Warfare in the Napoleonic Era
The Gunpowder Revolution
• Early gunpowder weapons were:
– Simple in design
– Unreliable
– Inaccurate
• Why they stuck:
– Potential
– Shock factor
– Used w/ other
weapons
Timeline: Build up to Napoleonic Era
• 1618-48: The Thirty Years’ War
– Gustavus Adolphus develops
• the concept of “combined arms”
– Attaching field artillery to cavalry & infantry units
• Idea of spreading out infantrymen over a wider area
– Countered older deeper formations (50 ranks)
– Reduced cannon’s potential for devastation
• 1700-21: The Great Northern War
– Peter the Great modernizes Russian
military
– Start of Russia as a Eurasian power
• 1756-63: The Seven Years’ War
– Includes French & Indian War fought in N. America
– Volleys of flintlock muskets in two ranks led to
carnage
– Prussia becomes a power in Europe
– Britain’s victory, and war’s costs, led to A. Rev.
– France’s loss led to Fr. Rev.
• 1775-83: The American Revolution
– Ideals influenced French Revolution
– Britain loses dominance in N. America
• Holds on to Canada
• 1792-1802: The French Revolutionary Wars
– Overthrew French monarchy
– Allowed for the rise of Napoleon
• 1803-15: The Napoleonic Wars
– Allowed for Napoleon’s conquest of most of
Europe
The Napoleonic Wars: 1803-1815
• France vs.
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–
–
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Austria
Prussia
Russia
Sweden
Britain
And others…
• Where?
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Europe
Russia
Spain
Atlantic
West Indies
• Casualties
– Estimated 2.5 million
total war dead
Effect of Napoleonic Wars
• Reshaped Europe
• Saw warfare on a massive scale
• Word “guerilla” coined for
irregularSpaniards who
rebelled against French
• Napoleonic Code
– Basis for
• Most modern western law codes
• “innocent until proven guilty”
• Led to nationalist movements
Austerlitz (Sept. 1805)
• Napoleon’s most brilliant tactical victory
– French vs. Russians & Austrians
– Destroyed Third Coalition
• Let right wing get pushed back
– Drew Russians & Austrians from their center
– “Feigned retreat” on a larger scale
• French launched massive counterattack at
right moment
Any day is fine!
Borodino (Sept. 1812)
• Kutuzov withdrew into Russian interior
– Kutuzov adopted a fabian strategy (Punic Wars)
– Initially refused to engage Napoleon in decisive battle
• Napoleon wanted decisive victory
– Both sides evenly matched
– Russians slowly retreated
– Napoleon denied decisive victory
• Borodino was largest and bloodiest single-day
battle in Napoleonic Wars
Napoleon’s Invasion of Russia 1812
• Grand Army of 600,000* troops (est. vary)
• Russians employed a scorched-earth policy
– Retreat, use geography to advantage
– destroy everything to deny French supplies
• French capture Moscow
– Russians set it on fire
• French retreat after spending winter in Moscow
– Napoleon leaves troops in Lithuania
– Hurries to France
War & Peace
End of Napoleon
• Napoleon defeated and imprisoned
• Escapes and returns to France on 3/1/1815
• Napoleon fights a coalition of Prussia, GB &
the Netherlands
• Defeated at the Battle of Waterloo, end of
Napoleon
• Dies in prison in 1821
Technology
• Flintlock Musket
– “Brown Bess” musket
• Congreve Rocket
• Shrapnel
– Developed by British
• Lt. Henry Shrapnel
– Hollow shell filled w/musket balls and explosives
• Maximized damage
• Man of War
Logistics
• French army lived off land as much as possible
– Could move quickly
– Did not depend on supply lines as much
– Alienated civilians
• Start of canned food