Chapter 10 Reading Notes

Chapter 10 Reading Notes

French Empire

Throughout the French Revolution, there were several Coalitions against France. The other countries in Europe were afraid that the Revolution would spread beyond the borders of France and so combined against them. The first of these Coalitions broke up in 1795 after the first partition of Poland. Also at this time, Spain allied with France. The Second Coalition against France (created when Napoleon invaded Egypt) broke up in 1802. This also happens to be the only year during the French Revolution and Napoleonic Era when no European power was at war with another.

During this peace interim (1802-1803), Bonaparte strategically maneuvered to gain more power for France. For example, he sent troops to Haiti to reestablish French colonial America (something that had not been a big factor for France since the Seven Years’ War). Had the troops been successful, Bonaparte likely would have invaded the American mainland. As it were, most of his troops died as a result of disease and resistance from the native Haitians led by Toussaint l’Overture. Since his goal of gaining control over French colonies failed, Bonaparte sold Louisiana to America in 1803.

During this interim, Bonaparte also established republics in Italy and Switzerland that were dependent on him. He also promised princes of the Holy Roman Empire territory if they supported him. These princes scrambled for territory and bribed the French in order to secure their goodwill. While effective, most Germans of the Holy Roman Empire called this act the “shaming of the princes” because they pandered so much to the French and gave up German land.

Third Coalition

In 1803, Napoleon went to war with Great Britain (his arch nemesis). His goal was to invade the island of Great Britain, and he prepared for this for over a year. In 1804, Austria (under King Francis II) joined the coalition with Great Britain. Within a year Russia (under Tsar Alexander I- grandson of Catherine the Great) reluctantly joined the Coalition with Britain and Austria. Many saw Alexander I as protector of Germany because he was the only one with enough military force to keep Napoleon and the French out of Eastern Europe. Alexander I joined the fight because he saw it as a moral issue. A question of international law vs. force. He though Napoleon was ignoring national sovereignty by using force.

In 1805, as Napoleon prepared to invade England, the Austrians and Russians moved toward France. On Oct. 21, 1805, Lord Nelson (famous British admiral) caught and destroyed the main body of the French and Spanish fleets at Trafalgar. In one fatal swoop, he basically decimated the French and Spanish navies for years to come.

Nevertheless, as Britain was establishing their control over the sea, Napoleon defeated the Russians and Austrians on the mainland of Europe. The Austrians established a peace treaty as the Russians fled to regroup and try again. Napoleon now had control over all of Germany and Italy.

In 1806, Prussia faced off against the French alone. Although Prussia had been the biggest and best military power less than fifty years prior, they were crushed by the French national army. As a result, Prussia as we know it was destroyed. The Prussian army fled to join with the Russians in Poland. In 1807, the combined Russian and Prussian forces were defeated in Poland, and Russia proved willing to negotiate with France instead of allowing the war to continue into the Russian heartland.

In July 1807, Russia and France signed the Treaty of Tilsit. They agreed to ally against Great Britain which meant that virtually every country on mainland Europe (except for a few neutrals like Denmark and Portugal) were allied against Great Britain. The treaty also reduced Prussia to its land holdings from before the Seven Years’ War and took away what land it had gained in Poland as a result of the partitions of Poland.

Continental System

In order to destroy Great Britain, Napoleon established the Continental System in which he hoped to stop British dominance by strangling them economically. He wanted them to not have any country to trade with on Continental Europe. In the Berlin Decree of 1806, Napoleon banned importation of British goods to the continent. Britain responded by demanding that neutrals stop in British ports before they reached mainland (Napoleonic) Europe. Napoleon then issued the Milan Decree in 1807 stating that any ship that stopped at British ports would be confiscated on its appearance in a Continental Harbor.

He forced his allies and the states he controlled to comply. Neutral states were also encouraged to be part of the Continental System which made them upset. Neutral Denmark was bombarded by the British to encourage them to not comply with the Continental System. They outraged Danes joined with Napoleon to spite the British. Neutral Portugal refused to comply, so Napoleon invaded and took over their ports.

In order to control all the ports in Europe, Napoleon just needed Spain under his control. He deceived the Spanish Bourbons (kings) into abdicating and installed his brother, Joseph, as king of Spain. The Spaniards, upset at the usurpation of power, started a guerrilla war against King Joseph. The Peninsular War lasted for five years with the Spanish rebels being aided by the British, particularly the Duke of Wellington.

The only country that was marginally successful at staying neutral was America. America was pressured by both France and Britain to stop trading with the other country. They tried to block trade with both countries, but it proved so devastating to the American economy that they later said they would resume trade with either France or Britain if either country would first reduce their trade restrictions. Hostilities over trade barriers was one of the causes of the War of 1812 in America. The war did nothing for America except prove that the new country was military no match for Great Britain.

Despite the aforementioned opposition to the Continental System, many European countries were more than willing to ally against Great Britain. Countries on the continent resented the British for their domination of the seas and world trade.

Britain responded to the Continental System by blockading France with the goal to kill of enemy shipping. Neither the blockade nor the Continental System was very effective because neither really cared if goods made it to the other country. They were both just trying to, as the textbook says, “destroy the enemy’s commerce, credit, and public revenues by the destruction of its exports—and also to build up markets for oneself.” If anything, the Continental System failed worse than the British Blockade, but not because the blockade was effective. The Continental System failed because the people of Europe, particularly the aristocrats were not willing to give up luxury goods (like sugar) that they could get cheaper from the British. Also, the Continental System failed because it took too long to ship by land since railroads did not come for another 30 years. Additionally, the countries in Europe set up internal tariffs so it cost more to import goods from other countries thereby creating even more hardship on the economies of Europe. Finally, the British were not really hurt by the Continental System because their trade abroad, particularly to Latin America, increased by much more than their trade to Europe decreased.

Grand Empire

Along with the Continental System, Napoleon aimed to control Europe through military conquest. He wanted all the countries in Europe to follow the French system of government and law. In 1809, realizing his expansionist aims, Austria again went to war with Napoleon (clearly, they are not learning much from their previous experience). As a result of the devastating in the war, Austria appointed a new foreign minister, Clemens von Metternich to smooth things out. He will become important later in the chapter. In the peace treaty that followed, Austria lost territory, and Napoleon was betrayed by his foreign minister Talleyrand. Talleyrand essentially told Tsar Alexander I that Napoleon was trying to do too much and conquer too much and that the Tsar should wait to offer more aid to the French. In so doing, Talleyrand essentially created a place for himself in a Europe after Napoleon.

In the same year, Napoleon also divorced his wife Josephine because she was unable to give him an heir. He decided to marry the niece of Marie Antoinette, Marie Louise. Therefore, Napoleon because the nephew of Louis XVI (the very same who was sent to the guillotine) through marriage.

By 1811, Napoleon controlled virtually all of continental Europe. He gave conquered territories to his family members to rule. Most of Europe had a Bonaparte on the throne. Napoleon called the French Empire and its dependent states (conquered territories) the Grand Empire. This Empire was surrounded by politically autonomous states that were allies to France. French influence was felt strongly throughout Europe.

When France invaded a new territory there were stages of French influence evident:

1. Military Conquest
2. France sets up a satellite government loyal to Napoleon
3. Internal reform and reorganization including:
4. Liberal reforms
5. Equality before the law
6. Rule of law (like a constitution)
7. Metric system
8. Did away with feudalism and the manor system
9. Taxes on land through direct collection
10. Napoleonic Code (laws the same everywhere in Europe)
11. Church lost power
12. People forced to serve in the Grand Army

Napoleon also encouraged the arts and architecture in France to demonstrate how powerful it had become. For example, the famous Arc de Triumph was started at this time though it was not finished until later. Also the church of the Madeleine in Paris was based on Roman architectural models. Napoleon believed he was creating a new Rome. A new place where the world would look to for reform and culture.

While some people liked these reforms, others hated the French influence felt everywhere in Europe. One of his biggest critics was a woman by the name of Germaine de Stael. She wrote books criticizing the goals of Napoleon, and her works would have been suppressed had she not lived in Switzerland. Overall, there was censorship of works that criticized the emperor. There was, as a result, an anti-Napoleon feeling that swept throughout Europe. Naturally, this movement was anti-French and anti-absolutism.

Nationalism Movements

As people began to resent the French and especially Napoleon ever more, nationalism movements arose in various countries. Nationalism is kind of like patriotism. It’s a love of country and all things that represent your country. It’s the belief that your way of life is the best. Nationalism can be used in a good way or in a bad way, but in this case, nationalism was used to try to unify various countries against Napoleon. For example, nationalism helped England get through a social crisis. Their poor were as oppressed, if in a different way, as the French, but England did not go through a Revolution because they were so united against Napoleon. Similarly, the Spanish united together to resist Napoleon’s brother as king of Spain.

The most prominent nationalist movement came from German-speaking people in the Holy Roman Empire. Recall that the Holy Roman Empire had been split apart after the Thirty Years’ War in 1648. Some people wanted to throw off the French influence and bring the principalities in the Holy Roman Empire together to create a Germanic state. At this time, a man named J.G. Herder wrote a book called Ideas on the Philosophy of the History of Mankind which basically said that each country should develop on its own path and not imitate the way of life of other countries. He wanted German people to stop imitating the French and embrace their own traditions and way of life. He came up with the idea of voksgeist which means “national character” saying that each country should develop on its own path. The Germans became fascinated by political and national greatness. For example, one lecturer Fichte in 1808 wrote Addresses to the German Nation in which he argued that Germany had to be kept pure of outside influence at all cost. Most thought his ideas too radical at the time, but this type of thinking definitely led to the German nationalism of the 1930s that later led to the Holocaust.

Prussia was seen as the last hope for the Germans. Although they had been defeated by Napoleon, Prussia was not invaded by the French. Therefore, Germans from all over Europe flocked there in hopes that Prussia would start a national movement that would end with an independent Germany. This did not happen for about 60 years, but the seeds were planted because of Napoleon.

Romanticism

Also during the Napoleonic Era, the beginnings of Romanticism appeared. Romanticism was a cultural movement that was a reaction against the Age of Enlightenment. During the Enlightenment, people relied on reason over feeling. The opposite was true of Romanticism. It stressed intuition over reason. Romanticism also stressed the differences in people and situations over similarities. There were no longer rules to poetry, music, or writing. Moral relativism became the norm.

Romanticism was at least partially a result of the French Revolution. The French Revolution had stressed the principles of the Enlightenment. That there were natural laws, that all people should have certain rights, that people could think through and reason for themselves how they should be governed. Nevertheless, the French Revolution became a very bloody, cruel, dictatorial affair (think Reign of Terror). People believed that if reason had brought the French to where they were, then perhaps they did not want to be enlightened.

Overthrow of Napoleon

As the anti-French movement grew stronger, political refugees flocked to Russia for protection because Russia was the only major independent power left in Europe. On Dec. 31, 1810, Russia withdrew from the Continental System, thereby breaking their alliance with France. Intending to teach Russia a lesson, Napoleon gathered together a Grand Army of 700,000 men from all over Europe (or at least the places he controlled). This was the largest force assembled for a single mission up to this point in history.

Napoleon hoped to fight in either Poland or Prussia, but the Russians decided to fight on their own turf to bide time to get more troops together. As a result, everything went wrong for Napoleon. He intended to have a short, decisive battle because they only packed three weeks of supplies, but the Russian army just melted away and retreated further into Russia. Essentially, their goal was to draw the Grand Army further in away from supply lines. Napoleon met the main force of the Russian army in Borodino where he was outnumbered by Russians. Despite this, the Grand Army won the battle at the cost of 30,000 men as opposed to 50,000 Russians. Nevertheless, the Russians were still able to retreat in good order.

Napoleon seized Moscow on Sept. 12, 1812 and almost immediately the city burst into flames. (Historians still debate how this happened. Some think it was the retreating Russians that burned their own city, some say it happened spontaneously, some say it was the Grand Army that did it by accident.) Napoleon was stuck in enemy territory without supplies in the ruin of Russia’s greatest city. Napoleon was used to living off the land, but the Russian scorched-earth policy prevented that. As the Russians retreated, they burned their own crops to ensure that the enemy would not get them. Napoleon tried to negotiate with Tsar Alexander, but the Tsar refused. Fearful of being stuck in enemy territory over the winter, Napoleon decided to retreat back to France.

And then came Russia’s most powerful weapon…snow. Snow came early that year and made retreat difficult if not almost impossible. Worse, the Grand Army only had their summer uniforms because the campaign was started in the summer and was supposed to only last a few weeks. They retreated over snow and ice, often in the dark, for nights are long at those latitudes. The Grand Army broke apart and fled in various dispatches as they tried to stay ahead of the Russians. Of the 611,000 that entered Russia, 400,000 died either in battle or as a result of starvation and exposure. An additional 100,000 were taken prisoner by the Russians.

As a result of this defeat, all the anti-French forces joined to defeat Napoleon. Austria and Prussia sent their troops to help Russia as did Germans from the Holy Roman Empire who were eager to fight in the War of Liberation. Spanish nationals at last began to gain the upper-hand as Britain poured in immense amounts of money to the European continent. Napoleon was defeated for the last time as emperor in 1813 at the Battle of Leipzig (or Battle of the Nations as the Germans called it).