The Second White Terror occurred in France in 1815. Following the return of Louis XVIII to power, people suspected of having ties with the governments of the French Revolution or of Napoleon suffered arrest. Several hundred were killed by angry mobs, or executed after a quick trial at a drum head court-martial. Historian John B. Wolf argues that Ultra-royalists—many of whom had just returned from exile—were staging a counter-revolution against the French Revolution, and also against Napoleon's revolution. The period is named after the First White Terror that occurred during the Thermidorians in 1795, when people identified as being associated with the Reign of Terror were harassed and killed.
Bourbon reprisals
After the Hundred Days, Napoleon's brief return to power in 1815, the second White Terror focused mainly on the purging of a civilian administration which had almost completely turned against the Bourbon monarchy. About 70,000 officials were dismissed from their positions. The remnants of the Napoleonic army was disbanded after the Battle of Waterloo and its senior officers cashiered. Marshal Ney was executed for treason, Marshal Brune was killed in Avignon, and General Jean-Pierre Ramel was assassinated in Toulouse. Approximately 6,000 individuals who had rallied to Napoleon were brought to trial. There were about 300 mob lynchings In the south of France, notably in Marseille where his Mamelukes were massacred in their barracks.
Aftermath
These actions struck fear in the population, persuading liberal and moderate electors to vote for the ultra-royalists. Of 402 members, the first Chamber of the Restoration was composed of 350 ultra-royalists; the king himself thus named it the Chambre introuvable, called as such because the Chamber was "more royalist than the king", in Louis XVIII's words. The Chamber voted, sentencing Marshal Ney and the Comte de la Bédoyère to death for treason, while 250 people were given prison sentences and some others exiled, including Joseph Fouché, Lazare Carnot, and Cambacérès. The surviving "regicides" who had voted for the execution of Louis XVI in 1792 were exiled.
