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Napoleon
Background
• Born on Corsica
Napoleon's father Carlo Buonaparte
was Corsica's representative to the court of
Louis XVI of France
•Military schooled
• 1785 – became lieutenant in artillery
• Joined the army of France
• October 1795 – royalist rebels attack the National Assembly.
• Napoleon defends.
• Hero of the Hour
• 1796 – Napoleon directed against the forces of Austria and Sardinia.
• Crossed into Italy and won several battles there.
• In an effort to protect French trade interests and disrupt British trade with India Napoleon led an expedition to Egypt.
• He was defeated on land
• Horatio Nelson defeated his Naval forces.
• Napoleon was able to keep it out of the papers.
Coup d’Etat
• 1799 the Directory had lost control.
• November 1799 troops under Napoleon’s command surrounded the legislature and drove them out.
• The lawmakers who remained voted to dissolve the Directory.
• In its place they established a group of three counsels. Napoleon was one.
• Napoleon seized the first counsel title and became a dictator.
• Britain, Austria, and Russia joined forces to drive Napoleon out.
• Eventually all three signed peace agreements with France.
Britain - George III Austria - Francis II Russia - Alexander I
• 1802 – Europe was at peace for the first time in 10 years.
• 1800 – People were desperate for a strong leadership. They voted overwhelmingly in favor of a new constitution.
• This gave all the power to Napoleon.
• Napoleon did not act like Louis XVI.
• He incorporated much of the goals of the revolution.
• He established an efficient way to collect taxes and a national banking system.
• He dismissed corrupt officials and developed public state run schools (Lycees).
• These schools were open to all males.
• Graduates were appointed to public office based on merit and not family connections.
• Napoleon signed the concordat with Pope Pius VII.
• The government recognized the influence of the church, but rejected church control in state matters.
• The Concordat gained Napoleon the support of the organized church.
• Napoleonic Code- a comprehensive system of laws.
• Gave the country a uniform set of laws.
• The code promoted order and authority over individual rights.
• Freedom of speech and press was revoked and slavery re allowed in the Caribbean French Colonies.
• In 1804 Napoleon decided to make himself Emperor of France.
• He took the crown from the pope and placed it on his own head.
Napoleon Creates and Empire
• 1789 – Saint Domingue began its over revolution.
• Citizens wanted same status as those in France.
• Enslaved Africans wanted rights.
• Under Toussaint L’Ouverture the African slaves took the colony.
• 1801 – Napoleon sent troops to take it back and restore the sugary industry.
• Many troops were lost to disease and the rebels proved to be fierce fighters.
• After the failure of Saint Domingue Napoleon sold Louisiana to the Jefferson administration for 15 million.
• Advantage was two fold – he received money to continue refining France and secured U.S. hold in the Americas.
Conquering Europe
• Austrian Netherlands were annexed
• Parts of Italy were annexed
• Established a puppet government in Switzerland
• Britain, Russia, Austria and Sweden banded together to defeat France and were defeated themselves.
• Napoleon formed the largest empire since the Romans.
Battle of Trafalgar (1805)
British Side: Ships of the Line lead by Admiral Lord
Nelson
French Side: Admiral Pierre-Charles Villeneuve
• Major loss for France
• Southwest Coast of Spain
• Horatio Nelson – Leader of the British Fleet
•
• 2 Major results
1. It ensured supremacy of the British Navy for the next 100 years
2. Forced Napoleon to give up taking Britain.
Napoleon’s Costly Mistakes
1. The Continental System- 1806
- Forcible closing of ports to prevent communication and trade with Britain.
- The system was largely ignored.
- The British responded in kind
2. The Peninsular War 1808 –
- Attempt to get Portugal to accept Continental system
- Removed king of Spain and put his brother Joseph in charge.
Flight of the royal family
- Spanish citizens outraged
- Guerrilla fighters attacked French soldiers.
- Britain sent troops to help the Spanish.
- France lost 300,000 soldiers.
- Nationalism became a weapon against France
3. The Invasion of Russia (1812)
- Alexander I (Czar of Russia) would not stop selling grain to Britain.
- Both France and Russia had ideas for Portugal
- Napoleon invaded Russia.
- June 1812 – Napoleon and the Grand Army (420,000 soldiers) marched into Russia.
- Alexander I pulled his troops back
- On his retreat the Russians practiced a Scorched- Earth Policy.
- September 7, 1812 – Battle of Borodino. The Russians pulled back and Napoleon moved onto Moscow.
- When Napoleon entered Moscow it was in flames.
- Napoleon stayed in the city till October then turned back towards France.
- Exhaustion, hunger, and cold.
- 10,000 soldiers remained able to fight.
Napoleon’s Downfall
• Britain, Russia, Prussia, Sweden and Austria all attack France.
•Napoleon raised another army and was quickly defeated
• In a few months Prussia and Russia led were in the French Capital.
• April 1814 French Generals refused to fight on.
• Napoleon was exiled to the island of Elba and given a pension.
• Louis XVIII took the throne.
• Immediately despised by peasants
• March 1st 1815 Napoleon heard of the trouble and escaped Elba and marched to Paris.
• He was meet with cheering crowds and volunteers swarmed into his army.
• Within days he was emperor again.
• In response the European armies readied.
• The Duke of Wellington prepared for combat near Waterloo in Belgium.
• June 1815 Napoleon attacked Waterloo.
• Together Prussian and British armies defeated Napoleon.
• This was known as the “Hundred Days”.
• This time Napoleon was sent to St. Helena (a remote island in the South Pacific)
• He wrote his memories there and died in 1821 from a “stomach ailment” perhaps cancer.
St. Helena (1790)
Napoleon looking to sea from St. Helena
Longwood House, St Helena: site of Napoleon's captivity.
The Congress of Vienna • Sought collective stability and security for Europe.
Metternich’s Plan for Europe • Winter 1814 -
1815
• Five great powers: Russia, Prussia, Austria, Great Britain, and France.
• Most influential: Austrian foreign minister Klemens von Metternich
• He sought three goals.
1. Containment of France
• Austrian Netherlands and Dutch Republic were combined
• German confederation of 39 states developed and run by Austria
• Switzerland was recognized as an independent nation.
• The kingdom of Sardinia in Italy was strengthened by the addition of Genoa.
2. Balance of Power
• France was not broken up or severally punished for their actions
3. Legitimacy
• Restoration of ruling families in France, Spain, and several states in Italy.
• They were seeking political legitimacy.
Success: • 1st time all European nations came together to
establish political stability for the good of a continent.
• Peace lasted for almost 40 years
Political Changes beyond Vienna
• Britain and France has Constitutional Monarchs
• Russia, Prussia, and Austria were absolute monarchs.
• Emperor Francis I of Austria, King Fredrick William III of Prussia, and Czar Alexander I all signed the Holy Alliance.
• Based their relations of Christian principles in order to combat revolution.
• Metternich established the Concert of Europe. Nations pledged to assist each other if revolutions broke out.
• 1815 – France was politically divided among conservatives and liberals.
• Revolutions in 1830 and 1848 broke out in Europe
Revolution in Latin America
• Creoles ( colonists born in Spanish America) seized control of many colonies in the Americas.
• Peninsulares ( colonists born in Spain) tried to regain control.
• The King tightened his control and this angered the Mexicans.
• The Mexicans revolted and successfully broke away from Spain.
• Other colonies declared their independence
• Brazil declared independence from Portugal.
Long-Term Legacy Question
Now that you have read a bit about Napoleon, what do you think his long term contributions are?
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