2H - The collapse of the Empire: the first Peace of Paris
Learn why Napoleon fell in 1814, how his return ended in a harsher settlement in 1815, and why the Empire's collapse left France with lasting institutions, divided memories and a changed place in Europe.
Collapse in 1814 and the first peace
The Russian disaster did not immediately end Napoleon's rule, but it changed the balance between France and its opponents. Rebuilding the army replaced numbers more readily than experienced soldiers, trained cavalry and horses. The continuing Peninsular War absorbed other resources. Prussia joined Russia against France, Austria entered the coalition in 1813, and British support helped sustain the struggle. Napoleon now faced a more durable combination of enemies.
French victories at Lützen and Bautzen in 1813 showed that he remained dangerous. However, he failed to secure a lasting settlement, and defeat at Leipzig in October 1813 forced retreat from Germany. Former allies and dependent rulers abandoned French dominance. The Empire lost troops and revenue precisely when greater efforts were required. Military reverses and political defection reinforced one another.
In 1814 Napoleon won several engagements in France, but could not prevent the coalition from advancing on Paris. The capital surrendered at the end of March, and allied forces entered on 31 March. The Senate and influential figures including Talleyrand turned against him; his marshals pressed for abdication. He abdicated unconditionally on 6 April, and the Treaty of Fontainebleau arranged exile to Elba. The fall was therefore a combination of military defeat, exhaustion and abandonment by the elite that had helped operate his rule.
Louis XVIII returned as Bourbon king. The first Treaty of Paris, signed on 30 May 1814, restored France approximately to its 1792 boundaries with some adjustments. The allies did not impose a general war indemnity or a prolonged occupation of the sort introduced after 1815. The aim was to remove Napoleonic dominance and establish a workable European order without making the restored monarchy impossible to sustain. Fondation Napoléon's account of the Vienna settlement distinguishes the first peace from the harsher settlement after the Hundred Days.
The Hundred Days and a changed constitution
Napoleon's return exposed the weakness of Bourbon acceptance as well as the survival of his personal appeal. Some soldiers resented the restored monarchy's treatment of the army; purchasers of revolutionary property feared a return of émigré claims; others opposed the political and religious direction of the Restoration. Louis XVIII's Charter protected important changes, but anxieties about what royalists might attempt remained.
Napoleon landed in France on 1 March 1815 after escaping Elba. Forces sent to stop him joined him, and he entered Paris on 20 March as Louis fled. The episode conventionally called the Hundred Days should not be treated as a unanimous national uprising. Napoleon gained dramatic military support and benefited from Bourbon unpopularity, but royalist resistance remained and many people wanted peace more than another mobilisation. The Hundred Days chronology supplies the sequence of return and renewed conflict.
Napoleon tried to broaden his legitimacy. Benjamin Constant helped draft the Additional Act to the Constitutions of the Empire in April 1815. It provided an elected Chamber of Representatives alongside a Chamber of Peers and offered stronger constitutional liberties than the earlier Empire. Suffrage remained restricted and the emperor retained substantial authority. The proposal was a real constitutional alteration, but came from a ruler whose previous conduct gave liberals reasons for distrust. The official text of the Additional Act permits comparison of representative institutions with retained imperial powers.
Hundred Days
The period of Napoleon's return to power in 1815, from his restoration in Paris in March to the renewed Bourbon restoration in July, ending his final attempt to rule France.
The major European powers refused to accept his return as a secure basis for peace. Their response reflected experience of previous French dominance, strategic interests and a desire to uphold their settlement. Napoleon needed military success quickly before allied forces could combine. Domestic legitimacy and international acceptance were now separate problems: support inside France could not compel Europe to recognise him.
Waterloo, abdication and the second peace
Napoleon attacked in Belgium to defeat the allied armies before they united. He beat the Prussians at Ligny on 16 June, but did not destroy them. On 18 June at Waterloo, Wellington's Anglo-allied army resisted French attacks while Prussian forces under Blücher arrived. The coalition's ability to cooperate was decisive. The French defeat cannot be explained solely by weather, a single subordinate's mistake or Napoleon's health; battlefield decisions mattered within a strategy dependent on preventing the allies from combining. The National Army Museum account of Waterloo explains the meeting of these allied forces.
Napoleon abdicated again on 22 June. France still possessed forces, but renewed political resistance and the allies' determination deprived him of a practical route to continuing as emperor. He eventually surrendered to the British and was sent to St Helena, a remote exile intended to prevent another return. Louis XVIII was restored once more.
The second Treaty of Paris, signed on 20 November 1815, was more severe than the first. France returned approximately to its 1790 frontiers with specific losses, paid an indemnity of 700 million francs, and accepted an allied occupation army of up to 150,000 men at French expense for a period of up to five years. Occupation ended in 1818, before the maximum term, but the obligation demonstrates the greater distrust generated by Napoleon's return. The treaty's articles on indemnity and occupation distinguish the maximum term from the possibility of earlier withdrawal. Art taken during French conquests was also returned in the aftermath of defeat.
| Settlement | Treatment of France | Main implication |
|---|---|---|
| First Paris, May 1814 | Approximately 1792 frontiers; no general war indemnity or prolonged allied occupation | A comparatively lenient reintegration after removing Napoleon |
| Second Paris, November 1815 | Approximately 1790 frontiers with losses; indemnity and occupation | Stronger security measures after his return had disrupted the first peace |
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