Assignment-1

Modern
 
Europe
 
 
 
                         

   Student enrolment no: 2020R94831B 

                            Student initials and surname: Vishnu 
                                            Submission date: 04/07/2022
Napoleon Bonaparte was born on August 15, 1769, in Ajaccio, on the
Mediterranean island of Corsica. He was the second of eight surviving
children born to Carlo Buonaparte (1746-1785), a lawyer, and Letizia
Romalino Buonaparte (1750-1836). Although his parents were members
of the minor Corsican nobility, the family was not wealthy. The year
before Napoleon’s birth, France acquired Corsica from the city-state of
Genoa, Italy. Napoleon later adopted a French spelling of his last name.
As a boy, Napoleon attended school in mainland France, where he
learned the French language, and went on to graduate from a French
military academy in 1785. He then became a second lieutenant in an
artillery regiment of the French army. The French Revolution began in
1789, and within three years revolutionaries had overthrown the
monarchy and proclaimed a French republic. During the early years of
the revolution, Napoleon was largely on leave from the military and
home in Corsica, where he became affiliated with the Jacobins, a pro-
democracy political group. In 1793, following a clash with the
nationalist Corsican governor, Pasquale Paoli (1725-1807), the
Bonaparte family fled their native island for mainland France, where
Napoleon returned to military duty.

In France, Napoleon became associated with Augustin Robespierre

(1763-1794), the brother of revolutionary leader Maximilien
Robespierre (1758-1794), a Jacobin who was a key force behind the
Reign of Terror (1793-1794), a period of violence against enemies of the
revolution. During this time, Napoleon was promoted to the rank of
brigadier general in the army. However, after Robespierre fell from
power and was guillotined (along with Augustin) in July 1794, Napoleon
was briefly put under house arrest for his ties to the brothers.

In 1795, Napoleon helped suppress a royalist insurrection against the

revolutionary government in Paris and was promoted to major general.
Napoleon’s Rise to Power
Since 1792, France’s revolutionary government had been engaged in
military conflicts with various European nations. In 1796, Napoleon
commanded a French army that defeated the larger armies of Austria,
one of his country’s primary rivals, in a series of battles in Italy. In 1797,
France and Austria signed the Treaty of Campo Formio, resulting in
territorial gains for the French.

The following year, the Directory, the five-person group that had
governed France since 1795, offered to let Napoleon lead an invasion of
England. Napoleon determined that France’s naval forces were not yet
ready to go up against the superior British Royal Navy. Instead, he
proposed an invasion of Egypt in an effort to wipe out British trade
routes with India. Napoleon’s troops scored a victory against Egypt’s
military rulers, the Mamluks, at the Battle of the Pyramids in July 1798;
soon, however, his forces were stranded after his naval fleet was nearly
decimated by the British at the Battle of the Nile in August 1798. In
early 1799, Napoleon’s army launched an invasion of Ottoman Empire-
ruled Syria, which ended with a failed siege of Acre, located in modern-
day Israel. That summer, with the political situation in France marked by
uncertainty, the ever-ambitious and cunning Napoleon opted to abandon
his army in Egypt and return to France.
Since 1792, France’s revolutionary government had been engaged in
military conflicts with various European nations. In 1796, Napoleon
commanded a French army that defeated the larger armies of Austria,
one of his country’s primary rivals, in a series of battles in Italy. In 1797,
France and Austria signed the Treaty of Campo Formio, resulting in
territorial gains for the French.
The following year, the Directory, the five-person group that had
governed France since 1795, offered to let Napoleon lead an invasion of
England. Napoleon determined that France’s naval forces were not yet
ready to go up against the superior British Royal Navy. Instead, he
proposed an invasion of Egypt in an effort to wipe out British trade
routes with India. Napoleon’s troops scored a victory against Egypt’s
military rulers, the Mamluks, at the Battle of the Pyramids in July 1798;
soon, however, his forces were stranded after his naval fleet was nearly
decimated by the British at the Battle of the Nile in August 1798. In
early 1799, Napoleon’s army launched an invasion of Ottoman Empire-
ruled Syria, which ended with a failed siege of Acre, located in modern-
day Israel. That summer, with the political situation in France marked by
uncertainty, the ever-ambitious and cunning Napoleon opted to abandon
his army in Egypt and return to France.

In November 1799, in an event known as the coup of 18 Brumaire,

Napoleon was part of a group that successfully overthrew the
French Directory.

The Directory was replaced with a three-member Consulate, and

5'7" Napoleon became first consul, making him France’s leading
political figure. In June 1800, at the Battle of Marengo,
Napoleon’s forces defeated one of France’s perennial enemies, the
Austrians, and drove them out of Italy. The victory helped cement
Napoleon’s power as first consul. Additionally, with the Treaty of
Amiens in 1802, the war-weary British agreed to peace with the
French (although the peace would only last for a year).

Napoleon worked to restore stability to post-revolutionary France.

He centralized the government; instituted reforms in such areas as
banking and education; supported science and the arts; and sought
to improve relations between his regime and the pope (who
represented France’s main religion, Catholicism), which had
suffered during the revolution. One of his most significant
accomplishments was the Napoleonic Code, which streamlined the
French legal system and continues to form the foundation of
French civil law to this day. In 1802, a constitutional amendment
made Napoleon first consul for life. Two years later, in 1804, he
crowned himself emperor of France in a lavish ceremony at the
Cathedral of Notre Dame in Paris.

In 1810, Russia withdrew from the Continental System. In

retaliation, Napoleon led a massive army into Russia in the
summer of 1812. Rather than engaging the French in a full-scale
battle, the Russians adopted a strategy of retreating whenever
Napoleon’s forces attempted to attack. As a result, Napoleon’s
troops trekked deeper into Russia despite being ill-prepared for an
extended campaign. In September, both sides suffered heavy
casualties in the indecisive Battle of Borodino. Napoleon’s forces
marched on to Moscow, only to discover almost the entire
population evacuated. Retreating Russians set fires across the city
in an effort to deprive enemy troops of supplies. After waiting a
month for a surrender that never came, Napoleon, faced with the
onset of the Russian winter, was forced to order his starving,
exhausted army out of Moscow. During the disastrous retreat, his
army suffered continual harassment from a suddenly aggressive
and merciless Russian army. Of Napoleon’s 600,000 troops who
began the campaign, only an estimated 100,000 made it out of
Russia.
At the same time as the catastrophic Russian invasion, French
forces were engaged in the Peninsular War (1808-1814), which
resulted in the Spanish and Portuguese, with assistance from the
British, driving the French from the Iberian Peninsula. This loss
was followed in 1813 by the Battle of Leipzig, also known as the
Battle of Nations, in which Napoleon’s forces were defeated by a
coalition that included Austrian, Prussian, Russian and Swedish
troops. Napoleon then retreated to France, and in March 1814
coalition forces captured Paris.

On April 6, 1814, Napoleon, then in his mid-40s, was forced to

abdicate the throne. With the Treaty of Fontainebleau, he was
exiled to Elba, a Mediterranean island off the coast of Italy. He
was given sovereignty over the small island, while his wife and
son went to Austria.

Hundred Days Campaign and Battle of Waterloo

On February 26, 1815, after less than a year in exile, Napoleon

escaped Elba and sailed to the French mainland with a group of
more than 1,000 supporters. On March 20, he returned to Paris,
where he was welcomed by cheering crowds. The new king, Louis
XVIII (1755-1824), fled, and Napoleon began what came to be
known as his Hundred Days campaign.

Upon Napoleon’s return to France, a coalition of allies–the

Austrians, British, Prussians and Russians–who considered the
French emperor an enemy began to prepare for war. Napoleon
raised a new army and planned to strike preemptively, defeating
the allied forces one by one before they could launch a united
attack against him.
In June 1815, his forces invaded Belgium, where British and
Prussian troops were stationed. On June 16, Napoleon’s troops
defeated the Prussians at the Battle of Ligny. However, two days
later, on June 18, at the Battle of Waterloo near Brussels, the
French were crushed by the British, with assistance from the
Prussians.

On June 22, 1815, Napoleon was once again forced to abdicate.

Legal Reforms

The upheavals of the French revolution had left the French legal
system in chaos. Disjointed decrees tore up what had come before
without leaving a coherent alternative.

One of Napoleon’s proudest achievements was untangling this

mess. He had the laws of post-revolutionary France brought
together into a coherent whole. This Civil Code removed the
privileges of the aristocracy, ensured property rights, and created
greater equality. In doing so, it shifted the focus of the law to
benefiting the middle class.

As the French Empire spread across Europe, it brought these legal

reforms with it. Many countries retained parts of the Code long
after the Empire dissolved.

The Civil Code brought in many liberal reforms. However, it also

had retrograde elements, such as making it harder for women to
leave abusive marriages.
Spreading the Metric System

Along with the Civil Code, Napoleon brought the metric system to
the rest of Europe.

The metric system, one of the great creations of enlightened

French thought, was put in place by the revolutionaries. It
replaced the traditional system of weights and measures, which
included erratic numbering and local variations. Using a base of
ten, the metric system was more rational and easier to use. Like
the Civil Code, it was popularized by Napoleon’s empire and
endures long after his fall.

The Louisiana Purchases

Although he never fought in the Americas, Napoleon had an

impact on that continent.

The sale of Louisiana to the United States of America for

80,000,000 francs was hardly a good deal for France financially.
Strategically, though, it was advantageous in providing a cash
boost and allowing Napoleon to focus on Europe while avoiding
colonial warfare.

By adding vastly to the size of the US, the purchase ensured the
growing supremacy of that fledgling nation in North America.
Louisiana is part of the USA thanks to Napoleon.
 Cour Carrée (Square courtyard) of Museum of Louvre

The Louvre

As a building, the Louvre dated back to the French monarchy of

1793. As a museum, it had its origins in the revolution, when it
undertook to educate the French and show off their national
treasures. Napoleon made it an institution of truly global
significance.

In 1802, he appointed Vivant Denon as the first director of a great

scheme to turn the Louvre into an imperial art gallery. Pillaging
artifacts from public and private collections across Europe,
Napoleon brought them back to Paris. In the Louvre, they were
displayed alongside art commissioned to celebrate his greatness.
One of the world’s greatest art collections was born from
Napoleon’s Empire.
The End of the Holy Roman Empire

In 1806, Napoleon’s conquests and treaties led to the end of one of

Europe’s most enduring and complex institutions – the Holy
Roman Empire.

It is said of the Holy Roman Empire that it was neither holy,

Roman, nor an empire. It was an organization of various central
European kingdoms, duchies, and other political units, many of
them Germanic. It’s slow evolution saw it grow from a medieval
confederation to a tool of Austrian political will. Although the
Austrian Habsburgs would continue to hold sway over a large
empire, the destruction of the Holy Roman Empire cut their
influence in Germany and paved the way for other institutions.

German Nationalism

The vacuum created by the fall of the Holy Roman Empire was
filled with German nationalism and eventually lead to the German
nation. While Germany would not formally unite until 1871, the
seeds of that event lay in Napoleon’s Empire.

French occupation caused resentment in many of the German

states, as French laws and officials rode roughshod over local
interests. This resentment led to a sense of nationalism as people
united in the face of foreign intervention.

King Frederick William of Prussia proved particularly smart at

using the language of nationalism. He brought Germans together
against France from 1813 in the Wars of Liberation. This fostered
a desire for a German nation and put Prussia in the perfect place to
lead it. Decades later, the Prussians would build on this to sideline
Austria and unite Germany under them.

Freedom in Latin America

The French invasion of Spain eventually led to revolutions on the

far side of the world, in the Spanish colonies of Latin America.
Those colonies were never occupied by the French. There were
disagreements over what their status was in relation to the Spanish
government, both during its exile and on its return to Spain. Latin
American colonists came to enjoy local control and resent the way
the far off Spanish government treated them, leading to the
revolutions that made them independent.

Religion in France

In France, Napoleon played a vital part in the current religious

sentiment. Most French citizens were Catholic, but resentment
against the church and its clergy had given the revolution an anti-
religious tone. Huge tensions existed between those wanting to
preserve a Catholic culture and those encouraging a secular state.

Ambivalent about faith, Napoleon took a pragmatic approach to

this. He fostered friendly relations with the church and used the
symbols of religion in his coronation. However, he kept the church
at arms-length from the state, bereft of its former power.

This compromise proved stable and is reflected in modern France

– a nation of Catholics with strictly secular state laws and
government.

Napoleon's Strategic Genius

Napoleon made significant innovations in warfare. Given his

background in artillery, this was inevitably an area where he made
a difference. He showed the world how to concentrate firepower
and make use of mobile reserve batteries effectively. He promoted
a movable type of warfare, with fast marches and decisive
maneuvers.

There was also a shift in his approach to war. He encouraged the

professionalism of armies born from the French Revolution. He
also committed to a more destructive form of war, in which the
aim was to destroy rather than merely outmaneuver enemy armies.
Napoleon’s enemies learned from fighting against him, shaping
warfare in the decades and centuries that followed.

The Emperor Napoleon I giving directions to Guard artillerymen

at the battle of Montmirail. The Guard artillery, under Napoleon's
careful direct supervision helped turn the tide of the battle and win
the day for the French.

Emperor Napoleon I giving directions to Guard artillerymen at the

battle of Montmirail. The Guard artillery, under Napoleon’s
careful direct supervision helped turn the tide of the battle and win
the day for the French.

Napoleon’s Three Greatest Victories

As far as the military history of France goes, there is little that can
compete with the greatness of Napoleon Bonaparte. He was one of
the greatest military commanders to walk the earth. This does not
imply that he was without faults or that he never lost a battle.
However, of the 60 battles in which he was involved during his
military career, he lost only 8. Though his successes were
recorded about 200 years ago, they will continue to be discussed
for ages to come.

The Battle of Austerlitz, 1805

Shortly after the War of the Third Coalition began in 1805,

Napoleon, who was now the Emperor of France and King of Italy,
knew he had to quell the enemy forces of Austria, Russia and
Prussia before they could team up against him. He knew full well
that if they did, they would be almost impossible to stop. The
emperors of Russia and Austria were unhappy with the recent
elevation of Napoleon’s status. Because Napoleon’s army was
poised to invade England, the emperors feared greatly that due to
his highly ambitious nature, he would try to conquer their
kingdoms as well. The five nations of Great Britain, Russia,
Austria, Prussia, and Sweden signed the convention of St.
Petersburg, deciding to team up against the French emperor and
subdue him before things got out of hand.

After defeating Austrian forces at Ulm, Napoleon played a fast

trick on the Russo-Austrian commanders after occupying Vienna.
By negotiating peace terms with them, he led England’s allies to
believe that his army was in bad shape, so some of the leaders
there pushed to attack it.

On December 2, the battle began. Although Napoleon’s troops

were considerably fewer in number than those of the allied army,
he was expecting reinforcements from Marshal Louis-Nicolas
d’Avout’s III Corps of about 18,000 men.

When the allied emperors’ hot-headedness prevailed over the

military expertise of Kutuzov, commander in chief of the allied
army, Napoleon then led the enemy into thinking that his right
flank was weak. As expected, they attacked his forces there.
However, with the arrival of d’Avout’s reinforcements, the right
flank was able to withstand the assault.

General Mack surrenders his army at Ulm. Napoleon’s strategic

encirclement of the Austrians, in conjunction with the Battle of
Austerlitz six weeks later, sealed the fate of the Third Coalition.

Napoleon’s troops in the center took the Pratzen Heights and then
went on to surround the Russo-Austrian forces attacking his right
flank. Meanwhile the left flank of the French army repulsed
several attacks from the Russian right flanks, eventually forcing
them to retreat.

With reinforcements cut off, the enemy troops had no other option
but to surrender. The company which attempted to flee across the
frozen Satchsen Lake was cut off by an artillery bombardment
ordered by Napoleon, and the troops in flight drowned after the ice
cracked.

The Battle of Friedland, Prussia, 1807

Arriving on the battlefield at 2:00 PM, Napoleon led

reinforcements to hold the French positions in the Prussian
villages that overlooked the Alle River. After leading the Russians
to believe that their army of 60,000 greatly outnumbered the
French troops, Napoleon ordered General Jean Lannes with a
small portion of the French troops to pursue the retreating Russian
army. Napoleon at the Battle of Friedland (1807). The Emperor is
depicted giving instructions to General Nicolas Oudinot. Between
them is depicted General Etienne de Nansouty and behind the
Emperor, on his right is Marshal Michel Ney.

Fully aware that they would attempt to cross the Alle River into
Friedland, Napoleon sought to engage them there. By the morning
of June 13, Lannes’ forces occupied Friedland. When the Russians
arrived there, they drove back the French to the surrounding
villages.

Unaware of Napoleon’s intentions, the Russians looked to engage

this small French faction without fighting the main French army.
When Lannes saw that the enemy had taken the bait, he sent word
to Napoleon. A large portion of the Russian army was already
across the river by June 14, and while they engaged the French
forces at Friedland, Napoleon arrived with reinforcements that
completely dislodged the Russian assault on the villages of
Heinrichsdorf, Posthenen and Sortlak.

Artillery bombardment of Friedland sealed Napoleon’s victory and

the Russian army on the other side of the river retreated. This
battle effectively ended the War of the Fourth Coalition in
Napoleon’s favor.
The Battle of Jena-Auerstedt, Prussia, 1806

When the War of the Fourth Coalition began in 1806, Napoleon’s

forces were pitched against the Prussian forces of Frederick Louis
on October 14. The battle was so named because it occurred in two
different locations on the same day, and although the two battles
never merged into one, they were both decisive victories for
Napoleon’s army.
At the start of the battle, Napoleon was placed in a precarious
position when one of his commanders, Marshal Michel Ney,
decided to act alone and attack the Prussian lines. Although he
was successful at first, Ney and his troops soon became
surrounded by Prussian forces. Napoleon, however, managed to
curtail the impact of the strategic blunder by sending General Jean
Lannes’ division to Ney’s aid.

After rescuing Ney’s troops, Napoleon launched a successful

assault on the Prussian lines while they awaited reinforcements
from Weimer. By the time the reinforcements arrived, the main
Prussian army had been taken apart and the little faction that
remained was under pursuit from French cavalry.Marshal Joachim
Murat, the most famous of many daring and charismatic French
cavalry commanders of the era, leads a charge during the battle.
Marshal Joachim Murat, the most famous of many daring and
charismatic French cavalry commanders of the era, leads a charge
during the battle.

The Prussian forces only managed to hold Napoleon’s forces at the

town of Kapellendorf before they too were crushed, securing
Napoleon’s victory at Jena. Meanwhile, another division of
Napoleon’s army under the command of Marshal Louis d’Avout
was blockaded on its way to provide support to the main army.

D’Avout engaged the Prussian army, which was under the

command of the Duke of Brunswick and Frederick William III,
and won a decisive victory for the French empire. This victory by
the French thus placed the Prussian empire under French rule.

Napoleon’s Final Years

In October 1815, Napoleon was exiled to the remote, British-held
island of Saint Helena, in the South Atlantic Ocean. He died there
on May 5, 1821, at age 51, most likely from stomach cancer.
(During his time in power, Napoleon often posed for paintings
with his hand in his vest, leading to some speculation after his
death that he had been plagued by stomach pain for years.)
Napoleon was buried on the island despite his request to be laid to
rest “on the banks of the Seine, among the French people I have
loved so much.” In 1840, his remains were returned to France and
entombed in a crypt at Les Invalides in Paris, where other French
military leaders are interred.

Napoleon's Final Exile

Napoleon Bonaparte died on May 5, 1821, on the remote South
Atlantic island of St. Helena. To the British, Dutch, and Prussian
coalition who had exiled him there in 1815, he was a despot, but
to France, he was seen as a devotee of the Enlightenment. In the
decade following his demise, Napoleon’s image underwent a
transformation in France. The monarchy had been restored, but by
the late 1820s, it was growing unpopular. King Charles X was
seen as a threat to the civil liberties established during the
Napoleonic era. This mistrust revived Napoleon’s reputation and
put him in a more heroic light. (Beethoven was once Napoleon's
biggest fan but became his biggest critic.)

Fascination with the French leader’s death led Charles de Steuben,

a German-born Romantic painter living in Paris, to immortalize
the event. Steuben’s painting depicts the moment of Napoleon’s
death and seeks to capture the sense of awe in the room at the
death of a man whose legendary career had begun in the French
Revolution.

************************