Napoleon s goal was to consolidate France, spread his Napoleonic ideas to the rest of the world, and become the sole ruler of his universal France.
The first task of his government was to write a constitution. It was written in 6 weeks, and although it guaranteed representative institutions, it placed most of the power of the state in Napoleon s hands. He was to control: a) the initiation of legislation b) foreign affairs c) courts
There were legislative institutions (the Legislative Body and the Tribunate), but they had no real power and could not check the power of the executive. The Constitution was overwhelmingly supported by the public.
Napoleon brought about the Napoleonic Code in 1804. It was a set of laws for the French Nation ever had, and it influenced the laws of much of continental Europe which was occupied and administered at one time or another by Napoleon and his armies.
The purpose of the Napoleonic Code was to unify the nation and give France a stable and just regime. It preserved the principles of 1789, and affirmed i) freedom of conscience ii) the supremacy of the state iii) the equality of all citizens before the law iv) the right of individuals to choose their own profession v) the maintaining of social order by protecting the institutions of family and property (property rights were held to be sacred and the husband was given absolute authority over the family)
Napoleon did spread some of the ideas of the Revolution (1789) into the newly conquered states. He reorganized governments to make them more efficient. He introduced the Napoleonic Code in every conquered state, so that the laws protected equality and also developed the state to increase the possibility of social mobility.
Napoleon wanted remove the feudal structure in Europe and so he went against the guild or class structure. His armies proclaimed the idea of citizenship and spread the view that all citizens were members of a unified country. (Places like western Germany, Italy, some Latin- American countries, Louisiana and Quebec were all under French influence and absorbed some of the ideas of the Enlightenment through the Napoleonic Code.
Napoleon wanted to develop order in France by stabilizing the religious side of the country. He assumed that the Catholic Church in France must be pacified if order was to be in place. He figured that the people would not abandon their church as easy as dumping their former Bourbon king.
Napoleon began secret negotiations with Pope Pius VII. The Pope decided to negotiate with Napoleon who had just won military battles in Italy in 1800 and 1801.
The Concordat was a compromise which in the end favoured Napoleon. The French state was obliged to pay the clergy The Catholic seminaries were allowed to be reopen, and the clergy again became responsible to the Papacy. In return, the Papacy recognized that property seized from the Church during the revolutionary years was legally the property of those Frenchmen who had purchased it. It also gave the state the right to select French bishops, subject to the veto of the Pope.
What Napoleon received, by implication, was Papal recognition of his regime. (the Papacy had refused to negotiate with the Jacobins or any other revolutionary regimes) The Concordat meant that Catholics in France could support the Napoleonic regime, including many of its more liberal policies.
Leaders of the Catholic Church taking the civil oath required by the Concordat
He appeased the large number of Frenchmen who opposed the Church by insisting upon the right to exclude Papal Bulls from France and upon the end of special privileges for the clergy. In each state that Napoleon conquered, he replaced feudal and religious state with a centralized and secular state. Napoleon introduced toleration of all religions and took away the right of the Church to collect tithes and hold special courts.
Napoleon understood that peace would ultimately allow him to consolidate France and bring a sense of order. However, peace at this time would have to be won through the battle field.
Napoleon took over France as it was engaged against the First Coalition (Austria, Prussia and England) A newer grouping known as the Second Coalition (England, Austria and Russia) formed in 1799 to stop France from gaining more territory and spreading any revolutionary ideals
Napoleon was very successful at the land war. He easily defeated the Austrians and in Feb. of 1801 signed the Treaty of Luneville, with the Hapsburg Empire. The treaty gave France legal control over Italy and enabled Napoleon to reorganize the numerous German states into a series of larger, more powerful states based on the French model. This effectively ended the Holy Roman Empire which was founded in 962.
Napoleon negotiated a peace with Britain called the Peace of Amiens, in 1802. The settlement gave England control of the seas, but left the French victories on the continent intact. This for the first time in a decade witnessed Europe in state of peace.
In 1802, a referendum held made Napoleon the First Consul for life. He said: My power proceeds from my reputation and my reputation from the victories I won. My power would fail if I were not to support it with more glory and more victories. Conquest has made me what I am; only conquest can maintain me.
Napoleon used an assassination attempt to justify the reintroduction of a hereditary monarchy in France. Napoleon crowned himself Emperor Napoleon I on 2 December, 1804 at Notre Dame de Paris and then crowned Joséphine Empress.
The Coronation of Napoleon I and Empress Josephine by Jean-Jacques David
Napoleon s Revolutionary Army: Napoleon and the generals of the French Revolution introduced the unskilled, unprofessional mass soldier, who could not drill as well as his professional counterpart, but who could move much more quickly and whose sole aim was to defeat the opposing force. The army was recruited by conscription and the armies were much larger and much more committed to victory.
Between 1803 and 1814, Napoleon was at war with Britain. Napoleon wanted a universal empire while Britain wanted to continue the state system in Europe, keep control of the seas and dominate world trade. Other European states joined Britain s side for their own self-interest and to protect their independence and sovereignty. Therefore, Napoleon knew he had to defeat England for his dream to come true.
From 1803 to 1805, he massed soldiers on the French coast and threatened to invade England. England s Admiral Nelson led the superior naval fleet at Trafalgar in 1805 and defeated France s navy.
British Nelson divided his smaller force into two columns directed perpendicularly against the larger enemy fleet, with decisive results. French French navy was not as experienced as the British Many good French naval officers were removed during the revolution
Fall of Nelson by Dighton 1805 poster commemorating the famous sea battle
The Battle of Trafalgar" by Clarkson Stanfield The battle was the most decisive British naval victory of the war. Twenty-seven British ships of the line led by Admiral Lord Nelson aboard HMS Victory defeated thirty-three French and Spanish ships of the line under French Admiral Pierre-Charles Villeneuve off the south-west coast of Spain, just west of Cape Trafalgar. The Franco-Spanish fleet lost twenty-two ships, without a single British vessel being lost.
Napoleon s had his Grande Armée march to Germany secretly in a turning movement the Ulm Campaign. This allowed French forces to surround the Austrians who were about to attack France and severed their lines of communication. On 20 October 1805, the French captured 30,000 prisoners at Ulm.
Six weeks later, on the first anniversary of his coronation, Napoleon defeated Austria and Russia at Austerlitz This ended the Third Coalition. Austria had to concede territory; the Peace of Pressburg led to the dissolution of the Holy Roman Empire Bonaparte commissioned the Arc de Triomphe to commemorate the victory
Napoleon s goal was to have his Allies to cut their economic ties to Britain. His hope was to weaken Britain by having countries stop trading with them. The British, however, had a strong navy which make Napoleon s goal difficult to achieve Some nations like Russia did not adhere to Napoleon s Continental System
As Napoleon was going up against 5 th coalition (England, Austria, etc... )
The failure of the Russian Campaign inspired a new coalition Prussia joined with Austria, Sweden, Russia, Great Britain, Spain, and Portugal in the new 6th coalition Despite these successes, the numbers continued to mount against Napoleon, and the French 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
Napoleon withdrew back into France, his army reduced to 70,000 soldiers and 40,000 stragglers, against more than three times as many Allied troops. The French were surrounded and Paris was captured by the Coalition in March 1814. When Napoleon proposed the army march on the capital, his marshals decided to mutiny. On 4 April, led by Ney, they confronted Napoleon. Napoleon asserted the army would follow him, and Ney replied the army would follow its generals. Napoleon had no choice but to abdicate unconditionally on 11 April.
In the Treaty of Fontainebleau, the victors exiled him to Elba, an island of 12,000 inhabitants in the Mediterranean, 20 km off the Tuscan coast. They gave him sovereignty over the island and allowed him to retain his title of emperor. 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
Napoleon escaped from Elba on 26 February 1815. He landed on the French mainland, two days later. The 5th Regiment was sent to intercept him and made contact on 7 March 1815. Napoleon approached the regiment alone, dismounted his horse and, when he was within gunshot range, shouted, "Here I am. Kill your Emperor, if you wish. The soldiers responded with, "Vive L'Empereur!" and marched with Napoleon to Paris.
Louis XVIII fled. On 13 March, the powers at the Congress of Vienna declared Napoleon an outlaw, and four days later Great Britain, Russia, Austria and Prussia bound themselves to each put 150,000 men into the field to end his rule. Napoleon arrived in Paris on 20 March and governed for a period now called The Hundred Days. By the start of June the armed forces available to him had reached 200,000, and he decided to go on the offensive to attempt to drive a wedge between the oncoming British and Prussian armies. The French Army of the North crossed the frontier into the United Kingdom of the Netherlands, in modern-day Belgium.
Napoleon's forces fought the Allies, led by Wellington and Gebhard Leberecht von Blücher, at the Battle of Waterloo on 18 June 1815. Wellington's army withstood repeated attacks by the French and drove them from the field while the Prussians arrived in force and broke through Napoleon's right flank.
Napoleon was defeated because he had to fight two armies with one, attacking an army in an excellent defensive position through wet and muddy terrain. His health that day may have affected his presence and vigour on the field, added to the fact that his subordinates may have let him down. Outnumbered, the French army left the battlefield in disorder, which allowed Coalition forces to enter France and restore Louis XVIII to the French throne.
Napoleon was imprisoned and then exiled to the island of Saint Helena in the Atlantic Ocean, 1,870 km from the west coast of Africa.
In February 1821, his health began to fail rapidly, and on 3 May two British physicians, who had recently arrived, attended on him. He died two days later, after confession. His last words were, "France, armée, tête d'armée, Joséphine."("France, army, head of the army, Joséphine.")
In 2007 and 2008 studies dismissed evidence of arsenic poisoning, and confirmed evidence of peptic ulcer and gastric cancer as the cause of death.