Masters of the Channel for six hours, we are masters of the world.
His boasting was exaggerated (since he never ruled the world), his underestimating of Britain and her allies was misguided (as he soon found out), although his fearlessness in battle (“He who fears being conquered is sure of defeat”) was respected.
n !"!#, when $apoleon was at the the height of his power , his empire included countries directl% under his control (li&e 'he $etherlands), countries which his forces occupied (li&e pain) and countries with whom he had treat% agreements (li&e ustria).
restored and and life (in the sense of B% !"!*, when $apoleon was in exile on +lba, monarchies throughout +urope had been restored who ruled what countr%) was essentiall% bac& to normal. o when the former ruler escaped from +lba, it is little wonder wh% the monarchies of +urope quic&l% marshaled their forces against him.
$apoleon fled fled +lba as 'he 'he Hundred -a%s -a%s.. s he traveled to aris, pic&ing Histor% records the events after $apoleon up support support along along the wa%, $apoleon must have been formulating his plan of action/
0hen he arrived in aris, he overthrew 1ouis 23. erhaps he thought the chance of empire once again
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belonged to him. •
He raised an arm% of 4"#,### men and went on the offensive in Belgium.
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5n 6une !*th, he defeated the russians at the the 1ign%. 1ign%. t t 7uatre Bras, Bras, that same da%, he held 0ellesle% (&nown b% then as the first -u&e of 0ellington).
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t 0aterloo, a village south of Brussels, $apoleon8s quest for empire ended forever . 0ellington held all da% against $apoleon8s attac& attac& (this is an interactive battle simulator) until the russian 9ebhard von Bl:cher (the (the lesser;&nown hero of 0aterloo) returned to to rout the <rench. <rench.
B% the !"th of 6une, !"!*, the battle was over. 'he combined llied <orces had ended $apoleon=s $apoleon=s quest for a come bac&.
account of of the battle battle.. His 5ne of $apoleon8s personal aids ; his equerr%, 6ardin in> in> ; left an insightful insightf ul e%ewitness account descriptions of the the battle8s end end,, and the effects of the defeat on $apoleon, are revealing/
Napoleon towards eight o'clock in the evening, seeing that his army was almost beaten, commenced to despair of the success which two hours before he believed to be assured. He remained on the battlefield until halfpast nine when it was absolutely necessary to leave.
!ssured of a good guide, we passed to the right of "enappes and through the fields# we marched all the night without knowing too well where we were going until the morning. $owards $owards four o'clock in the t he morning we came to Charleroi where Napoleon, owing to the onrush of the army in beating a retreat, had much difficulty in proceeding.
!t last after he had left the town, he found in a little meadow on the right a small bivouac fire made by some soldiers. He stopped by it to warm himself and said sai d to "eneral Corbineau, %&t b ien Monsieur, we have done a fine thing.
"eneral Corbineau saluted him and replied, %(ire, it is the utter ruin of )rance.
Napoleon turned round, shrugged his shoulders and remained absorbed for some moments. He was at this time extremely pale and haggard and much changed.
He took a small glass of wine and a morsel of bread which one of his e*uerries had in his pocket, and some moments later mounted, asking if the horse galloped well. He went as far as +hilippeville where he arrived at midday and took some wine to revive himself. He again set out at two o'clock in a mail carriage towards +aris where he arrived on the -st at a.m. at the &lys/e whence he departed on the -th, in the same month.
$apoleon abdicated again ; this time on 44 6une !"!*. He was exiled again ; this time to the small island of aint Helena Helena (a British rotectorate rotectorate off the the western coast of frica.)
He did not escape again, but after he died (in died (in !"4!) $apoleon=s bod% was returned to aris where it remains interred interred at nvalides.. the the Hotel des nvalides