The French government ordered Napoleon to leave the country, and after some indecision, he surrendered to the British. They exiled him with a few companions on the island of St. Helena in the South Atlantic Ocean.

There Napoleon spent six years, writing his memoirs and quarreling with the commandant, Sir Hudson Lowe. He died on May 5, 1821, of a chronic stomach ailment, which most historians attribute to either cancer or an ulcer, A few historians, however, believe that evidence points to long-term arsenic poisoning. They speculate that the arsenic was administered by a member of Napoleon's staff who was a secret supporter of the Bourbons, whose rule was threatened as long as Napoleon remained alive.

In 1840, King Louis Philippe had Napoleon's body moved to Paris, where it has lain since 1861 in the Dôme des Invalides.