France In 1799 - 1815 And Napoleonic Wars - Term Paper Example

? France in 1799 - 1815 and Napoleonic wars The Napoleonic Wars The Napoleonic Wars historically remained as a number of wars that became fought between some European nations and France between 1799 and 1815. France came under the rule of Napoleon Bonaparte in 1799. Napoleon, at that time, remained as an important member of the given ruling Consulate. Napoleon in 1804 became announce as Napoleon I, France’s emperor. During his rule as leader in France, Napoleon Bonaparte reinstituted a number of wars referred in history as The Napoleonic Wars. To many, the Napoleonic wars fought between 1799 and 1815 remained as an extension of the French Revolution.1 Napoleonic wars became fought for over 2 decades and entailed a number of certain distinct campaigns. First of all, the French revolution majorly entailed other dynastic rulers in Europe and the Habsburgs combined in an attempt to conquer the French that had attempted to conquer the world. The First Coalition wars occurred in 1792 to 1797 and entailed the French Revolution and some Italian campaign. Other campaigns included in the Napoleonic wars included Napoleonic war in Egypt, between 1798 to 1801, the second Coalition, between 1798 to 1801, the Third Coalition, in 1805, Fourth Coalition, between 1806 to 1807, Fifth Coalition, in 1809, the Peninsular war, between 1808 to 1814, invasion of Russia, in 1812, Germany invasion in 1813, France invasion in 1814, and finally the 100 days campaign carried out in 1815. 1. First Coalition of Napoleonic War This occurred in the year 1793 to 1797. In the war, France fought to oppose certain things in the French rule and did it in association with countries like Prussia, Austria, Spain, Great Britain, Sardinia and the Netherlands. 2At that time, Bonaparte became assigned with the role of conducting armed forces operations towards Austrian forces in the given Northern Italy part after a directory from the French administration. a. French Revolution Napoleonic wars and the French revolution occupied 25 years of the late 18th and early 19th century. The wars represented the first European war that remained general since the given Seven Years’ war between 1756 and 1763. The wars also represented continuity among the European alliance systems plus ideologies with an exception of the noted first 2 years of the given French Republic between 1792 and 1794. During the wars, six European countries made a coalition challenging French expansion. Moreover, to counter the number of opposition the French got from the European nations, French also formed allies to help it in wars. It is via the wars that various radical changes became made in the international system. The war majorly brought radical changes in the French government as its policies regarding its enemies changed. As the war progressed, and policies changed regarding whom to trust and who to wage war against, at some point the French threatened the German princes existing on the western bank of the given Rhine and the Austrian Netherlands that had been in the given Habsburg possession since the year 1724. Acquisition of conquered regions led to French cultural domination over these regions. 3 Napoleon Reforms As a ruler, amidst the French revolution, Napoleon set forth to make major reforms in the legal system since the given old feudal plus royal laws proved inefficient and contradictory to the people. Before Napoleon came with changes in France law, France did not possess a given set of laws. France used to be governed by local laws that gave the nobles some privileges above the law. This made the citizens angry about the rules and hence revolted. It is during the French revolution that feudalism became abolished. Therefore, the laws that Napoleon introduced at that time became referred to as Napoleon code. The Napoleon code never biased people in relation to their birth, and allowed the concept of freedom of religion to become practiced in France. Furthermore, the codes specified that jobs in the government remained to be awarded to only the most qualified people. 3 b. Italian campaign Napoleon Bonaparte marched with his army into Italy on the 2nd April of 1796. In Italy, Napoleon became badly outnumbered. In the battlefield, his 38,000 French soldiers fought with 38,000 Austrians plus their allies, Piedmontese, who roughly remained 25, 000. In knowing that he became outnumbered in times of the number of soldiers he had, going to war with both these nations would have resulted to his defeat. In using a clever strategy, divide and rule, Napoleon managed to defeat them by dividing Austria from Piedmontese army and waging war with them separately. 5 In a period of 2 weeks, Napoleon managed to defeat Piedmont’s army at the battles of Mondovi and Montenotte. In April 26th, the Piedmont’s army surrendered to Napoleon. With Piedmont defeated, Napoleon went after the Austria that fled due to fear of being trashed like Piedmont’s army. He first defeated Piedmont before heading for a victory in Austria. 4 c. Egypt campaign This war occurred between 1798 and 1799. In an attempt to gain more power and defeat Great Britain, whom they were to war with, Napoleon seized a British fleet in the port of Malta in 1798 and went with thirty five thousand soldiers in Egypt. Napoleon’s aim, at that time, remained to disrupt the given British trade routes plus to establish French domination more in the exotic east. On landing in Egypt, Napoleon quickly captured Alexandria; then on 3rd July, marched with his soldiers across Egypt’s desert heading to Cairo for a looming battle. This battle in Cairo became a war fought between two fierce nations. Egyptians at that time, before Napoleon’s invasion, were subordinates of the Turkish Empire that had fierce warriors called the Mamelukes. Napoleon reached Cairo and found the Mamelukes on horseback waiting for his army on the pyramids. When the Mamelukes charged with their horses towards Napoleon’s army, they remained in a tight conformation and only fired when the Mamelukes came near them. Mamelukes died in thousands while the French lost a few men. This battle occurred at the pyramids between the two enemies ending within an hour. After the war, Napoleon’s men continued marching to Cairo to take control over it. Napoleon’s intention of forming an empire in the given Middle East became shattered after a British admiral, called Horatio Nelson blew the French fleet at the coast of Egypt, rendering the French ship less. Hence, Napoleon plus his soldiers became trapped in Egypt for some time while cut off from France. 4 The Second Coalition The second coalition occurred in the period between 1798 and 1891. After Napoleon gained triumph over the Austria nation found in the Northern side of Italy. While he was absent in Egypt, a new union called the second coalition became formed in 1798. 3 The coalition comprised alliance among Great Britain, Austria, Russia, the Kingdom of Naples, Ottoman Empire and Portugal. These nations rose to fight against the spreading French domination of the world. The major fighting for the Napoleonic war that involved the second coalition, majorly broke out in the in the end of 1798 and subsequent year around northern Italy plus in Switzerland. In relation to the war, in the previous regions of Austrian plus Russians which remained under the control of a Russian general called Count Aleksandr Suvorov, became consistently successful. The general managed to wage an army that conquered an army of French soldiers in many battles at that region. They managed to conquer the French mainly in the battles of Magnano, in the battle of Cassano, in the battle of Trebbia and the battle of Novi. Third Coalition of Napoleonic War Napoleon became motivated about the new alliance formed. In 1798, he put his army at Boulogne at the English Channel just to ensure that the Great Britain remained under their control. The soldiers became kept there in an attempt to attack England during the subsequent oppositions leading to war in 1843. 4The Third coalition against France became expanded. Napoleon then moved his troops in an attempt to meet with the Austrians that were under the rule of the duke of Tuscany called Ferdinand III plus General Karl Mack. 3Napoleon also managed to form allies with a number of German states like Bavaria, Baden, Wurttemberg. In the battle, Napoleon managed to overpower and defeat the Austrians at a place called Ulm thereby defeating and capturing around 23,000 hostages. 4 Fourth Coalition of Napoleonic War Napoleon went increasing his control; dominating and taking over control of the continent. Hence, in 1806, in Prussia, a Fourth Coalition became formed in an attempt to stop the rise of the French army in the continent. The Fourth coalition, therefore, constituted Russia, Sweden and Great Britain. In 1806, Napoleon led his men and crashed the Prussians in a Battle of Jena in 1806 plus went ahead to capture Berlin. Furthermore, he then went into war with the Russians in the given battle called Friedland where he strained Alexander I in making peace. Then Russian became forced to become an ally of France and Prussia further thrashed. 3 Fifth Coalition in 1809 The fifth coalition comprised the Austrian war against Napoleon in 1809. Austrians saw it fit to garner support from its neighboring countries which constituted the Confederacy of the Rhine by liberating them from Napoleon’s rule. The earlier defeat by the Spaniards served to inspire Austrian to take up arms against Napoleon. However, the Austrians failed to account for the fact that some of the countries they sought to liberate were beneficiaries of Napoleon’s previous attacks on Austria, for example, Bavaria. Austria declared war on Bavaria on April 8, 1809 without the support of Bavarians who fought hand in hand with Napoleon. Two weeks into the war the Austrians shamefully retreated back to their country, however; Emperor Francis refused to sign a peace treaty with Napoleon. Hence, Napoleon continued with the fighting and eventually captured Vienna, Bavaria’s capital. The Emperor still remained obstinate; therefore, on 22nd May Napoleon attacked the Austrians from Lobau Island. Despite the heavy losses endured by Austrians, they managed to cut off Napoleon’s supplies by destroying his pontoon bridges. This set Napoleon back, but, within no time, he managed to get back n his feet and resume fighting. The final war fought against the Austrians happened in July whereby, Napoleon led his largest troop (173,000 troops) ever to war. Once again He emerged the victor and Emperor Francis had to sign a peace treaty. Both sides suffered enormous casualties of which the death of Napoleon’s close friend General Lannes affected him the most. Invasion of Russia, in 1812 Napoleon’s decision to invade Russia proved to be an unwise one and did not receive support from his closest associates. Napoleon’s disagreement with the Russians began when Tsar Alexander refused to continue supporting Napoleon despite their previous agreement. This agreement stipulated that the two leaders formed part of the continental blockade that curtailed the movement of British goods. Alexander’s withdrawal from this partnership infuriated Napoleon who viewed this action as a sign of disrespect. Napoleon did not pose to consider the reason as to why Alexander chose to depart from the agreement. According to Alexander, the British blockade was impacting negatively on Russia’s economy. If placed in Alexander’s shoes, Napoleon would have probably done the same thing. On June 24, 1812, he decided to rally his armies and invade Russia despite the disapproval from all those around him. Napoleon assumed that the Russians would resort to common rules of engagement whereby, they would engage the French immediately if the French threatened to attack. The Russians opted to surprise the French by choosing not to engage in any physical combat. Instead, they waited for the French army to roam across the vast landscape where they spread fear and burnt down villages and farms. As a result, the scorching summer heat begun to take its toll on the French army. Napoleon lost 150,000 soldiers to the harsh summer weather conditions before engaging in any battle with the Russians. However, Napoleon had come prepared bringing along a great number of soldiers. This proved helpful when the Russians finally engaged the French in battle. After a few days of fighting, Napoleon conquered Moscow, Russia’s capital city. The Russians were, therefore, forced to retreat. However, they chose to burn the entire city to the ground. The French had no choice but to vacate Moscow. Their victory was short lived because they did not benefit from their win. From this experience, Napoleon considered this battle as a loss despite winning it. He attributed his loss to his failure to adhere to his instincts, which warned him from the very beginning that defeat was inescapable. Germany invasion in 1813, France invasion in 1814 After fighting the Russians in the Russian invasion, Napoleon’s armies had drastically reduced in numbers. Opposition also grew at a rapid rate, and many armies united to fight against Napoleon who they considered as a common enemy. Therefore, Russia, Britain, Prussia and Sweden among other European countries untied to fight as a single army because they all realized that fighting on their own proved futile. However, Austria wavered in their decision to fight against Napoleon because of the family connections that existed between Napoleon and Austria’s ruler who was Napoleon’s father-in-law. Napoleon engaged the Allies in the battle at Lutzen on May 2, 1813. Here, they held the upper hand resulting to the signing of a treaty which gave the two sides time to regroup and convince Austria to join their cause. Napoleon’s arrogance and pride cost him Austria’s co-operation in the war. This is because he refused to give in to their basic demands. The Austrians joined the Allies waging war against the French. Eventually, Napoleon’s armies forcefully retreated at Leipzig after the Allies overpowered them. The battle at Leipzig marked the downfall of Napoleon and his vast armies. People lost faith in Napoleon and for the first time they saw that he was but a sincere man who could also be defeated. The beginning of 1814 saw the Allies invading France. Napoleon watched on in horror as he finally saw his reign coming to an end. 100 days campaign carried out in 1815 The Allies replaced Napoleon with King Louis XVIII, who was simply a puppet of the Allies and conformed to their desires. This displeased Napoleon sparking a lot of tension within him. This tension compelled him to embark on his 100 days campaign in 1815. This campaign started on February 26th 1815 when Napoleon eluded British soldiers in Elba. He worked his way through to the capital of France with a handful of soldiers. It was here that Napoleon faced the armies set upon him and questioned their loyalty to their new king. Surprisingly, the soldiers still held their Commander Napoleon with high regard; therefore, they chose not to harm him. Instead, they joined his cause. This frightened King Louis. He fled from Paris. Once again, the Allies sent their armies upon him, and the battle of Waterloo, 1815 ensued. Conclusion In the eyes of many, Napoleon will always remain as a brave soldier and leader because of how he led the French army to countless victories against his enemies. He sought to expand the French territory, and he managed to do so despite impinging on the freedom of other countries. For this, many French citizens applaud him for his tireless efforts to ensure France remained among the highly held countries within the world. This went a long way in safeguarding the sovereign nature of France. In a time, when countries were at war fighting. In order to ensure they stayed liberated from oppression by other nations. Footnotes 1. Fisher, Todd. The Napoleonic Wars (New York:Osprey Publishing, 2011), 1-140. 2. Fletcher, Ian. Napoleonic Wars: Wellington's Army (London: Brassey's, 2001), 1-200. 3. Fremont-Barnes, Gregory. The Napoleonic Wars(New York: Osprey Publishing, 2002), 1-250. 4. Rothenberg, Gunther. The Napoleonic Wars (Washington: HarperCollins, 2006), 1-145. 5. Todd Fisher, Gregory Fremont, Bernard Cornwell. The Napoleonic Wars (New York: Osprey Publishing, 2004), 1-300. Bibliography Fisher, Todd. The Napoleonic Wars. New York: Osprey Publishing, 2011. Fletcher, Ian. Napoleonic Wars: Wellington's Army. London: Brassey's, 2001. Fremont-Barnes, Gregory. The Napoleonic Wars. New York: Osprey Publishing, 2002. Rothenberg, Gunther. The Napoleonic Wars (Smithsonian History of Warfare). Washington: HarperCollins, 2006. Todd Fisher, Gregory Fremont, Bernard Cornwell. The Napoleonic Wars. New York: Osprey Publishing, 2004. Read More