Hundred Days

1. the period from March 20 to June 28, 1815, between the arrival of Napoleon in Paris, after his escape from Elba, and his abdication after the battle of Waterloo.

2. a special session of Congress from March 9, 1933 to June 16, 1933, called by President Franklin D. Roosevelt, in which important social legislation was enacted.

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French Cent Jours

(1815) In French history, the period between Napoleon's arrival in Paris after escaping from exile on Elba and the return of Louis XVIII to Paris.

Napoleon landed on French soil on March 1 and reached Paris on March 20. Austria, Britain, Prussia, and Russia swiftly concluded an alliance against Napoleon and forced a series of military engagements that led up to the Battle of Waterloo. On June 22 Napoleon abdicated a second time and was removed to St. Helena; Louis returned to Paris on July 8.

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      in U.S. history, the early period of Franklin D. Roosevelt's presidency (March 9–June 16, 1933), during which a major portion of New Deal legislation was enacted. See New Deal. (New Deal)

▪ French history

French  Cent Jours 

      in French history, period between March 20, 1815, the date on which Napoleon arrived in Paris after escaping from exile on Elba, and July 8, 1815, the date of the return of Louis XVIII to Paris. The phrase was first used by the prefect of the Seine, comte de Chabrol de Volvic, in his speech welcoming the king.

      Less than a year following his abdication (April 6, 1814) and the Bourbon Restoration, Napoleon left his island exile in the Tyrrhenian Sea and landed at Cannes on March 1, leading 1,500 men, and marched at once upon Paris. Louis XVIII fled to Ghent on March 13, and Napoleon entered Paris one week later. To broaden his support, Napoleon made liberal changes to the Imperial Constitution, which led a number of former opponents, most notably Benjamin Constant, to rally to his cause. On March 25 Austria, Britain, Prussia, and Russia concluded an alliance against Napoleon and forced a series of military engagements leading up to the fatal Battle of Waterloo (June 18).

      On June 22 Napoleon abdicated a second time; on July 15 he boarded a British warship at Rochefort, essentially a prisoner; and exactly three months later he was landed at St. Helena, a British island in the South Atlantic Ocean. Meanwhile, on July 8, Louis XVIII had returned to Paris in the second Bourbon Restoration.

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