The clumsiness of Louis XVIII facilitated the return of Napoleon

Louis XVIII deeply displeased France upon his return to power by offending the former imperial army and ignoring its past victories. The royal policy also frightened the peasants who feared losing their lands acquired during the Revolution, while demobilization cast thousands of soldiers unable to adapt into unemployment. Faced with these tensions and the government's refusal to pay him his pension, Napoleon left his island to reconquer the throne in 1814.