Historedia
Episode 1 of 2

Escape from Elba

When
26 February 1815
Where
Island of Elba
Part of
Napoleon's escape from Elba and the Battle of Waterloo

Napoleon escaped Elba on 26 February 1815 with about 1,000 men, motivated by rumors of banishment and financial issues.

Realizing his family would not join him and cut off from his allowance, Napoleon fled Elba in the brig Inconstant. He departed with a flotilla of seven vessels and approximately 1,000 men, returning to France to begin his restoration.

Sources

  1. Napoleon Wikipedia, revision of 2026-09-27
  2. Elba Wikipedia, revision of 2026-09-16
  3. Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington Wikipedia, revision of 2026-09-30

Machine-drafted from the cited Wikipedia passages and checked by a reviewing model, not by a human editor. Every passage cites the revision it was written from; dates and places follow those passages.