Demory, Jean-Claude Waterloo. La dernière campagne

In January 1814, France was overrun by the Russian, Prussian and Austrian invasion. After two months of heroic campaigning, in which he yielded to the superior forces and was abandoned by his marshals, the Emperor, who had retreated to Fontainebleau with the remnants of the army, was forced to abdicate on 6 April. On the 20th, he bid farewell to the Imperial Guard and set off for the island of Elba, whose sovereignty had been granted to him by the coalition partners. However, he soon found himself pressed for time in his miserable kingdom. The news coming from France told him of the unpopularity of the Bourbons. They pity him. They hope for his return. He himself felt threatened as the Allies, worried by his proximity to the French coast, were considering deporting him to the English island of St Helena in the Atlantic. Louis XVIII does not pay him the promised pension. This was more than enough to persuade him to flee. On 1 March 1815, he landed near Cannes, followed by the "Eagle Flight", a triumphal procession to Paris. Marshal Ney, who had promised the king that he would bring back the "Corsican ogre" in an iron cage, threw himself into his arms. On 20 March, Napoleon arrived at the Tuileries, which the king had hastily left for Belgium the day before. But then came the hour of disillusionment. The enthusiasm of the French was not as great as he had been told. When he declared that he wanted peace, the powers did not believe in his good intentions and put together a new coalition. This means that war has to be waged again. To raise an army, you need two things that the new ruler of France lacks: Money and time. As for the men, almost all of them have compromised with the previous regime. Nevertheless, he has no choice and must make do with what he has at his disposal. But doubts arise, in him and around him. "His cause will be over in four months," predicted Fouché, who had returned to his police ministry. In fact, three months, just one hundred days, were enough to lead Napoleon to the catastrophe of Waterloo, the tragic apotheosis of his last campaign.