The Treaty of Fontainebleau was an agreement established in Fontainebleau (near Paris) on 11 April 1814 between Napoleon Bonaparte and representatives from Austria, Hungary, and Bohemia (the states that comprised the Austrian Empire), as well as Russia and Prussia. The treaty was signed at Paris on 11 April by the plenipotentiaries of both sides, and ratified by Napoleon on 13 April. With this treaty, the Allies ended Napoleon's rule as Emperor of the French and sent him into exile on Elba.
Quotes of Napoleon's conditional and amended unconditional abdication[]
Conditional[]
"The Allied powers having proclaimed that the Emperor Napoleon is the sole obstacle to the re-establishment of peace in Europe, — the Emperor Napoleon, faithful to his oath, declares that he is ready to descend from the throne, to leave France, and even to lay down his life for the welfare of his country, which is inseparable from the rights of his son, those of the regency of the Empress, and the maintenance of the laws of the Empire."―Given at our palace of Fontainebleau - April 4th, 1814. Napoleon
Unconditional[]
When this first document of conditional abdication was rejected by the Allies, Napoleon was forced to bow to the inevitable, altering his original document on the 6th of April 1814, when it became clear that any further military action was out of the question.
"The Allied powers having proclaimed that the Emperor Napoleon is the sole obstacle to the re-establishment of peace in Europe, — the Emperor Napoleon, faithful to his oath, declares that he renounces, for himself and his heirs, the thrones of France and Italy, and that there is no personal sacrifice, not even of life itself, that he is unwilling to make in the interest of France."―Fontainebleau - April 6th, 1814. Napoleon
