Abdication of Napoleon, 1815

Napoleon abdicated on 22 June in favour of his son Napoleon II. On 24 June the Provisional Government proclaimed the fact to the French nation and the world.

After his defeat at the Battle of Waterloo, instead of remaining in the field with his shattered army Napoleon returned to Paris in the hope of retaining political support for his position as Emperor of the French. With his political base secured he hoped to then be able to continue the war. It was not to be; instead the members of the two chambers created a Provisional Government and demanded that Napoleon abdicate. Napoleon toyed with the idea of a coup d'état similar to Eighteenth of Brumaire but decided against it. On 25 June Napoleon left Paris for the final time and after staying at the Palace of Malmaison, left for the coast hoping to reach the United States of America. In the meantime the Provisional Government deposed his son and tried to negotiate a conditional surrender with the Coalition powers. They failed to obtain any significant concessions from the Coalition who insisted on a military surrender and the restoration of Louis XVIII. Napoleon, realising he could not hope to evade the Royal Navy, surrendered to Captain Maitland upon placing himself under his protection on board HMS Bellerophon. The British Government refused to allow Napoleon to set foot in England and arranged for his exile to the remote South Atlantic island of Saint Helena where he died in 1821.

With the defeat at Waterloo, the enthralment of the French people that had gripped them since Napoleon's return from exile rapidly dissipated, and they were forced to face the reality of several Coalition armies advancing into France up to the gates of Paris.

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