Seventh Coalition
The Seventh Coalition refers to a military alliance that was formed against Napoleon Bonaparte shortly after his escape from the exile on the island of Elba on February 26, 1815. The European statesmen of the victorious Sixth Coalition led by Austria, Britain, Prussia and Russia who were at the time of Napoleon’s escape occupied with redrawing the European map at the Congress of Vienna immediately decided for a joined military action against the former French Emperor. They renewed their alliance and were soon joined by the majority of other participants of the Congress of Vienna which means that Napoleon was about to face virtually the entire Europe except for the Kingdom of Naples. Its king, Joachim Murat joined his brother-in-law Napoleon.
At the Congress of Vienna, the members of the Seventh Coalition pledged not to negotiate with Napoleon which made the war that came to be known as the War of the Seventh Coalition inevitable. Napoleon who was aware of his enemies’ plans to invade France decided to attack first hoping to destroy the British and Prussian forces in the north and then deal with the Russians and Austrians in the east. He invaded Belgium on June 15 and defeated the Prussian army commanded by Field Marshal Blücher at the Battle of Ligny one day later. However, it turned out to be his last victory as he was decisively defeated by the combined forces of the Seventh Coalition under the command of Duke of Wellington and Blücher in the Battle of Waterloo on June 18.
Napoleon returned to Paris after his defeat at Waterloo and when realizing that he cannot repulse the inevitable invasion of France, he signed his second and final abdication on June 22. Louis XVIII was restored to the French throne six days later, while Napoleon surrendered to the Royal Navy Captain, Frederick Maitland at Rochefort on July 3. This time he was sent into exile to the remote island of Saint Helena in the South Atlantic Ocean where he died in 1821 at age of 51.
The victorious Seventh Coalition dictated the terms of the peace treaty with France, known as the Treaty of Paris of 1815 that was signed on November 20. It confirmed the territorial changes from the Final Act of the Congress of Vienna signed nine days before the Battle of Waterloo but the Bourbon France was reduced to its boundaries of 1790, required to pay 700 million francs of war reparations as well as to pay for the expenses of the Coalition forces that were to stay for a maximum of 5 years on its north-eastern border.
