Napoleon

Conditions for Rise

• after French RevolutionFrench Revolution
  French Revolution
  Good overview video
  
  
  follows the poattern of a religious revolution
  
  anti-religious actions were not the goal, but the consequence
  missionary impulse, like Christianity
  
  
  Form vs Content
  
  revolution changed the form to better match the content
  it didn't actually change the content much
  
  
  
  
  History of the Louis
  Louis XIV
  
  got nobles to go to Versailles, didn't let them go
  opulent & indulgent
  sent his own men out to hi..., extreme ideological nationalism
• disregard for human life
• centralized power & concentratin of authority (no nobles)
• General WillRousseau, Social Contract
  Rousseau, Social Contract
  Class Notes
  
  what is general will
  
  different from "will of all"
  
  
  does social contract make gov legitimate?
  
  
  Summary
  Rousseau wrote about what gives government its authority. He argued that government can only have authority when people give it authority. And people give it authority when they enter into a contract with each other. Rousseau calls this the “social contract,” and says that when men enter such a contract, the real authority is calle... identified with authority
• Transformation of populace to desire improvement

Precursor to Napoleon: The Directorate (1795-1799)

• council of 500 & a council of ancients
• directorate was moderate & controlled mostly by five directors
• many complicated shifting alliances, political tricks, and state sanctioned assassinations
• France involved in wars

Rise of Napoleon

Character

• not ideologue, opportunist, pragmatic, ambitious, rational, brilliant militarist, hugely charismatic war leader

Early Life

• Corsican roots (recently under French control)
• Family minor nobles from Tuscany
• Sent to France for 7 years
• Received French education & military training
• France not ideological home, but a source of power

Early Success (artillery)

• showed prowess in 1793 in Toulon
  • increased speed of movement & firing of cannon
• Royalist Coup in Oct 1795, 30,000 men, mobs in Paris
  • Napoleon fired grapeshot from cannons; extraordinarily brutal, but effective
• Success in Italy 1797 using risk, cleverness, and speed. Beat Austrians

Expedition to Egypt (1798)

• directors wanted Napoleon away from Europe since he was gaining power & popularity
• great success inland & takes Egypt & raids the treasury to pay for war
• brings over 100 scientists
• steals many artifacts, Rosetta Stone
• but Lord Nelson wipes out French fleet, leaving Napoleon stranded
• Napoleon abandons army for France. Army imprisoned

18 Brumiere Coup detat (1799)

• Treacherous leaders trying to take power w/ backroom deals & double crosses
• renewed efforts to put leftist revolutionaries back in power
• New constitution sets up Consulate: Napoleon maneuvers to be top consul

Consulate (1800)

• New state removed nearly all restraints on dictatorial power
• Smart Strategies
  • restored Catholic church as official church
  • brought back nobles fro exile
  • emphasized merit in offices
• New code of law: abolished last vestiges of feudalism, Equality before the law
  • most Western law based on Napoleonic code since then
• secret police established to find those disloyal
• wide use of propoganda to shore up his position
• Napoleon fantastically charismatic. France is enthusiastic & ideological
• Attempted assassination leads to worry about succession

Emperor (1804)

• Good overview video of French Rev & Napoleon
• dictatorship not based on party: personality & war
• poor domestic ruler
• went on conquests to maintain power & popularity
• tactics: attack, separate, force decisive battle, take capital
• Austerlitz Dec. 1805: Defeats 90,000 Russian & Austrian troops
  • Austria sued for peace
• Napoleon put conquered countries directly under his kingship, not clients
• Accomplishments: many revolutionary goals
  • Enlightened despot, rational law, merit based promotion

Fall of Napoleon

Need for money & Men

• rape & theft in conquered territories
• subjugated & mortified foreign leaders
• enemies were cowed, but his policies roused foreign nationalism

Literati Turn

• Nap. first seen as embodying the ideals of the revolution, romantic hero
• but when his cruelties became known, literati lose enthusiasm

Unclear Hierarchy in Management

• promoted military men who obeyed rather than took charge
• everyone obeyed from fear

British & Spanish Annoyances

• british never quit & controlled the sea w/ blockades
  • slow choking off
• Spain never fully succumbed & pursued continuous, serious rebellion
  • required resources Napoleon needed elsewhere
  • Spanish resistance was tenacious
  • leader (WellingtonWellington
    Wellington
    Summary
    ) patiently retreated & regrouped multiple times

Russia

• Czar Alexander refused to abide by terms of French alliance
• Napoleon takes 650k men across Russia in sweltering summer
• Locals burned fields; Nap started eating horses
• Nap. conqueres Moscow, but it's been burned to the ground. Czar did not surrender, and Nap can't use typical strategy
• Winter falls, and Nap has to return
• Makes it back w/ 20k men

Europe Turns

• romantic spirit was anti-classical & anti-Bonaparte
• German princes united, power shifted after Russia
• Battle of Leipzig: Napoleon loses up to 200k men
• Napoleon keeps fighting, but is exiled to Elba

The Fall

• Bourbon royalists return to France; hadn't learned anything, so using old tactics
• Napoleon bored, escapes, and rallies troops
• With 70k men, meets WellingtonWellington
  Wellington
  Summary
  & Prussian army at Waterloo (1815)
• Napoleon loses & is exiled to St Helena, guarded by Brits
• dies 1821

Europe After Waterloo

• Europe is war-weary (6m dead)
• Congress of Vienna (1815)
  • France now ruled by King Louis XVIII
  • Interest in restoring conservative monarchies
  • Suppression of nationalism & revolutionary tendencies everywhere
• England
  • England emerges as a world power w/ colonies & best Navy
  • Victorian Age begins 1837