Napoleon departed the island of Elba, where he had been exiled after his 1814 abdication. His decision to return created a sudden political and military crisis for the restored Bourbon monarchy and for Europe’s major powers meeting at the Congress of Vienna.
Napoleon and his small force landed on the French Mediterranean coast at Golfe-Juan. From there he began a rapid march toward Paris, counting on French soldiers and local officials to switch their loyalty back to him.
Austria, Britain, Prussia, and Russia (and other signers of the 1814 Treaty of Paris) issued a declaration condemning Napoleon’s return. This statement treated him as a threat to European peace and signaled that the powers intended to oppose him by force.
As Napoleon’s march on Paris gained support, King Louis XVIII left the capital and went into exile in Ghent. His flight showed how quickly Napoleon’s return was reshaping French politics and weakening the restored monarchy.
Napoleon arrived in Paris and resumed power, marking the commonly cited start of the Hundred Days. His return forced Europe’s great powers to shift from diplomacy at Vienna to renewed war planning.
To broaden political support, Napoleon promulgated the “Additional Act” (a constitutional revision prepared with liberal input, including Benjamin Constant). It aimed to present the restored empire as more constitutional, with elected representation, while Napoleon prepared for war.
The Additional Act was ratified by plebiscite and publicly proclaimed in a major ceremony known as the Champ de Mai on the Champ de Mars in Paris. The event was meant to show popular backing and national unity, but it occurred as Coalition armies mobilized against France.
Napoleon moved first, crossing into the southern Netherlands to split the Coalition armies before they could fully combine. This opening maneuver set up the fast sequence of battles that would decide the fate of the Hundred Days.
On the same day, French forces fought two key engagements: Quatre Bras against Wellington’s troops and Ligny against Blücher’s Prussians. The fighting prevented an immediate Coalition concentration, but it did not destroy either army—leaving the door open for them to reunite.
Napoleon’s army was decisively defeated near Waterloo by Wellington’s Anglo-allied forces, with crucial support from Blücher’s Prussians. The defeat shattered Napoleon’s last field army and made his political position in Paris untenable.
Facing military collapse and pressure from France’s political leaders, Napoleon abdicated again. He attempted to pass the throne to his son (Napoleon II), but real power quickly shifted toward a provisional government and negotiations with the advancing Coalition.
After the Coalition armies closed in, French commanders concluded the Convention of Saint-Cloud, surrendering Paris and ordering French troops to withdraw from the capital area. This agreement ended major fighting around Paris and cleared the way for the monarchy’s restoration.
Louis XVIII re-entered Paris, beginning the Second Bourbon Restoration. This return is widely used as the endpoint of the Hundred Days, marking the failure of Napoleon’s comeback and the reestablishment of the Bourbon regime under Coalition protection.
After moving to the Atlantic coast and finding escape blocked, Napoleon surrendered to the British Navy and boarded HMS Bellerophon at Rochefort. His surrender removed him as a political rallying point in France and led to his final exile to Saint Helena.
Hundred Days: Napoleon's Return and the Waterloo Campaign (Mar–Jul 1815)