[The following takes place immediately following Napoleon Bonaparte’s forced abdication.]
Yet even denuded of an officer corps and general staff, Napoleon could still have precipitated a civil war had he wished. On April 7 rumours of his abdication prompted the 40,000-strong army at Fontainebleau to leave their billets at night and parade with arms and torches crying ‘Vive l’Empereur!’, ‘Down with the traitors!’ and ‘To Paris!’ There were similar scenes at the barracks in Orleans, Briaire, Lyons, Douai, Thianoville and Landau, and the white flag of the Bourbons was publicly burned in Clermont-Ferrant and other places.
Augereau’s corps was close to mutiny, and garrisons loyal to napoleon attempted risings in Antwerp, Metz and Mainz. In Lille the troops were in open revolt for three days, actually firing on their officers as late as April 14. As Charles de Gaulle was to observe: ‘Those he made suffer most, the soldiers, were the very ones who were most faithful to him.’
Source:
Roberts, Andrew. "Elba." Napoleon: A Life. New York: Penguin, 2014. 714. Print.
Original Source(s) Listed:
Houssaye, The Campaign of 1814 p. 508, 511.
Kauffmann, (Black Room at Longwood*, p. xvii.
Further Reading:
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