Author’s Note
130 Words
Author’s NoteThe Army of Occupation in France after the defeat of Napoleon Bonaparte presented an enormous problem of organisation. The French thought that the feeding of a hundred and fifty thousand troops would be a miracle and their attitude towards the force swung from welcome to resentment.
What was more the French were protesting that they would not pay their indemnity and Madame de Staël predicted that it would be paid ‘in gold the first year, in silver the second and in the third in lead’.
The Occupation finally ended after the Congress of Aix-la-Chapelle in November 1818.
But in England there were two different enemies – political agitation and economic distress. The soldiers returning home found in the country that they had fought for so valiantly that there was no place for heroes.
- Writer
