Why France Abandoned Napoleon: Economic Ruin and War Fatigue

By 1814, the French people had turned against Napoleon Bonaparte due to catastrophic military losses and economic collapse. His Russian campaign in 1812 alone cost 500,000 men, and in 1813 he conscripted nearly a million soldiers, many untrained. The Continental System, which banned trade with Britain, backfired as the British blockade crippled French ports like Bordeaux, Nantes, and Marseille, devastating the middle class. Inflation soared, the franc plummeted, and taxes on consumption rose. Peasants hid their sons from conscription, and desertion became rampant. When Allied forces approached Paris in March 1814, the French Senate deposed Napoleon on 2 April 1814, citing constitutional violations and refusal to sign a peace treaty. Even after exile to Elba, Napoleon attempted a return, but was defeated at Waterloo on 18 June 1815 and exiled to Saint Helena, where he died in 1821.