Another Napoleon :: essays research papers

Most historians portray Napoleon's return to France as an example of his disregard for hundreds of thousands of lives in order to satisfy his outsized ambition. We at Napoleon on the Net, however, view the `Hundred Days' as an example of the Emperor's superior charisma and the love for him that it inspired. The support of the common people of France was the basis of Napoleonic rule. The generals and the politicians did not rush to support Napoleon's new adventure, but, as we will show, the front-line soldiers and the common people were determined to uphold the basic principle the Revolution: that it is the people's right to decide the form of their government. Vincent Cronin, in his acclaimed biography of Napoleon, entitled Napoleon Bonaparte: An Intimate Biography (William Morrow & Company, 1972, pp. 391-392), describes Napoleon's first major confrontation with French troops sent by the Bourbon regime to kill or capture him. "Napoleon had 1,100 men against about 700. But he did not want bloodshed. The abhorrence of civil war he had felt twenty years before in Provence remained as strong as ever and, on landing, he had given Cambronne strict orders that not a shot was to be fired. What he did now ws to order his hundred Polish lancers to advance slowly. At this Delessart withdrew his men, in good order, to new positions. The Polish lancers were told to wheel and come back. Napoleon then had the tricolour unfolded and told the Guards' band to play the Marseillaise, which he had described in Elba as `the greatest general of the Revolution'. Forbidden since the return of the Bourbons, the stirring tune had the effect, said one observor, of `electrifying' the Grenoble soldiers. Napoleon started riding towards the men of the 5th. At pistol-shot range he dismounted and walked towards the 700 loaded muskets. He was wearing his grey campaigning overcoat, familiar to every Frenchman. Captain Randon, twenty years old, of Grenoble, called to his men, `There he is! Fire!' After taking a few steps, Napoleon stopped and drew apart the lapels of his overcoat, exposing his white waistcoat. `If you want to kill your Emperor,' he called in loud voice, `here I am!' Back came a tremendous shout of `Long live the Emperor!' The men of the 5th, waving their shakos on bayonets, rushed cheering towards him. `Just see if we want to kill you,' shouted one soldier, rattling his ramrod up and down the barrel of his empty musket. In a matter of minutes the soldiers had whipped from their haversacks the old tricolour