Modern Era
Napoleon's Exile to Elba (1814): An Emperor's Small Kingdom
Napoleon ruled Elba as a sovereign prince for about ten months before escaping to France on 26 February 1815 to begin the Hundred Days.
Region
Europe
Modern Era
Congress of Vienna (1814–1815): Redrawing the Map of Europe
The Final Act of 9 June 1815 redrew the map of Europe and created a balance of power and a system of great-power cooperation that lasted for decades.
Modern Era
Battle of Quatre Bras (1815): The Prelude to Waterloo
Tactical draw; the Anglo-Allied army held the crossroads, but withdrew the next day after the Prussian defeat at Ligny.
Modern Era
Napoleon's Hundred Days (1815): Escape From Elba to Paris
Napoleon briefly restored the French Empire but was defeated at Waterloo, abdicated again and was exiled to Saint Helena; Louis XVIII returned.
Modern Era
Unification of Italy: The Risorgimento from 1815 to 1871
The Kingdom of Italy was proclaimed in 1861 and completed with Venetia in 1866 and Rome in 1870, which became the capital in 1871.
Modern Era
Napoleon on Saint Helena (1815–1821): Exile and Death
Napoleon spent the last five and a half years of his life as a British prisoner and died on the island on 5 May 1821; his remains were returned to Paris in 1840.
Modern Era
Battle of Waterloo (1815): Wellington, Blücher and Napoleon
Decisive victory for Wellington's Allied army and Blücher's Prussians; Napoleon abdicated four days later, ending the Napoleonic Wars.
Modern Era
Davy Safety Lamp (1815): Humphry Davy and the Coal Miners' Lamp
The Davy lamp gave miners a light that would not normally ignite firedamp, though it did not end mine explosions.
Modern Era
Wreck of the Medusa (1816): The Raft and Géricault's Painting
About 150 people were set adrift on a raft and only 15 were rescued alive; the scandal embarrassed the Bourbon government and inspired Géricault's The Raft of the Medusa.
Modern Era
Year Without a Summer (1816): Famine, Frost and Frankenstein
Failed harvests caused the last great subsistence crisis in the Western world, with food riots, disease, mass emigration and lasting cultural echoes.
Modern Era
Peterloo Massacre (1819): Cavalry Charge in Manchester
Around 15-18 people were killed and hundreds injured; the government backed the magistrates and passed the repressive Six Acts.
Modern Era
Cato Street Conspiracy (1820): Plot to Murder the Cabinet
The plotters were arrested in Cato Street; five were hanged and beheaded on 1 May 1820 and five others transported for life.