Chapter 3 Section 3: The Age of Napoleon
I. The Rise of Napoleon
i. Napoleon Bonaparte dominated French and European history from 1799 to 1815.
b. Early Life
i. Born in 1769 in Corsica months after France annexed the island.
ii. Napoleon came from minor nobility but was not wealthy
1. He would win a scholarship to attend a famous military school.
2. His father helped with that scholarship.
iii. After school, he was commissioned as a lieutenant in the French Army
iv. He was short, spoke with an Italian accent, and was not popular with his fellow officers.
v. Napoleon devoted himself to his studies reading French philosophes and military campaigns.
1. When war broke out, he would use this drive to obtain the opportunities.
c. Military Success
i. 1792 he became a captain, 1794 became brigadier general by the age of 24.
1. The Committee of Public Safety appointed him to this position.
ii. 1796 he was commander of the French Armies in Italy
1. Won a series of battles with three qualities
a. Speed, surprise, and decisive action
2. Napoleon’s energy during the campaign earned him the devotion of his troops
a. His intelligence, ease with words, and self-confidence made everyone support him.
iii. 1797, he returned to France as a hero and was given command of an army preparing to invade Britain.
1. He knew they could never invade so he advised a change of striking Britain indirectly by attacking Egypt, which was the route to another British colony, India.
2. Napoleon would never take Egypt since in 1799 The British fleet cut off Napoleon army in Egypt
a. Napoleon would abandon his army and returned to Paris.
d. Consul and Emperor
i. Upon returning to Paris, Napoleon took part in the coup d’état overthrowing the Directory and set up a new Government: the consulate.
1. A consulate was technically a republic but Napoleon held full power.
ii. Napoleon was the first consul and appointed officials and controlled the army, conducted foreign affairs, and influenced legislature.
1. 1802, Napoleon was made consul for life
2. 1804, Crowned himself Emperor Napoleon I.
II. Napoleon’s Domestic Policies
a. Peace with the Church
i. Most important domestic policies was his policy towards the Catholic Church.
ii. 1801 made an agreement with the Pope recognizing Catholicism as the religion of the majority of the people of France.
1. In return, the Pope would not ask for the return of the church lands seized in the revolution.
2. Napoleon made this agreement since he wanted to establish peace with the Church, the revolution’s enemy.
a. He was a man of enlightenment and believed in reason and felt religion was at most a social convenience but felt it was a good policy to mend relations.
iii. The Catholic Church was no longer a formal enemy of the French government and the people who obtained the former Church land became avid supporters of Napoleon.
b. Codification of the Laws
i. Before the revolution, France had more than 300 different legal systems.
1. During the revolution, effort was made to organize and make them consistent but this work would not be completed until Napoleon’s reign.
ii. 7 laws codes were created including the Civil Code or Napoleonic Code.
1. Reflected many principles including equality of all citizens before the law, the right of the individual to choose a profession, religion toleration, and the abolition of serfdom and all feudal obligations.
iii. Women and Children however did not apply to this change.
1. Civil code unmade the advancements during the revolution such as making divorce easier and allowing children, including women, to inherit property on equal basis.
2. It became difficult for women to get a divorce
3. Women were less equal than men.
a. When married, women lost control over any property they had
4. Women could not testify in court
iv. The Civil Codes made women something like children, beings who needed protection and who did not have a public role
c. A New Bureaucracy
i. Created a strong, centralized administration focusing on developing a bureaucracy of capable officials.
1. Regime showed that it did not care about rank or birth and public officials and military officers were promoted based on their ability.
a. Opening careers to men of talent was a reform that the middle class had clamored for before the revolution .
ii. Created a new kind of aristocracy based on meritorious service to the nation.
1. Between 1808 and 1804, Napoleon created 3,200 nobles (60% were military officer, 40% were civil service or local officials).
2. 22% of the new aristocracy were form noble families of the old regime; 60% were middle class.
d. Preserver of the Revolution?
i. In his domestic policies, Napoleon kept some major reforms of the French Revolution.
1. The Civil Code maintained that all citizens were equal before the law.
2. Napoleon opening up government careers to more people was another gain the revolution attained.
ii. Napoleon’s also destroyed some ideals of the revolution.
1. Restricted liberty
a. Censored the free press
b. Anne-Louise-Germaine de Stael protested this censoring
c. 60 of the 73 newspapers were shut down
d. Government approved newspapers had to have all their manuscripts examined before publication
e. Government police kept busy censoring private mail
III. Napoleon’s Empire
a. Building the Empire
i. By 1799 France was at war with the European coalition of Russia, Great Britain, and Austria.
1. Napoleon signed a treaty in 1802 in order to pause the war and let the Revolution to finish,
2. Peace would end a year later when war broke out against Britain in 1803.
a. Now Austria, Russia, Sweden, and Prussia would join Britain.
b. Series of battles at Ulm, Austerlitz, Jena, and Eylau from 1805-1807, Napoleon’s grand army defeated the Austrian, Prussian, and Russian armies.
ii. With these victories, Napoleon created a new European order called the Grand Empire with three parts.
1. French Empire,
a. Core of the Empire including France extending the Rhine River on its Eastern Boundary and the western half of Italy north of Rome.
2. the dependent states,
a. Included kingdoms ruled by relatives of Napoleon including Spain, Holland, the kingdom of Italy, the Swiss Republic, the Grand Duchy of Warsaw, and the Confederation of the Rhine (an alliance of all the German states except Austria and Prussia)
3. Allied states.
a. States that Napoleon defeated and then forced to join his struggle against Britain including Prussia, Austria, Russia, and Sweden.
b. Spreading the Principles of the Revolution
i. Within the empire, Napoleon sought to spread the principles of the French Revolution including legal equality, religion toleration, and economic freedom
ii. Napoleon wanted to destroy the old order forcing the clergy and nobility to lose their privileges
1. All people were declared equal before the law, offices were to be open to talent and a policy of religion toleration was announced.
IV. The European Response
a. British Resistance
i. Britain was never conquered by Napoleon and despite Napoleon’s effort to gather a fleet to invade, the British navy defeated the combined French-Spanish fleet at Trafalgar in 1805 forcing Napoleon to give up the idea of landing on Britain.
ii. Napoleon’s next move was to make his allies cut off trade with Britain forcing them to not afford a war with France.
1. Napoleon issued this strategy called the Continental System denying British goods at all ports.
a. This strategy failed because the allied states resented it, some began to cheat and traded secretly, and Britain found new markets in the Middle East and in Latin America.
b. Nationalism
i. One of the most important factors in the defeat of Napoleon was Nationalism (the sense of unique identity of a people)
1. Foundations are found in a common language, common religion, and national symbols.
ii. Nationalism began in France when people decided that “THEY” were the nation, not the king!
1. This idea spread with the armies of Napoleon throughout Europe.
a. German States, Spain, Italy, and Poland learned about the revolutionary ideas of equality and liberty.
iii. Napoleon provoked new ideas of nationalism
1. The conquered people became united in their hatred of invaders (French)
2. The conquered peoples were able to see the power and strength of national feeling!
V. The Fall of Napoleon
a. Disaster in Russia
i. After Russia refused to remain in the Continental System, Napoleon chose to invade in order to send a message to the other nations to remain in the system.
ii. June 1812 Napoleon’s Grand Army with 600k invaded Russia hoping for a quick victory.
1. Russia used their own tactics and instead of facing the forces head on, the Russian refused to give battle and retreated for hundreds of miles burning their own villages and countryside to keep Napoleon’s army from find food or shelter
a. Scorched warfare
b. At Borodino, Russia troops fought Napoleon’s forces and lost the battle but made Napoleon’s forces weaker and vulnerable.
iii. When the Grand Army reached Moscow, they found the city of fire and left to ruin.
1. Napoleon had no choice but to abandon the Russian Capital in October and retreat just as the winter snows and storms began.
a. This was the Great Retreat west across Russia
b. Thousands of Soldiers starved and froze on the way home.
i. Only 40k survived of the 600k made it to Poland in January 1813.
iv. With the French army crippled, Europeans stated joined the fight and took Park in March of 1814.
1. Napoleon was sent into exile on the island of Elba
2. Europeans restored monarchy to France
3. Brothers of the executed king Louis XVI was installed as Louis XVIII
b. The Final Defeat
i. Louis XVIII had little support from the people and Napoleon wanted to claim what was lost leading him to return to France to retake Paris.
ii. Louis sent troops to capture Napoleon but the regiment sent was won over by Napoleon and joined his ranks to retake Paris on March 20, 1815.
1. Russia, Great Britain, Austria, and Prussia pledged to defeat the man they called “Enemy and Disturber of the Tranquility of the World.”
iii. Napoleon raised a new army as veterans rallied to his side as he readied an attack on the allies across the border of Belgium.
iv. June 18, 1815, at Waterloo in Belgium, Napoleon fought Duke of Wellington who led the British and Prussian forces.
1. Napoleon suffered a bloody defeat
2. Napoleon was exiled to St. Helena
3. Remained in exile until his death in 1821.
5