Transcript The Age of Napoleon, 1799-1815

APEURO Lecture 5C
Mrs. Kray
(some slides taken from Susan Pojer)
Napoleon’s Early Career

Napoleon’s Rise to Power

 Earlier military career  the Italian Campaigns:
 1796-1797  he conquered most of northern Italy and developed a
taste for governing.
 moved to suppress religious orders, end serfdom, and limit age-old
noble privilege.
 Treaty of Campo Fiorio (1797) with the Austrian emperor established
several new Italian republics.
 Earlier military career  the Egyptian Campaign:
 1798  he was defeated by a British navy under Admiral Horatio
Nelson, who destroyed the French fleet at the Battle of the Nile.
 Abandoning his troops in Egypt, Napoleon returned to France and
received a hero’s welcome!
French Territorial Acquisitions,
1793-1799

The Directory in Disarray

 More uprisings, more quashed
elections, more purges of the Left
and Right
 Vendee rose again, religious
schism acute
 Certain leaders in the Directory
looking for a change
 Abbe Sieyes: “confidence from
below, authority from above”
 Looking for a general
Abbe Sieyes
Coup d’etat of Brumaire
Nov. 9, 1799

 With the government
in disarray, Napoleon
launched a successful
coup d’etat
 Proclaimed himself
“First Consul” (Julius
Caesar’s title
 did away with the
elected Assembly
(appointed a Senate
instead).
 In 1802, he made
himself sole
“Consul for Life.”
Napoleon and the Consulate,
1799-1804

The Government of the Consulate
Legislative Bodies
 Council of State
 Proposed the laws.
 Served as a Cabinet & the
highest court.
 Tribunate
 Debated laws, but did not
vote on them.
 Legislature
 Voted on laws, but did not
discuss or debate them.
 Senate
 Had the right to review and
veto legislation.

Administrative Bodies
 Centralized administration
 Professional bureaucracy
 “Careers open to talent” 
merit based
 Prefects ran the 83
departments – reported
directly to Paris
 Use of plebiscites
 Referenda on specific issues
 Allowed image as “man of
the people”
 Often took place after the fact
The First Consul

 As first consul, Napoleon held all the
power and made all the decisions
 Napoleon’s popularity continued to rise as
he restored order, stimulated prosperity,
and defeated the 2nd Coalition
 Grateful voters overwhelmingly endorsed
Napoleon’s rule by plebiscite
 He successfully used the democratic
process to destroy democracy
 Secure in his power, Napoleon enacted
policies designed to transform France into
an efficient modern state
 Napoleon the enlightened despot?
The Napoleonic Code, 1804

 Hundreds of local law codes were
consolidated into a uniform legal code
 Still the basis of French law today
 The new code guaranteed many
achievements of the French Revolution
 Equality before the law, freedom of religion,
abolition of privilege, and the protection of
property rights
 The code increased authority of husbands
within the family
Wherever it was implemented
[in the conquered territories],
the Code Napoleon swept away
feudal property relations.
 Women and children were legally
dependent on their husbands or fathers
 Ex. Women could not sell property without
consent of their husbands
 Did recognize civil marriage and divorce
The Napoleonic Code & Europe

Concordat of 1801

 Wanted to end the strained relationship
between France and the Catholic Church
 Granted Catholic Church special status
as the religion of “the majority of
Frenchmen”
 Pope regained the right to confirm
church dignitaries appointed by the
French government, depose French
bishops, and reopen religious seminaries
 Pope recognized the French government
and accepted the loss of church
properties confiscated during the
Revolution
Napoleon’s Economic Policies

 Modernized French
infrastructure
 Building/repairing roads
 Beautifying the nation with
monuments
 Established the Bank of France
in 1800
Arc de Triomphe
 The bank helped in finally
eliminating the budget deficit
and modernizing the tax system
Lycee Education System,
1801

 Established by Napoleon in 1801 as a
nationwide system of secondary
schooling
 Designed to promote opportunity
 Lycées initially enrolled the nation’s
most talented students [they had to pay
tuition, although there was some
financial help available for poorer
student].
 Lycées trained the nation’s future
bureaucrats.
 Reflected Napoleon’s interest and belief
in scientific progress
The Loss of Liberty

 It’s generally agreed that Napoleon
promoted equality and nationalism during
his rule
 Napoleon, however, did not allow
opposition to his rule
 Implemented his policies from the top
down with little democratic input and
disregarded individual rights whenever it
suited his interests
 Censorship of the press
 Use of Secret Police
 Despite the loss of individual liberties,
France enjoyed security, stability, and
prosperity
Emperor Napoleon I
Dec. 2, 1804

The Napoleonic Empire,
1804-1815

Napoleonic Warfare
 Aimed to defeat
 Strike quickly at the enemy
army
 French army lived off the
countryside
 Allowed quicker
movement b/c not slowed
down by large baggage
trains
 Would fight any time:
Sunday, winter, night, etc.
opponents in decisive
battles
 Always outnumber
enemy & concentrate
attack on enemy’s
weakest spot
 Always presented self as
liberator
 Warfare was an affair for
free and equal citizens not
mercenaries
Europe in 1800

War of the 2nd Coalition,
1798-1802

 1802 – Napoleon negotiated the Peace of Amiens with
Britain, the final holdout from the 2nd Coalition.
War of the Third Coalition,
1803-1806

France 
-Danube
-Italy
 Britain
Austria
Russia
 Battle of Ulm – France defeated Austria
 Battle of Austerlitz – France defeated Austria and Russia
 Solidified Napoleon’s reputation as a military genius
 Napoleon crowned king of Italy in 1805
 Battle of Trafalgar – Britain’s navy defeated France’s navy
 Established British naval superiority for the next century
 Lord Horatio Nelson
“Europe was at my Feet”

 War of the 4th Coalition, 1806-1807


Battle of Jena – French troops occupy
Berlin; Prussia effective knocked out of all
future conflicts
Treaty of Tilsit – Russia & France become
allies
 War of the 5th Coalition, 1809

No war on the continent again until 1812
 French rule extended from the
North Sea to Spain and included
much of Italy
 Britain was the last country
holding out against France
Napoleon Builds his Dynasty

 1807: Napoleon divorced his
wife Josephine because she
could not bear children
 1810: Married Marie Louise of
Austria
 1811 she bore him a son,
Napoleon Francis Joseph
Charles
Napoleon’s Imperial Policies

 Proclaimed “liberation” of conquered nations
 Abolished feudalism, ended guilds, internal tariffs
 Replaced w/religious tolerance, centralized gov’t, Napoleonic
Code
 Wrapped self in dynastic legitimacy
 Pope attended his coronation
 Creation of a new diplomatic system
 As he conquered, he created republics in Italy, Low Countries,
Switzerland
 Use of nepotism to create new dynastic monarchies
 Reorganization of Germany
 Replaced HRE with French dominated Confederation of the
Rhine
 Unwittingly sparked wave of German nationalism
Napoleon’s Territorial Gains

Napoleon’s Family Rules

 Jerome Bonaparte  King of Westphalia.
 Joseph Bonaparte  King of Spain
 Louise Bonaparte  King of Holland
 Pauline Bonaparte  Princess of Italy
 Napoléon Francis Joseph Charles (son) King of Rome
 Elisa Bonaparte  Grand Duchess of Tuscany
 Caroline Bonaparte  Queen of Naples
The Fall of Napoleon

Napoleon appeared invincible. Many called him the greatest
military commander in European history. His insatiable desire for
power led him to make three disastrous mistakes that led to his
downfall.
The Continental System

 GOAL  to isolate Britain and promote
Napoleon’s mastery over Europe.
 Berlin Decrees (1806)
 Forbade France and its conquests from trading
with Britain
 Hoped to create a depression in Britain and
promote French prosperity
 “Order in Council” (1806)
 British blockade French ports; forbade French
trade with Britain or its allies
 Milan Decree (1807)
 Napoleon proclaimed any ship stopping in
Britain would be seized when it entered the
Continent.
 These edicts eventually led to the United States
declaring war on Britain  WAR OF 1812.
British Cartoon
The Continental System

Peninsular War,
1807-1810

 Portugal did not comply
with the Continental System.
 France wanted Spain’s
support to invade Portugal.
 Spain refused, so Napoleon
invaded Spain as well!
The Peninsular War:
The Spanish Ulcer

 Napoleon tricked the Spanish king and
prince to come to France, where he
imprisoned them.
 He proclaimed his brother, Joseph, to
be the new king of Spain.
 He stationed over 100,000 French
troops in Madrid.
 These actions outraged the Spanish
people
The Surrender of Madrid
by Francisco Goya
 Bands of Spanish fighters known as
guerillas repeatedly ambushed
French troops and then fled into
hiding
 During the next five years, France lost
almost 300,000 men fighting in Spain
Goya’s The Third of May

 Shows French troops firing on the Spanish people in
Madrid the day after they rose up in rebellion
Invasion of Russia, 1812

 Continental System prevented
Russia from exporting grain to
Great Britain
 Tsar Alexander I refused to stop
this vital trade
 Napoleon prepared to invade
Russia
Tsar Alexander I
(r. 1801-1825)
 Napoleon raised his Grand Army
of 614,000 soldiers and marched
across central Europe to invade
Russia
Invasion of Russia

 Alexander refused to surrender and the
Russian army avoided a direct
confrontation with Napoleon.
 They retreated to Moscow, drawing the
French into the interior of Russia
 hoped Russia’s size and the weather
would act as “support” for the Russian
cause
 The Russian nobles abandoned their
estates and burned their crops to the
ground, leaving the French to operate far
from their supply bases in territory
stripped of food.
French troops at the gates of Moscow
Invasion of Russia

 Russians fled Moscow and set it on fire
 Napoleon waited there 5 weeks
hoping to engage or negotiate with
Alexander
 Alexander did neither
 With winter coming and supplies
dwindling, Napoleon retreated
 A combination of bitterly cold
weather, disease, and merciless
Russian attacks decimated Napoleon’s
army
 Battle of Borodino
 Only 40,000 French soldiers make it
back to France
War of the
France 
Napoléon’s
Defeat
th
6
Coalition

 Britain, Russia, Spain,
Portugal, Prussia, Austria,
Sweden, smaller German states
 Napoleon’s enemies quickly took advantage of his
weakness and formed a Grand Alliance against him
 Aug. 1813: Battle of Dresden
 Napoleon re-groups with Polish forces and wins
 Oct. 1813: Battle of Leipzig (Battle of Nations)
 Napoleon is finally defeated
Napoleon Abdicates

 Allied forces occupied Paris on March
31, 1814.
 Napoléon abdicated on April 6 in favor
of his son, but the Allies insisted on
unconditional surrender.
 Napoléon abdicated again on April 11.
 Treaty of Fontainbleau  Napoléon
exiled to Elba with an annual income
of 2,000,000 francs.
 The royalists took control and restored
Louis XVIII to the throne.
Napoleon in his way to
exile at St. Helena
The 100 Days
March 20-June 21, 1815

 March 1815: Napoleon escaped from
Elba and formed a new army
 A final 7th Coalition leads an army
against him
 Napoleon is defeated at Battle of
Waterloo
 Napoleon abdicates a second time
and is shipped to St. Helena, a remote
island in the South Atlantic