Louis XVIII of France had been restored a second time by the allies in 1815, ending more than two decades of war.

He had announced he would rule as a limited, constitutional monarch.

After the Hundred Days in 1815 when Napoleon suddenly returned and was vanquished, a more harsh peace treaty had been imposed on France, returning it to its 1789 boundaries and requiring a war indemnity in gold.

Allied troops remain in the country until it is paid.

There are large-scale purges of Bonapartists from the government and military, and a brief "White Terror" in the south of France claims three hundred victims.

Otherwise the transition is largely peaceful.

Although the old ruling class has returned they do not recover their lost lands, and are unable to reverse most of the dramatic changes in French society, economics, and ways of thinking.

France intervenes in Spain in 1823, where a civil war has deposed king Ferdinand VII.

The French troops march into Spain, retake Madrid from the rebels, and leave almost as quickly as they come.

Despite worries to the contrary, France shows no sign of returning to an aggressive foreign policy and is admitted to the Concert of Europe in 1818.

Louis XVIII, for the most part, accepts that much has changed.

However, he is pushed on his right by the Ultra-royalists, led by the comte de Villèle, who condemn the Doctrinaires' attempt to reconcile the Revolution with the monarchy through a constitutional monarchy.

Instead, the Chambre introuvable elected in 1815 had banished all Conventionnels who had voted Louis XVI's death and passes several reactionary laws.

Louis XVIII had been forced to dissolve this Chamber, dominated by the Ultras, in 1816, fearing a popular uprising.

The liberals thus govern until the 1820 assassination of the duc de Berry, the nephew of the king and known supporter of the Ultras, which brings Villèle's ultras back to power.

Louis dies in September 1824 and is succeeded by his brother.

Charles X of France follows the "ultra" conservative line but is a much less effective coalition builder than Louis XVIII.