The Hundred Days
Napoleon slips off Elba, lands in France with a thousand men, and retakes his throne without firing a shot
Quick facts
- Location
- Elba to Paris, France
- Date
- 26 February - 20 March 1815 (escape to Paris); ends 8 July 1815
- Force
- About 1,000 soldiers landed with Napoleon
- Result
- Napoleon retakes the throne without battle; Louis XVIII flees
What happened
On 26 February 1815, Napoleon left Elba aboard the brig L'Inconstant with his staff and about 1,000 soldiers, landing near Cannes on the southern French coast on 1 March. Rather than fighting his way to Paris, he marched north as troops sent to arrest him defected to their old emperor one garrison at a time, and King Louis XVIII fled to Belgium as it became clear he had no army left to defend the throne. Napoleon entered Paris and reclaimed power on 20 March 1815, beginning the hundred-day period, ending 8 July 1815, that spans his return, the climactic defeat at Waterloo on 18 June, and Louis XVIII's restoration three weeks later.
Why it matters
The Allied powers meeting at the Congress of Vienna immediately declared Napoleon an outlaw rather than negotiate, meaning his second reign was doomed to end in war within weeks of starting. That war would be settled in a single afternoon at Waterloo rather than the years-long campaigns of his earlier wars.
How we know
World History Encyclopedia's article on the Hundred Days dates the escape from Elba, the landing near Cannes, and the 110-day span from Napoleon's return to Paris on 20 March through Louis XVIII's restoration on 8 July.
Sources
- World History Encyclopedia. Hundred Days · Reputable sourceworldhistory.org · The domain "worldhistory.org" is on our Reputable source registry. · Link is live and its text matches the event's key terms (Jul 2026)
- Fondation Napoleon. The Escape from Elba: The Fall and Flight of Napoleon 1814-1815 · General sourcenapoleon.org · Cited as a "reference" source (no stronger domain match). · Link is live and its text matches the event's key terms (Jul 2026)
See something wrong? . Corrections with a source get fixed fastest.
Part of a timelineThe Napoleonic Wars23 events · How one artillery officer from Corsica remade Europe's map, then lost it all twiceView all →