 ?), was Emperor of Russia from March 23, 1801–December 1, 1825 and King of Poland from 1815–1825, as well as the first Grand Duke of Finland. ... Much of the recent sociological debate on power revolves around the issue of constraining and/or enabling nature of power. ... The Congress of Vienna by Jean-Baptiste Isabey, 1819. ... Also see:  Early Modern France The House of Bourbon is an important European royal house. ... The term plenipotentiary (from the Latin, plenus + potens, full + power) refers to, as a noun, a person who has, or as an adjective that confers, full powers. ... Vienna (German: , see also other names) is the capital of Austria, and also one of the nine States of Austria. ... Motto: Antes morrer livres que em paz sujeitos (Rather die free than in peace subjugated) Anthem: A Portuguesa (national) Hino dos Açores (local) Capital Ponta Delgada (Presidency of the Regional Government) Angra do Heroísmo (Supreme Court)1 Horta (Legislative Assembly)2 Largest city Ponta Delgada Official languages Portuguese... Assassin and Targeted killing redirect here. ...

Return to France

Napoleon solved the problem in characteristic fashion. On 26 February 1815, when the British and French guardships were absent, he slipped away from Portoferraio with some 600 men and landed near Antibes on 1 March 1815. Except in royalist Provence, he received everywhere a welcome that attested to the attractive power of his personality and the nullity of the Bourbons. Firing no shot in his defence, his little troop swelled until it became an army. On 5 March, the 5th Infantry Regiment went over to Napoleon. The next day they were joined by the 7th Infantry Regiment under its colonel Charles-Angélique-François Huchet de la Bedoyère, who would be executed by the Bourbons for treason after the campaign ended. Ney, who had said that Napoleon ought to be brought to Paris in an iron cage, joined him with 6,000 men on 14 March; five days later the emperor entered the capital, whence Louis XVIII had recently fled. February 26 is the 57th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar. ... April 5-12: Mount Tambora explodes, changing climate. ... Napoleon in Portoferraio, Leo von Klenze, 1839. ... Antibes (Provençal Occitan: Antíbol in classical norm or Antibo in Mistralian norm) is a resort town of southeastern France, on the Mediterranean Sea in the Côte dAzur, located between Cannes and Nice. ... March 1 is the 60th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (61st in leap years). ... April 5-12: Mount Tambora explodes, changing climate. ... It has been suggested that this article or section be merged with Provence-Alpes-Côte dAzur. ... Charles-Angélique-François Huchet de la Bedoyère born in Paris in 1786, of a family of magistrates, was a soldier in the French military who aided Napoleon and was executed for treason. ... Michel Ney, Marshal of France. ... For the Lebanese political coalition, see March 14 Alliance. ...

An old anecdote illustrates either Napoleon's charisma or popularity, or (if untrue) the propaganda that operated in his lifetime and ever since: his army was confronted by troops sent by the king to stop him; the men on each side formed into lines and prepared to fire. Before fighting began, Napoleon walked between the two forces, faced the king's men, ripped open his coat and said "If any of you will shoot your Emperor, shoot him now." The men supposedly all joined his cause. An anecdote is a short tale narrating an interesting or amusing biographical incident. ...

Napoleon was not misled by the enthusiasm of the provinces and Paris. He knew that love of novelty and contempt for the gouty old king and his greedy courtiers had brought about this bloodless triumph; and he felt instinctively that he had to deal with a new France, which would not tolerate despotism.^{[citation needed]} On his way to Paris, he had been profuse in promises of reform and constitutional rule. It remained to make good those promises and to disarm the fear and jealousy of the great powers. Gout (also called metabolic arthritis) is a disease due to an inborn disorder of the uric acid metabolism. ... A courtier is a person who attends upon, and thus receives a privileged position from, a powerful person, usually a head of state. ... Despotism is government by a singular authority, either a single person or tightly knit group, which rules with absolute power. ...

Return to power

This was the work he set before himself in the Hundred Days. One may doubt whether his powers, physical as well as mental, could equal the task. Certainly the evidence as to his health is somewhat conflicting. Some people (as, for instance, Carnot, Pasquier, Lavalette and Thiéhault) thought him prematurely aged and enfeebled. Others again saw no marked change in him; while Mollien, who knew the emperor well, attributed the lassitude which now and then came over him to a feeling of perplexity caused by his changed circumstances. This explanation seems to furnish a clue to the likely truth. Napoleon felt cramped and chafed on all sides by the necessity of posing as a constitutional sovereign; and, while losing something of the old rigidity, he lost very much of the old energy, both in thought and action. His was a mind that worked wonders in well-worn grooves and on facts that were well understood. The necessity of devising compromises with men who had formerly been his tools worried him both in mind and body. But when he left parliamentary affairs behind and took the field, he showed nearly all the powers of initiative and endurance that had marked his masterpiece, the campaign of 1814. Lazare Carnot Lazare Nicolas Marguerite Carnot (Nolay, May 13, 1753 - Magdeburg, August 22, 1823) was a French politician and mathematician. ... Pasquier is a surname, and may refer to: Edme-Armand-Gaston dAudiffret-Pasquier Étienne Pasquier Étienne-Denis Pasquier Georges Pasquier Stéphane Pasquier This page or section lists people with the surname Pasquier. ... Antoine Marie Chamans, Comte de Lavalette (born October 14, 1769 in Paris; died February 15, 1830) was a French politician and general. ... Look up monarch in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ...

To date his decline, as Chaptal does, from the cold of the Moscow campaign is not fully correct. The time of lethargy at Elba seems to have been more unfavourable to his powers than the cold of Russia. At Elba, as Sir Neil Campbell noted, he became inactive and proportionately corpulent. There, too, as sometimes in 1815, he began to suffer intermittently from bowel problems, but to no serious extent. On the whole it seems safe to assert that it was the change in France far more than the change in his health which brought about the manifest constraint of the emperor in the Hundred Days. His words to Benjamin Constant -"I am growing old. The repose of a constitutional king may suit me. It will more surely suit my son"- show that his mind seized the salient facts of the situation, but his instincts struggled against them. Hence the malaise both of mind and body. Neil A. Campbell (1946 – 2004) was an American scientist known best for his Biology textbook. ... Please wikify (format) this article or section as suggested in the Guide to layout and the Manual of Style. ...

Discontent

The royalists gave him little concern: the duc d'Angoulême raised a small force for Louis XVIII in the south, but at Valence it melted away in front of Grouchy's command; and the duke, on 9 April 1815, signed a convention whereby they received a free pardon from the emperor. The royalists of the Vendée moved later and caused more trouble. The chief problem centred in the constitution. At Lyon, on 13 March 1815, Napoleon issued an edict dissolving the existing chambers and ordering the convocation of a national mass meeting, or Champ de Mai, for the purpose of modifying the constitution of the Napoleonic empire. That work was carried out by Benjamin Constant in concert with the emperor. The resulting Acte additionel (supplementary to the constitutions of the empire) bestowed on France an hereditary chamber of peers and a chamber of representatives elected by the "electoral colleges" of the empire, which comprised scarcely one percent of the citizens of France. As Châteaubriand remarked, in reference to Louis XVIII's constitutional charter, the new constitution — La Benjamine, it was dubbed — was merely a slightly improved charter. Its incompleteness displeased the liberals; it garnered only 1,532,527 votes in the plebiscite, less than half of those of the plebiscites of the Consulate. Louis XIX, King of France and of Navarre (Louis-Antoine, duc dAngoulême) (August 6, 1775 - June 3, 1844) was the eldest son of the comte dArtois (later King Charles X of France). ... Louis XVIII (November 17, 1755 - September 16, 1824) was King of France from 1814 (although he declared that he considered his reign to have begun in 1795) until his death in 1824. ... Location within France Champs de Mars and Kiosque Peynet in Valence A World War I memorial in Valence ville Valence is a commune in south-eastern France, the capital of the département of Drôme, situated on the left bank of the Rhône, 65 miles south of Lyon... Emmanuel, Marquis de Grouchy, Marshal of France Emmanuel, marquis de Grouchy (October 23, 1766 – May 29, 1847), marshal of France, was born in Paris. ... April 9 is the 99th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (100th in leap years). ... April 5-12: Mount Tambora explodes, changing climate. ... An emperor is a (male) monarch, usually the sovereign ruler of an empire or another type of imperial realm. ... Vendée is a département in west central France, on the Atlantics Bay of Biscay. ... City flag City coat of arms Motto: (Arpitan: Forward, forward, Lyon the best) Location Coordinates Time Zone CET (GMT +1) Administration Country France Region Rhône-Alpes Department Rhône (69) Subdivisions 9 arrondissements Intercommunality Urban Community of Lyon Mayor Gérard Collomb  (PS) (since 2001) City Statistics Land area... March 13 is the 72nd day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (73rd in leap years). ... April 5-12: Mount Tambora explodes, changing climate. ... The First French Empire, commonly known as the French Empire or the Napoleonic Empire, covers the period of the domination of France and much of continental Europe by Napoleon I of France. ... Please wikify (format) this article or section as suggested in the Guide to layout and the Manual of Style. ... François-René de Chateaubriand, painting by Anne-Louis Girodet de Roussy-Trioson, beginning of 19th century. ... A referendum (plural: referendums or referenda) or plebiscite is a direct vote in which an entire electorate is asked to either accept or reject a particular proposal. ... To meet Wikipedias quality standards, this article or section may require cleanup. ...

Not all the gorgeous display of the Champ de Mai (held on 1 June 1815) could hide the discontent at the meagre fulfilment of the promises given at Lyon. Napoleon ended his speech with the words "My will is that of the people: My rights are its rights." The words rang hollow: on 3 June, the deputies chose, as president of their chamber, Lanjuinais, the staunch liberal who had so often opposed the emperor. Napoleon was with difficulty dissuaded from quashing the election. June 1 is the 152nd day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (153rd in leap years), with 213 days remaining. ... April 5-12: Mount Tambora explodes, changing climate. ... June 3 is the 154th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (155th in leap years), with 211 days remaining. ... Jean Denis, comte Lanjuinais (12 March 1753 - 13 January 1827) was a French politician. ...

Other causes of offence arose, and Napoleon in his last communication to them warned them not to imitate the Greeks of the later Empire, who engaged in subtle discussions when the ram was battering at their gates. On the next day (12 June 1815) he set out for the northern frontier. His spirits rose at the prospect of rejoining the army. At Saint Helena he told Gourgaud that he intended in 1815 to dissolve the chambers as soon as he had won a great victory. June 12 is the 163rd day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (164th in leap years), with 202 days remaining. ... April 5-12: Mount Tambora explodes, changing climate. ...

War

In point of fact, the sword alone could decide his fate, both in internal and international affairs. Neither France nor Europe took seriously his rather vague declaration of his contentment with the role of constitutional monarch of France. No one believed that he would be content with the "ancient limits". So often had he declared that the Rhine and the Netherlands were necessary to France that everyone looked on his present assertions as a mere device to gain time. As far back as 13 March, six days before he reached Paris, the powers at the Congress of Vienna declared him an outlaw; four days later the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, Russia, Austria and Prussia bound themselves to put 150,000 men into the field to end his rule. Their recollection of his conduct during the congress of Châtillon was the determining fact at this crisis; his professions at Lyon or Paris had not the slightest effect; his efforts to detach Austria from the coalition, as also the feelers put forth tentatively by Fouché at Vienna, were fruitless. The coalitions, once so brittle as to break at the first strain, had now been hammered into solidity by his blows. If ever a man was condemned by his past, Napoleon was so in 1815. The River Rhine (Dutch: ; French: ; German: ; Italian: ; Romansh: ) is one of the longest and most important rivers in Europe at 1,320 kilometres (820 miles), with an average discharge of more than 2,000 cubic meters per second. ... March 13 is the 72nd day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (73rd in leap years). ... For other senses of this word, see outlaw (disambiguation). ... Coat of Arms of the Kingdom of Prussia, 1701-1918 Prussia (German: ; Latin: Borussia, Prutenia; Lithuanian: ; Polish: ; Old Prussian: PrÅ«sa) was, most recently, a historic state originating in East Prussia, an area which for centuries had substantial influence on German and European history. ...

Napoleon knew that, once his attempts at dissuading one or more of the Seventh Coalition armies from invading France had failed, his only chance of remaining in power was to attack before the coalition put together an overwhelming force. If he could destroy the existing coalition forces in the Southern Netherlands before they were reinforced, he might be able to drive the British back to the sea and knock the Prussians out of the war. This was a successful strategy he had used many times before. The Seventh Coalition was hurriedly prepared during the Napoleonic Wars in 1815 after Napoleons return to France and before his successful entry of Paris. ...

Map of the Waterloo campaign.

Napoleon moved two armies, the Army of the North (AotN) and the Reserve Army (RA), up to the French Belgium frontier without alerting the coalition forces. He crossed the frontier and split his AoTN in two. He took the RA and the right wing of the AotN and attacked the Prussians under the command of General Gebhard Leberecht von Blücher at the Battle of Ligny on 16 June 1815. Moving up to the frontier without alerting the Coalition, Napoleon divided his army into a left wing, commanded by Marshal Ney, a right wing commanded by Marshal Grouchy and a reserve, which he commanded personally (although all three elements remained close enough to support one another). Crossing the frontier at Thuin near Charleroi, the French drove in Coalition outposts and secured Napoleon's favoured "central position" - at the junction between Wellington's Allied army to his north-west, and Blücher's Prussian to his north-east. Wellington had expected Napoleon to try to envelop the Allied armies by moving through Mons to the west of Brussels. Napoleon encouraged this view with false intelligence. A message from Wellington's intelligence chief, Sir Colquhoun Grant, was delayed by General Dörnberg, and Wellington first heard of the capture of Charleroi at 3p.m. shortly followed by another message from the Prince of Orange. Wellington ordered his army to collect at their divisional headquarters, but was still unsure whether the attack in Charleroi was a feint and the main assault would come from Mons, and Wellington only found out with certainty Napoleon's intentions and sent out orders for the mustering of his army near Nivelles and Quatre Bras just before midnight on the 15 June. ^[1] Image File history File links Download high resolution version (800x910, 42 KB)Map of force movements and major engagements during the Waterloo Campaign, June 15-18, 1815. ... Image File history File links Download high resolution version (800x910, 42 KB)Map of force movements and major engagements during the Waterloo Campaign, June 15-18, 1815. ... Gebhard Leberecht von Blücher. ... The Battle of Ligny, fought June 16, 1815, was a French victory under Napoleon against the Prussian army under Gebhard Leberecht von Blücher in the Napoleonic Wars. ... June 16 is the 167th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (168th in leap years), with 198 days remaining. ... April 5-12: Mount Tambora explodes, changing climate. ... Michel Ney (January 10, 1769 - December 7, 1815) called Le Rougeaud (the ruddy) and le Brave des Braves (the bravest of the brave) was a marshal of the French army who had fought in the French Revolutionary War and the Napoleonic Wars. ... Emmanuel, Marquis de Grouchy, Marshal of France Emmanuel, marquis de Grouchy (October 23, 1766 – May 29, 1847), marshal of France, was born in Paris. ... Thuin is a municipality located in the Belgian province of Hainaut. ... Charleroi (Walloon: TchÃ¥lerwè) is the first city and municipality of Wallonia in population. ... The central square and town hall of Mons Mons (Dutch: Bergen) is a municipality located in the Belgian province of Hainaut, of which it is the capital. ...

As Napoleon considered the Prussians the greater threat, he moved against them first, attacking their outposts at Thuin near Charleroi, before advancing through Charleroi. His scouts reached Quatre Bras that evening. Ziethen's rearguard action held up Napoleon's advance, giving Blücher the opportunity to concentrate his forces in the Sombreffe position, which had been selected earlier for its good defensive attributes. Napoleon sent Marshal Ney, in charge of the French left, to secure the crossroads of Quatre Bras, towards which Wellington was hastily gathering his dispersed army. Once Quatre Bras was secured, Ney could swing east and reinforce Napoleon. Michel Ney, Marshal of France. ...

Ney, advancing on 16 June, found Quatre Bras lightly held by Allied troops, but having previously experienced Wellington's skill at concealing his strength, he overestimated the forces opposing him. Despite outnumbering the Allies heavily throughout the day, he fought a cautious and desultory battle which failed to capture the crossroads. By the middle of the afternoon, Wellington had taken personal command of the Allied forces at Quatre Bras. The position was reinforced steadily throughout the day as Allied troops converged on the crossroads. Finally, they were able to advance and drive the French back. June 16 is the 167th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (168th in leap years), with 198 days remaining. ...

Napoleon, meanwhile, took the reserve and the right wing of the army and defeated the Prussians, under the command of General Blücher, at the Battle of Ligny on the same day. The Prussian centre gave way under heavy French attack, but the flanks held their ground. Had Ney intervened at this point as planned, the Prussians would have been partially encircled from the west and would almost certainly have been forced to fall back to the east, along their lines of communication. Gebhard Leberecht von Blücher. ... The Battle of Ligny, fought June 16, 1815, was a French victory under Napoleon against the Prussian army under Gebhard Leberecht von Blücher in the Napoleonic Wars. ...

The Prussian defeat at Ligny made the Quatre Bras position untenable. On 17 June Wellington duly fell back to the north. His control of Quatre Bras enabled the Prussians to fall back parallel to his line of retreat and not, as Napoleon had hoped, away from him. June 17 is the 168th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (169th in leap years), with 197 days remaining. ...

This was part of Napoleon's strategy to split the much larger Coalition force into pieces that he could outnumber and attack separately. His theory was based on the assumption that an attack through the centre of the Coalition forces would force the two main armies to retreat in the direction of their respective supply bases, which were in opposite directions.

The general retreat of the Prussian army took it to the town of Wavre, and this by default became the marshalling point of the army. The Prussian chief of staff, General August von Gneisenau, planned to rally the Prussian Army at Tilly, from where it could move to support Wellington, but control was lost, with part of the army retreating towards the Rhine, but the majority rallied at Wavre. General Blücher arrived at Wavre - having fallen under his horse whilst leading a counter charge, and then been ridden over by French cavalry twice - and after a meeting Gneisenau was persuaded to march upon Wellington's left flank at dawn with the I, II and IV Corps. The IV Corps, under the command of General Bülow von Dennewitz, had not been present at Ligny, but arrived to reinforce the Prussian army during the nights of the 17th and 18th. III Corps formed the rearguard, to hinder the pursuing French. Wavre is a municipality located in the Belgian province of Walloon Brabant, of which it is the capital. ... August Wilhelm Antonius Graf Neidhardt von Gneisenau (27 October 1760 – 23 August 1831) was a Prussian field marshal. ... A general of Wellington at the Battle of Waterloo. ...

On the morning of 17 June Napoleon sent the right wing of the Army of the North under the command of Marshal Grouchy to harass the Prussians to stop them reforming. He set off via Quatre Bras with the RA and combined his forces with the left wing of the AotN to pursue Wellington's forces, which were retreating towards Brussels. Just before the small village of Waterloo, Wellington deployed most of his forces on the rear side of an escarpment. He placed some of his forces in front of the main deployment in two fortified farmhouses at the base of the escarpment, which guarded the two roads to Brussels. It was here on 18 June 1815 that the decisive European battle of the 19th century took place. Within the sound of cannon fire a second battle took place at the village of Wavre. Grouchy, who was dilatory in his pursuit of the Prussians, failing to stop them regrouping after their defeat at Ligny, attacked the Prussian III Corps under the command of General Johann von Thielmann, believing that he was engaging the rearguard of a still-retreating Prussian force. However only one Corps remained — the other three Prussian Corps (I, II and the still fresh IV) were marching towards Waterloo. June 17 is the 168th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (169th in leap years), with 197 days remaining. ... Waterloo The top of the knoll and the famous lion. ... June 18 is the 169th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (170th in leap years), with 196 days remaining. ... April 5-12: Mount Tambora explodes, changing climate. ... The Battle of Wavre was a battle of the War of the Seventh Coalition, the last of the Napoleonic Wars. ... Wavre is a municipality located in the Belgian province of Walloon Brabant, of which it is the capital. ... Johann Adolf, freiherr von Thielmann (1765-1824), Prussian cavalry soldier, was born at Dresden. ...

Waterloo

Main article: Battle of Waterloo

The start of the Battle of Waterloo was delayed for several hours as Napoleon waited until the ground had dried from the previous night's rain. By late afternoon the French army had not succeeded in driving Wellington's allied forces from the escarpment on which they stood. Once the Prussians arrived, attacking the French right flank in ever increasing numbers, Napoleon's key strategy of keeping the Seventh Coalition armies divided had failed and his army was driven from the field in confusion, by a combined coalition general advance. The next morning the battle of Wavre ended in a hollow French victory. Grouchy's wing of the Army of the North withdrew in good order and other elements of the French army were able to reassemble around it. However, the army was not strong enough to resist the combined coalition forces, so it retreated towards Paris. Combatants France Prussia Allied army: -United Kingdom -United Netherlands -Hannover -Nassau -Brunswick Commanders Napoléon Bonaparte Michel Ney Duke of Wellington Gebhard von Blücher Strength 73,000 67,000 Allies 60,000 Prussian (48,000 engaged by about 18:00) Casualties 25,000 dead or wounded 22,000 dead... The Seventh Coalition was hurriedly prepared during the Napoleonic Wars in 1815 after Napoleons return to France and before his successful entry of Paris. ...

End of Napoleon's career

On arriving at Paris, three days after Waterloo, Napoleon still clung to the hope of concerting national resistance; but the temper of the chambers and of the public generally forbade any such attempt. Napoleon and his brother Lucien Bonaparte were almost alone in believing that, by dissolving the chambers and declaring Napoleon dictator, they could save France from the armies of the powers now converging on Paris. Even Davout, minister of war, advised Napoleon that the destinies of France rested solely with the chambers. Clearly, it was time to safeguard what remained; and that could best be done under Talleyrand's shield of legitimacy. Napoleon himself at last recognised the truth. When Lucien pressed him to "dare", he replied "Alas, I have dared only too much already". On 22 June 1815 he abdicated in favor of his son, Napoléon Francis Joseph Charles Bonaparte well knowing that it was a formality, as his son was in Austria. On 25 June he received from Fouché, the president of the newly appointed provisional government, an intimation that he must leave Paris. He retired to Malmaison, the former home of Josephine, where she had died shortly after his first abdication. On 29 June the near approach of the Prussians, who had orders to seize him, dead or alive, caused him to retire westwards towards Rochefort, whence he hoped to reach the United States. The full restoration of Louis XVIII followed the emperor's departure. Lucien Bonaparte, painted by François-Xavier Fabre, after 1800. ... Dictator was the title of a magistrate in ancient Rome appointed by the Senate to rule the state in times of emergency. ... Davout, Marshal of France Louis Nicolas dAvout (May 10, 1770 – June 1, 1823), better known as Davout, duc dAuerstädt, prince dEckmühl, and a marshal of France. ... Charles Maurice de Talleyrand Charles Maurice de Talleyrand-Périgord (February 2, 1754 - May 17, 1838) was a French diplomat. ... June 22 is the 173rd day of the year (174th in leap years) in the Gregorian Calendar, with 192 days remaining. ... April 5-12: Mount Tambora explodes, changing climate. ... Napoleon II, Duke of Reichstadt (March 20, 1811 – July 22, 1832) was the son of Napoleon Bonaparte, and briefly the second Emperor of the French. ... June 25 is the 176th day of the year (177th in leap years) in the Gregorian Calendar, with 189 days remaining. ... The Ch teau de Malmaison is a country house (or ch teau) in the city of Rueil-Malmaison about 12 km (7 mi) from Paris. ... Joséphine de Beauharnais, Empress of the French Joséphine de Beauharnais (June 23, 1763 – May 29, 1814) was the first wife of Napoléon Bonaparte and became Empress of the French. ... June 29 is the 180th day of the year (181st in leap years) in the Gregorian Calendar, with 185 days remaining. ... Rochefort is a commune in western France, a seaport on the Atlantic Ocean. ... Louis XVIII (November 17, 1755 - September 16, 1824) was King of France and Navarre from 1814 (although he declared that he considered his reign to have begun in 1795) until his death in 1824, with a brief break in 1815 due to Napoleons return in the Hundred Days. ...

References

• This article incorporates text from the Encyclopædia Britannica Eleventh Edition, a publication now in the public domain.

Encyclopædia Britannica, the 11th edition The Encyclopædia Britannica Eleventh Edition (1910–1911) is perhaps the most famous edition of the Encyclopædia Britannica. ... The public domain comprises the body of all creative works and other knowledge—writing, artwork, music, science, inventions, and others—in which no person or organization has any proprietary interest. ...