Napoleon
Bonaparte
Chapter 7
Sections 3, 4, 5
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Napoleon
 Joined the army as part of the French
Revolution
 Led a troop of gunners to defend the delegates
when royalists marched on the National
Convention
 hailed as a hero of the French Republic
 Led armies against Austria, Sardinia and
Northern Italy.
 Disrupted English trade in India by advancing
France’s trade
 Lost a naval battle in Egypt (but remained a
hero)
Coup d’Etat
 1799 - the Directory lost control of France
 People urged Napoleon to take control
 Napoleon and troops drove out the majority of
the members of the national legislature
 The rest voted to dissolve the Directory and
establish 3 consuls (included Napoleon)
 Napoleon soon made himself dictator
 Britain, Russia and Austria joined forces to drive
Napoleon from power, but signed a treaty in
1802
Napoleon Rules France
 1800 - a plebiscite was held to approve a new
constitution
 This gave Napoleon power as 1st consul
 Napoleon supported laws that would restore
order to France
 Kept in mind the goals of the Revolution
 Did not want to return to the days of Louis
XVI
Napoleon’s Reforms
 Economic
 Set up a more effective tax and banking
system
 Ended corruption and inefficiency in the
government
 Dismissed corrupt officials
 St up lycees (gov’t run public schools)
 Restored the Catholic Church
 Signed a concordat with the pope
 France recognizes the Church’s influence,
but does not give it any control
Your Opinion
 Would you have supported Napoleon’s
ideas? Why/why not?
 Why would a country elect an emperor
when they had just recently beheaded
their king?
Napoleon’s Reforms
 Napoleonic Code - comprehensive
set of laws
 Went in reverse of the Enlightenment
 Limited liberty, promoted order and
authority over individual rights
 Freedom of speech and press were
restricted
 Slavery reinstated in the Caribbean
Napoleon’s Empire
 1804 - Napoleon declares himself
Emperor of France
 Supported by French voters
 Crowned himself (meaning he was
more powerful than the Church)
 Wanted to control all of Europe and
reassert France’s authority in the
Americas
Napoleon’s Empire
 Lost territory - after a rebellion in
Saint Domingue, Napoleon gave up
controlling the Americas
 Island of Saint Domingue
 Louisiana Territory
 Gained territory - Austrian
Netherlands and Italy
 Controlled the government of
Switzerland
European Enemies
 Britain, Russia, Austria and Sweden
allied against France
 Napoleon crushed the allied armies
in battle after battle
 Forced Austria, Prussia and Russia to
sign peace treaties
* Had the largest empire since the Romans *
Battle of Trafalgar
 Naval battle against Britain
 Napoleon’s only loss
 Horatio Nelson destroyed half of the
French fleet
 Britain had naval supremacy for the next 100
years
 Napoleon had to give up plans of
invading Britain
 Wanted to find other ways to crush the
British
French Empire
 Napoleon had control or influence over
almost every country in Europe
 Except: Britain, Portugal, Sweden and the
Ottoman Empire
 French Empire was very unstable- it
lasted only 5 years (1807-1812)
Napoleon’s Mistakes
 Continental System - a blockade to trade
and communication from Great Britain
 wanted to strengthen European trade
and destroy Britain’s trade and
industry
 The blockade wasn’t effective
 smugglers, allies of Napoleon, and
his family members would ignore it
 Did weaken Britain’s industry, but
then Britain blockaded France
Napoleon’s Mistakes
 Peninsular War - invaded Spain in order to
reach Portugal (wanted them to accept the
Continental System)
 Spanish protested, so Napoleon removed
their king from power and made his brother
king.
 Spanish were outraged, and also feared the
weakening of the Church (like in France)
 fought using guerrilla warfare, had aid from
Britain
 Napoleon could not defend against it
 Italy and Germany began turning against the
French as well
Napoleon’s Mistakes
 Invasion of Russia - Russia refused to
stop selling grain to Britain, and France
and Russia suspected the other of trying
to conquer Poland
 June 1812 - Napoleon and 420,000
marched on Russia
 Russians were outnumbered, and so
retreated until they had the advantage
 Used the scorched-earth policy
 burn fields, kill livestock, destroy towns - leave
nothing for the enemy to re-supply
Napoleon’s Mistakes
 September 7, 1812 - Battle of Borodino
 Russians retreated
 Napoleon reached Moscow, but the Russian
army had destroyed it
 In October, Napoleon decided to travel back to
France
 Within weeks, snow began to fall
 The Russians began to attack
 Many French soldiers died in the attacks,
but more died of exhaustion, hunger and
cold
 By the time the French army made it out
of Russia, only 10,000 were left
Napoleon’s Downfall
 While Napoleon was weak, Britain, Russia,
Prussia and Sweden joined forces against him
 Later joined by Austria
 Napoleon raised another army (untrained and
ill-prepared)
 Forces met at Leipzig, Napoleon’s army was
crushed
 March 1814~ the kings of Prussia and Russia led
their troops in a victory parade through Paris
 April 1814~ Napoleon surrendered, and was
banished to the island Elba
The Hundred Days
 Louis XVI’s brother took the throne as Louis
XVIII
 Was extremely unpopular
 On Elba, Napoleon heard of Louis
XVIII’s troubles
 inspired him to attempt to regain power
 Escaped and landed in France, and was
marched into Paris by a jubilant crowd
 Became emperor again within days
The Hundred Days
 The European Allies did not want Napoleon to
remain emperor
 British General Wellington prepared his army at
Waterloo (in Belgium)
 June 18, 1815 - Napoleon attacked
 The British were aided by the Prussians
 2 days later, Napoleon was defeated
 This defeat ended Napoleon’s grab for power
(called the Hundred days)
 Napoleon was sent to St. Helena to live in exile
until his death
Review
 Define the following terms: guerrilla,
blockade, Continental system, scorched-earth,
plebiscite, Napoleonic Code
 What was the concordat Napoleon signed
with the Catholic Church?
 Why did Napoleon want to blockade
Britain?
 What were Napoleon’s 3 mistakes?
 What happened at Leipzig?
 Summarize Napoleon’s Hundred Days.
Congress of Vienna
 Outline ch 7, section 5
 You should have information on the
following topics
 Why they met
 5 Great Powers
 Klemens von Metternich
 Metternich’s 3 goals
 The political changes caused by the CoV
 The Latin American Revolutions
The Congress of Vienna
 European leaders wanted to set up a lasting
peace - lasted 8 months
 Most of the decisions were made in secret by
representatives of the five “great powers”
 Russia, Prussia, Austria, Great Britain and
France
 Most influential representative - Klemens
von Metternich (Austria)
 Distrusted the ideas of the Revolution
Metternich’s 3 Goals
 Containment (surround France with strong
countries)
 Netherlands was formed
 German states joined - German
Confederation
 Switzerland became independent
 Restore balance of power
 Wanted France to be weakened, but not
powerless
 Legitimacy (Restore Europe’s royal families to
the throne)
 Ruling families of France, Spain and several
others were placed back on the throne
Political Changes
 Britain and France - constitutional monarchies
 Conservatives had control of Western and
Central Europe
 Russia, Prussia and Austria - absolute monarchs
 signed the “Holy Alliance” to help keep
down the forces of revolution
 Concert of Europe - series of alliances that
ensured that nations would help one another if
any revolutions broke out
Revolutions - Latin America
 With the overthrow and then reinstatement of
the Spanish king, the Creoles and Peninsulares
were competing for control over the Spanish
colonies
 The Spanish king took control, but he
angered the Mexicans, who revolted
 Other Spanish colonies began to declare their
own independence
 Brazil declared independence from Portugal