Isère
Isère ( , ; ; , ) is a landlocked Departments of France, department in the southeastern French Regions of France, region of Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes. Named after the river Isère (river), Isère, it had a population of 1,271,166 in 2019.
France
France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...
. It stands at the top of the Rampe de Laffrey, which is known for a large number of deadly automobile accidents.
History
Napoleon
Napoleon Bonaparte (born Napoleone di Buonaparte; 15 August 1769 – 5 May 1821), later known by his regnal name Napoleon I, was a French general and statesman who rose to prominence during the French Revolution and led Military career ...
passed through the village on 7 March 1815, during his return from
Elba
Elba (, ; ) is a Mediterranean Sea, Mediterranean island in Tuscany, Italy, from the coastal town of Piombino on the Italian mainland, and the largest island of the Tuscan Archipelago. It is also part of the Arcipelago Toscano National Park, a ...
at the beginning of the
Hundred Days
The Hundred Days ( ), also known as the War of the Seventh Coalition (), marked the period between Napoleon's return from eleven months of exile on the island of Elba to Paris on20 March 1815 and the second restoration of King Louis XVIII o ...
. At a site in Laffrey now known as the "field of the encounter" (''prairie de la Rencontre''), Napoleon and the handful of troops accompanying him were met by a battalion of soldiers of the royal 5th Regiment of the Line, who had come to arrest him. Leaving behind his men, Napoleon presented himself to the soldiers and declared, "If any of you will shoot his Emperor, here I am". The soldiers defected to his cause, crying ''Vive l'Empereur!'' ("Long live the Emperor!"). An equestrian statue of Napoleon by Emmanuel Frémiet, installed on the field in 1930, commemorates this event.