May 18 in Military History — On This Day

⚔️📍 Fontainebleau, France1814

Napoleon Exiled to Elba — First Abdication

Napoleon signed the Treaty of Fontainebleau, abdicating the French throne unconditionally after the Allied powers refused to negotiate. He was given sovereignty over the tiny island of Elba in the Mediterranean. He wept as he bid farewell to his Old Guard.

Napoleon's exile to Elba lasted only ten months before he escaped, returned to France, and launched the Hundred Days campaign that ended at Waterloo.

Outcome

Napoleon exiled; returns 10 months later; final exile after Waterloo

Battle of Chapu

British forces assaulted the walled city of Chapu defended by approximately 3,000 Manchu bannermen — the Qing's elite hereditary soldiers. The Manchu garrison, understanding that surrender meant social disgrace, fought to near extinction. Several hundred Manchu soldiers and their families killed themselves rather than surrender — the first indication that the Qing's Manchu core would resist to the death regardless of military logic.

The desperate Manchu resistance at Chapu revealed both the empire's deepest loyalists and the social and psychological pressures driving its soldiers into suicidal combat.

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Siege of Vicksburg

Grant besieged the Confederate stronghold on the Mississippi River for 47 days. When the garrison surrendered on July 4th, the Union gained complete control of the Mississippi, splitting the Confederacy in two.

Cut the Confederacy in half and gave the Union control of the Mississippi River. Grant's brilliant campaign made him Lincoln's top general. The South was truly divided.

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