NAPOLEON BONAPARTE
• Born in Corsica in 1769
• Father was minor and
impoverished Italian noble
– Sent Napoleon to military
school on the mainland
• Graduated as young
commissioned officer
in middle of Revolution
• Decided that the best way to
advance was to abandon all
principles and side with
whoever looked as though
they were going to win
RAPID RISE TO THE TOP
• Rose through ranks rapidly
– First came to notice for
retaking the port of Toulon in
1793 and crushing royalist
uprising in Paris in 1795
– Became Directory’s official
enforcer
• Conducted Italian campaign
brilliantly
• At age of 30 he had achieved
success, glory, popularity and
fame
– And with coup d’état of
November 1799, he also
achieved political power
FIRST CONSUL
• Produced new constitution within a
month of taking power
– Created three-house legislature
which actually was a three-stage
rubber stamp for legislation
prepared by Council of State
• Executive committee whose
members were all appointed by
Napoleon
• First Consul had exclusive power to
appoint all officials and judges,
conduct diplomacy, declare and
wage war, and to maintain internal
law and order
• Napoleon created a new monarchy
under a republican facade
PLEBISCITE
• Put constitution into
effect on his own
authority and then, after
the fact, held a
plebiscite
– Popular referendum
• Results were:
– 3,011,007 FOR
– 1562 AGAINST
• Plebiscites became
permanent part of
Napoleon’s arsenal
POPULAR SUPPORT
• Power did not rest solely on tricks
• Had broad support of French people
– Only diehard royalists and republicans never
accepted him
• And neither group had much influence
• Napoleon gave the rich what they wanted, the poor
what they expected, and gave everyone a measure of
glory they seemed to crave.
– At the same time he built an institutional
foundation that brought every aspect of political,
economic, and social life under the direct control
of the state
CENTRALIZATION
FIRST CONSUL
COUNCIL OF
STATE
PREFECT
SUBPREFECT
• All departmental officials were
responsible to the central government
through a clear chain-of-command
• Judiciary put under control of central
state
– All judges and justices of the peace
were appointed by Napoleon
• Control of the economy was
centralized
– Napoleon applied price and export
controls as he saw fit
– He promoted industries through
government subsidies
– Created extensive network of roads
MAYOR
– Created Bank of France in 1800
– Streamlined and centralized tax
collection system
NAPOLEONIC CODE
• Also called Civil Code of 1804
• Attempt to unify and rationalize the various laws and
administrative practices into single national code of
law
• Included civil and legal equality, religious toleration,
and the abolition of feudalism, social orders, and
hereditary aristocracy
– But it also resurrected spirit of paternalism that
had existed in the Old Regime
• Emphasis was on the downflow of authority
– From state to individual, from employer to
employee, from husband to wife, and from
parent to child
CONCORDAT OF 1801
• War between Revolution and Church had
been costly for both sides
– Church driven underground
– Millions of devout French people
alienated from state
• Napoleon realized that religion would
held him govern
– Concordat of 1801
• Vatican recognized confiscation of
its property in France and allowed
clergy to be salaried state
employees
• Pope was recognized as head of the
Church and Catholicism declared
the religion of the “majority of
Frenchmen
– State reconciled with the Church
without giving up its power to control it
within France
Pope Pius VII
EMPEROR
Declared himself “Consul
for Life” in 1802
Took title of “Emperor” in
1804 and created new
aristocracy to reward
relatives and supporters
Summoned Pope Pius
VII to preside over
coronation but took
crown out of his hands
and put it on his own
head
MILITARY SITUATION
• French fought to extend their
revolution, keep its momentum
going at home, and to acquire
buffer zones for defense
• Anti-French forces had no
positive goals at the beginning
and they tended to desert one
another in moments of crisis
– More concerned with each
other than they were with
France
– Did not take French
seriously in the beginning
ARMY OF THE FUTURE
• French military successes took rest
of Europe by surprise
• French army broke every rule of
military practice yet kept winning
– New recruits trained in battle
– Discipline was slight
– Supplies always short
– Sanitation non-existent
• Officers were men from any class
who showed flare for maneuvers and
courage in battle
– Promotions based on merit
– Napoleon’s marshals included a
former cooper, miller, mason, and
stable boy
• Average age was 30
• Army of the future defeating the
armies of the past
Joachim Murat, Marshal
Former stable boy
RENEWAL OF WAR
• In 1799, France’s enemies
revived and, spearheaded by
Russian troops, drove French
out of Italy and moved towards
French border
• Napoleon launched brilliant
counter-attack
– Between 1800-1801
– Forced Austria and Russia
to surrender
– England still undefeated but
still forced to sue for peace
and accept French terms
• Treaty of Amiens (March
2, 1802)
WAR AGAIN
• Anti-French coalition revived
again in 1805
– Financed by England
– Included England, Austria,
and Russia
• Napoleon defeats Austria at
Battles of Ulm and Austerlitz
– Austria forced to accept
dictated peace
Battle of Trafalgar
• British destroy French fleet at
Battle of Trafalgar
– Commanded by Admiral
Horatio Nelson
– October 21, 1805
– Ends Napoleon’s plan for
sea-born invasion of England
FRANCE TRIUMPHS AGAIN
• Prussia blunders into war in
1806 and is quickly defeated
Napoleon and tsar Alexander I
• Russians defeated at Battle of
Friedland
– June 1807
– Tsar Alexander I sues for
peace
• Peace of Tilsit
• Napoleon receives
Poland and Alexander’s
promise to help against
England
NAPOLEONIC EUROPE
Dominated Europe
from Atlantic Ocean
to the steppes of
Poland and from
Baltic Sea to the
Mediterranean
Spain, Switzerland,
central Germany,
and most of Italy
organized as
satellites and
parceled out to
relatives
Brother Joseph
made king of
Spain; brother
Louis made
king of the
Netherlands;
brother Jerome
made king of
Westphalia;
and brother-inlaw Joachim
Murat made
king of Naples
Prussia,
Austria,
Denmark and
Sweden forced
to be “allies”
FOUNDING A DYNASTY
Josephine
King of
Rome
Maria
Louisa
• French Empire was inherently
unstable
– Built too quickly
– Included too many countries that
didn’t want to be a part of it
– Violated balance of power
principle
– Many harbored secret doubts
about its ability to survive
• Napoleon’s only hope lay in
founding a dynasty
– Divorced first wife, Josephine
– Married Princess Maria-Louisa
of Austria
• Had son in 1811—the King of
Rome
PROBLEMS
• Continental System backfired
– British slipped through embargo at
will
– British navy at same time blockaded
French ports
– Internal trade declined throughout
Europe
• Awakening of national pride
– German nationalism limited to
intellectuals
– Spaniards rose up in spontaneous
guerilla war against French
• Napoleon ended up sending
200,000 men to Spain without
results
• Situation made worse in 1812
when British force linked up with
Spanish rebels
– Led by Duke of Wellington
INVASION OF RUSSIA 1812
• Alexander I dropped out of
Continental System in 1812,
resumed trade with England, and
set up tariffs against French
products
• Napoleon decides to teach tsar a
lesson and invade Russia in June
1812
– With Grand Armée
• 600,000 men
– Figured on short, decisive
campaign
• Troops had rations for only
four days
• Supply convoys only
equipped for an additional
three weeks
Napoleon in 1812
Alexander I
DEEPENING CRISIS IN RUSSIA
• Russian army refuses
to fight and retreats
deeper into interior
• Napoleon catches them
outside of Moscow
– Battle of Borodino
– September 1812
– Fails to win decisive
victory
DEFEAT BY “GENERAL
WINTER”
• Napoleon enters Moscow
– Alexander orders evacuation
and destruction of city
• Deprived French of supplies
and shelter
• Napoleon withdraws in October
1812
– Mired by mud and snow
– Harassed by Russian partisans
– Devastated by severe cold
• 500,000 soldiers perished during
retreat
– Only 100,000 made it back
– Shattering defeat
THE APPARENT END
Battle of Nations
• Napoleon raises new army
of 250,000 men
– Against new coalition of
England, Prussia,
Austria, Sweden, and
Russia
– Defeated at Battle of
Nations (October 1813)
• Napoleon is forced back
into France
– Refuses initial peace
offer and allies invade
– Napoleon is finally
surrounded and cut off
in Paris and abdicates
LOUIS XVIII
• Allies make Count of Provence new king as
Louis XVIII
• Signs moderate peace treaty
– France returns to 1789 boundaries
– Napoleon exiled to island of Elba
• Off west coast of Italy
• Retained title of emperor
• Granted a pension of 2 million
francs per year
• Louis XVIII issues Constitutional Charter
– Paid lip service to principles of legal
and social equality
– Confirmed the Napoleonic Code
– Created two-house legislature
• Dominated by large landowners
• “Ultras” dissatisfied with king’s moderation
– Wanted to settle old scores and restore
Old Regime
– Their activities cost new regime much
credibility
BACK AGAIN
• Napoleon escapes Elba on
March 1, 1815 and lands on
southern coast of France
– With 1000 men
– Troops sent to stop him join
him
• As did thousands of
demobilized veterans
– Reaches Paris with huge
army
• Louis XVIII flees
• Napoleon ruler of France
again
WATERLOO
• Former allies declare
Napoleon a “public outlaw”
and vow to destroy him
• Napoleon goes on offensive
and invades Belgium
• Defeated at Battle of Waterloo
by joint British/Prussian army
– Commanded by Duke of
Wellington
• Napoleon flees to Paris
– But arrested by British
before he could leave for
America
– Louis XVIII brought back
– Napoleon’s return only last
100 Days
SAD END TO A GREAT STORY
• Napoleon exiled this time
to Sainte Helena
– Bleak and barren island
off west coast of Africa
– 4000 miles from Europe
• Died there in 1821
– From stomach cancer
and complications of
syphilis
– 52 years old
CONGRESS OF VIENNA
Met in
September
1814
Klemens von
Metternich
Viscount
Castlereagh
First general
congress of
European powers
since Peace of
Westphalia in 1648
Talleyrand
Prince Hardenburg
Alexander I
CONGRESS AT WORK
• Wanted to restore old order as much
as possible
– Also prevent any single state from
dominating Europe again
– Also contain the “virus” of
revolution
• Developed two-part strategy
– Create structure of collective
security
– Agree to suppress radical activity
whenever it occurred
• Embodied in concept of
Concert of Europe
– Informal great power
consensus that kept peace
in Europe until 1914
– Included Austria, Prussia,
Great Britain, Russia, and
France (after 1818)
DIFFERENT VIEWS
• Basic innovation was the recognition that war
had become too dangerous a luxury for Europe
to afford
– Because it unleashed revolutions
• Alexander I saw collective security not only as
a political instrument but also as a spiritual
compact
– Pressured fellow rulers to sign a “Holy
Alliance” against war and for Christian
concord
• Metternich saw collective security as a
sanction to intervene in the affairs of any state
threatened by revolution
• British refused to commit themselves to any
sort of joint command and never supported
Metternich’s interventionist schemes
• Prussia was skeptical about anything Russia
and Austria agreed on
POLAND
• Alexander insisted on taking Poland
over as king
– To get Prussian support for this
plan, he offered it Saxony
• Metternich would not stand for this
and sought support of Castlereagh
and Talleyrand to block plan
• Issue finally settled by compromise
– Alexander received smaller
Poland (other part going to
Austria
– Prussia got 2/3s of Saxony
• Illustrated inherent contradiction of
the congress system
– It presupposed cooperation
between individually sovereign
states whose interests were often
different and antagonistic
Upper-most was
creation of buffer
zones against
France and also
Russia
England also got West
Indies, Cape of Good
Hope, Ceylon, Mauritius,
and Singapore
GERMANY AND FRANCE
• Germany remained 39 states
linked in a loose confederation
– Including Prussia and Austria
– Main function was to prevent
smaller states from
gravitating towards France
• France lost a few small pieces of
territory, had to pay 700 million
francs indemnity, and had to
endure presence of an
occupation army for three years
SUMMARY
• Diplomats of Congress of Vienna were men formed under
the Old Regime
– Their conception of society was patriarchal
• In redrawing map of Europe, they acted in a high-handed
manner
– Parceled out peoples and territories solely according to
abstract needs of power politics
– Not concerned whether any of the peoples involved
wanted to be handed out to others
• And they didn’t and they eventually rebelled
• Saw job as merely rewarding victors and punishing losers
in a great war (with moderation) and restoring an order in
which the established powers could play the old game of
politics
– Never realized just how much the French Revolution had
changed Europe
– Never realized that the rules of the game had
dramatically changed