Exiled – Twice
Napoleon Bonaparte was in a bad
situation. He was on the island of
Elba, population 12,000, far from France, where he was the Emperor. Or, at
least used to be. You may be wondering what he was doing miles from his
country.
After his trek through Russia,
Napoleon barely escaped from the freezing wilderness. His enemies were waiting.
Napoleon had a lot of enemies. Great Britain, Austria, and Prussia were among
them. Napoleon attempted to battle, but after escaping from Russia, he had few
troops left. He was forced to surrender. They wrote up the Treaty of
Fontainebleau, and exiled him to Elba. So what was Napoleon going to do about
it?
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| Elba Island Today |
Meanwhile, back in Austria, the
Congress of Vienna with representatives from many European countries was getting
together. Their purpose was simple. They were dividing up Europe. Now that
Napoleon was gone, there was a lot of unclaimed land that previously belonged
to France. However, before they could make any major decisions, there was
shocking news. Napoleon had escaped from Elba, and was heading towards France.
Napoleon was doing it. If he could
just make it back to France, he could regain control, regroup his armies, and
conquer more of Europe. That’s not exactly how it turned out, though. His
enemies were not stupid, and they sent out soldiers to intercept him. When the
soldiers met up with him, Napoleon stepped of his horse and told the soldiers
to shoot him if they wished. Instead, the soldiers said, “Vive L’Empereur” and
brought Napoleon to Paris. Luck was on Napoleon’s side that day. However, 100
days later, he would not be so lucky.
Napoleon ruled France for 100 days.
Those 100 days were not the easiest of his life. Both British and Prussian
armies were approaching. Napoleon had 200,000 men. The final battle was upon
him.
On Sunday, June 18, 1815, the
Battle of Waterloo was fought. After a great deal of fighting, the Prussian
army arrived. Napoleon was forces to attack with his strongest force: the
Imperial Guard. The guard was destroyed by the opposing armies. Those who did
not die retreated or surrendered. After that, the French army disintegrated,
and Napoleon surrendered.
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| Napoleon's Empire (Purple) |
The title of this story is Exiled – Twice, so you guessed it;
Napoleon was exiled again. The British exiled him to the small Island of St.
Helena. This time, he did not attempt escape. He died in 1821.
This is the story of Napoleon, the Emperor who ruled
France, claimed land, fought battles, and, of course, was exiled twice.
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| Napoleon Bonaparte |
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteHet Adian,
ReplyDeleteI too am doing Napoleon, as well as the battle of waterloo and this blog post gave me great information on both his banishment and his final battle.
Are you choosing Napoleon as you topic? This post was very informative and a great read.
Thanks for writing such a detailed post about Napoleons banishment and his reign as emperor of french.
G-E-O: Gus
What’s up Mr. Clutch?!
ReplyDeleteFirst off, your knowledge on Napoleon’s two exiles is tremendous. The way you include such fine details, like, “…the soldiers said, “Vive L’Empereur” and brought Napoleon to Paris”, manifest your deep understanding of the subject. The information you presented was comprehensive, yet still concise. Your blog post, “Exiled – Twice”, was especially enjoyable for me, because I had researched Napoleon’s failed Invasion of Russia but didn’t know the consequences for his failure. I now know that he was exiled! After the satisfying start, you elaborated on the rest of Napoleon’s life, stressing his second exile. I have only one question on your blog post: What did Napoleon do in his six years on St. Helena? Your writing was straight-forward and organized, allowing readers to absorb information easily and retain it. You talked less, but said more.
Amazing job, Aidan,
Andrew Park
Hi Aidan,
ReplyDeleteYour knowledge about Napoleon is tremendous. You were very specific and detailed in your blog post. I think it would be interesting if you gave the locations of the two islands and some details on why he couldn’t get off of St. Helena.
Great post,
Adolfo Apolloni
your story was so realistic! i can see that napoleon had a hard time, i dont know if i like Napoleon because ne did do some very tyrant like actions. but you post is so cool how your title, story, and your info that you input! i learned a lot about napoleon that i did not know, like the time i thought Napoleon was banished for the final time after the battle of waterloo. keep up the good work!
ReplyDeleteE.E./kyle
Thanks for the great comments!
ReplyDeleteAndrew, during his exile on St. Helena, he actually lived with a family.
Adolfo, Elba was in the Mediterranean near Italy, and St. Helena was in the Atlantic. He could not escape from St. Helena because he was under English watch.
- Aidan
Dear Aidan, I much enjoyed your documentation of napoleon's dual exiles. You had great information and a great style. I was wondering, when sixth coalition exiled him to Elba, and he had a six million franc per year income, was that paid to napoleon, or was it simply a way to punish the french and shame them? You had a very insightful post Aidan,it was very well done.
DeleteSincerely, Ian
Great post I enjoyed reading it. I liked how you talked about, how the European countries were dividing up Europe, thinking Napoleon wasn't a threat anymore. Then Napoleon escapes and just starts to try and conquer them again.
ReplyDelete