France was defeated for the first time in Russia in 1812, again in Germany in 1813, and in mainland France in 1814. Napoleon stubbornly resisted, the tide was gone, and the military service system collapsed due to the refusal of a large number of people to obey the government. A few weeks later, the dust settled. On April 6, 1814, Napoleon was forced to surrender to the enemy.
Theoretically, this should have been the end of the story. From the perspective of a bystander, the fallen Napoleon was not treated harshly after his defeat. He was given full freedom of movement, and before leaving he drew some 600 soldiers from the Royal Guard, and his exile was a quiet, peaceful, picturesque Italian island where he was almost unrestrained.
But for Napoleon, being confined to such a small place was a torture. So, he escaped.
Napoleon fled from the exiled island of Elba
Next is the so-called "sky high let the birds fly". According to legend, the former French emperor was greeted heroically when he returned to France, but the truth is a bit lacking in romance. On 1 March, Napoleon landed on the French coast, and at first he refused to enter the town of Antibes, presumably because he found that only two men had volunteered to welcome him.
However, in one of the more widely circulated versions of the story, Napoleon bravely confronted a group of soldiers who were blocking the way and opened fire on him, the garrison of Grenoble, who decided to follow Napoleon on March 5. The city of Lyon was a favorite place for Napoleon when he was in power and also cheerfully welcomed his arrival 5 days later.
To win public opinion, Napoleon declared himself a fighter against the Restoration and proposed a new constitution of freedom. But all his efforts were turned a deaf ear, and his actions were often even frustrated. For example, the so-called "May of Champions" celebration on June 1, 1815, which was supposed to be a celebration of the birth of a new constitution, backfired.
The celebration was clearly an attempt to restore the monarchy under the guise of a more liberal guise, and the name "Champion May" added fuel to the fire: the name originally referred to the gathering of nobles initiated by Charlemagne and other medieval monarchs to appease those vassals who might rebel.
Although Louis XVIII was unpopular, the returning rulers brought economic disasters and endless wars, and the French people were equally resentful. The soldiers who served when he fled Elba were severely reduced, but re-conscription was impossible, and Napoleon had to rely on them.
The only people who could mobilize for the war were the militia, the National Guard, and the hundreds of thousands of veterans who had been demobilized in 1814—on the condition that they could be conscripted again if the war called for it—so that Napoleon could organize an army of up to 500,000 men. However, the actual recruitment was not even one-third of the expected, and in the end Napoleon's army totaled only 250,000.
Illustrated Battle of Waterloo
After the defeat at the Battle of Waterloo, Napoleon left Paris after being deposed by the government and finally surrendered to the British on 15 July. The British immediately exiled him permanently to the distant island of St. Helena. He spent the rest of his life condemning Marshal Emmanuel Grouchy, arguing that his mistakes on the battlefield had caused waterloo pain. Grouchy spent all day fighting the Prussian rear in Waffle and was unable to meet Napoleon in time; napoleon was reluctant to admit that even if Grouchy returned to the rescue, the outcome would not have been different. The emperor left thousands of casualties on the battlefield behind him, and even in two world wars, there were very few similar horror scenes. But some might argue that one's ambition and desire for glory has shed blood across the continent, and that it is worth paying the price to drive it out of Europe.
Next to the Lion Hill Monument in the Belgian Battlefield, there is a panoramic view of the Waterloo Battlefield
The conditions in Napoleon's captivity in the middle of the Atlantic were far worse than on the island of Elba—his house was damp and cramped, and rat infestations were rampant. France's suffering was also much worse than in 1814, with huge compensation payments and three years of military occupation.
Louis XVIII restored the throne, succeeding him in 1824 by his far less politically shrewd brother Charles X. Even so, it was not until 1830 that the Bourbon dynasty was completely overthrown.
After a brief return, Napoleon was forced to abdicate again
(Source: Napoleon, Successful Revolutionary, Failed Conqueror)