On this day in 1815, Napoleon Bonaparte sailed from the island of Elba off the western coast of Italy—where he'd been exiled after losing a war against, and being ousted as emperor by, the most powerful countries in Europe. Days later, he was marching on Paris with over 1,500 troops to retake France, successfully returning to power and stopping the clock on an effort to restore France's absolute monarchy.
Bonaparte was born on the island of Corsica in 1769, moved to the mainland as a teenager, and joined the French military in 1785. He supported the French Revolution, which began in 1789 and gained fame leading troops against a group of powerful European countries that hoped to return France to absolute monarchy (France won).
After his successful defense of the nation, Bonaparte led an invasion of Egypt and Syria to oust the British ... but hopped on a ship and abandoned his men when he heard another group of European countries were winning battle after battle in an attempt to reverse the revolution's course again. The only way to win this new European war, he said, was to replace France's failing, fledgling republican government.
Once back on the mainland, he organized a coup and set up a new system that placed him at the head of the French Republic from 1799 to 1804. He then named himself Emperor of the French from 1805 to April 1814. Bonaparte led the French Empire through several more wars, some of which started with his seizing of other European countries and others with efforts to restore the less-troublesome monarchy. Then, in April 1814, the sixth major coalition to challenge revolutionary France's power finally succeeded.
It took Napoleon little time to retake France once he returned from Elba. His return to power is known as the “Hundred Days,” the name of which shows just how well his second stint as emperor went. The other major powers of Europe (Austria, Britain, Prussia, and Russia) agreed they couldn't tolerate Napoleon's return and declared war. They beat him again and this time exiled him to Saint Helena, an island over 1,200 miles off the southwestern coast of Africa. He died there in 1821.
You can learn more about Napoleon's time on Elba at Napoleon.org.
