This 1815 cartoon by George Cruikshank is a contemporary view of how Napoleon’s escape from his exile to Elba to France was regarded by the British. It satirically suggests that a “triumphal pillar” be erected to mark the spot where Napoleon landed on French soil on March 3, 1815. The pillar features a bloody skeleton, a guillotine, and other horrors of the French Revolution.
This was, of course, British propaganda. When news arrived in Paris that the Little Corporal had escaped and landed on the French coast five days previously, everyone there expected the French army, its officers (most of whom were Napoleon’s old comrades and supporters) and the populace to turn against him. Most French took one look at him and welcomed him home. The army laid down its arms. The officers turned toward him. The populace brought out their old tricolors. Why? Because the new King Louis XVIII had not learned any lessons from the past. Taxes were high. The land was devastated. They wanted food/ grain and relief from the aristocracy most of whom Louis welcomed to return. The challenges that would plague Napoleon in the next 100 days were not apparent as he marched toward Paris. Only the old glory and old promises carried him forward with no opposition.