On February 26, 1815, Napoleon Bonaparte leaves Elba and returns to France. A year earlier, the emperor was forced to sign an abdication. He was given the island of Elba as his personal possession plus a 1,000-man army. The emperor selected it from his old guards.
After the Bourbon dynasty was restored in France on April 2, 1814, Talleyrand was elected head of the provisional government of France. People from the old aristocracy who had spent more than 25 years in exile returned to France. This breed of people returns not only to see their native country, but also comes with claims to have all their titles and lands restored, summarizes "History of the World".
The new ruler is very indecisive and weak, and upon his arrival he adopts a new constitution, which he calls the Constitutional Charter and which significantly limits the executive power of the king.
The lands of the aristocrats are not returned, and their claims are not met.
At the same time, Louis XVIII expresses his desire for dialogue and compromises, both for the aristocracy and for the new owners, bankers and merchants in the country. At the same time, the new ruler replaces the country's flag with a royal one, gives titles to new aristocrats, and introduces a ceremony that begins to bother the bourgeoisie in the country. They feared most of all for their lands, realizing that very soon they might have to give them up and return them to the aristocracy.
In this political environment, Napoleon's turbulent nature carefully monitored the moods of the French people through his agents. As A. Manfred writes from a place of rest, the island of Elba had become a place from which the former emperor carefully observed the moods in France. And those news that reached him from his reliable sources gave him hope that his time was not over yet. So on March 1, 1815, three ships landed in the Bay of Juan, one of which was Napoleon Bonaparte.
The French authorities immediately sent troops against the returned emperor, but the soldiers refused to stand against him and even more - they went over to his side. Bonaparte entered Paris, where he forced the Bourbons to emigrate to Belgium. However, this does not mean at all that the former ruler has regained the throne without any problems, on the contrary - the voice of Talleyrand is raised against him, calling on the Great Powers to intervene and unanimously condemn Napoleon as an enemy of the state and peace. Even the already elderly and sick Louis XVIII makes statements in which he loudly calls how he will protect his throne, even at the cost of his life. In contrast to these attitudes, the French people show that they have not forgotten the greatness of the empire and welcome the return of Napoleon.
On June 18, 1815, Napoleon, having formed a considerable army, begins the battle of Waterloo.
In this battle, Bonaparte's army is defeated. And it seems that it is here that the emperor has already lost all hope, every path that would lead him to new greatness. The Provisional Government categorically opposed Napoleon's presence, while in the squares of Paris the people shouted "Long live the Emperor" and firmly opposed the Bourbons. But these cries no longer reached the ears of the former emperor - for him, any cause would be doomed to failure.
For this reason, Bonaparte sought refuge not anywhere, but with his old enemies, the English. This action of his was strange, because expecting to be welcomed with a warm embrace, the English actually logically sent him to his last destination in life - the island of St. Helena, chosen not by chance - this is an island located in the southern part of the Atlantic Ocean, thousands of kilometers from Europe.
The monarchy was restored in France, and the Bourbon dynasty was again at the helm.