Principality of Elba in the context of "Battle of Leipzig"

The Waterloo campaign, also known as the Belgian campaign (15 June – 8 July 1815) was fought between the French Army of the North and two Seventh Coalition armies, an Anglo-allied army and a Prussian army. Initially the French army had been commanded by Napoleon Bonaparte, but he left for Paris after the French defeat at the Battle of Waterloo. Command then rested on Marshals Soult and Grouchy, who were in turn replaced by Marshal Davout, who took command at the request of the French Provisional Government. The Anglo-allied army was commanded by the Duke of Wellington and the Prussian army by Field Marshall Graf von Blücher.

The war between France and the Seventh Coalition came when the other European Great Powers refused to recognise Napoleon as Emperor of the French upon his return from exile on the island of Elba, and declared war on him, rather than France, as they still recognised Louis XVIII as the king of France and considered Napoleon a usurper. Rather than wait for the Coalition to invade France, Napoleon decided to attack his enemies and hope to defeat them in detail before they could launch their combined and coordinated invasion. He chose to launch his first attack against the two Coalition armies cantoned in modern-day Belgium, then part of the newly formed United Kingdom of the Netherlands, but until the year before part of the First French Empire.

The Treaty of Fontainebleau was an agreement concluded in Fontainebleau, France, on 11 April 1814 between Napoleon and representatives of Austria, Russia and Prussia. The treaty was signed in Paris on 11 April by the plenipotentiaries of both sides and ratified by Napoleon on 13 April. With this treaty, the allies ended Napoleon's rule as emperor of the French and sent him into exile on Elba.

The Count of Monte Cristo (French: Le Comte de Monte-Cristo) is an adventure novel by the French writer Alexandre Dumas. It was serialised from 1844 to 1846, then published in book form in 1846. It is one of his most popular works, along with The Three Musketeers (1844) and Man in the Iron Mask (1850). Like many of his novels, it was expanded from plot outlines suggested by his collaborating ghostwriter, Auguste Maquet. It is regarded as a classic of French and world literature.

The novel is set in France, Italy, and islands in the Mediterranean Sea during the historical events of 1815–1839, the era of the Bourbon Restoration through the reign of Louis Philippe I. It begins on the day when Napoleon left his first island of exile, Elba, beginning the Hundred Days period of his return to power. The historical setting is fundamental to the narrative. The Count of Monte Cristo explores themes of hope, justice, vengeance, mercy and forgiveness.