Year 7 Homework Project

“Why did Napoleon lose control of Europe?”

Napoleon on the Island of St. Helena

Introduction

This is your final homework project in Year 7! You have to find out about Napoleon and why he lost control of Europe by 1815. By the end of this project you should be able to:

·  Describe the life of Napoleon

·  Debate the reasons why he lost control of Europe by 1815

In order to do this you have to complete three tasks which get you to focus on the following assessment objective:

Task 1
Make a fact file about Napoleon. You might want to include:
·  Personal information (birth, nationality)
·  Childhood and education
·  Famous victories
·  How did he end his life?

Finding information:

There are lots of books in the Learning and Resources Centre on Napoleon and his wars. You can also find good information here:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/historic_figures/bonaparte_napoleon.shtml

http://europe.historyforkids.org/history/napoleon.htm

http://www.napoleon.org/en/kids/index.asp

http://www.history.com/topics/british-history/battle-of-waterloo

http://history.howstuffworks.com/european-history/battle-of-waterloo.htm

Task 2
Complete the following table using the information on the back page. You may want to add some of your own research. This is preparation for Task 3 so make sure you understand each event.
Reason for defeat / Explain what happened / Why did this help lead to his defeat? / Importance rating /10
THE MISTAKE
(Invading Russia in 1812)
THE ENEMIES GANG UP
(The Allies Join together)
THE FINAL SHOW DOWN
(The Battle of Waterloo)

Information for Task 2: Napoleon and his wars.

Napoleon crowned himself Emperor of France in 1804. He had been a successful general and had been made popular by his success on the battlefield. Napoleon built up the French army and trained it to use new tactics.

By 1812 Napoleon had conquered most of Europe. Britain was one of the few countries that continued to fight him, sending armies to fight him in Spain. In 1805 Napoleon had threatened to invade Britain, but his navy was defeated by Lord Nelson at the Battle of Trafalgar making invasion impossible. As a result Britain remained a determined enemy of Napoleon.

In 1812, Napoleon made the decision to invade Russia. This was a big mistake. Napoleon thought that if he could invade and defeat Russia then he would be able to claim total control of Europe. At first he did quite well managing to win a number of battles, the biggest being the Battle of Borodino. He then even captured Moscow!

But he made some miscalculations. His army had been seriously weakened at the Battle of Borodino and the Russian army continued to fight him. The Russians burnt crops as they retreated. Napoleon’s soldiers died of hunger and starvation. As they tried to retreat to France, Napoleon’s army took heavy casualties – only 120,000 survived out of a total of 600,000. Napoleon was now on weak and on the defensive. His enemies moved in for the kill.

Throughout the wars with Napoleon, Britain continued to organise the other European powers like Prussia, Austria and Russia to resist him. They built alliances called ‘Coalitions’. The key to this was funding. Britain was a wealthy trading power and could afford to lend money to the other countries. This allowed them to raise armies to fight Napoleon even when they suffered defeats. This meant Napoleon’s France was constantly fighting wars. It also meant they faced a range of enemies.

By 1814, Napoleon was forced to surrender to the Allies (British, Austrians, Prussians and Russians). They imprisoned him on the island of Elba but in 1815 he managed to escape and return to France. The Allies declared war and all sent armies to invade France once more. Napoleon cleverly realised that if he struck first he would be able to knock out the British and Prussian armies before their allies arrived. The decisive battle came at Waterloo in 1815 when Napoleon’s French army fought the British army under the Duke of Wellington. If Napoleon won he would be able to force the Allies to accept him as ruler of France. Napoleon threw all his force against the thin British lines. The British showed real determination and threw back attack after attack from the French. Just before the end of the battle the Prussian Army arrived to help the British and Napoleon was defeated.

Without an army there was no way he could stop the Allies invading France and removing him. He was captured and sent to the Island of St. Helena in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean. He died there in 1821.