Napoleon’s Downfall
1807 - 1815
A Family Affair
Jerome Bonaparte  King of Westphalia.
Joseph Bonaparte  King of Spain
Louise Bonaparte  King of Holland
Pauline Bonaparte  Princess of Italy
Napoléon Francis Joseph
Charles (son) King of
Rome
• Elisa Bonaparte  Grand
Duchess of Tuscany
• Caroline Bonaparte  Queen
of Naples
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Peninsular Campaign
1806: France 
Continental
System
 Spain
Portugal
•
Portugal did not comply with the Continental
System.
•
France wanted Spain’s support to invade
Portugal.
•
Spain refused, they were tired of Napoleon
“bossing” them around.
The Spanish Ulcer
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An idea called Nationalism – the notion that a
nation would be created with defined borders, a
singular language, and ultimately people would
identify themselves via their nation, instead of
their social class or religion.
The Spanish started to build up a high level of
patriotism for their own country, and wanted
nothing to do with the French.
As a result Napoleon invaded Spain.
The Spanish Ulcer
• Napoleon tricked the
Spanish king and prince to
come to France, where he
imprisoned them.
• He proclaimed his brother,
Joseph, to be the new king
of Spain.
• He stationed over 100,000
French troops in Madrid.
• On May 2, 1808 the
Spanish rose up in rebellion.
• French troops fired on the
crowd in Madrid the next
day.
The Spanish Ulcer
•
Napoleon poured 500,000
troops into Spain over the next
few years.
•
But, the French generals still had
trouble subduing the Spanish
population and their revolt towards
France.
•
The British viewed this uprising
as an opportunity to weaken
Napoleon.
•
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They moved an army into
Portugal to protect that country
and to aid the Spanish guerillas.
The Surrender of Madrid
May, 1809
by Goya
After five (5) long years of savage fighting, French troops were
finally pushed back across the Pyrennes Mountains and out of
Spain.
A Turning Point
1809: France 
Napoleon
Exits
Prussia
 Prussia
 By 1809 the Prussian/Austrian Army had
transformed its army into an exact replica of the
French army that beat them at Ulm and Austerlitz.
 May 21–22 1809 Napoleon wanted to make a move
to push the Prussian’s further east and into the
Ottoman Empire.
 Archduke Karl (Charles), leading the newly formed
Austrian Army came head to head with the French
Army in a town called Aspern, located in Austria –
AKA battle of Aspern-Essling.
A Turning Point
 Archduke Karl and his Austrian
Army, suffered as many
losses, captured and wounded
soldiers as that of the French.
Despite heavy losses Austria
ended up winning at Aspern.
 Napoleon retreats and heads
west and north towards a town
called Wagram.
 Wagram ended up being one of the bloodiest and most terrifying
battles ever in the history of Europe.
 While the French ended up barely, and we do mean barely,
winning, Napoleon was heard saying about Wagram, “war was
never like this: neither prisoners nor guns; this day will have no
results.”
Map of Aspern, Wagram
 Map of the location of Aspern and Wagram
The “Big Blunder” - Russia
1812: France 
Breaking
Promises
 Russia
 Prior to the battle of Friedland, Napoleon had
promised he would never attack Russia as they had
a peace treaty – as we know he broke that promise.
 After Friedland, Russia agreed to stop trading with
the British – but they broke that promise and as a
result Napoleon decided to invade Russia.
The “Big Blunder” - Russia
• In July, 1812 Napoleon led his
Grand Army of 600,000+ men
eastward across central Europe
and into Russia.
•
The Russians avoided a direct
confrontation with Napoleon.
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They retreated to a town near Moscow. In doing so they
drew the French into the interior of Russia.
•
The Russian nobles abandoned their estates and houses and
burned their crops and land to the ground.
•
They left the French with no way to live off the land and to
operate far from their supply bases in Eastern Prussia.
The “Big Blunder” - Russia
 The French army made it all the way to Borodino – a city
outside of Moscow.
 The Russian’s were ready and waiting for the French
Army to enter Borodino.
 The battle at Borodino, September 12, 1812, was equally
as horrific as the battle of Wagram. Hundreds of
thousands of men died on both sides.
 The Russian’s despite retreating, could claim victory as
they dealt a stunning blow to the French Army.
 Napoleon, stubborn to get ultimate victory forged a head
to Moscow to declare victory…
The “Big Blunder” - Russia
 By September 14, 1812
Napoleon had reached
Moscow, hoping to find
the Russians waving the
white flag.
 Instead, they found a
desolate city, burning to
the ground. No one there,
no food, no wine, no
money, nothing….
nothing but the oncoming
of winter.
Moscow Burning to the
Ground, September 1812
The “Big Blunder” - Russia
 Now deep in Russian territory, winter approaching and
nothing to live off of, Napoleon decided to head back to
Eastern Prussia.
 As they headed back, pockets of Russian fighters would
attack the French Army with no notice, killing hundreds
and thousands of French military men, injuring soldiers
and then disappearing.
 This tactic was used all the way along the trek back to
Eastern Prussia.
 The French Military had no choice but to leave their
wounded on the ground to freeze to death or die of their
injuries.
The “Big Blunder” - Russia
 To eat, they would cut up their
dead horses and cut out the meat,
barring the meat wasn’t completely
frozen and unable to cut.
 By the time the French Army
reached Eastern Prussia, they were
depleted, many men had fled to
go home, they were starving and
ultimately they looked like a sad
bunch of men marching out of Russia.
 The French Army was now the antithesis of the grand
600,000+ troops that marched into Russia.
 With only 9,000 men left by the time they got to Eastern
Prussia, Napoleon left his men, his defeated army, and
went back to France.
Map of Borodino
 Location of Borodino – note that current geography
has Belarus and Latvia, that part was East Prussia
and Polish territory.
The
th
6
1813-1814: France 
Coalition
Napoléon’s
Defeat
 Britain, Russia.
Spain, Portugal,
Prussia, Austria,
Sweden, smaller
German states
Battle of Leipzig
 16–19 October 1813 was the
battle of Leipzig. This was the
longest, and largest battle prior
to WWI ever in Europe.
 Leipzig was a town in Prussia.
 Napoleon wanted to re-gain
territory he had lost in Prussia,
and wanted to keep control of all the loading docks in
Northern Europe.
 The 6th Coalition made way for Leipzig with a solid plan
of attack. They were to use shock tactics, carefully
planned out strategic attacks, and use of maps to defeat
Napoleon.
Battle of Leipzig
 Napoleon, un-sure where
his opponent would be
attacking from was unable
to counter attack with his
form of a shock tactic.
 He soon realized by the
third day that he was surrounded and had to flee.
 Like he did in Russia, he left his army to die against the 6th
coalition and headed back to Paris on the 19th of October.
 Map of Leipzig
A long time ago…
 In 1807 Napoleon had total control of Europe – but
he wanted more.
 In 1809 he lost in Aspern-Essling and Wagram, in
1811 he lost in Spain (and by extension Portugal), in
1812 he invaded Russia and lost, in 1813 he fought
in Leipzig (Prussia) and lost.
 March 30-31, 1814 for the first time in 400 years a
foreign power invaded France, Napoleon with
nothing left, lost in the battle of Paris.
Abdication
 After the loss in Paris, Napoleon gave up his throne
and was exiled to the Island of Elba, near Italy.
 This ended the reign of Napoleon….. Or did it?