Date of Award

4-25-1988

Degree Type

Master's Essay - Restricted

Degree Name

Master of Arts (MA)

Department

History

Abstract

It has been almost two centuries since the last echoes of the French Revolution died away in the summer and fall of 1815. Seen from this distance the events of the One Hundred Days appear to fly by in rapid succession, quickly taking their place in history. March 1, Bonaparte returned from Elba, renounced his abdication, and prepared to march on Paris. The restored Bourbon Monarchy sent against Bonaparte a number of his former lieutenants, among them Michel Ney, "the bravest of the brave." The army, however, Ney among them, declared for Bonaparte, and by March 14, Napoleon was in Paris. For the next several weeks the monarchies of Europe prepared for the campaign all knew was coming. Barely three months later, it did. Once again Bonaparte abdicated, and the allied backed Bourbons were restored to power in France. For those who had aided Bonaparte, the day of reckoning had arrived. Not only did they have the vengeance of the Bourbons to fear, but they also had to contend with outside pressures for their punishment, most notably from Prussia, but also from England and Russia. The presses of the allied powers generally called for punishment of the Bonapartists, and particularly so the pro-government newspapers of England. The broad issue of revenge being carried by the government papers of the day seemed, at least in England, to be part of the larger issue of the English reaction to the Bourbon Restoration. The calls for revenge by the organs of the English government were but a measure of the English reaction. A test, as it were, of the resolve of the allied backed Bourbons to carry out the wishes of a possibly veangeful [sic] English government. The greatest and most visible target of the English pro-government press next to Napoleon, the man the press viewed as particularly responsible for the return of Bonaparte was the the Prince of The Moskowa, Marshal of France, Michel Ney.

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