Since 1812, things had not been going well for Napoleon Bonaparte. 1812 was the year of the disaster in Russia where his retreating Grande Armee was virtually destroyed by a combination of Russian hit and run attacks and the cruel Russian winter. His previous empty "victory" at Borodino outside Moscow did nothing but to bleed his army.
Then in 1813, the Sixth Coalition of Allied forces defeated him at Leipzig.
Now Napoleon was forced to retreat back to France. His mighty army of 350,000 men was reduced to 70,000 plus 40,000 stragglers. He was up against more than three times his number of Coalition troops.
He did win a series of insignificant victories, but soon the Coalition captured Paris in March 1814.
Napoleon wanted to march on Paris with what was left of his army, but his Marshals, led by Ney decided to mutiny.
He was forced to abdicate unconditionally to the Allies on April 11, 1814. The Bourbon King Louis XVIII was installed on the throne of France.
In the Treaty of Fontainebleau, the victors declared that Napoleon would be exiled to Elba, and island of 12,000 inhabitants off the Tuscan coast of Italy. They gave him sovereignty over the island and was even permitted to retain his title as Emperor. Somewhere between 600 and 1,000 of his most dedicated soldiers opted to go with him.
Napoleon at first attempted suicide, but his vile of poison failed to work. He then concentrated on training his small army and building up an equally small navy.
As the administrator of the island, he developed the iron mines, and issued several decrees to improve the local agriculture.
But he also had access to newspapers from Europe, and he read with great interest regarding the goings on -- especially in France.
The French were highly dissatisfied with King Louis and the Bourbon rule. The Congress of Vienna, set up by the Coalition after Napoleon's exile, were also at odds with each other to the point of almost starting a war.
Napoleon was also now cut off from the allowance guaranteed to him by the Treaty of Fontainebleau.
More than that, there were rumors that he might either be assassinated, or sent to a more remote island in the Atlantic Ocean.
Always being a man of action, Napoleon acted.
On February 26, 1815 while the British and French guard ships were absent, Napoleon, accompanied by his tiny army escaped. They landed in the south of France near Cannes.
His plan was to first make his way to Grenoble, picking up followers as he went.
And followers he gained. He knew that the soldiers who had followed him fanatically before would do so again. On his march north, all of the garrison soldiers came over to his side.
In Paris, the King was not overly concerned as yet. Marshal Ney promised to bring Napoleon back to Paris in an "iron cage". Ney left Paris with 6,000 men to accomplish this.
But on March 14th, outside Grenoble, Napoleon again worked his magic. Ney and all of his men joined him. The triumphant march now continued toward Paris picking up more followers on the way.
Back in Paris, King Louis was now concerned indeed. He bowed to the inevitable and fled the country.
On March 20th, Napoleon entered Paris and reestablished his rule.
The question was, how would the Coalition react? And how quickly?
