Napoleon Bonaparte

And Romanticism

“Power is my mistress.”

• State system is dead• Europe must be

organized under French hegemony

• Administrative reform and Napoleonic Code must spread throughout Europe

                                                   

              

Origins

• Father and mother nobility in Corsica

• Entered Brienne Military Academy at age 9 on scholarship

• Leadership skills obvious

• Considered an outsider

• 1784 enters Ecole Militaire in Paris at age 15

• Finished 2-year program in 1 year

• Becomes officer at age 16

• In favor of the Revolution

Man of Destiny

• Rationalist and opportunist

• Romantic: studied Alexander the Great and Hannibal

• Devoted to his family• 1793, defeats Great

Britain at Toulon—Brigadier General

• French military expansion continues under Directory

• March 1795 Peace concluded with Prussia and Spain

• War continued with Great Britain and Austria—Directory needed Military

Napoleon’s Rise

• 1795—drove out royalists and saved Revolution

• Meets Josephine• 1796, marries

Josephine• 1796—goes to Italy to

command troops there

• By November 1797, France has defeated all of her enemies except Great Britain

• Returns to Paris as a hero

• Decides to attack GB through Egypt

Napoleon’s Army of the Orient

• Attempt to destroy Britain’s Trade with India

• 35,000 members• Napoleon’s army moved to Cairo: 15,000

march across desert; 10,000 shipped by barge upriver

• Army meets 6,000 mounted Mamelukes and local force of 54,000 and wins

Egyptian Campaign

• 7/1798—Battle of the Pyramids: Napoleon victorious in Alexandria

• Became intellectual campaign

Discoveries

• Rosetta Stone discovered

• Tombs explored• Treasures taken back

to France• Josephine unfaithful• Austria, Russia, GB

form new coalition: infidelities published

                                                                          

                          

GB defeats Napoleon on Water

• August 1,1798 French fleet destroyed in Aboukir Bay

• Army becomes marooned• Second coalition formed, including GB, Russia,

Turkey, Naples, Portugal, Austria• French become bogged down• Napoleon quits Egypt with a few men and guides:

sails back to Paris—His victories on land precede him; he is seen as a hero

Coup of 18 Brumaire

• Directory weak: Abbe Sieyes convinces Napoleon to overthrow the Directory

• Napoleon addresses assembly: “Confidence from below, power from above”

Napoleon as First Consul

• Assembly shouts down Napoleon

• He becomes angry• Saved by his brother

Lucien, who leads army into the Assembly Hall

• New constitution created: Constitution of Year VIII: three consuls to lead

• Republican theory: checks and balances

• Council of State

• Made Napoleon actual ruler

• Approved by plebiscite (3,011,077to 1,567)

End of French Revolution?

New Constitution of Year VIII could be seen as end of FR

Most leading elements of Third Estate had achieved their goals by 1799

Hereditary privilege abolished

Peasants also satisfied—they had land, no feudal privileges

Napoleon as First Consul

• Maintained order by his policies:

• Liberal Policies:• Employed people from

all political groups• Gains of peasants

confirmed• Amnesty to nobles

granted

• Improved education• Concordat of 1801

with Pope Pius VII• Catholics gain

freedom of worship• Catholicism is religion

of most Frenchmen• State named bishops

and paid priests

1st Consul, continued

• Church gave up property

• Clergy swore loyalty to state

• Conservative Order– Murdered Bourbon

Duke d’Enghien in 1804

• Central government controlled Provinces

• Stopped free speech and press

• Crushed opposition: secret police developed

• Stopped free elections

Civil Code 1804

• Middle class equality• Safeguarded property

rights• Abolished all

Privileges of birth• State officials chosen

by merit• Gave men control over

their wives

• Property distributed among all children

• Married women had to consult their husbands to dispose of property

• Labor unions forbidden: workers had fewer rights than employers

Napoleon as Emperor

• Fear of Bourbon comeback

• 1802 plebiscite: Consul for life

• 1804: Napoleon becomes emperor of France

• New constitution by plebiscite approves

Coronation

• Coronation at Notre Dame

• Pope comes to crown Napoleon

• At last moment, Napoleon takes crown from Pope and crowns himself

Napoleon’s personal life

• Josephine crowned his empress

• By 1809 he wanted blood heirs—Josephine could not give him any

• Divorces her, marries Archduchess Marie Louise

Military Methods and Conquests

• Military genius, especially in execution of warfare

• New theory• Flexible formations in

battle, not fixed ones• Divided into

moderately sized units

• Live off land• Light-speed

maneuvers to bring enemies into battle

• Great citizen army motivated to fight well

• 700,000 strong• Could risk 100,000

men at a time

Methods and conquests

• Conscripted unprecedented number of soldiers

• Loyal to France and Napoleon

• Conquest of Europe:– 1801 Austria defeated

– 1802 Peace with GB

– Peace of Amiens a truce

– 1803 Third Coalition formed (Aus, Rus, Swed, GB)

1805 Battle of Trafalgar

• Spain submits to Napoleon; join fleets to sail against England

• Meet Horatio Nelson at Trafalgar

• 21 October: Fr/SP fleets destroyed; GB loses no ships

• GB dominant at sea 100 years

Austerlitz

• December 2, 1805• Defeats Austria and

Russia• Treaty of Pressburg

signed• Napoleon gains Italy

1806 Battle of Jena

• Prussia defeated• Berlin Decrees signed

Nov 21, 1806• Prussia loses much

territory• Agrees to bar British

goods from import

                                                                                                        

Treaty of Tilsit

• Alexander I meets Napoleon in 1807 on raft in Niemen River

• Russia agrees to Continental system

• French territorial gains confirmed

• Russia loses land

Continental System and Grand Empire

• 1806 Holy Roman Empire dissolved

• Germany re-organized as Confederation of the Rhine

• New Kingdoms set up with Napoleon’s family/friends on thrones

• Spain, Italy, Holland, Sweden

• Napoleonic Code everywhere: end of feudalism and local town oligarchies

System at work

• Attempts to destroy GB trade dominance

• Napoleon rejected idea of free trade

• Tariff policies favored France

• Foreign merchants engaged in smuggling

• GB trades with America and East

• Continental system hurts Continent

• Problems begin: Spanish revolt, 1808—against Joseph on throne

Problems for Napoleon

• 1808 Peninsular War saps French strength

• Britain begins blockade

• 1810 Russia withdraws from Continental system

• 1812, march on Russia; 600,000 men

• Suffers defeat at hands of cold (coldest winter in 100 years)

• Russian scorched earth policy

• Retreat of Russians• Resistance by entire

Russian population

Retreat from Moscow

• Supply train had been attacked

• Typhus rampant among troops

• Discipline broke down

• At Berezina, soldiers were attacked and panicked

• Bridge broke—20,000 died or captured

• 100,000 survived retreat

                                                                                                        

4th Coalition

• Napoleon able to get army together quickly: 350,000 members in 6 months

• 1813, Russia, Prussia, Austria, GB form 4th coalition

• Prussian army modernized and reorganized

• Prussia: 270,000– Seen as German war of

Liberation:– Battle of Nations:– France defeated at

Leipzig in Germany– Allies take Paris in

March, 1814– Napoleon abdicates

and exiled to Elba

Congress of Vienna

• Viscount Robert Castelreagh (GB)

• Prince Klemens von Metternich (Aus)

• Charles Maurice de Talleyrand (Fr)

• Karl August von Hardenberg (Prus) (Frederick Willhelm)

• Alexander I (Rus)

• No power should dominate

• Balance of Power sets stage for Concert of Europe

• Policy to contain France

• Holland made stronger with addition of Aus Netherlands

• Austria given N. Italy• Prussia given

Rhineland• Non-vindictive

boundary settlement w/France (1792)

• Restoration of Monarchies

• Concert of Europe:• Frequent meetings for

several years• No major general war

in Europe for 100 years

100 Days

• Napoleon escapes from Elba 1815

• Promised liberal constitution and peace

• Allies declare Napoleon an outlaw

• 5th coalition formed• Battle of Waterloo

1815

• Defeated by Prussians and English: Duke of Wellington leads English/von Blucher leads Prussians

• Napoleon exiled to St. Helena

• Died from cancer 1821