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• Freedom of speech and press was revoked and slavery re allowed in the Caribbean French Colonies.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?