The Plot to rescue Napoleon from exile and make him Emperor of Brazil.In 1814 French Emperor Napoleo

The Plot to rescue Napoleon from exile and make him Emperor of Brazil.In 1814 French Emperor Napoleon Bonaparte and his forces were defeated by the Sixth Coalition.  Ousted from his throne in France, Napoleon was exiled to Elba, an island off the coast of Italy.  Given the title “Emperor of Elba”, Napoleon was granted a large mansion, given sovereignty over the island’s 12,000 residents, and permitted to have a personal guard of 1,000 soldiers.  However being Emperor of Elba was not enough.  In 1815 he returned to France, rallied the French people rebuilt his army, and made a second go as emperor.  His last reign, called the “100 days”, was brief.  The nations of Europe formed a seventh coalition, and Napoleon was once again sent into exile after his final defeat at the Battle of Waterloo.To ensure that he could never escape and cause trouble again, Napoleon was exiled by the British to St. Helena Island, a remote outpost located in the middle of the South Atlantic surrounded by hundreds of miles of open ocean in all directions.  Napoleon was permitted to live in a modest home with his entourage in the middle of the island while surrounded by 2,800 British soldiers who kept an eye on him day and night.  In addition, a fleet 11 schooners patrolled the island to ensure Napoleon wasn’t going anywhere.In 1817, the older brother of Napoleon, Joseph Bonaparte, concocted a grand scheme to rescue his brother from St. Helena and install him as Emperor of Brazil. At the time Pernambuco was in a state of revolt against Portugal.  The plan was to recruit an army to rescue Napoleon from St. Helena, where he could then take command of the Brazilian rebels, overthrow Portuguese control over Brazil, and thus rebuild his empire afresh in South America.The main mover and shaker of the plot was a man named Col. Paul de Latapie, a former French officer under Napoleon who was living in exile in the United States.  In that year 70 French officers, all of whom were still loyal to Bonaparte, gathered in Pernambuco, Brazil.  In the meantime Latapie traveled the US, gathering volunteers to build an army to liberate Napoleon.  When Latapie arrived in Brazil, he brought with him 2 twelve gun schooners and 700 soldiers, most of whom were American mercenaries and former French soldiers.  Several thousand local Brazilians were also recruited to complete the army.  In addition, a large warship under the command of Lord Cochrane would join the force. Lord Chochrane was a former British Admiral who had been ousted from the Royal Navy after being convicted of stock market fraud.  Since then he had been recruited as an admiral by the Chilean Navy, and his flag ship was a large frigate armed with 70 guns.  The plan was for the three ships to drive off the British patrol ships, storm the island, rescue Napoleon, then appoint him as leader of the Pernambuco revolt.  With a massive influx of loyal soldiers from France combined with local Brazilian rebels, Napoleon could then overthrow the Portuguese, conquer Brazil, and thus build a large and powerful empire in South America.  At the same time, another plan was underway to install Joseph Bonaparte as Emperor of Mexico.Unfortunately Pernambuco was not an ideal staging point for empire building.  In a matter of months the Pernambuco revolt was crushed by Portuguese forces.  Most of the 700 French and American soldiers fled the country while many of the French officers were arrested.  Eventually they were repatriated back to France.Over the years other plots were attempted to free Napoleon.  In 1820 Lord Cochrane himself planned a rescue plot involving the Chilean fleet. His plans were foiled by Napoleon’s death in 1821. -- source link

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