DBQ Is Due Monday (Remember That These Cannot Be Typed)

AP European History

December 4- 8 2017

 DBQ is due Monday (remember that these cannot be typed)

 I carried over some of the information from last week on the Napoleonic Empire

 Your Last Unit Test is on Friday in class (MC and SA format)

 This week and most of next week will be dedicated to review type exercises

MONDAY and TUESDAY

• Examine the origins of the Imperial Period of Napoleonic France (INT-7,10,11) (SP-3,4,5,7,9,11) (OS-3,9)
• Examine the aftermath of the Napoleonic Wars

MaterialsStrategy/Format

ppt, video lecture-discussion L.CCR.2

Introduction

 When we left Napoleon last week he had proclaimed himself pro-consul for life in 1802. This was accepted by plebiscite and he had brought a remarkable turn of good fortune for France. His Concordat of 1801 had restored the Catholic Church to some power, the economy had been placed in a firm footing, the Napoleonic Code had wiped away all vestiges of feudalism. In the realm of foreign policy Europe was at peace for the first time in a decade.

 The Treaty of Lunéville was signed in February 1801, under which the French gains of the Treaty of Campo Formio were reaffirmed and increased; the British signed the Treaty of Amiens in March 1802, which set terms for peace, including the division of several colonial territories.

 However, the peace between France and Britain was uneasy and short-lived. There were several tensions that led to an end of the peace. The monarchies of Europe were reluctant to recognize a republic, fearing that the ideas of the revolution might be exported to them. In Britain, the brother of Louis XVI was welcomed as a state guest although officially Britain recognized France as a republic. Britain failed to evacuate Malta and Egypt as promised, and protested against France's annexation of Piedmont.

 In 1803 Bonaparte faced a major setback when an army he sent to reconquer Haiti and establish a base was destroyed by a combination of yellow fever and fierce resistance led by Toussaint L'Ouverture. Recognizing that the French possessions on the mainland of North America would now be indefensible, and facing imminent war with Britain, he sold them to the US—the Louisiana Purchase —for less than three cents per acre ($7.40 per square kilometer). A dispute over the island Malta provided the pretext for Britain to declare war on France in 1803 to support French royalist. This was an important Mediterranean outpost and Britain realized that a future war with France would probably involve control of this area.

The Imperial Period Begins

 At the beginning of 1804 a sign of Napoleon’s plans for the future revealed themselves. In January 1804, Bonaparte's police uncovered an assassination plot against him, ostensibly sponsored by the House of Bourbon. In retaliation, Bonaparte ordered the arrest of the Duke d'Enghien, in a violation of the sovereignty of Baden. After a hurried secret trial, the Duke was executed on March 21. Bonaparte then used this incident to justify the re-creation of a hereditary monarchy in France, with himself as emperor, on the theory that a House of Bourbon restoration would be impossible once the Bonapartist succession was entrenched in the constitution.

 In 1804 Napoleon decided to take the next step in consolidating his power. Bonaparte crowned himself emperor on December 2, 1804, at Notre Dame de Paris. Claims that he seized the crown out of the hands of Pope Pius VII during the ceremony in order to avoid subjecting himself to the authority of the pontiff are apocryphal; in fact, the coronation procedure had been agreed upon in advance. After the Imperial regalia had been blessed by the Pope, Napoleon crowned himself before crowning his wife Josephine as Empress (though really a fictional event the moment depicted in Jacques Louis David's famous painting, illustrated at right). The Pope had expected Italy in return, and was frustrated when Napoleon insisted on being crowned king of Italy with the Iron Crown of Lombardy at Milan's cathedral on May 26, 1805

 Napoleon was clearly planning to expand his power by annexing Piedmont in northern Italy and killing the Duke of Enghien in Baden and establishing a client state there. A Third Coalition (to be called the Fourth Coalition later when Prussia joins) was now formed in Europe to stop Napoleon. Austria, Sweden, and Russia formed an alliance and Britain once again reluctantly got involved.

 Initially Napoleon had planned to first strike against Britain with an invasion. He reasoned that defeating the British would take the weaker powers of the coalition out from the start. However, he hoped that a combined Spanish and French fleet could take down the Royal Navy. He was destined to be disappointed once again by Horatio Nelson as he had been in Egypt. The Battle of Trafalgar was one of the most epic sea battles in history. So, in the fall of 1805 Britain had secured control of the seas and to some degree checked the advance of French power. Napoleon, like Hitler in 1941 realized an invasion of Britain was impossible without naval (or later air superiority). Both dictators then turned their armies to the east.

The Highpoint of Napoleon’s Power

 Napoleon fame as a general was gained when he won a series of major victories in the Battles of Ulm and Austerlitz (1805), Jena (1806), and Friedland (1807) against an alliance of Russia, Austria, and Prussia. The resulting Treaties of Tilsit (1807) and the Treaty of Schönbrunn (1809) left most of Europe from the English Channel to the Russian border either part of the French Empire, controlled by France, or allied to it by treaty.

 Similar to our discussions of how and why France was able to hold off against all contenders during the French Revolution Napoleon also had several advantages. The Grand Armèe was so good for several reasons. First, because of the previous levee en masse, he could put more men on to the field than any other army. His use of cannon was superior as he developed the ability to rapidly reposition them (called flying cannon). His army developed the first ambulance corps and this helped get men back into the fight. Napoleon once said that "an army travels on its stomach" This shows his mastery of logistics. His army was always well provisioned (until the Russian campaign) and this added to morale. He had better tactics with the box formation of Greco-Roman times adapted to modern weaponry. Finally because of nationalism and Napoleon’s leadership, his men were highly motivated and this grew with each victory.

The Treaty of Tilsit (1807)

 The Treaty of Tilsit was one of the most far reaching treaties of all time. Napoleon made agreements that France signed with France and with Prussia (respectively) at Tilsit, northern Prussia after Napoleon's victories over the Prussians at Jena and at Auerstädt and over the Russians at Friedland

 Under the terms of the treaty, France and Russia became allies and divided Europe between them, reducing Austria and Prussia to helplessness. Napoleon wanted to completely eradicated Prussia from the map. It was only because of Czar Alexander I that this did not happen. Czar Alexander of Russia accepted the reduction of Prussia from 89,120 to 46,032 square miles; the creation from the Polish provinces detached from Prussia of a new Grand Duchy of Warsaw for Napoleon’s ally, the king of Saxony; and the establishment of the Kingdom of Westphalia in northern Germany. Westphalia, too, was in part composed of former Prussian lands. Napoleon’s hegemony in western and central Europe was thus established. Prussia was to be occupied by French troops until a war indemnity (reparations to use the later WWI term), fixed at 120,000,000 francs, had been paid.

 In secret provisions Napoleon agreed to help Russia “liberate” most of Ottoman held Europe if Turkey rejected French mediation in its conflict with Russia. Napoleon once derisively called Britain "a nation of shopkeepers. But lacking the navy to invade Britain he set about using economic warfare. Czar Alexander was compelled to join the Continental System against British trade if Britain rejected Russian mediation in its conflict with France. Russia was given a free hand to conquer Finland from Sweden. Prussia was forced to join the Continental System and close its ports to British trade. This is also known as the Berlin Decrees. This will later be followed by the Milan Decrees disallowing any British trade on the continent.

 The Treaties of Tilsit came so close to creating a continental blockade that excluded British trade, Napoleon sought in the next few years to enlarge and enforce the blockade. This led to the collapse of the peace on the continent. The period of Franco-Russian collaboration lasted until Dec. 31, 1810, when the czar , finding that the alliance to the Continental System seriously hurt Russian trade, opened Russian ports to neutral ships (interestingly the U.S. was one of the first to try and take advantage of this). The threat to Russia from Napoleon’s satellite, the Duchy of Warsaw, on Russia’s border, also contributed to the eventual failure of the Franco-Russian alliance. Napoleon invaded Russia in June 1812

The Invasion of Portugal and Spain

• By 1807 Napoleon was the master of Europe and it could be said that one was either defeated by Napoleon, allied with Napoleon, a declared neutral (like the Swiss), or you were British! Following his declaration of Empire Napoleon placed his family members on several thrones and probably the most important was his brother Joseph who he placed in Spain. Obviously Spain was strategic but there was also the issue of Portugal who not only remained unconquered but could serve as a potential British base on the Iberian Peninsula.
• In October 1807 Napoleon decides that the only certain method of securing the Continental System is a French occupation of Portugal. He dispatches an army for the purpose and summons Spanish envoys to Fontainebleau. In the Treaty of Fontainebleau, on October 27, the partition of Portugal is agreed. France is to have the central section, including Lisbon. Various other pieces were parceled off to allies of the regime (like the Duke of Parma) Even before the treaty is signed a French army has entered Spain on its way to Portugal - where its imminent arrival near Lisbon causes panic. The royal family and court decide to flee for safety to Brazil, taking with them (to Napoleon's fury) the gold and silver of the national treasure. The vanguard of the French army enters the capital city the next day.
• However, Portugal was not the only objective of the French forces. Troops move from France into northern Spain, ostensibly to support their colleagues in Portugal but looking alarmingly like an army of occupation. In February 1808, they seize Barcelona. By mid-Spring Madrid was also occupied and another royal family, the Bourbon king of Spain also should have hightailed it to South America. But he didn't listen to that advice. While technically Spanish king Charles IV abdicated his throne this was a mere technicality. As a sign of good will the now former king and his nearly crowned son were invited to Paris to discuss the situation. There both were arrested and imprisoned. As a condition of their release both formally acknowledged Joseph as the new king of Spain.
• Joseph almost immediately offended much of Spanish population by trying to remove Catholicism as the state religion. This was a huge mistake. On May 2 violence erupted. Reminiscent of Napoleon's dispersal of the Fructidor uprising, French troops fired into the crowd of protestors. More than thirty French officers and hundreds of soldiers and civilians are killed or wounded before order is restored. However, a guerilla war erupted. Napoleon's commander in the region also made a fatal error that almost never works in the annals of history; he launched reprisal executions of suspected rebel leaders and the people who were thought to be aiding them. The Spanish resistance was captured in Francisco Goya's painting of an execution, entitled 3 May 1808. More troublesome for Napoleon was the fact that this peasant army was getting aid from Britain. In fact, the Duke of Wellington who would one day defeat Napoleon finally at Waterloo in 1815 was sent to organize Spanish resistance.
• Napoleon called this the "Spanish Ulcer" (and one wonders if this is why he is often pictured with his hand on his belly). Ultimately Napoleon poured hundreds of thousands of soldiers into a fight whose guerilla tactics forever eluded him. Worse this was the first true sign of Napoleon's growing weakness.

• Seeing the French penned down in Spain emboldened the Austrians for a break from Napoleon's control. They organized an army and struck. After initial successes, the Austrians were defeated in one of the bloodiest engagements of the Napoleonic Wars. The Battle of Wagram. Pushing the French back, the Austrians were succeeding until Napoleon formed a grand battery of 112 guns, which along with reinforcements, stopped the attack.
• On the right, the French had turned the tide and were advancing. This coupled with a massive attack on the Austrian center that split the Austrian army in two won the day for the French. Five days after the battle, Archduke Charles sued for peace. In the fighting, the French suffered a staggering 34,000 casualties, while the Austrians endured 40,000.
• The ensuing Treaty of Schönbrunn Austria also agreed to pay a large indemnity, reduce its army to 150,000 men, and break diplomatic and trade relations with Britain and most fatally the loss of much territory used to further create client states of France. One important future side effect of this defeat was the greater independency of Bavaria (a key piece of the future Germany).

• Relations between Russia and France began to sour partially over the issue of lost trade. In the years before the war Czar Alexander I had made liberal reforms that helped to stimulate an export market (largely with Britain) and growing middle class prosperity. This was lost due to the Continental System.
• Napoleon entered Russia at the head of the largest army ever seen and his main objective and one that he would regret was the capture of Moscow. The Russians, under Marshal Kutuzov, could not realistically hope to defeat him in a direct confrontation. The Battle of Borodino was an indecisive slugging match that saw the death of over 100,000 men on both sides. Instead of ever facing Napoleon again in a single decisive battle, they begin a defensive campaign of strategic retreat, devastating the land (scorched earth policy) as they fell back and harassing the flanks of the French. As the summer wore on, Napoleon's massive supply lines were stretched ever thinner, and his force began to decline. Napoleon's forces did take Moscow and partisans attempted to burn it. Now he was trapped in the city by the winter., the French Army had been reduced by more than two thirds from fatigue, hunger, desertion, and raids by Russian forces. Fewer than 15,000 men of Napoleon's once Grande Armèe returned to France. Once again, the army was left without its leader as Napoleon had returned to Paris to suppress an attempted coup d'etat there. This was the beginning og the end.

• By 1813 Napoleon's defeat in Russia had signaled weakness at home and abroad. Now a massive multi-national force was poised for the attack. One would think that there would be little army left for the French. However, the French army still had reinforcements (mostly untrained recruits) including its own coalition forces of client states (though most had turned on him)
• Proof that Napoleon had at least taught Europe how to fight can be found in the massive amount of artillery fielded by Austria, Russia, and Prussia. The Swedes also became involved led by Prince Bernadotte a former marshal in Napoleon's own army. This battle was the largest ever fought in Europe….that is of course until World War One. The fact that Napoleon was even able to field an army and not be annihilated goes long to prove his generalship. Ultimately his army was forced to surrender as their line of retreat was cut off and they were surrounded having suffered about 70,000 casualties (the Coalition itself lost over 50,000!). Oh by the way, Britain played little role in this fight partly because the U.S. had declared war on them (The War of 1812).

• Napoleon was forced to sign the Treaty of Fontainebleau ending his empire (briefly) and forcing him into exile. Interestingly he was allowed a guard of 1,000 men. At Elba Napoleon busied himself constructing a nation with building projects like road planning and improving port facilities. But clearly, he had his mind on a second bid for power.
• Meanwhile a new Europe was being planned and a balance of power structure envisioned. In Vienna, the members of the coalition placed Louis XVIII on the throne of France (more on this second semester) and Prince Metternich of Austria crafted a balance of power structure known as the Congress System (or Concert of Vienna) to maintain the peace in Europe and insure that no one became too powerful. The main signatories of this treaty were Alexander I of Russia, Metternich himself for Austria, acting British PM Lord Castleraegh, King William III of Prussia, and wisely French Foreign Minister Lord Talleyrand a noble who miraculously survived both Robespierre and Napoleon.