His Life

NAPOLEON BONAPARTE

- l'Empereur de France -

Napoleon Buonaparte was born on August the 15th, 1769 in Corsica. It is told, that he was born so quickly, that his mother, Letizia Ramolino didn't even have time to get to bed, she was returning from mass at Ajaccio. He was the second son of Carlo Buonaparte and Letizia Ramolino, and he was given the unusual name "Napoleon", because of the floormat on which he was born, this depicted the heroes of Homeros. Buonapartes were of lower class nobles, and by no means rich. Corsica had a few months earlier been turned over to France from Genova, so this presented young Napoleon with a mighty new homeland to serve. One can readily imagine, that the army had an allure to him even at an early age, army was one of those professions, in which you had no need for special gifts, young Napoleon had them, however.. His father managed to get him enrolled to military academy at Brienne, from where Napoleon transferred to ecole de militare de Paris, the military academy of Paris. He graduated as an artillery officer at 28th of October, 1785. His career had started. At some point he changed his name from Buonaparte to Bonaparte.

However, the times were not good for France. It was the time for the Great Revolution, the country was at turmoil. Napoleon was young and idealistic, he was deeply moved by the cause, and returned to Corsica to gain independence for his small homeland. Soon, however, he turned his back to Corsica and gave himself to France. This happened after he participated on an unsuccessful attack on Sardinia, which belonged to prince of Savoij.
At 1793, Napoleon had his first true military success. This happened at Toulon, which had been captured by the British, because of Toulon's citizens were royalists and welcomed them with open arms in the middle of revolution. This of course, couldn't be borne. It was Napoleons idea to utilize artillery to re-capture Toulon, other warleaders favored straight attack, which by no means would have carried the day. With skillful artillerywork, Napoleon took one of the crucial forts, thus forcing the British fleet to sea. Toulon was theirs no longer. Napoleon was promoted to general.
1794 was a turning point for revolution. Jacobean directorate was ended, Robspierre had to meet her ladyship, Madame Guillotine. This almost did Napoleon in also, he was arrested, but later on released. However he had no troops to command and future looked bleak. He was not trusted. What was to be done?
He had to prove himself again. He wanted to be sent to Turkey to form the sultans artillery. Fate had other plans. There was a riot aimed at the new directorate, it was up to Napoleon to put it down, this he did with brutality. He, like everyone even today, needed to get connected. To achieve this, he had to marry. The widow of general Beauharnais was an ideal candidate. Josephine was widowed as many of the republican followers had to die in one point of revolutionary storm, as the general was executed his saber was confiscated. This is how Josephine met Napoleon. The son of dead general came to Napoleon to ask the saber back, who gave it willingly. Josephine came to thank him, and they fell in love, or so the stories go. Of course Josephine, who was an aristocrat, saw in the young general an opportunity to get security in her life in revolutionary turmoil, this was only natural. Also, it is known that the leader of the directorate, Barras encouraged this relationship. Surely he wanted to put Napoleon on a leash, and what better way to do this than make him marry Josephine, his lover. The wedding was held at 9th of March, 1796. It was a small affair, not held in church but in magistrate. Napoleon was even late by two hours, which tells a lot of how deep his love was. At the eleventh, the honeymoon was over, Napoleon had to leave for Italy, he was named the commander of the army of Italy. Needless to say, Josephine was not lonely while he was gone.
The army Napoleon got to command in Italy was not in shape, it was broke, just like the rest of the republic's armies. It had no money, and thus very little food. It was supplied by mere 150 horses and mules, which were not enough by far. The only thing it had was oil, plenty of it. The administrators were thieves, stealing all they could and living "IL dolce vita" at the coastal towns. The general in charge, Scherer, was an 60-years old mummy, who had no understanding of what was happening beyond the doors of his office. He got sacked in a hurry. Napoleon had to change a lot of things. He had to mould the troops again, they needed morale and a goal to achieve. He took a seven million liras loan, which was put to maintenance of the army and improving it's fighting ability. Napoleon gave them hope. He made many famous speeches to these ragged men. Here are two examples:
"Soldiers, you are undernourished, raggedy... I'll take you to the richest places in the earth... There you will achieve glory, fame, plunder. Soldiers of Italy, do you have the courage to follow me?"
"What are you complaining? Our great tricolor can cover the capitals you'll conquer!"
These are quite exemplary of the things Napoleon had to do, these men had not much, they were poor soldiers who would follow anyone who would promise them the world. And Napoleon did do just this, he also could deliver his promise. This was not all, though. After following Bonaparte to battle, these rag-tags became something more, they became Napoleon's soldiers, proud to serve him and utterly loyal to him. This was the effect that this young general had to men. He was a general, who looked after his men. For instance, after Milan rebelled, the soldiers were allowed for three hours to plunder the city. This was done without mercy. Soldiers were happy, though.
There was war against Austria-Hungary. As the commandant for the third army to take part on France's side, it was Napoleon's mission to capture the valley Po. This was by no means easy, enemies were all over. Other two armies, those commanded by general Jourdan and the famous general Moreau, were to advance towards the Habsburg capital by following Donau. This was when Napoleon truly earned his spurs. He didn't care much for the orders of directorate, because of this, he was just plain brilliant. He was the only one of the three to truly accomplish his mission. The Emperor-to-Be took great advantages of his enemies mistakes. He always aimed at gaining the superior numbers at the field, to get this done he splintered the enemy forces into many small fragments by moving fast and hard. The terrain was difficult, bridges and river gained much importance in this war. First, he attacked Piemonte, which he beat at Millesimo on 14th of April 1796. This forced Piemonte out of the war, they signed armistice at Cherasco. At 15 of May he forced his army to Milan, after which he forced the duchies of Parma and Modena to make peace, followed by Liverno. Every victory was followed by heavy payments on the behalf of the beaten. All the artworks were sent to directorate at France, to appease it for Napoleons solo actions. To ensure the conquests stability, he molded two republics, Cisalps and Transpadan. These got their constitution from France. This was a big step, it showed that Napoleon had great understanding of things other than military, he was more than a soldier, he had potential to be a great man. One of his quotes was:"If I hadn't been born Napoleon, I would have liked to be born Alexander the Great." This great military leader also had understanding of ruling. And ruling is what makes nations great. On October the 8th, he punished Modena for conspiring with the Austria-Hungary and he joined it to Transpadanic Republic. On the 9th, he gave his consent to the republic of Genova to become the protectorate of France. On the 10th he signed a treaty of peace with Naples. November 5th Toscana had it's peace. Wherever Napoleon went, there was peace and order achieved. The most famous battles on this campaign were the battle of bridge of Lodi at river Adda on the 10th of May and the battles at 16th and 17th of November at the bridge of Arcole crossing the Adige. Adige was also the area in which the most important victory against Austria-Hungary was had, at this battle Napoleon himself was surrounded by the enemy several times and many horses died from under him. At some point Napoleon had to whip some moral to his soldiers, who were tiring of the war. Peace had to be had quickly. At the 14th of February 1797 Napoleon won at Rival and at Tagliamento at the 16th. He pushed deep into the enemy territory, way ahead the other republican armies, all the way to within 90 kilometers of Vienna, to Simmering. Temporary peace was achieved at Loeben at 18th of April 1797 with Austria-Hungary. At 18th of October 1797 the treaty of Campoformio was signed. The peace was made on the terms of Napoleon, not the directorate. Napoleon was victorious, his popularity was on the rise. Napoleon returned home to Paris.
New thoughts were rising on Bonapartes mind. He turned his eyes to east. Directory was happy to be rid of the famous general, and they approved of his plan to take Egypt, thus trying to cut India off of Britain. At 1798 general boarded the ship, the venture was on. He took Malta and made a landfall to Egypt and made his way to the pyramids. The battle of Cairo, or the Battle of the Pyramids was at 12th of July, 1798. In it Murad Bey was defeated. Napoleon was at the height of his success... for awhile. British admiral Nelson had not been idle. He had almost caught the French fleet at it's way to Egypt, and now it made no mistakes. At 2nd and 3rd of August at Aboukirk, the French fleet was sunk. The sultan of Turkey started to reconquer Egypt. Napoleon made an unsuccessful attack to Syria, it failed. The plague killed a lot of troops, moral was lowering. He had one useless victory at Aboukirk, on 25th of July 1799, but that was about it. Napoleon decided to leave this "romantic rhapsody", as he called it, and left his command to general Kleber. He abandoned his troops and boarded a boat to France. General Kleber was later on murdered, his second-in-command had to surrender to the British at 1801, of the 30 000 men, about half were returned to France. This was one of the great miscalculations of Napoleon, almost an adventure for him, one that cost a lot of men without no gain.
The time was ripe for great changes in France. After Egypt Napoleon started to make his move on the political arena, he had the support of the people, and more important, the army behind him, despite the setback of Egypt. The speech that Napoleon made to director Barras was close to the feelings of the people:
"What has happened to the honorable France I gave to you? I brought you victories and you have brought us naught but defeats! I got you billions and you have passed laws to make the people poor, you have spread misery!"
This is an excellent speech to analyze. In it is evident, that Napoleon no longer serves nobody but the people of France, and thus, himself. He makes himself the France, without him it would not exist. These foul men have almost ruined it, but he is willing to save it yet again. People agreed, France was ready for a dictator after the horrors of the directorate and the purges. The five members of the directorate ware called "the five apes". Life was not changing to "equalite" of all people. There were also rumors of Jacobean conspiracy. Napoleon was made the Commander in Chief of armed forces, they probably had little choice on the matter. On the 9th of December 1799 Napoleon takes his changes. At first everything goes well, but then he faces trouble with the Council of Five Hundred, as he enters the chambers he is called: "Outlaw!". Things look threatening. Lucien Bonaparte, Napoleons half-brother, who is the head of the Council, calls upon soldiers to help out. General Leclerc in head of grenadiers burst into room and help Napoleon. Members of the Council flee in all directions, even out of windows leaving their expensive jackets and headwear's to chambers. Grenadiers confiscate them with relish. The coup is done and the republic is de facto finished.
13th of December a new constitution is set up, in which Napoleon legalizes his actions. France had used up a lot of constitutions during the revolution, and this one was like the rest, it mattered little. There were now three consuls, of which Napoleon was the first and foremost, others were puppets, just for show. They were Cambaceres and Lebrun. On the February 19th Napoleon moves to Tuiliers.
Napoleon was a welcome surprise for many. He worked really hard and tried to know everything about everything. He codified the law, all of France now had only one, he stabilizes the currency, corrects the taxlaw, improves educational system , pacifies religious affairs in the country, gives pardons to condemned etc. In fact, one could say that he created the modern administration. He also makes peace with the Pope, the final deal was mad at August 15th. The senate declares him lifelong consul at August 2nd, after treaty of peace with Britain is declared.
Before the peace with Britain, there was war again. Napoleon had offered peace to Austria and England at christmasday of 1799. They weren't interested. Three French negotiators are murdered at the woods near Radstadt. Spring 1800 brought the scourge of war to Europe. France's army of Rhine under the command of Moreau beat the Austrians and pushed them back over Donau. Russians take the field against France also, the feared general Suvorov beat the French at Italy two times, at Cassano and Novi. Situation was threatening
Napoleon takes the field, he leaves Paris on 6th of May and eventually follows the footsteps of Hannibal over the Alps. He crosses the great gorge of St. Berhand's in five days, between 15th and 20th of May. At 2nd of June Napoleon reaches Italy. He's plan is excellent, to lure the enemy to bring his main forces to him and fight them on his terms. He was planning on one major engagement to finish the war. He got it.
At the 14th of June 1800 in Marengo the battle was fought. Some think that this battle was the moment when the Empire of France was established. In a way, Marengo was three different battles. It was fought near Alessandria. At six in the morning the armies of France appear in the field. They are surprised my Melas, who has in secret crossed Bormida and whose troops are now sallying out of Alessandria castle. Two French colonnades hold their positions for four hours, but are eventually forced to retreat. At the next stage Bonaparte sends in the reserves, but they cannot break the Austrians. Things are looking evil for Napoleon. Napoleons savior this day was Dessaix, whose timely arrival at five in the afternoon turned the whole battle around. Austria was beaten, it's troops routed over the Bormida. Napoleon send the emperor of Austria a letter, in which he gives the emperor the option to give up. Letter is written like it was between equals, Napoleon no longer considered himself just a consul or a general.
The peace doesn't come at first. After Marengo there was a truly festive spirit in France, but maybe prematurely. The negotiations at Luneville in the November of 1800 are at standstill. Fighting commences on the 22. At Hohenlind, general Moreau gives France a great victory over the Austrians at 3rd of December 1800. Austrian archduke Charles lost in two weeks 12 000 men in casualties and 25 000 men in prisoners out of 70 000 men army. Moreau advanced to within 75 kilometers from Vienna, thus forcing Austria to peace. Moreau was Napoleon's main rival, especially after this battle. Later on he participated on the conspiracy of Caudoudal and was exiled to America. He stayed there between the years 1804 - 1813. After returning to Europe he partook the battle of Dresden at 26th - 27th 1813 against Napoleon and was killed there. Peace is rapidly coming along. Russians had quit the war, Naples does so at 29th of March. Britain is alone and signs the abovementioned peace. France is now at peace and powerful. Whole lot of republics have sprung out at it's borders, all of them under the heel of Napoleon. For instance the Cisalpic Republic was created at Lyon's, France, not in Italy. Since there were no capable Italians present, the reigns were given to Napoleon. Austria lost all of its Italian areas, but was given Venice, which after centuries of being a republic, ceased to be.

Napoleon was the lifelong consul of France, but this was not enough. Hereditary monarchy was the goal. Many assassination attempts against Napoleon made the decision easy for him. Good example of these attempts was at December on year 1800 at Rue Saint-Niclaise. A bomb killed 22 people, wounded 57 and damaged 42 houses. Napoleon had passed the place just before. Jacobinists were blamed and one of the condemned was the painter, Ceracchi, who had been Napoleon's childhood friend. Another famous and fateful conspiracy against Napoleon was led by general Pichegru and Georges Cadoudalin. This gave the excuse to capture the young duke of Enghiens, who was a Bourbon. French soldiers captured him from another country and brought him to France to be condemned, No evidence was found, but the duke was executed anyway. This brought an outcry of hatred and disapproval from all over the Europe.

The Senate quite simply announced on 18th of June 1804, that the first consul is the Emperor of the French by the grace of God and according to the republics law. At Notre Dame on December the 2nd, Napoleon received his crown. The Pope Pus VII was present thus making the new emperor legitimate among his peer in Europe. Thus the political situation was curious. Was peace possible between the European nation that had fought against revolutionary France and new France, that was now a monarchy based on revolution? That was not to be. Anyway, Napoleon made a fabulous court for himself, pomp and glory, magnificent outlook for the peoples sake was the goal. Grand titles were given away, like the "grand admiral". All of this could not stop the coming wars.

Year is 1805. The third alliance is come to being. England, Austria and Russia united their forces for common cause. Prussia went along with it also, but only so far. The cause was the peacetreaties of 1801 and 1802, where France had maybe taken too much for herself. After 1802 France took measures, that were highly alarming. It took over Switzerland, Napoleon was the new president of Italy, many areas of Italy, like Genoa were attached to France, the Naples had her harbors manned by the French. Germany was rearranged totally, with ex Austrian areas given over to Prussia, Bayer and Wurttemberg.

Napoleon did not wait. He had abandoned his plans for an assault to England and so was free to begin the war, that was sure to come. Napoleon had created "de Grande Armee", the Great Army. These troops had previously been but area troops, and thus hard to manage and supervise. Now he had centered his army to Bologna for the invasion of England, but as that did not come to pass, the army marched against Austria. At Ulm the Austrians were beaten badly. After marshal Ney cut of Austrian army's retreat route, over 50,000 Austrians were captured on the 20th of October 1805. Day after the French fleet was crushed at the hands of Horatio Nelson at Trafalgar. French admiral Villeneuve was ordered against his wishes to sail to the Mediterranean by Napoleon. Villeneuve had lost at Abukir, he would do so again. French-Spanish fleet lost 18 ships out of 33. It was a small consolation to Napoleon that Nelson had died of a musket shot. Nelson had kept the seas British domain and England was safe.

Both sides met at Austerlitz, which is now a small village named Slavkov u Brna. Before Austerlitz, marshal Ney was given orders to drive the Austrians out of Tyrol. To capture Vienna was to goal, and he was given the key to Vienna at the 13th of November. Napoleon kept going until at Austerlitz he faced the battle he had been looking for. He had picked the location of battle by drawing the enemy to where he wanted it. Austrians and the Russians were trying to stop him from returning to Vienna. On 29th of November Napoleon left Austerlitz to face the russo-austrian armies under the command of Alexander II and Frans II, who tried to surround the French. The battle of Austerlitz was maybe one of Napoleons best. He was ready for everything that the enemy tried and responded to everything with perfection. On the morning of December the 2nd the battle began. At 4pm it was over. Austrians and the Russians lost 35,000 men, 50 standards and all their artillery, which was then melted for the victory monument to be placed on Vendome at Paris. Napoleon lost 8,000 men with 1,300 of them killed. At the 6th Napoleon met with Frans II, but the peace would not come despite the peaceagreement of Pressburg on December 26th 1805. At Pressburgh Austria lost Venice. The fourth coalition was to come, on which Austria took no part. Napoleon had to first take Prussia out of the war, war in Saxony was no big matter for Napoleon and on 28th of October 1806 Napoleon captures Berlin. Battles like Jena showed that Prussia was not ready for war, the war lasted for 6 days. Russians were next. At the battle of Eylau on February the 2nd 1807, Napoleon did not beat the Russians, the cost was great. At Friedland on June the 14th, he did. That war took 6 months and at 25th of June, Napoleon and Alexander met at Tilsit. The war was over with France the victor, but with Russia still uncowed. England was still unbeaten. After Tilsit, it all looked good for Napoleon. France was stronger than ever. It looked like nothing could sway it's position. But Napoleon made a mistake.

At 1808 Napoleon pushed the Bourbons out of Spain and placed his brother Joseph to the throne. Spanish people did not want him, they detested French for stealing money from the church, they did not want the French to control them. War was inevitable. The Grand Army now faced an enemy, that was motivated by patriotism and religion and was impossible to pin down. Guerilla war was something that the great army could not deal with. At Bailen on 23rd of July 1808, 18,000 French soldiers had to surrender. That was a shock to the whole of Europe. Spain would eventually tie down 300,000 men from the great army. Also this war was fateful, because now the English finally could start their landwar. On August the 1st 1808 15,000 men under the command of Arthur Wellesley, the duke of Wellington come ashore at Portugal. It would not stop until 6 years later, year 1814 at Toulon. At Vitoria Wellington won his grandest victory at Spain. For now, Napoleon thought that he had the Spanish cowed by taking Madrid on December the 5th 1808. He was wrong. The Austrians were again ready for war.

1809 brought war to Europe again. Many signs told that Austria would move. One young Austrian student tried to assassinate Napoleon at Schönbrunn with a dagger, there was unrest in germanspeaking areas. Between April the 19th and 23rd, in five days, Napoleon strikes and scatters the Austrians. This time he does not win so easily though. As he tries to cross Donau at Aspern and Essling on 22nd of May, he is beaten back and his troops are for awhile in dire straits at the island of Lobau. Austrians are commanded my the archduke Charles, who was one of Napoleons more successful opponents. The losses are very heavy on both sides Here Napoleon lost marshal Lannes. He would not retreat though. Two day battle at Wagram brings Napoleon victory at 5th and 6th of July. This war was close to ruining Napoleon, even the English had mad a landfall at the island of Walchren at Holland, but retreated. Austria made peace with France at Vienna on 14th of October.

It was time to bring peace between France and Austria for good, and so Josephine had to go, they divorced on December 1809. Napoleon married instead arcduchess Marie Louise, the daughter of Frans II. This marriage cemented for awhile the peace between the two nations. Napoleon's son was born on 20th of March 1811. Napoleons brother's, Louis, the king of Holland, Jerome, king of Westfalen, Joseph, king of Spain and his halfbrother Lucien no longer were his most immediate family, he now had a heir.

War with Russia was still on horizon. Napoleon had tried many times to bring peace, but to no avail. Conference at Erfurt between September 27th and November 14th 1808 brought no answer to many difficult questions. So France and the Great Army was committed to war in Russia. 700,000 men would go there, of which 300,000 were actually French. Napoleon could not turn back from this war after he had committed himself to it. The Russians thought to defend against the French by building a fortress trap, in where Napoleonic armies would die on cannonfire. However, the placement of this trap was badly chosen, and Napoleon saw, that he had the change of capturing the Russian army with no retreat from the "trap". So he moved but Russians realized their mistake just in time and managed to get out of their own trap. Now Napoleon understood that to chase the Russian army all over the Russia, would possibly doom his army. Yet by going back, he would admit to Europe that he had lost. His dilemma was terrible and he chose to chase after Russian army in hopes of getting that one battle, winning it and then making peace. Russians would not co-operate. Russian war began 1812. There Napoleon would loose his army, the best part of it. Spain was in turmoil and Europe was uneasy. Napoleon felt he needed to solve the question of Russia once and for all. Napoleons armies would cross Denepr river on August the 15th. At Smolensk, Russians abandon the town on 17th after a struggle. When the battle finally came at Borodino, Napoleon was not expecting it, huge Russian batteries caused terrible losses to advance guard. Borodino was Kutuzov's battle, he had to defend Moscow. Napoleon refused any maneuvers and ordered a direct frontal assault. At the end, he managed to push Russians off their positions and night fell. In the morning the Russian army had marched off, but the battle was not a victory for Napoleon. Alexander refuse to even negotiate with Napoleon. Moscow was his, but to no avail. From there there was nowhere to go. It is evident that his army was not ready for this kind of campaign, it was often impossible to get supplies since Cossacks would harass the flanks. Winter would be the greatest enemy of all. At the river Brezina on 25th of November 1812, Napoleons army had suffered terrible losses mainly to weather. Over 350,000 men died. The Imperial guard was down from 30,000 men to 1,500. Napoleon had left his army earlier. It was clear that Europe would turn against him. There had even been a military coup at Paris on October 23rd by general Malet, who was executed.
On June 23rd 1813 prince Metternich met Napoleon at Dresden. Napoleon refused to make peace, since he had been victorious at Lutzen on May the 1st and at Bautzen on 16th of May 1813. Napoleon had now a new army, very young one to be sure. It was called "the army of Marie-Louise". He had 300,000 new soldiers. The quality was not the same as it had been though. Now he would not make peace, because he thought he could win. Had he not always done so? It was not necessary to count the enemies, it could be said that France was alone against Europe, with only the polish standing by him. Austria, Russia, Prussia, England... they all were in the new alliance. At Leipzig on October the 16th the battle of the nations was fought. 150,000 French soldiers faced Russian, Austrian and Prussian army of 300,000. First day looked good for Napoleon. After that he lost. His luck had left him. France now "Has the honor of being alone".

After loosing Germany Napoleon fought in France. The French campaign at 1814 was Napoleon's best, truly a showpiece of his strategic genius. In the end, it mattered little. Napoleon had 70,000 men, mostly recruits, which the allies thought they could beat easily. They thought they could get to Paris in one week., actually it took three months. Quick maneuvers and lightning quick strikes made life hard for allies armies. February the 11th 1814 Montmirail, February the 18th Montereau, these were great successes for Napoleon. At the latter Prussians were badly mauled. March the 31st was the day the allies reached Paris. Napoleons marshals pressed Napoleon to step down. He did so at 4th of April 1814. He tried to get his son to be the next ruler, but allies rejected this. At Fonteinebleau castle, 20th of April, his old veterans fared him well. 20 years of common history, countless of successes and in the end, the bitter defeat. Napoleon left for Elba, he would get two million francs annually and would rule this small island. He was not done yet however.

Ten months at Elba. At the 26th of February he left the island and March the 1st he was in France at Antibes. He had 700 soldiers. 20 days he marched towards Paris. Marshal Ney promised to bring him to Paris in iron cage, but ended up joining him. The Bourbons had returned to power and made it possible for Napoleon to return. Ludwig XVIII had gone through great pains to eradicate anything that had anything to do with revolution, both good and bad things. Now Napoleon took up the flag of revolution again, thus legitimizing himself to the French. French people were not convinced though. Neither were the allies.

Napoleon wanted to remain in charge, but wanted no more war. This was not to be. Napoleon attacked first, as is his wont. At Waterloo, or La Belle Alliance, he lost the last time. At 16tth of June Napoleon plans to split the Prussian and English armies was near to succeeding. At Ligny he crushed the Prussians, but did not take advantage of his success, Prussians were allowed to regroup and to come and save the day two days later at Waterloo. At the same time Ney did not manage to take the crossroads at Quatre Bras, but Wellington held him at bay. At the end, Ney was facing the whole British army. Waterloo was the final act. Napoleon tired all day to smash the British, but Wellington barely kept his lines up. Disaster struck when accidentally 10,000 cavalrymen without proper support from artillery and infantry attacked British lines, and failed. At afternoon, Ney managed finally to set up a proper attack, but the Prussians were making their presence known at the right flank now, and there were no reserves to commit to support Ney. So in the end a stalemate had occurred. Prussians were pushed back by the guard and finally the guard was marshaled to punch through the much weakened British lines. The end was a disaster. Guard battalions were set up wrongly and British rifles and muskets did terrible damage to guard, maybe killing over half of them. "La Guarde Recule!", the guard retreats told the world, that Napoleons time was at end, for good. What was left of his army, he took to Paris at the 28th of June. There he gave up his throne for the last time. As Wellington said: "It was a damn near run thing."

Napoleon tried to get to the United States. At 3rd of July 1815 Napoleon reached Rochefort-sur-Mer. There he found British warships blockading the harbor. He made up his mind to surrender to the British, and asked to get a safehaven for himself. While the British did not grant him a sanctuary, neither did they do as the great powers of Europe demanded, execute him. He was to become a prisoner of war. St. Helena was Napoleon's fate. August the 8th was the date he left for this small island. He was to be the charge of sir Hudson Lowe. Napoleons life at St. Helena was not very pleasant. Probably he missed his son, who had been taken to Vienna. The food was not too good, the climate unhealthy. He died the 5th of May, 1821, and he was 52 years old. Now he rests at Les Invalides church at Paris with some of his marshals. Next to the church, fittingly, is the war museum, in which are presented many of the flags of his regiments.