Transcript File

Napoleon’s Empire Collapses
Ch. 23.4
Napoleon needs an heir
• Napoleon was worried that his empire would
fall apart if he didn’t have a son.
• He divorced his wife, Josephine, and married
Marie Louise – the grand-niece of Marie
Antoinette.
• In 1811, Marie Louise gave birth to a son,
Napoleon II.
Marie Louise and
Napoleon II
Franz Napoleon II
Power Hungry
• Napoleon’s own personality proved to be the
greatest danger to the future of his empire.
• “I love power as a musician loves his violin.”
It was the drive for
power that had
raised Napoleon to
great heights, and
the same love of
power led to his
doom.
Napoleon’s Three Costly Mistakes
• The Continental System
• The Peninsular War
• The Invasion of Russia
The Continental System
• In November 1806, Napoleon signed a decree
ordering a blockade to close all ports to
prevent trade and communication between
Great Britain and other European nations.
• It was intended to destroy Britain’s
commercial and industrial economy.
• This policy was called the Continental System.
Blockade not tight enough
• British smugglers managed to bring cargo
from Britain into Europe.
• Napoleon’s blockade only weakened the
British economy, but did not destroy it.
British Blockade
• Great Britain responded with its own blockade
• The British navy stopped ships bound for the
European continent and forced them to sail to
a British port to be searched and taxed.
• Because the British had a stronger navy, they
were more effective with their blockade.
America gets involved
• American ships were among those stopped by
the British navy.
• Angry, the U.S. Congress declared war on
Britain in 1812.
• The War of 1812 ended in a draw and was
only a minor inconvenience to Britain.
Impact of Continental System
• The Continental System hurt Napoleon more
than it hurt Britain.
• It weakened the economies of France and the
other lands under Napoleon’s control more
than it damaged Britain.
• It was highly ineffective.
The Peninsular War
• In 1808, Napoleon made a second costly
mistake.
• Portugal ignored the Continental System.
• Napoleon sent an army through Spain to
invade Portugal.
New Spanish King
• Spanish people rioted in protest to the French
army.
• Napoleon kicked out their defeated king and
placed his brother, Joseph, on the throne.
• This move outraged the Spanish people
because they were loyal to their former king.
• Spain was devoutly Catholic, with a long
history of persecuting those of other faiths.
• The French Revolution weakened the Catholic
Church in France, and Spanish Catholics feared
that their French conquerors would weaken
the church in Spain.
• The French outlawed the Spanish Inquisition.
• For five years (1808-1813), bands of Spanish
peasant fighters, guerrillas, attacked French
armies in Spain.Why did
Great Britain
• They were ordinary
people
who
ambushed
send troops
French troops and
then fled into hiding.
to help
Spain?
• It was difficult for
Napoleon to fight them in
open battle.
• Great Britain also sent troops to Spain to help.
• Napoleon lost about 300,000 men during the
Peninsular War. (It was called the Peninsular
War because Spain lies on the Iberian
Peninsula)
• These losses weakened the French Empire.
• Monument in
Spain dedicated to
the Peninsular
War.
Invasion of Russia
• In 1812, Napoleon’s thirst for power led to his
most disastrous mistake of all.
• In June 1812, Napoleon’s army marched into
Russia.
• Many of this troops were not French.
– They were drafted from all over Europe
– Had little loyalty for Napoleon
Scorched-Earth policy
• As Napoleon advanced through Russia, Czar
Alexander retreated towards Moscow.
• They burned grain fields and slaughtered
livestock to leave nothing the enemy could
eat.
• Desperate soldiers deserted the French army
to search for scraps of food.
• On September 7, 1812, the two armies finally
clashed in the Battle of Borodino.
• Napoleon gained the city of Moscow.
• When Napoleon finally entered Moscow on
September 14, he found it in flames.
• He stayed in the city for five weeks, expecting
the czar to make a peace offer, but no offer
ever came.
Battle of Borodino
Napoleon Retreats
• By then, it was the middle of October, too late
to advance farther and too late to retreat.
• Napoleon ordered his starving army to turn
back.
• As the snow began to fall in November,
Russian raiders attacked Napoleon’s ragged,
retreating army.
• “Many of the survivors were walking barefoot,
using pieces of wood as canes, but their feet
were frozen so hard that the sound they made
on the road was like that of wooden clogs.”
• As soldiers staggered through the snow, many
dropped in their tracks from wounds,
exhaustion, hunger, and cold.
• The temperature fell to 30 degrees below
zero.
• It was so cold that dead birds fell from the sky.
• Finally, in the middle of December, the last
survivors straggled out of Russia.
• Napoleon only had 10,000 soldiers left.
• The Russian Winter
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v
=AQYXS0LdY4w
All of Europe goes to war
• Napoleon’s enemies were quick to take
advantage of his weakness.
• Britain, Russia, Prussia, Austria and Sweden
joined forces against him in the Fourth
Coalition.
• All European powers were now at war with
France.
France vs.
• Napoleon raises another army.
– His veteran trained soldiers were long gone.
– He was left with inexperienced soldiers.
• He faced his enemies outside the German city
of Leipzig, October 1813.
• The Coalition cut his inexperienced army to
pieces.
• By January 1814, armies of Austrians,
Russians, and Prussians, pushed toward Paris.
• In March, the Russian Czar and the Prussian
King led their troops in a triumphant parade
through the French capital.
• Napoleon wanted to keep fighting, but his
generals refused.
Nappy is banished
• In April 1814, Napoleon gave up his throne
and accepted the terms of surrender.
• Napoleon received a small pension and was
banished to Elba, a tiny island off the coast of
Italy.
French Monarchy Restored
•
•
•
•
Louis VXIII, brother of the guillotined king
Louis XVI’s son died in prison in 1795
The new king became unpopular quickly.
His subjects, especially the peasants,
suspected him of wanting to undo the
Revolution’s land reforms.
King Louis XVIII
But….Nappy makes a comeback
• The news that the French king was in trouble
encouraged Napoleon to try to regain power.
• He escaped from Elba on March 1, 1815.
• “Victory will march at full speed”
• “You will be the liberators of your country.”
• Thousands of French people welcomed him
back.
• Volunteers joined his army.
• Napoleon was again
emperor of France.
• Louis XVIII fled to the
border.
• In response, the European allies quickly called
their armies.
• The British army led by the Duke of
Wellington, prepared for battle near the
village of Waterloo in Belgium.
• On June 8, 1815, Napoleon attacked.
Duke of Wellington
• Battle of Waterloo
• The British army defended its ground all day.
• The Prussian army arrived for backup, and
together they attacked Napoleon.
• Two days later, Napoleon’s exhausted troops
gave way, and the British and Prussian forces
chased them from the field.
• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5GCSFhl20g&feature=related
Nappy’s Defeat
• This defeat ended Napoleon’s last grasp for
power, called the Hundred Days, because he
ruled for 100 days.
• The British exiled Napoleon to St. Helena, a
remote island in the South Atlantic.
• He lived there for six years and wrote his
memoirs.
• He died in 1821 of a stomach ailment (maybe
cancer) His son was 10 years old.
• He was emperor for 10 years, exiled to Elba
for 1 year, and ruled again for 100 days. Then
he was exiled to St. Helena for 6 years.
• Alexis de Tocqueville summed up Napoleon’s
character by saying “He was as great as a man
can be without virtue.”
• Napoleon’s defeat opened the door for the
freed European countries to establish a new
order.