Whenever we count the militarists and politicians who have emerged on the stage of world history over the past few thousand years, we always think of a prominent figure - Napoleon. He was born in a turbulent world, when Europe was in the process of transitioning from feudalism to capitalism, so focusing on Napoleon would not only draw on his successful experience, but also gain a thorough understanding of European history in the late 18th and early 19th centuries. When we study Napoleon, we find that there is a historical question, after Napoleon's 100-day regime, why was he exiled to the British islands?
Napoleon, after escaping from Elba in February 1815, intended to re-establish his empire, but in the final battle for the heights of Mount Saint-Jean, that is, the Decisive Battle of Waterloo, due to Napoleon's unusual lack of commanders, French resources and money far less than the European anti-French alliance, coupled with the lack of tactical and strategic training of Napoleon's marshals Sirte, Grouchy and Ney, Napoleon's army was crushed by the European Anti-French Allies led mainly by Blücher and Wellington. The last decisive battle of Napoleon's life was lost.
▲ Napoleon's landing in the Port of Rouen, France, after escaping from Elba in February 1815
The Battle of Waterloo was a complete defeat, but did Napoleon still have a chance to emerge?
▲: At the critical moment of the Battle of Waterloo, Blücher arrived with his army to meet the Wellington army
Napoleon wrote to his elder brother Joseph of June 19, 1815, that he could immediately organize another 150,000 men, and that it was not impossible for him to continue the war without the possibility of victory. The French people also supported him in fighting the war, and the outside of the Tuileries Palace was crowded with supporters.
However, the Houses betrayed him, and Napoleon rejected Carnot's request for dictatorship and the idea of waging a people's war, and succumbed to the resolutions of Parliament.
Subsequently, he abdicated for the second time on 22 June, and his second reign ended after just over a hundred days.
On 3 July, the French commander-in-chief Davout signed the Instrument of Surrender in Paris, and five days later, Louis XVIII was escorted by foreign troops to the throne again.
Napoleon experienced countless battles in his life, large and small, but he never wanted to start a people's war, relying only on his military ability and the combat ability of the regular army, so that he could only give the crown to others, and he became a prisoner.
On 14 July, Napoleon wrote a letter of assistance to his mortal enemy, the King of England: "Your Majesty, as a target of hostility between the parties that divide our country and the European powers, I have ended my political career, and I have come to join the families of the English people, as Mistockley did. ”
The next day, Napoleon boarded the British ship Bolleuffen.
The British, on the basis of the decision of the Anti-French Allies, took Napoleon as a prisoner, transferred him from the Burreaphine to the Northumberren, and imprisoned him on the British island of St. Helena in the Atlantic Ocean on 16 October.
▲ Napoleon on the island of St. Helena
St. Helena belonged to Britain in the 17th century and is a veritable island. The island is full of eerie cliffs and mountains of flames, making it a natural prison. This time, Napoleon did not flee.
He spent most of his life in the tense combat life on the vast battlefields of Europe, developing the habit of tirelessly working 15 or even 18 hours a day, and the idle life of a prisoner is undoubtedly a harsh mental torture for him.
He read a lot, spoke a lot, and insisted on dictating his history almost every day, and he often rode out on horseback. During his five and a half years on the island, he always realized that Europe was always paying attention to him.
Napoleon spent his last days in agony, and in 1817 he developed severe dysentery and soon developed hepatitis, which was suspected of liver cancer. After that, the condition worsened further. At 6 p.m. on May 5, 1821, Napoleon, the great military man and statesman in human history, said his last words: "France ... army...... Charge", and passed away.
Therefore, Napoleon's exile to the British island of St. Helena was a compromise he did not want to start a people's war, and France, as a defeated country, could no longer put forward any conditions, and could only rely on the arrangements of the seventh anti-French Ally, that is, the victorious power, and the British island of St. Helena was more remote in geographical location and the environment was worse than Elba, which could prevent Napoleon from re-landing in the French Empire to the greatest extent and prevent him from returning to the people.