Pierre Fleury de Chaboulon served as Napoleon’s secretary during the dramatic Hundred Days of 1815 and wrote these memoirs as both an eyewitness account and a defence of the emperor’s intentions. He recounts Napoleon’s escape from Elba, the lightning march to Paris that sent Louis XVIII fleeing, the reconstruction of the imperial government, and the diplomatic isolation that made war with the Allies inevitable.
As a primary source written by an insider who was present at critical moments, the Memoirs offer an invaluable perspective on Waterloo and the final collapse of the Napoleonic Empire — essential reading for students of the Napoleonic period.