Napoleon Bonaparte: The Greatest Military Commander Ever.

University Degree Historical and Philosophical studies

Moravec

Daniel Moravec

Sister Wiggins

English 1110

4 May 2007

Napoleon Bonaparte: The Greatest Military Commander Ever

In the last 500 years, the one person to have the greatest impact in Europe was Napoleon Bonaparte (French), also known as Napoleon I. For nearly fifteen years, from 1799 to 1814, he led France with his quick wits and eager attitude (Buckler, , et al. A History, 719). During this time, he conquered a significant part of Europe through means of war, brought about modernism, realized the need to put an end to public problems, and created an empire that will forever change the course of European history. “Napoleon saw himself as a man of destiny, and the glory of war and the dream of universal empire proved irresistible” (Buckler, , et al. A History, 719).

First of all, to understand Napoleon’s policies, one must first examine his rise to power. Napoleon was born to an impoverished family on August 15, 1769, in Ajaccio, Corsica (Buckler, , et al. A History, 719). He was the second oldest child, out of eight, of Carlo (Charles) and Letizia Ramolino Buonaparte. No Buonaparte had ever been a professional soldier. The closest anybody in his family came to being part of the military was his father, Carlo whom had fought for Corsican independence (Encarta). In 1785, Napoleon, at the young age of 16, joined the French artillery and automatically assumed the position of second lieutenant, a rare occurrence (Buckler, , et al. A History, 719).

Just after the launch of the French Revolution in 1791, Napoleon joined the Corsican National Guard. However, Corsica declared its independence only 2 years later in 1793. This event caused Napoleon to escape to France where he was appointed captain of a naval base, which was overwhelming Toulan, a British supporting naval base with anti- republic ideals. An even greater feat that Napoleon accomplished during this battle was when he took over a wounded artillery general’s guns and drove the British armada out almost single handedly. At the age of 24, Napoleon was quickly moved up to the rank of brigadier general, a high honor. After several more battles and 2 years, in 1796, Napoleon was offered the position of commander, one of the highest ranks.

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Being a commander of the French army in Italy gave Napoleon a lot of power. He viciously won brilliant victories in 1796 and 1797. One of the first military advances Napoleon accomplished was to force Austria and its allies to make peace with France by causing four well-respected Austrian generals to fall to their knees (Buckler, , et al. A History, 719). Shortly after this, to strengthen his rule in France, Napoleon donated millions of francs worth of treasure to the Cisalpine Republic. In an attempt to slow British trade with the East in 1798, Napoleon attacked and defeated Egypt. However, after conquering Egypt, Horatio Nelson, a well-decorated British admiral, destroyed his fleet and left him stranded (Encarta). Without a care, Napoleon amended Egyptian law to provide the people with basic rights. Egyptology was born when Napoleon’s French scholars began scientifically studying Egypt (Miller, William). Napoleon returned to France before the humiliation of defeat was spread around (Buckler, , et al. A History, 719).

It became known that prominent members of the Legislative assembly were planning an attack against the Directory, a 5 man executive that represented the middle class. Once word reached Napoleon, he took an aggressive approach and organized a takeover (Buckler, , et al. A History, 719). On November 9, 1799, the plotting Legislative Assembly ousted the Directors and Napoleon struck back furiously to divide them at bayonet point. Napoleon was chosen to be first consul of the republic. (Buckler, , et al. A History, 719).

In 1799, the Ottomans were defeated by Napoleon at Abukir, but he failed to seize Syria as planned. During this time, a new coalition had taken place between many European countries. Napoleon realized this and “sent peace feelers to Austria and Great Britain, the two remaining members of the second coalition” (Buckler, , et al. A History, 720). Upon rejection, Napoleon ousted the Austrians and left the British alone, like in 1797, with worries of war. Instead of attacking Great Britain as one would expect, Napoleon “concluded the Treaty of Amiens with Great Britain in 1802” (Buckler, , et al. A History, 720). Since Napoleon was above all a military man, he could not hold peace and decided to renew the war in May of 1803 (Buckler, , et al. A History, 720). While attempting to move his fleet north, Napoleon’s fleet was virtually annulated by Lord Nelson of the indestructible British fleet at the Battle of Trafalfar on October 21, 1805 (Buckler, , et al. A History, 720). Napoleon proclaimed himself as emperor of France due to the renewal of fighting. Britain allied with “Austria, Russia, and Sweden once again to form the Third Coalition against France shortly before the Battle of Trafalfar” (Buckler, , et al. A History, 720).

Napoleon was victorious over the Austrians and Russians once again at the Austerlitz in December of 1805. Austria decided to get out and lost a large amount of land because of it. Because of the taking of Austerlitz, Napoleon organized the and established a union of German states excluding Austria, Prussia (a former enemy), and Saxony. He deemed himself “protector of this newly formed confederation, which is nearly all of western Germany. Since Prussia was now within a dangerous proximity to the French army, they decided to mobilize their troops for the first time in 10 years. Sure enough, Napoleon attacked Prussia in October of 1806, at Jena and Auerstadt (Buckler, , et al. A History, 720). Russia joined Prussia in the battle and soon after wanted peace with France. The treaty of Tilsit was signed and caused Prussia to lose over half of its population.

Napoleon was not only the emperor of France; he had control of most of Europe by holding a three part Grand Empire. The first part included, not only an expanding France but, by 1810, Belgium, Holland, parts of northern Italy, and German terrain on the east side of the Rhine River. The second part consisted of many dependent microcosms that were managed by people whom were part of Napoleon’s large family. The third and final part were the independent, but allied, states of Austria, Prussia, and Russia whom were disallowed from trading with Britain under Napoleon’s continental system (Buckler, , et al. A History, 720).

When Napoleon decided to try to annex Spain and throne a Bonaparte to king in 1808 there was a great revolt by a coalition of Catholics, monarchists, and patriots. As soon as the French armies subjugated Madrid, fled and resisted. Years passed, and in 1810, while the Grand Empire’s power had peaked, Britain was still waging war against France while also assisting the guerrillas of Spain and Portugal. When Britain applied a counter-blockade to France’s continental system, it was the middle class of France that suffered dearly. They were in a recession and had to look elsewhere for support. Without having anywhere to attack, Napoleon found a scapegoat and betrayed Russia, invading them in June of 1812 with an army numbering above 600,000 (Buckler, , et al. A History, 720). When the French troops reached Moscow in the winter, the Great Battle of Borodino was under way. Although successful in annexing Moscow, this battle was a draw because Alexander, the King of Russia, ordered his troops to burn the city as the fled. 370,000 French troops died and 200,000 were captivated by the Russians by December. Napoleon left his troops in Poland and Prussia to return to France to build another army. “Austria and Prussia deserted Napoleon and joined with Russia and Great Britain in forming the Quadruple Alliance” (Buckler, , et al. A History, 720).

Europeans were calling for “a war of liberation” against Napoleon, since his army had been weakened so much. Within a month, Napoleon was defeated on April 4, 1814. He was exiled to Elba island off the coast of Italy. As more of a slap in the face, they made him emperor of this island. Louis XVIII took over until Napoleon made a daring escape from Elba island in February 1815. He arrived in France and marched on Paris with some of his veteran troops. Louis XVIII wanted no part of this and fled the country, practically handing power over to Napoleon once again. His forces were defeated at Waterloo on June 18, 1815 and he was exiled once again. This time they sent Napoleon far away. The allies chose a very remote island off of the western coast of Africa to prevent him from ever returning to France. He stayed here until his death 5 years later.

While the coalition began to attack France, Napoleon was still with his army. He abandoned them to return and save France. Napoleon took power of France and created a new regime named the Consulate. The Consulate’s constitution always favored Napoleon. In 1802 it was revised to make him consul for life and in 1804 emperor. After crossing the Alps to defeat the Austrians at Marengo, Napoleon proposed a general European peace agreement which expanded Frances border to the Rhine River. To end the dispute between France and the Roman Catholic church, Napoleon and the pope came to an agreement after long and tiring negotiations, which was labeled the Concordat of 1801. The basic trade-off of this agreement gave the pope and his French Catholics the right to practice religion freely and granted Napoleon political power (Buckler, , et al. A History, 719).

“In France, the administration was reorganized, the court system was simplified, and all schools were put under centralized control.” Napoleon came up with a great new code that guaranteed the rights and liberties won in the Revolution in 1789, including equality before the law, absolute security of wealth and private property, and freedom of religion (Encarta). This code, known as the Code Napoléon, was so carefully designed that it is still used in France today (Buckler, , et al. A History, 719). Even the peasants of France, whom gained land and status, were turned on by this unbelievably fair code (Buckler, , et al. A History, 719). The Grand Empire considerably affected the people and soon abolished feudal dues and serfdom. He also levied heavy taxes in money and men for his armies.

Works Cited

Buckler, , et al. A History of World Societies. Vol. B. Boston New York: Houghton Mifflin, 2003. 719-725.