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11 April 1814General source · 2 sourcesWell documented

Napoleon's First Abdication and Exile to Elba

Forced from the throne, he is granted a tiny Mediterranean island as his new kingdom

On the timeline · around 11 April 1814 · CollapseOverreachCollapseNapoleon's First Abdication and Exile to Elba1812181418151816

Quick facts

Location
Fontainebleau, France; Elba, Mediterranean Sea
Date
6-11 April 1814 (abdication and treaty); 4 May 1814 (arrival at Elba)
Instrument
Treaty of Fontainebleau
Result
Napoleon granted sovereignty over Elba

What happened

After the coalition invaded France and Paris fell in early 1814, the Allied powers demanded Napoleon's unconditional abdication, which he signed on 6 April 1814. The Treaty of Fontainebleau, concluded on 11 April between Napoleon and representatives of Austria, Russia, and Prussia, ended his rule as Emperor of the French while letting him and his wife Marie-Louise keep their imperial titles, and it granted him sovereignty over the small island of Elba as a consolation principality. Napoleon landed at the island's capital, Portoferraio, on 4 May 1814, and spent the next ten months reorganizing Elba's roads, government, and small court as though it were a real kingdom rather than a gilded prison.

Why it matters

Granting a defeated emperor his own island, rather than imprisoning or executing him, reflected the Allies' caution about how to handle a man still popular with much of the French army. That leniency proved costly within a year, when Napoleon used Elba's proximity to France to organize his return.

How we know

Fondation Napoleon's article on Elba documents the Treaty of Fontainebleau's terms, Napoleon's arrival date at Portoferraio, and the ten-month span of his rule there before his departure the following March.

Sources

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