Even Joachim Murat
deserted his brother-in-law, and, in order to retain Naples, came to
terms with Austria. Only Polish Warsaw and the king of Saxony remained
loyal to the Napoleonic alliance: the territories of both were in full
possession of the allies.
[Sidenote: The Campaign of 1814 in France]
With the remnant of his defeated army and what young boys and old men
he was able to recruit, Napoleon needlessly prolonged the struggle on
French soil. At the close of 1813 Austria prevailed upon her more or
less willing allies to offer him wonderfully favorable terms: France
might retain her "natural boundaries"--the Rhine, the Alps, and the
Pyrenees; and Napoleon might continue to rule over a region which would
have gladdened the heart of a Richelieu or of a Louis XIV. But it was
still victory and not peace upon which the supreme egotist had bet his
mind. He still dreamed of overwhelming Prussia and Russia.
Early in 1814 three large foreign armies, totaling 400,000 men, and
accompanied by the emperors of Russia and Austria and the king of
Prussia, invaded northern France and converged on Paris.
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