Napoleon why exiled to elba

The Prussians guarded the frontier where the French invaded. Napoleon knew from experience that the old warrior was instinctively aggressive. On the other hand, Wellington was known to be cautious, and in the event misread the situation, for he was convinced that the French would swing around his right flank and try to cut him off from the shore — and his communications with Britain.

The next day was hot and humid. Wellington rode over to meet him, and promised to march to join him, but his army took too long to muster and part of it was attacked at the crossroads of Quatre Bras. Claims that Wellington duped his ally into fighting have often been made, but are unlikely to be true. The battle of Ligny was an attritional pounding match, and the Prussians were ground down by the French artillery and driven from their positions by evening.

Due to confusion over their orders, some 20, French infantry spent the day marching between the two battlefields and failed to intervene in either. Napoleon and Ney took the rest of the army, and followed Wellington. It took time for the French to marshal their forces, and so Wellington got his army away and retreated along the main road north to Brussels. During a day of downpours and thunderstorms, the British cavalry fought a series of delaying actions to keep the pursuers at bay.

The rain continued through the night as the Anglo-Dutch army deployed along the ridge at Mont St Jean. Wellington had his headquarters in the village of Waterloo a little to the north, and kept his tradition of naming the battle after the place where he had slept the night before.

The Sun came up in a clear sky on Sunday 18 June, with some of the French still marching to join the rest of the army facing the ridge. Napoleon expected the Anglo-Dutch to retreat again, and was pleased when they did not. Napoleon trusted Grouchy to keep him away.

He had never before faced the British in battle but, at least publicly, was dismissive. Even the colors of the French cockade were later replaced with the new colors. At first Napoleon landed secretly in Magazzini for a quick inspection and only the following day May 4, at he landed in Portoferraio's harbor on Molo Elba.

Against any concerns, the islanders welcomed him with enthusiasm. On his landing, which took place in front of the Porta a Mare, Napoleon received the keys of the town by Maire Traditi who, together with the authorities, accompanied him to the parish church celebrating the Te Deum by the general Vicar of the island , Monsignor Arrighi. Napoleon, after having stayed for eight nights in the uncomfortable rooms of the Biscotteria headquarter of the administration , decided to renovate some administrative buildings for his accommodation; these were situated between Fort Stella and Fort Falcone , the current complex Villa dei Mulini.

Bonaparte was living on the ground floor, while the top floor and the small theatre were often used to entertain the local bourgeoisie playing cards and enjoying a small orchestra in the evenings.

Also, during the Napoleon's exile were organized some popular public events, such as the one that took place on August 16, which included a horse race, a public dance and fireworks. Napoleon leaves Elba on February 26, at after a permanence in the island lasted about 10 months.

Always on the side of her son during his glorious path, she met him during his exile on Elba. The sailor spoke of how eagerly his fellow islanders had declared themselves for the restored Bourbons. Unaware that Napoleon numbered among his listeners, he praised the new state of affairs somewhat too enthusiastically for the emperor, whose loud sigh caused the shipmaster to observe him more carefully.

He continued his report, now even bolder in his support for the Bourbons and throwing in a few choice oaths for emphasis. Napoleon walked away while he was midsentence and asked Ussher to tell the man to return to his ship. The skies cleared the next morning and the Undaunted sailed on, eastbound. Napoleon spent much of the day reading. He had taken nearly two hundred works from the library at Fontainebleau, the sprawling castle complex to which he had fallen back as the allies occupied Paris a few weeks earlier.

Ruins scattered over the face of the country, wretched hamlets, two mean villages, and one fortress. He was one in a long line of writers who believed they had discovered something enviable in an island people somehow spared from the miasma of civilization.

They are unacquainted with the monstrous luxury of cities. They press their swelling bosoms under enormous busks laced tight with ribbons. Though the Elbans appeared insular and primitive to outsiders, they looked out on the world from a perspective that was broader than that of most mainlanders. Seafaring people had their minds opened by always being on the move, fishing, sailing, and trading. Being such rich economic prizes, capable of sparking wars among powers thousands of miles away, islands were forever being conquered, colonized, and traded, leading to polyglot populations.

Unknown to anyone on the Undaunted was that reports of the allied victory had thrown Elba into open revolt. A British naval blockade had kept the island cut off from the continent since December and starvation loomed.

Troops remained under the nominal charge of the French governor, Dalesme, but just barely. He had once controlled a force of five thousand men drawn from France, Corsica, and the Italian peninsula, but, by early , so many soldiers had deserted that Dalesme was left with only five hundred Frenchmen garrisoned at Portoferraio.

Just west of Portoferraio, in Marciana, the townsfolk flew crude versions of the Union Jack and had tried unsuccessfully to get the captain of a passing British ship to land and take control. They burned Napoleon in effigy, singing and dancing around the flames. To the south in Porto Longone present-day Porto Azzurro , a mutiny that started with villagers tearing tricolor flags had escalated to their shooting the French commanding officer and hacking his body to pieces.

Still, it was a celebratory time on the island. There is still speculation as to whether he was poisoned or simply died of boredom. There is also evidence from an autopsy to suggest that he had ulcers, which affected his liver and intestines. During the Napoleonic Wars legend has it that the people of Hartlepool hanged a shipwrecked monkey as a French spy…. How wrong can a mother be! Related articles.