IN SEARCH OF THE VILLAGE AND SMALL-TOWN ELECTIONS OF NAPOLEON’S HUNDRED DAYS: A DEPARTMENTAL STUDY

dunne, john;

On 30 April 1815, Napoleon surprisingly called municipal elections in all communes with a population of under 5000. These elections have been little written about and less researched. Yet, as the most inclusive and extensive elections between the 1790s and 1848, they offer a unique vantage point for the observation of mass electoral behaviour. In the absence of summary results, they can only be properly studied through the original minutes of individual electoral assemblies. As the first study to do so systematically, this article draws on an analysis of proceedings in 152 communes in the Seine-Inférieure to offer a highly focused picture of political behaviour in the crucial period of the Hundred Days. While the article begins the process of putting the subject on a more secure footing, research in progress on three other departments—two less hostile to Napoleon’s restored regime—should make it possible to generalize more confidently about responses to this unprecedented opportunity for political expression.