Napoleon the Great Essays

Napoleon the Great Essays Napoleon the Great Essay Napoleon the Great Essay On August 15, 1769, a man by the name of Napoleon Bonaparte was the second of eight children born to Carlo Bonaparte and Maria Letizia Ramolino. Napoleon was born into Italian nobility in Ajaccio, Corsica, which one year before transferred its power to France by the Republic of Genoa. While such a birth might be so miniscule to so many during that age of time, the infant, known as Napoleon Bonaparte, would grow to be one of the most feared men and successful military leaders in all of Europe and shape European politics for the better part of the early 19th century. Growing up Napoleon and his family maintained minor Italian Nobility, with his father being an attorney and named Corsica’s representative to the Court of Louis XVI in 1777. His mother though, was the major influence during his childhood; she was able to maintain firm discipline allowing for her to restrain her rambunctious child. This strict upbringing and the nobility of his family provided Napoleon with bigger and better opportunities to study compared to the opportunities of the average Corsican of that time. Due to his family’s ability to provide him with a better education in 1779 Napoleon was enrolled in a religious school in Autun, located in the mainland of France. Later that year Napoleon was admitted to a military academy at Brienne-le-Chateau. During his time at the military academy Napoleon still spoke with a Corsican accent and he never learned to spell properly. This caused many of the kids to tease him and as a direct result the young Napoleon turned to studying and becoming the best student he could be. This willingness to be a good student caused an observer to comment that Napoleon has always been distinguished for his application in mathematics. He is fairly well acquainted with history and geography This boy would make an excellent sailor. Following the completion of his studies at Brienne in 1784 Napoleon was admitted to the elite Ecole Militaire, in Paris. This quickly brought an end to his naval ambitions, which had led to his consideration of joining the British Royal Navy. With his change in direction in life, Napoleon trained to become an artillery officer, and following his father’s death, and his loss of finance, Napoleon was forced to complete a two year course in just one year. Following the completion of his artillery officer training and his graduation from the elite military school, Napoleon was commissioned as a second lieutenant in the La Fere artillery regiment. Once he was commissioned as a lieutenant, Bonaparte served on garrison duty in Valence, Drome, and Auxonne, until after the outbreak of the French Revolution in 1789. At the same time though Napoleon took nearly two years of leave in Corsica and Paris. Following the outbreak of the French Revolution and his departure from his position as lieutenant, Bonaparte became somewhat of a Corsican nationalist and wrote the Corsican leader in 1789. Napoleon stated, As the nation was perishing I was born. Thirty thousand Frenchmen were vomited on to our shores, drowning the throne of liberty in waves of blood. Such was the odious sight which was the first to strike me. The early parts of the French Revolution, and the Revolution in Corsica, Napoleon spent his time fighting a complex struggle, between revolutionaries, Corsican nationalists, and royalists. Bonaparte took the side of the Jacobin faction of revolutionaries and was able to gain the rank of Lieutenant Colonel and command a group of volunteer fighters. After exceeding his leave of absence from the French army and leading a riot against a French Army in Corsica, Bonaparte was able to convince French military authorities in Paris to promote him to Captain in 1792. With his newly gained leadership role Napoleon returned to Corsica where he came into conflict with the Corsican leader, Paoli, who had decided to split with France and sabotage a French assault on the Sardinian island of La Maddalena, where Bonaparte was one of the expedition leaders. This split with Paoli caused Napoleon and his family to flee the French mainland in June of 1793. In July 1793, Napoleon was able to publish a pro-republican pamphlet, titled and translated into Supper at BeaucaireII. This pamphlet gained him the admiration and support of Augustin Robespierre, who was the younger brother of the revolutionary leader Maximilien Robespierre. With the help of fellow Corsican Antoine Christophe Saliceti, Bonaparte was appointed artillery commander of the republican forces at the siege of Toulon. The city had risen against the republican government and was occupied by British troops. During the siege of Toulon Napoleon adopted a plan to capture a hill that would allow him and hi republican guns to dominate the city’s harbor and force the British ships to evacuate. Although Bonaparte was wounded during this small battle, he still came out victorious and was promoted to Brigadier General. His actions during the siege of Toulon also brought him to the attention of the Committee of Public Safety and he was given command of the artillery arm of Frances Army of Italy. Following his promotion Napoleon became engaged to Desiree Clary, whose sister, Julie Clary, married Bonapartes elder brother Joseph in 1794. The Clarys were a wealthy merchant family from Marseilles. Shortly after his engagement to Ms. Clary, the Robespierres fell in July of 1794. As a result Bonaparte was put under house arrest in August 1794 for his association with the brothers; however, he was released after only ten days, but he still remained out of favor. Due to his house arrest Bonaparte was assigned to the Army of the West, in 1795, as an infantry commander in the War in the Vendee. To him this was a demotion and to avoid this posting he pleaded poor health. He was moved to the Bureau of Topography of the Committee of Public Safety and sought, unsuccessfully, to be transferred to Constantinople in order to offer his services to the Sultan. Finally on Sept. 15 Bonaparte was removed from the list of generals in regular service, with the reason given being his refusal to serve in the Vendee campaign. He now faced a difficult financial situation and further reduced career prospects. On Oct. 3, royalists in Paris declared a rebellion against the National Convention after they were excluded from a new government. One of the leaders of the Thermidorian Reaction, Paul Barras, knew of Bonapartes military tactics at Toulon and gave him full command of the forces in the defense of the Convention in the Tuileries Palace. Bonaparte had witnessed the massacre of the Kings Swiss Guard there three years earlier and realized artillery would be the key to its defense. So Napoleon ordered a young cavalry officer, Joachim Murat, to seize large cannons and used them to repel the attackers in October of 1795. As a result 1,400 royalists died and the rest fled. He had cleared the streets with a whiff of grapeshot, according to the 19th-century historian Thomas Carlyle in The French Revolution: a History. Napoleon’s defeat of the Royalists helped the convention steer clear of any threats and shot Bonaparte into instant fame, wealth, and patronage. Once again Napoleon was promoted to Commander of the Interior and given command of the Army of Italy. After being promoted he broke off his engagement with Desiree Clary, and on March 9, 1795 he married Josephine de Beauharnais. With his just broken off engagement and then sudden wedding Bonaparte left Paris to take command of the Army of Italy and led them to the successful invasion of Italy. At the Battle of Lodi he defeated Austrian forces, and then drove them out of Lombardy. He was defeated at Caldiero by Austrian einforcements, led by Jozsef Alvinczi, though Bonaparte regained the initiative at the crucial Battle of the Bridge of Arcole and proceeded to subdue the Papal States. After going against the wishes of the Directory of invading Rome Napoleon, in March 1797, led his army into Austria and forced it to negotiate peace. Napoleon was able to create the Treaty of Leoben, which gave France control of most of northern Italy and the Low Countries and a secret clause promised th e Republic of Venice to Austria. Bonaparte marched on Venice and forced its surrender, ending 1,100  years of independence; he also authorized the French to loot treasures such as the Horses of Saint Mark. The reason for Napoleon becoming successful as a general and military leader was because of his use of conventional military tactics and his new and creative uses for them. He referred to his tactics thus: I have fought sixty battles and I have learned nothing which I did not know at the beginning. Look at Caesar; he fought the first like the last. At the same time of these â€Å"expeditions† Napoleon continued to increase his influence in French politics. His next hope for conquest of England but following a couple of months of planning, Napoleon realized that the French Navy was not up to par to compete and battle the British Royal Navy. So he set his sights on Egypt. He believed that by conquering Egypt he and the French government would be able to cut off and undermine Britain’s access to the t rade markets in India. Napoleon also hoped by conquering Egypt he and the French could gain allies that would help fight against the English. The Directory, though troubled by the scope and cost of the enterprise, agreed with Bonaparte’s plan so the popular general would be absent from the centre of power. Finally Napoleon and his forces began their quest and were able to create strong military placements in places such as Malta. After successful defeats in the Battle of Chobrakit, Napoleon gained and alliance with the Mamluks who would help them prepare for the Battle of the Pyramids. In the End, even though being heavily outnumbered Napoleon and his forces were able to defeat the Egyptians. After facing a couple of his own defeats and the loss of many of his men due to sickness, Napoleon found it best to retreat back to Egypt, but at the same time he was still able to defeat some the Ottoman’s attacks. While he was in Egypt, Napoleon was kept up to date with European affairs. During this time he learned France had suffered a series of defeats in the War of the Second Coalition. On Aug. 24, 1799, he took advantage of the temporary departure of British ships from French coastal ports and set sail for France, despite the fact he had received no explicit orders from Paris. Unknown to Bonaparte, the Directory had sent him orders to return to ward off possible invasions of French soil but poor lines of communication meant the messages had failed to reach him. By the time he reached Paris in October, Frances situation had been improved by a series of victories. The Republic was bankrupt, however, and the ineffective Directory was unpopular with the French population. The Directory discussed Bonapartes desertion but was too weak to punish him. After arriving and seeing the situation had improved, but people unhappy with the French Directory, Emmanuel Joseph Sieyes, a director, approached Napoleon about overthrowing the French government. With his ego already inflated Napoleon agreed to help with the coupe and in the end became one of the provisional Consuls of the government. Though Sieyes expected to dominate the new regime, he was outmaneuvered by Bonaparte, who drafted the Constitution of the Year VIII and secured his own election as First Consul. This made Bonaparte the most powerful person in France and he took up residence at the Tuileries. In 1801, after years of war the British and the French were tired of fighting. So as a result they signed the Treaty of Amiens. However neither country completely complied with everything agreed upon in the treaty. In the beginning of his rule Napoleon instituted many lasting reforms. These reforms included centralized administration off the government’s departments, higher education, a tax code, road and sewer systems a central bank for the country. In May 1802, he instituted the Legion dHonneur, a substitute for the old royalist decorations and orders of chivalry, to encourage civilian and military achievements; the order is still the highest decoration in France. Following his implementation of his reforms, Napoleons powers were increased by the Constitution of the Year X. Once he gained more power Napoleon also implemented his own set of civil codes, they would later become known as the Napoleonic Code. He hoped this would establish order within France and establish him as the absolute ruler. With his newly acquired power and political position, Napoleon began to face opposition from his rivals. Napoleon faced royalist and Jacobin plots as Frances ruler, including the Daggers conspiracy in October 1800 and the Plot of the Rue Saint-Nicaise two months later. With his enemies wanting him dead and Napoleon evading all such attempts, Bonaparte suggested re-creating a hereditary monarchy and naming himself as the emperor. Finally in December of 1804, after years of leading the French to many military victories, Napoleon Bonaparte crowned himself as the Emperor of France. After obtaining the full power of the French government and the people of France, Napoleon, heading into 1805, faced an uphill battle to continue to grow and build his empire. His first test came when Great Britain convinced Russia and Austria to join them in a Third Coalition to bring down France. This would be known as the War of the Third Coalition. Napoleon believed he would be able to lure the British Navy from the English Channel and invade England. However, Napoleon and his forces were unsuccessful in their attempt to invade England and realized this would most likely never be a realistic option. After realizing his failure, Napoleon decided to secretly march to Germany, also known as the Ulm Campaign, and would be a major turning point for the new French Empire. While he marched into Germany and was able to stop an Austrian attack, Napoleon and his army was defeated at the Battle of Trafalgar, which gave the British more control over the seas. Although they were defeated by the British Napoleon was able to keep his army strong and they came back and defeated the Austrians and the Russians at Austerlitz. Napoleon would go on to say, The battle of Austerlitz is the finest of all I have fought. With enemies mounting Napoleon realized he needed help to grow his empire, so he turned to Middle-Eastern powers. Beginning in 1803, Napoleon went to considerable lengths to try to convince the Ottoman Empire to fight against Russia in the Balkans and join his anti-Russian coalition. Napoleon sent General Horace Sebastiani as envoy extraordinary, promising to help the Ottoman Empire recover lost territories. In February 1806, following Napoleons victory at Austerlitz and the ensuing dismemberment of the Habsburg Empire, the Ottoman Emperor Selim III finally recognized Napoleon as Emperor, formally opting for an alliance with France our sincere and natural ally, and war with Russia and England. A Franco-Persian alliance was also formed between 1807 and 1809, but would later fall apart. Finally after receiving some help from Middle-Eastern powers Napoleon had to face the formation of the fourth Coalition in 1806. Napoleon defeated Prussia at the Battle of Jena-Auerstedt in October of 1806. Napoleon marched on against advancing Russian armies through Poland, and was involved in the bloody stalemate of the Battle of Eylau on Feb. 6, 1807. Following these decisive victories Napoleon signed treaties with Tsar Alexander I of Russia, which divided Europe between the two powers, and Prussia, giving France nearly half of Prussia’s territory. In 1809 Napoleon faced yet another coalition after a brief alliance with Austria fell apart. This became known as the War of the Fifth Coalition, with Austria and Great Britain joining forces. Napoleon had to take command of French forces when they tried to overtake the Danube River, but Austria was able to defeat the Napoleon advance. However, Austria did not take advantage of their victory and Napoleon and his forces were able to regroup, and Napoleon defeated the Austrians again at Wagram and a new peace, the Treaty of Schonbrunn, was signed between Austria and France. While Austria was being defeated, Britain decided to attempt and opens another front in mainland Europe. Napoleon though, was able to rush reinforcements to Antwerp, owing to Britains inadequately organized Walcheren Campaign. With the War of the Fifth Coalition Napoleon and France were riding high, they had control of most of Europe and tensions with Russia were very good due to the peace they both observed. By 1811 though, those tensions hit a rocky road and the alliance the two Western powers shared began to deteriorate quickly. The first clear sign the alliance had deteriorated was the relaxation of the Continental System in Russia, which angered Napoleon. After talks of both countries invading one another, France began preparations on making those talks come to life. Finally on in June of 1812, against the advice of invading the large nation, Napoleon invaded Russia. Once he began his attack on Russia, Napoleon hoped to gain the support from Polish nationalists and patriots, but Napoleon did not come to the terms Poland had wanted; so Napoleon and his French empire was forced to face Russia on their own. For the most part of the French invasion, Russia was able to avoid direct battle, and each time they would move further into the heartland of Russia. Also Russia as they retreated further into their heartland, they would burn and destroy everything they left. This caused problems for France because they found it increasingly difficult to get food for them and their horses. Finally in September of 1812, Russia battled the French close to Moscow. This was known as the Battle of Borodino and resulted in approximately 44,000 Russian and 35,000 French, dead, wounded or captured, and may have been the bloodiest day of battle in history up to that point in time. Although the French appeared to have won the war, Napoleon realized he had a major problem on his hands, with the fact the Russians were not completely destroyed and ready to fight again. Napoleons own account was: The most terrible of all my battles was the one before Moscow. The French showed themselves to be worthy of victory, but the Russians showed themselves worthy of being invincible. Even with Napoleon worried with the resilience of the Russians Napoleon forged forward and the Russian forces retreated past Moscow. Now that Napoleon gained control of Moscow he ordered it to be burned, but with growing fears of him losing control back in France, Napoleon left Moscow with his army and returned to France. On his return to France, Napoleon and his forces took a break in fighting during the winter of 1812 and 1813, and he was able to rebuild his forces back up with a field of 350,000 troops. Although France and Napoleon were able to rebuild their army, countries including: Russia, Prussia, Portugal, Spain, Great Britain, Austria, and Sweden joined forces and created the Sixth Coalition. Napoleon took command of his forces in Germany and he was able to inflict a few defeats on the newly formed coalition, which culminated in the Battle of Dresden in August of 1813. Although Napoleon and France were successful, the numbers continued to mount against him, and his army was pinned down by a force twice its size and lost at the Battle of Leipzig. This was by far the largest battle of the Napoleonic Wars and cost more than 90,000 casualties in total. After these major defeats, Napoleon withdrew back into France, and his army was reduced to 70,000 soldiers and 40,000 stragglers, against more than three times as many Allied troops. The French were surrounded: the British army pressed from the south, and other Coalition forces positioned to attack France from the German states. Napoleon won a series of victories in the Six Days Campaign, though these were not significant enough to turn the tide and Paris was captured by the Coalition in March 1814. As a last resort Napoleon proposed the Army march on the Capital and take it back, but his marshals and generals had other ideas; their idea was to mutiny against one of the most powerful and successful leaders of all time. When he was confronted by his generals, Napoleon stated the army would follow him, but his generals replied back the army would follow its generals. The result of this rebellion was Napoleon abdicating his throne and his title as emperor. Although Napoleon tried to abdicate his throne to his son, the allies refused to allow this to happen on April 11, 1814, Napoleon was unconditionally abdicated. Napoleon, once abdicated, was exiled to Elba, a small Mediterranean Island off the coast of Tuscan. While there he retained the title of emperor and was given control of the island. In the first few months on Elba he created a small navy and army, developed the iron mines, and issued decrees on modern agricultural methods. With his wife in Austria and under their control, and with rumors of him being moved to a remote island in the Atlantic Ocean, Napoleon left Elba in February of 1815. Two days later he landed at Golfe-Juan on the French mainland. The French government learned of his whereabouts and sent a force to intercept him, but in their process of intercepting him, Napoleon gave them a chance to kill him; instead the force sent to retrieve him joined him. The soldiers followed him to Paris where Louis XVIII fled. In March of that same year, the powers at the Congress of Vienna declared Napoleon an outlaw and four days later Great Britain, the Netherlands, Russia, Austria and Prussia bound themselves to put 150,000 men into the field to end his rule. Once he was in Paris Napoleon governed for what would be known as, the Hundred Days. With his army growing he felt he could go on the offense; so he began attacking British and Prussian armies. In June of 1815 Napoleon took on allied forces in the Battle of Waterloo. The allied forces were able to withstand many repeated attacks by Napoleon and his forces, and after finally breaking through Napoleon’s army, coalition forces restored Louis XVIII as the leader of France. Off the port of Rochefort, Charente-Maritime, after consideration of an escape to the United States, Napoleon formally demanded political asylum from the British Captain Frederick Maitland on HMS  Bellerophon in July of 1815. Napoleon’s final attempt at gaining his throne back landed him on a tiny island in the Atlantic Ocean, called Saint Helena. During his time on the small island, Napoleon found it difficult to live. He faced many hardships while on Saint Helena and found it very frustrating. Many historians found that the conditions and treatments he was placed in and shown by those who sent him into exile were poor and degrading. Finally after nearly six years of being in exile on Saint Helena, Napoleon died. Napoleon fell ill in February of 1821, and his health deteriorated quickly. In two British physicians arrived on Saint Helena to attend to him where they where they saw all they could do for him was recommend palliatives. A couple of days after the physicians’ arrival, Napoleon Bonaparte died; after confession, Extreme Unction and Viaticum in the presence of Father Ange Vignali. In the end, Napoleon, has been known as the little guy with a big ego and attitude. While physically he did not look the part of a great ruler, he will forever be known as one of the greatest conquerors of World History. His success on the battlefield has been taught and will continue to be taught for many years to come. Napoleon was able to grow into one of the greatest emperors of all time and rule over one of the most powerful empires of all time.