NAPOLEON I. 



393 



them to retire into Silesia. The armistice of 

 Poischwitz, signed on the 4th of June, closed 

 the tiret period of the campaign. Austria then 

 asked for certain concessions, which if Napoleon 

 haJ granted he might have checkmated the 

 coalition of Prussia and Russia ; but he seems 

 to have been unable to bring himself to accede, 

 and contemplated rather war with Prussia, Rus>i;i, 

 and Austria combined, to say nothing of Eng- 

 land, which was still carrying on the war in 

 the Peninsula. A treaty was signed at Reichen- 

 bach on the 14th June, by which Austria engaged 

 as mediating power to orfier conditions of peace to 

 Napoleon and to declare war on him in case of 

 refusal. The conditions offered were that lie should 

 withdraw from north-west Germany, dissolve the 

 duchy of Warsaw, and cede Illyria. These terms 

 were very moderate, but Napoleon seems to have 

 thought liis position insecure without fresh success 

 in war, and procrastinated. An ultimatum was 

 delivered to him on August 8th to which he paid 

 no attention ; so on the night of the 10th to llth 

 August the armistice was declared at an end, and 

 tin- drama swept rapidly to its crisis. 



Napoleon had now 400,000 men along the Elbe 

 from Bohemia to its mouth, but his position was 

 weakened by the adhesion of Austria to the coali- 

 tion, as she massed bur troops in ISohemia, threaten- 

 ing Dresden and bis communications. The allies 

 had nearly 500,000 men in three armies, the Austrian 

 under Schwarzenberg in Bohemia, the old Prusso- 

 Russian under Bluciier in Silesia, and the bulk of 

 the Prussian force under Bernadotte in Branden- 

 burg. The French armies were discouraged, and 

 the allies enthusiastic ; but the latter had dilli- 

 culties to contend with from their heterogeneous 

 composition and diversity of interests. The cani- 

 puign opened with varying fortune. A blow at 

 Berlin was parried by Biilow at Gross-Bceren on 

 August '2:i. Napoleon himself forced Bluciier 

 K.-u-k to the Katzbach, but had to retire again to 

 defend Dresden from the Austrian* ; and his lieu- 

 tenant Macdoiiald was defeated in the battle of 

 the Katzbach on the 2(>t\i August. Napoleon 

 inflicted a crushing defeat on the Austrian* uefore 

 Dresden on the 27th, but, while preparing to cut 

 off their retreat, was disturlied by the news of 

 Gross-Beeren and the Katzbach and by .-udilen 

 illness, and at Kulm lost Vandamme with 20,000 

 men. Septemlx'r was sjx'nt in fruitless marches, 

 now into liohemia, now into Silesia, and towards 

 the end of the month the allies began their con- 

 verging march on their preconcerted rendezvous 

 at Leipzig. At the same time the Confederation 

 of the Rhine began to dissolve. The kingdom 

 of Wetitphalia was upset on the 1st Octolier, and 

 on the 8th Bavaria joined Austria. The toils were 

 closing round Najmleon, and U'tween the 14th 

 and 19th October he was crushed in that battle 

 of the Titans at Leipzig, and, brushing aside the 

 Bavarians who tried to stop him at Hay nan, on the 

 1st November led back the remnant of his army, 

 some 70,000 strong, across the Rhine at Mainz. 



The allies now made overtures for peace on the 

 basis of natural frontiers, which would have left 

 France the fruits of the first Revolution viz. 

 Belgium, the left bank of the Rhinr, Savoy, and 

 Nice; but Napoleon could not lie content with such 

 curtailment of Ms power. Evading at first the 

 ptowwl, he would have accepted it, but with 

 Mi-pirioiis ijualilioations, when too late. The in- 

 vasion of Prance followed. The allies issued on 

 tin- 1st Iieremlx-r a manifesto saying they were 

 waging war against Napoleon alone, and advanced 

 with three separate armies. Schwarzenl>erg led the 

 Aitxtriiins through Switzerland, Bliiclier crossed 

 Middle Rhine towards Nancy, while the north- 

 ern army passed through Holland. Napoleon had 



yet hopes of success on account of the forces he 

 still had in the German fortresses, the mutual 

 jealousies of the allies, his connection with the 

 emperor of Austria, and the patriotism which 

 would be aroused in France by invasion. But the 

 allies gave him no time to utilise these influences, 

 and Paris was not fortified. Napoleon carried on a 

 campaign full of genius, gaining what advantage 

 he could from the separation of his enemies. He 

 attacked Bliiclier and won four battles in four days 

 at Champaiibert ( February 10, 1814), Montmirail 

 (llth), Chateau-Thierry (12th), and Vauchamps 

 ( 13th ). These successes would have enabled him to 

 make a reasonable peace, but his personal position 

 forbade this, and he tried subterfuge and delay. 

 The allies, however, were not to be trilled with, and 

 in the beginning of March signed the treaty of Chau- 

 niont, which bound them each to keep 150,000 men 

 on foot for twenty years. The battles of Craonne 

 and Laon followed, in which Napoleon held his 

 own, but saw his resources dwindle. On the 18th 

 March the conferences at Chatillon came to an 

 end, and on the 24th the allies determined to march 

 on Paris. Marmont and Mortier, with less than 

 30,000 men, could make no head against them, 

 while Napoleon himself tried a fruitless diversion 

 against their communications. Joseph Bonaparte 

 withdrew Maria Louisa and the king of Rome to 

 Tours. On the 30th March the allies attacked 

 Paris on three sides, and in the afternoon the 

 French marshals offered to capitulate. Napoleon, 

 when he learned the real state of affairs, hurried 

 up in rear of the allies, but was too late, and had 

 to fall back to Fontainehleau. His position was 

 desperate, and to add to his difficulties Wellington, 

 whose career of success had gradually cleared the 

 French out of the Peninsula, hud now led his 

 victorious army across the Pyrenees into France 

 itself. 



Napoleon therefore at first offered to abdicate in 

 favour of his son, but, when he found that would 

 not be sufficient, he signed an unconditional abdi- 

 cation on the llth April 1814. He was given the 

 sovereignty of the island of Elba, and the BonrboOi 

 in the person of Louis XVIII. were restored to the 

 throne of France. But the condition of affairs was 

 very precarious. The return of the Bourlxms was 

 most unpopular. It indeed restored the parlia- 

 ment, but it unsettled the position of public men 

 and the title to estates. The army was disgusted 

 at the appointment to commands of emigres who 

 had fought against France. The church began to 

 cause alarm to the holders of national property; 

 and by the release of prisoners and the return of the 

 garrisons of German fortresses very large numbers 

 of Napoleonic soldiers became dispersed over France. 

 The coalition, too, broke up, and fresh alliances 

 began to be sought with a view to check the aggres- 

 sive spirit which Russia seemed inclined to manifest. 

 Altogether affairs in Europe and France were in 

 such a state as to make it not impossible that the 

 magic of Napoleon's name might replace him in 

 power. He accordingly resolved on making the 

 attempt, left Elba on February 26, 1815, and 

 landeit on the French coast on the 1st March. On 

 the 20th he entered Paris, having been joined by 

 the army. He had the advantage of being able to 

 appear as the liberator of France from the yoke put 

 U[M)n her by foreigners, but he could only re- 

 establish his position in the face of the rest of 

 Europe by war, and he was not quite the Napoleon 

 of old, for his physical powers had declined, he had 

 become stout, and had attacks of illness, sleepiness, 

 and indolence. He had been epileptic from his 

 youth. His mind and genius were unimpaired, 

 and his conception of the Waterloo campaign was 

 clear and brilliant as of yore, but the execution 

 failed. 



