The armies of the Coalition (which included the United Kingdom) had entered France by 1814 and were on the march to Paris, which meant that Napoleon was forced tot abdicate. The Coalition leaders drew up the Treaty of Fontainebleu, which exiled Napoleon to the island of Elba where he was only allowed to have control over this island. Napoleon stayed on the island of Elba for about a year, until he managed to escape on February 26, 1815. The novel is set in the year 1814, before Napoleon had escaped and it seemed that France had been defeated. The novel indirectly structures itself by this war, as it shows the success of Captain Wentworth who was able to gain wealth and raise ranks in the war against Napoleon and come back more successful by 1814. Although Napoleon's first exile seemed like a victory for England, they will have to go back to war when Napoleon escapes in 1815. This would have been something that Austen and readers were aware of while reading this novel, and is something to consider when Anne's happiness at being a sailor's wife is described at the end of the novel. She says that, "His profession was all that could ever make her friends wish that tenderness less, the dread of a future war all that could dim her sunshine" (Austen 258). Napoleon's first exile is not his last one, and Austen reveals what is to come with the foreboding tone at the conclusion of the novel. 

Griffiths, Jack. “Lieutenant Frank Alexander De Pass: Hero of History.” All About History, Future Inc., 21 Nov. 2014, https://www.historyanswers.co.uk/history-of-war/lieutenant-frank-alexand....