NAPOLEON BONAPARTE

1
NAPOLEON BONAPARTE

• Born in Corsica in 1769
• Father was minor and impoverished Italian noble
• Sent Napoleon to military school on the mainland
• Graduated as young commissioned officer in middle
  of Revolution
• Decided that the best way to advance was to
  abandon all principles and side with whoever
  looked as though they were going to win

2
RAPID RISE TO THE TOP

• Rose through ranks rapidly
• First came to notice for retaking the port of
  Toulon in 1793 and crushing royalist uprising in
  Paris in 1795
• Became Directorys official enforcer
• Conducted Italian campaign brilliantly
• At age of 30 he had achieved success, glory,
  popularity and fame
• And with coup détat of November 1799, he also
  achieved political power

3
FIRST CONSUL

• Produced new constitution within a month of
  taking power
• Created three-house legislature which actually
  was a three-stage rubber stamp for legislation
  prepared by Council of State
• Executive committee whose members were all
  appointed by Napoleon
• First Consul had exclusive power to appoint all
  officials and judges, conduct diplomacy, declare
  and wage war, and to maintain internal law and
  order
• Napoleon created a new monarchy under a
  republican facade

4
PLEBISCITE

• Put constitution into effect on his own authority
  and then, after the fact, held a plebiscite
• Popular referendum
• Results were
• 3,011,007 FOR
• 1562 AGAINST
• Plebiscites became permanent part of Napoleons
  arsenal

5
POPULAR SUPPORT

• Power did not rest solely on tricks
• Had broad support of French people
• Only diehard royalists and republicans never
  accepted him
• And neither group had much influence
• Napoleon gave the rich what they wanted, the poor
  what they expected, and gave everyone a measure
  of glory they seemed to crave.
• At the same time he built an institutional
  foundation that brought every aspect of
  political, economic, and social life under the
  direct control of the state

6
CENTRALIZATION

• All departmental officials were responsible to
  the central government through a clear
  chain-of-command
• Judiciary put under control of central state
• All judges and justices of the peace were
  appointed by Napoleon
• Control of the economy was centralized
• Napoleon applied price and export controls as he
  saw fit
• He promoted industries through government
  subsidies
• Created extensive network of roads
• Created Bank of France in 1800
• Streamlined and centralized tax collection system

7
NAPOLEONIC CODE

• Also called Civil Code of 1804
• Attempt to unify and rationalize the various laws
  and administrative practices into single national
  code of law
• Included civil and legal equality, religious
  toleration, and the abolition of feudalism,
  social orders, and hereditary aristocracy
• But it also resurrected spirit of paternalism
  that had existed in the Old Regime
• Emphasis was on the downflow of authority
• From state to individual, from employer to
  employee, from husband to wife, and from parent
  to child

8
CONCORDAT OF 1801

• War between Revolution and Church had been costly
  for both sides
• Church driven underground
• Millions of devout French people alienated from
  state
• Napoleon realized that religion would held him
  govern
• Concordat of 1801
• Vatican recognized confiscation of its property
  in France and allowed clergy to be salaried state
  employees
• Pope was recognized as head of the Church and
  Catholicism declared the religion of the
  majority of Frenchmen
• State reconciled with the Church without giving
  up its power to control it within France

Pope Pius VII
9
EMPEROR
Declared himself Consul for Life in 1802
Took title of Emperor in 1804 and created new
aristocracy to reward relatives and supporters
Summoned Pope Pius VII to preside over coronation
but took crown out of his hands and put it on his
own head
10
MILITARY SITUATION

• French fought to extend their revolution, keep
  its momentum going at home, and to acquire buffer
  zones for defense
• Anti-French forces had no positive goals at the
  beginning and they tended to desert one another
  in moments of crisis
• More concerned with each other than they were
  with France
• Did not take French seriously in the beginning

11
ARMY OF THE FUTURE

• French military successes took rest of Europe by
  surprise
• French army broke every rule of military practice
  yet kept winning
• New recruits trained in battle
• Discipline was slight
• Supplies always short
• Sanitation non-existent
• Officers were men from any class who showed flare
  for maneuvers and courage in battle
• Promotions based on merit
• Napoleons marshals included a former cooper,
  miller, mason, and stable boy
• Average age was 30
• Army of the future defeating the armies of the
  past

Joachim Murat, Marshal Former stable boy
12
RENEWAL OF WAR

• In 1799, Frances enemies revived and,
  spearheaded by Russian troops, drove French out
  of Italy and moved towards French border
• Napoleon launched brilliant counter-attack
• Between 1800-1801
• Forced Austria and Russia to surrender
• England still undefeated but still forced to sue
  for peace and accept French terms
• Treaty of Amiens (March 2, 1802)

13
WAR AGAIN

• Anti-French coalition revived again in 1805
• Financed by England
• Included England, Austria, and Russia
• Napoleon defeats Austria at Battles of Ulm and
  Austerlitz
• Austria forced to accept dictated peace
• British destroy French fleet at Battle of
  Trafalgar
• Commanded by Admiral Horatio Nelson
• October 21, 1805
• Ends Napoleons plan for sea-born invasion of
  England

Battle of Trafalgar
14
FRANCE TRIUMPHS AGAIN

• Prussia blunders into war in 1806 and is quickly
  defeated
• Russians defeated at Battle of Friedland
• June 1807
• Tsar Alexander I sues for peace
• Peace of Tilsit
• Napoleon receives Poland and Alexanders promise
  to help against England

Napoleon and tsar Alexander I
15
NAPOLEONIC EUROPE
Brother Joseph made king of Spain brother Louis
made king of the Netherlands brother Jerome made
king of Westphalia and brother-in-law Joachim
Murat made king of Naples
Dominated Europe from Atlantic Ocean to the
steppes of Poland and from Baltic Sea to the
Mediterranean
Spain, Switzerland, central Germany, and most of
Italy organized as satellites and parceled out to
relatives
Prussia, Austria, Denmark and Sweden forced to be
allies
16
FOUNDING A DYNASTY

• French Empire was inherently unstable
• Built too quickly
• Included too many countries that didnt want to
  be a part of it
• Violated balance of power principle
• Many harbored secret doubts about its ability to
  survive
• Napoleons only hope lay in founding a dynasty
• Divorced first wife, Josephine
• Married Princess Maria-Louisa of Austria
• Had son in 1811the King of Rome

Josephine
King of Rome
Maria Louisa
17
PROBLEMS

• Continental System backfired
• British slipped through embargo at will
• British navy at same time blockaded French ports
• Internal trade declined throughout Europe
• Awakening of national pride
• German nationalism limited to intellectuals
• Spaniards rose up in spontaneous guerilla war
  against French
• Napoleon ended up sending 200,000 men to Spain
  without results
• Situation made worse in 1812 when British force
  linked up with Spanish rebels
• Led by Duke of Wellington

18
INVASION OF RUSSIA 1812

• Alexander I dropped out of Continental System in
  1812, resumed trade with England, and set up
  tariffs against French products
• Napoleon decides to teach tsar a lesson and
  invade Russia in June 1812
• With Grand Armée
• 600,000 men
• Figured on short, decisive campaign
• Troops had rations for only four days
• Supply convoys only equipped for an additional
  three weeks

Napoleon in 1812
Alexander I
19
DEEPENING CRISIS IN RUSSIA

• Russian army refuses to fight and retreats deeper
  into interior
• Napoleon catches them outside of Moscow
• Battle of Borodino
• September 1812
• Fails to win decisive victory

20
DEFEAT BY GENERAL WINTER

• Napoleon enters Moscow
• Alexander orders evacuation and destruction of
  city
• Deprived French of supplies and shelter
• Napoleon withdraws in October 1812
• Mired by mud and snow
• Harassed by Russian partisans
• Devastated by severe cold
• 500,000 soldiers perished during retreat
• Only 100,000 made it back
• Shattering defeat

21
THE APPARENT END

• Napoleon raises new army of 250,000 men
• Against new coalition of England, Prussia,
  Austria, Sweden, and Russia
• Defeated at Battle of Nations (October 1813)
• Napoleon is forced back into France
• Refuses initial peace offer and allies invade
• Napoleon is finally surrounded and cut off in
  Paris and abdicates

Battle of Nations
22
LOUIS XVIII

• Allies make Count of Provence new king as Louis
  XVIII
• Signs moderate peace treaty
• France returns to 1789 boundaries
• Napoleon exiled to island of Elba
• Off west coast of Italy
• Retained title of emperor
• Granted a pension of 2 million francs per year
• Louis XVIII issues Constitutional Charter
• Paid lip service to principles of legal and
  social equality
• Confirmed the Napoleonic Code
• Created two-house legislature
• Dominated by large landowners
• Ultras dissatisfied with kings moderation
• Wanted to settle old scores and restore Old
  Regime
• Their activities cost new regime much credibility

23
BACK AGAIN

• Napoleon escapes Elba on March 1, 1815 and lands
  on southern coast of France
• With 1000 men
• Troops sent to stop him join him
• As did thousands of demobilized veterans
• Reaches Paris with huge army
• Louis XVIII flees
• Napoleon ruler of France again

24
WATERLOO

• Former allies declare Napoleon a public outlaw
  and vow to destroy him
• Napoleon goes on offensive and invades Belgium
• Defeated at Battle of Waterloo by joint
  British/Prussian army
• Commanded by Duke of Wellington
• Napoleon flees to Paris
• But arrested by British before he could leave for
  America
• Louis XVIII brought back
• Napoleons return only last 100 Days

25
SAD END TO A GREAT STORY

• Napoleon exiled this time to Sainte Helena
• Bleak and barren island off west coast of Africa
• 4000 miles from Europe
• Died there in 1821
• From stomach cancer and complications of syphilis
• 52 years old

26
CONGRESS OF VIENNA
Met in September 1814
Viscount Castlereagh
First general congress of European powers since
Peace of Westphalia in 1648
Klemens von Metternich
Talleyrand
Prince Hardenburg
Alexander I
27
CONGRESS AT WORK

• Wanted to restore old order as much as possible
• Also prevent any single state from dominating
  Europe again
• Also contain the virus of revolution
• Developed two-part strategy
• Create structure of collective security
• Agree to suppress radical activity whenever it
  occurred
• Embodied in concept of Concert of Europe
• Informal great power consensus that kept peace in
  Europe until 1914
• Included Austria, Prussia, Great Britain, Russia,
  and France (after 1818)

28
DIFFERENT VIEWS

• Basic innovation was the recognition that war had
  become too dangerous a luxury for Europe to
  afford
• Because it unleashed revolutions
• Alexander I saw collective security not only as a
  political instrument but also as a spiritual
  compact
• Pressured fellow rulers to sign a Holy Alliance
  against war and for Christian concord
• Metternich saw collective security as a sanction
  to intervene in the affairs of any state
  threatened by revolution
• British refused to commit themselves to any sort
  of joint command and never supported Metternichs
  interventionist schemes
• Prussia was skeptical about anything Russia and
  Austria agreed on

29
POLAND

• Alexander insisted on taking Poland over as king
• To get Prussian support for this plan, he offered
  it Saxony
• Metternich would not stand for this and sought
  support of Castlereagh and Talleyrand to block
  plan
• Issue finally settled by compromise
• Alexander received smaller Poland (other part
  going to Austria
• Prussia got 2/3s of Saxony
• Illustrated inherent contradiction of the
  congress system
• It presupposed cooperation between individually
  sovereign states whose interests were often
  different and antagonistic

30
England also got West Indies, Cape of Good Hope,
Ceylon, Mauritius, and Singapore
Upper-most was creation of buffer zones against
France and also Russia
31
GERMANY AND FRANCE

• Germany remained 39 states linked in a loose
  confederation
• Including Prussia and Austria
• Main function was to prevent smaller states from
  gravitating towards France
• France lost a few small pieces of territory, had
  to pay 700 million francs indemnity, and had to
  endure presence of an occupation army for three
  years

32
SUMMARY

• Diplomats of Congress of Vienna were men formed
  under the Old Regime
• Their conception of society was patriarchal
• In redrawing map of Europe, they acted in a
  high-handed manner
• Parceled out peoples and territories solely
  according to abstract needs of power politics
• Not concerned whether any of the peoples involved
  wanted to be handed out to others
• And they didnt and they eventually rebelled
• Saw job as merely rewarding victors and punishing
  losers in a great war (with moderation) and
  restoring an order in which the established
  powers could play the old game of politics
• Never realized just how much the French
  Revolution had changed Europe
• Never realized that the rules of the game had
  dramatically changed