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Aim: What factors made the Grand Empire of Napoleon Bonaparte doomed to failure?

Aim: What factors made the Grand Empire of Napoleon Bonaparte doomed to failure?. January 23, 2013. Napoleon at War. In 1799, France is only at war with Austria and Great Britain (remaining members of the Second Coalition).

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Aim: What factors made the Grand Empire of Napoleon Bonaparte doomed to failure?

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  1. Aim: What factors made the Grand Empire of Napoleon Bonaparte doomed to failure? January 23, 2013

  2. Napoleon at War • In 1799, France is only at war with Austria and Great Britain (remaining members of the Second Coalition). • After winning huge victories against the Austrians, he achieves peace with honor through the Treaty of Lunéville (with Austria) and the Treaty of Amiens (with Britain). France gains most of the Italian peninsula, German territory on the west bank of the Rhine, the Austrian Netherlands and Holland.

  3. Napoleon at War • In 1805, Napoleon attempted to destroy Britain’s navy and invade the island, but he was defeated by the British commander, Lord Horatio Nelson, at the Battle of Trafalgar. Great Britain survives to be a thorn in Napoleon’s side. • The emergency of war allows Napoleon to crown himself Emperor of France (1804) and place limitations on civil liberties back home.

  4. Napoleon at War • Also in 1805, Napoleon attempts to name himself king of Italy. The Third Coalition (Austria, Russia, Sweden and Great Britain) is formed to stop him. • Napoleon takes on the Austrians first, crushes them at the Battle of Austerlitz (Dec, 1805). Third Coalition collapses. • In 1806, Napoleon consolidates his winnings in Germany into a new state: German Confederation of the Rhine. Prussia becomes nervous, decides to join Russia in yet another fight against Napoleon.

  5. Napoleon at War • Prussians are crushed at the battles of Jena and Auerstädt (Oct, 1806). Napoleon than decides he will go after Russia. • Tsar Alexander I blinks, wants to negotiate for peace. In the Treaty of Tilsit(June, 1807), half of Prussia becomes Napoleon’s and Russia must become Napoleon’s ally and support his reorganization of western and central Europe.

  6. Napoleon’s Grand Empire by 1812 • The Core: France, Austrian Netherlands, Holland, Northern Italy • Satellites: Confederation of the Rhine, Italy, the Duchy of Warsaw, Spain (ruled by Napoleon’s family members). • “Allies:” Austria, Russia, Norway, Sweden, Prussia

  7. Is Napoleon a “son of the revolution” in his treatment of conquered territories? • Yes! • Eliminates serfdom and feudal obligations in the land under his control • Establishes the Napoleonic Code in all the areas he controls • No! • Levies considerable taxes against conquered peoples in order to improve the French economy. French soldiers steal and pillage. Napoleon is seen more as a conquering tyrant than an enlightened liberator.

  8. The Collapse of Napoleon’s Empire Mistake #1: The Continental System • In 1806, Napoleon launches a blockade in which no British ship will be allowed to dock at any port controlled by the French. Will halt all trade between Britain and continental Europe, destroy their economy • But the British put their own counter- blockade around France, which hurt the French middle class

  9. The Collapse of Napoleon’s Empire Mistake #2: The Peninsular War • Napoleon wants Spain to be a French satellite, makes his brother kind of Spain in 1808. • The Spanish people were loyal to their own king (they demonstrated extreme nationalism). • Peasant fighters wage a guerilla war against Napoleon • Proves that French imperialism can be resisted!

  10. The Collapse of Napoleon’s Empire Mistake #3: Napoleon’s Invasion of Russia (1812) • Tsar Alexander I of Russia refused to obey the Continental System, so Napoleon decided to invade. • Napoleon assembled a Grand Army of over 600,000 men, who entered Russia. • But the Russians retreated and followed a scorched-Earth policy (they burned their villages, their grain fields, and killed livestock). • Napoleon should have stopped in Smolensk. He finds himself in Moscow in December with no food, supply lines or winter equipment. Decides to retreat. • Russian army, the brutal Russian winter and starvation destroy Napoleon’s army. 370,000 men die, 200,000 are taken prisoner.

  11. The Fall of Napoleon • After Napoleon’s defeat in Russia, Austria, Prussia, Russia and Great Britain form the Fourth Coalition in March 1814 to finally take down Napoleon. • Paris was captured in April 1814, Napoleon is forced to abdicate. • Napoleon was exiled to the island of Elba (tiny island off the coast of Italy). • Bourbon Dynasty is restored under Louis XVIII (1814-1824), but had very little support.

  12. The Fall of Napoleon • Ten months after his exile, Napoleon escaped from Elba in February 1815, returned to France and took back the throne (this short period is known as “The Hundred Days”) • Napoleon led a final campaign in Belgium, where he was ultimately defeated at the Battle of Waterloo on June 18, 1815. • Finally, he was shipped off to the remote island of St. Helena in the South Atlantic, where he later died in 1821.

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