Napoleon Abdicates: Waterloo Ends Two Decades of War
Napoleon abdicated for the second and final time on June 22, 1815, four days after his defeat at Waterloo. He initially hoped to reach the United States but found the port of Rochefort blockaded by the Royal Navy. On July 15, he surrendered to Captain Frederick Maitland aboard HMS Bellerophon, appealing to the Prince Regent for asylum "like Themistocles, to sit at the hearth of the British people." The British government instead exiled him to Saint Helena, a remote volcanic island in the South Atlantic, 1,200 miles from the nearest land. Napoleon spent six years there, dictating memoirs that carefully shaped his legend. He died on May 5, 1821, at age 51, officially from stomach cancer, though theories of arsenic poisoning have persisted.
June 22, 1815
211 years ago
Key Figures & Places
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