Napoleon against Austria: AD 1800-1801

Napoleon's military priority, on becoming first consul in 1799, is to reverse the gains recently
made by Austria. To give himself a freer hand he makes a tentative offer of peace to England
in December 1799, but it is firmly rejected.

As in 1796, the Austrians could be attacked by French armies either north of the Alps in
Germany or south of them in Italy. No doubt remembering his own triumphs in that year,
Napoleon selects Italy. He hopes to surprise the enemy by bringing his army south through
the Great St Bernard pass in May 1800 before the snows have cleared. He himself slithers
through the pass on a mule, but this does not deter David from depicting him on a
magnificent rearing stallion among the snowy peaks.

When the crucial encounter with the Austrians occurs, at Marengo on June 14, it is very
nearly a disaster for Napoleon. By mid-afternoon it seems that the Austrians have won the
day. But a brave French counter-attrack reverses the situation.

Victory at Marengo is followed by an armistice and a truce - which Napoleon breaches in

November, when he sends a French army north of the Alps against Vienna. Another French
victory, at Hohenlinden in December, prompts the Austrian emperor to sign a treaty at
Lunéville in February 1801. It goes even beyond the terms of Campo Formio. France keeps the
Rhineland. Austria recognizes the four French sister republics.

Napoleon against Britain: AD 1800-1802

The conflict between France and Britain, continuously at war since 1793, tends always towards
stalemate. The two nations are evenly matched but have very different strengths. Britain has a
much smaller population (11 million compared to 27 million in France in 1801). This
disadvantage is offset by Britain's wealth (from a more developed economy and extensive
overseas trade) and by the British superiority at sea. In 1803 France has 23 ships of the line;
Britain has 34 in service and another 77 in reserve.

For these reasons the British contribution to any war against France in continental Europe is
largely limited to providing funds for allied armies.
The naval clash between Britain and France is a strange one - not so much a sea war as a
coast war. It is the permanent concern of the British navy, commanding the seas, to harm
France and her allies by preventing any merchant ships other than those of Britain from
reaching continental ports. And it is the permanent concern of the French armies,
commanding the land, to prevent British vessels entering those same ports.

Third parties suffer as much as anyone from this form of economic warfare, particularly after
Britain adopts the policy of seizing goods carried by the ships of neutral nations if they are
destined for a harbour under blockade.

Indignation at this British policy, heightened by diplomatic pressure from Napoleon, prompts
Russia, Sweden and Denmark to form in December 1800 a League of Armed Neutrality.
They declare the Baltic ports out of bounds to British ships. The embargo is strengthened
when the Danes seize Hamburg, the main harbour for British trade with the German states.

Britain responds by sending a naval fleet into the Baltic. The second-in-command is Nelson,
who sails into shallow and well defended waters in Copenhagen harbour. There is heavy
fighting, during which the commander of the fleet flies the signal for Nelson to withdraw
(this is the famous occasion when he puts the telescope to his blind eye).

Nelson destroys many of the ships in the harbour and damages the shore defences in this
battle of Copenhagen (2 April 1801). His victory prompts the Danes to make peace in May.
Sweden does so in the same month, and Russia follows suit in June.

By now, as after Campo Formio, Britain and France are the only two nations still at war. From
the British point of view one affront still needs to be righted. In March 1801 a fleet is sent
through the Mediterranean to help the Turks expel the French from Egypt. The French
command in Cairo surrenders in June, followed by Alexandria in August.
Both sides are now exhausted. There have been tentative peace talks since February. Terms
are agreed in October, putting an end to hostilities. The peace is signed in Amiens in March
1802.

Napoleon's negotiators do well for France. All overseas territories taken by Britain in the past nine
years (including several West Indian islands) are returned into French hands. Similarly
Minorca reverts to Spain and the Cape colony in South Africa to Holland. But Britain keeps
Sri Lanka (taken from the Dutch) and Trinidad (previously Spanish). Egypt is to be Turkish
again. Malta (taken by Napoleon in 1798 and by Britain in 1800) is to be restored to the
Knights of St John.

The peace of Amiens: AD 1802-1803

Peace is eagerly greeted by Europeans starved of the pleasures of travel - particularly the
British, cooped up in their island for years, who now flock across the Channel to enjoy once
again the pleasures of Paris. But this is to prove only a breathing space. Nothing has been
resolved in the long rivalry between Britain and France, and each government soon finds
much to complain about in the behaviour of the other during the interlude of peace.

Napoleon annoys the British by failing to allow the spirit of harmony into the market place.
His refusal to agree a commercial treaty means that British merchants are penalized by high
tariffs in French and allied ports. They conclude that peace seems no more profitable than
war.

Meanwhile Napoleon alarms the British government by his expansionist behaviour in regions
not covered by the treaty - for example in his annexation of Piedmont in 1802, to bridge the
gap between France and the Cisalpine republic.
Britain gives France more specific cause for complaint by not fulfilling the terms of the treaty
of Amiens. It has been agreed that she will withdraw from Malta. Her failure to do so would
be justified in modern eyes by the expressed views of the Maltese. Horrified at the prospect
of the return of the Knights of St John, the local assembly passes a resolution inviting George III
to become their sovereign on condition that he maintains the Roman Catholic faith in the
island.

However, the wishes of local inhabitants carry little weight in diplomatic negotiations in the
early 19th century. And Britain, remaining in possession of the island, is undoubtedly in
violation of the treaty.

Napoleon complains but avoids pressing the issue to the brink of hostilities. It is likely that
his long-term intentions towards Britain are not peaceful, but he is not yet ready for a renewal
of war. He needs time, in particular, to build up his fleet. The same logic makes Britain prefer
an early renewal of the conflict. For no very good reason, other than long-term self-interest,
the British government declares war on France in May 1803.

The war at sea: AD 1803-1805

For two years, after the resumption of hostilities in May 1803, Britain is the only nation at
war with France. Napoleon returns to the scheme of 1798 for an invasion across the Channel, but
now on a much more elaborate scale.

In ports from Brest to Antwerp he gathers a fleet of nearly 2000 craft for the transport of
men, horses and artillery. During 1803 he assembles what later becomes known as the Grand
Army, amounting to some 150,000 men bivouacked (so as to remain inconspicuous) in four
widely separated camps but ready to converge at any moment on Boulogne for embarkation.
Meanwhile the British, well aware of the threat, are dotting their south coast with the circular
fortifications known as Martello towers.
Napoleon's initial plan is for his fleet to launch on a single tide and to cross the Channel
unobserved, perhaps under cover of fog, and so escape the attentions of the British navy. But
this is impractical for such large numbers. He needs a fleet capable of protecting the invading
force.

In December 1804 Napoleon persuades Spain to join him in war against Britain, thus
acquiring the support of the Spanish navy. His strategy is now to divert the British fleet, or at
least part of it, from guard duty in the Channel.

The result, during 1805, is a game of maritime cat and mouse - with French and British
squadrons criss-crossing the Atlantic, between the West Indies and the European coast, in an
attempt to second-guess and outwit each other. With the primitive communications of the
day, it is difficult even for allied fleets to achieve an intended rendezvous in distant waters.
Inevitably Napoleon's somewhat elaborate plans go adrift.

In August the combined French and Spanish fleet, under the command of Villeneuve,
withdraws to Cadiz. But the port is already under observation by three British ships of the
line. Word is urgently sent for reinforcements. At the end of September Nelson arrives to take
command.

On October 19 Villeneuve sails from Cadiz, intending to head south and enter
the Mediterranean. He has thirty-three ships of the line. Nelson shadows his movement from
several miles out to sea, keeping his twenty-seven ships of the line out of sight and receiving
information by signal from his frigates.
Nelson closes in, off Cape Trafalgar, on the morning of October 21. The battle begins just
before noon. Five hours later some nineteen French and Spanish ships have surrendered or
been destroyed, with no British losses. But Nelson himself is dead, mortally wounded on the
deck of the Victory by a sniper firing from the topmast of the Redoutable.

Trafalgar confirms Britain's reputation at sea and has the effect of preventing the French fleet
from playing any major part in the remaining years of the war - though Napoleon keeps ships
of the line in readiness in French harbours, putting Britain to the considerable expense of
mounting permanent blockades.

In his struggle with Britain, Napoleon now reverts to the longer-term strategy of sealing the
continent against British goods in the policy which becomes known as the Continental System.
But meanwhile others of his old enemies are up in arms again, and he is back in his element -
on the battlefields of Europe.

The European board game: AD 1805-1809

Continental Europe returns to war when Britain persuades Russia, Sweden and Austria to join
her in 1805 in a Third Coalition against France. During the next four years Austria drops out
at the end of 1805; Prussia joins in on Britain's side in 1806; Prussia and Russia change sides in
1807; Austria re-enters the fray in 1808 against Britain and in 1809 against France.

This chaotic shifting of alliances reflects an important reality of continental Europe at this
time. Three major powers (France, Russia, Austria) surround a central area comprising many
smaller states (in Germany and Italy) among which, with Napoleon vigorously shaking the
dice, almost everything is up for the taking.
The faded fragments and tatters of the Middle Ages form a patchwork of imperial cities and
small territories ruled by bishops, counts and knights. They are easy prey for their powerful
neighbours. As in a board game, they can be distributed at will among the major players.

Even quite significant rulers can be pushed around. An example is Ferdinand III, grand duke
of Tuscany. In 1801 France and Austria agree that Tuscany shall become the kingdom of
Etruria with a new ruler. In compensation Ferdinand is given Salzburg, previously belonging
to an archbishop. In 1805 he is forced to exchange this for the ex-bishopric of Würzburg. By
1814, with the fall of Napoleon, he is back in Tuscany.

This is just one example of the upheavals occurring all over central Europe at this time, as
Napoleon rearranges the map after each stage of his victorious progress. His opponents fail to
achieve a convincing alliance against him because they are primarily interested in preserving
their own territories and in acquiring any others which may become available.

With the exception of Britain, implacably opposed to France as a world-wide competitor,

Napoleon's other opponents enter or drop out of the fray on an ad hoc basis of self-interest.

Napoleon against Russia and Austria: AD 1805

When Russia and Austria declare war on Napoleon in 1805 (in the Third Coalition), he is able to
find allies in Germany who are eager to see Austria's power reduced. Prussia remains neutral,
but Bavaria and two other territories in southwest Germany come in on France's side. Their
region sees the first encounter in this new phase of the war. Moving fast along the Danube,
Napoleon gets between the Austrians and their approaching Russian allies. In October 1805
he surrounds the Austrians at Ulm. More than 50,000 troops are captured with minimal
French losses.

The French reach Vienna on November 12 and enter the city unopposed. They quickly move
on, pursuing a joint Russian and Austrian army into Moravia.

The eventual encounter takes place on December 2 at Austerlitz. The allied army, under the
command of the Russian general Kutuzov, outnumbers the French by a wide margin (90,000
men to 68,000). In spite of this, the day goes decisively to the French.

The victory ends any immediate threat to Napoleon from the Third Coalition. The Russians
limp back home after agreeing a truce. The Austrian emperor, Francis I, signs a peace treaty
with Napoleon at Pressburg on December 26. He cedes to Napoleon the entire northern coast
of the Adriatic, consisting of the provinces of Venetia (meaning Venice and its surrounding
region), Istria and Dalmatia.

At Pressburg Francis I is also forced to recognize a new status for Napoleon's three German
allies in the recent campaign, Bavaria, Baden and Württemberg. Their rulers receive marked
increases in status (as kings now of Bavaria and Württemberg, and grand duke of Baden), but
the improvement is more nominal than real.

A few months later, in July 1806, Napoleon merges the two new kingdoms and the grand
duchy, together with several smaller principalities, into a single Confederation of the Rhine -
a vassal state under the protection of France.
Confederation of the Rhine: AD 1806-1807

The simplifying of Germany's feudal patchwork, to France's advantage, has begun in 1801
after the peace of Lunéville cedes the left bank of the Rhine to France. The understanding is that
German rulers with lands west of the Rhine will receive compensation elsewhere. This is to
be provided from the many ecclesiastical territories and small imperial cities in the fragmented
Holy Roman empire, too weak to resist their forcible redistribution among the larger players.

A commission is set up to consider the precise allocations. Its proposals, distributing to new
owners 112 previously independent territories, are presented and accepted in 1803.

This unifying process, carried through under duress, is further advanced after Napoleon's
defeat of the Austrians in 1805. His German allies in that war are rewarded by enlargement of
their realms at the expense of weaker neighbours (and also by nominal increases in rank).

But the greatest act of rationalization comes in 1806 when Napoleon merges the whole of
Germany east of the Rhine, with the exception of Prussia and Saxony, into the Confederation
of the Rhine. Saxony joins this Francophile family a year later, in 1807, with its elector raised
to the status of king.

The members of the Confederation continue to regulate their own internal affairs, but they
acknowledge Napoleon's superior status as 'protector' of their union. They are banned from
pursuing an independent foreign policy, and they must place troops at his disposal when
required.
They have in effect exchanged an ancient feudal commitment for something identical in
modern guise, shifting their allegiance from one emperor to another. But this yoke will last
only as long as the new emperor. A much more coherent Germany emerges from the
Napoleonic era. And the example inspires many with an increasingly important dream of the
19th century - that of a single German nation.

Napoleon against Russia and Prussia: AD 1806-1807

Until 1806 Prussia maintains a nervous neutrality during the warfare between its powerful
neighbours. But the Confederation of the Rhine, organized by Napoleon in July of this year,
seems to threaten Prussian interests. In September Frederick William III joins Russia against
Napoleon.

The result is rapid disaster. Once again Napoleon moves quickly enough to destroy one of his
opponents before the other can arrive in support. Two Prussian armies are engaged on the
same day, 14 October 1806, at Jena and Auerstadt - about thirteen miles apart.

At both sites the French are victorious. Within six weeks, before Russian assistance arrives,
Napoleon overruns the whole of Prussia.

The Russians prove, at first, rather tougher opponents. A two-day engagement at Eylau (7-8
February 1807) brings heavy casualties but no advantage to either side. But at Friedland, on
June 14, Napoleon wins a decisive victory over the Russian army. The result is the
extraordinary meeting between Napoleon and the Russian tsar, Alexander I, on 25 June 1807
near Tilsit. Neither will set foot on territory held by the other, so it is agreed that they will
meet in the middle of the river, the Neman, which forms the border between them.
An elegant room is built on a raft with a door on either side, each showing the appropriate
imperial eagle. The two emperors cast off from their respective river banks at the same
moment, but the French oarsmen outrow the Russians. Napoleon is far enough ahead to be
able to open the Russian door from the inside and greet the tsar.

The two men get on well. Together they set about carving up Europe. After two weeks of
conference Russia's ally Prussia has been gravely weakened, by mutual agreement between
the emperors. Russia could easily have fought on after Friedland. But Prussia is occupied by
the French and is helpless.

Prussia's share of Poland is taken to provide a grand duchy of Warsaw, to be ruled by the
king of Saxony (a newly acquired ally of Napoleon). Prussian territory is severely reduced in
similar fashion in the west to make room for a kingdom of Westphalia. French troops will
remain in Prussia until an indemnity of 120 million francs has been paid. And Prussia is to
close her ports to Britain as part of Napoleon's new Continental System.

Russia also agrees to join the Continental System in certain circumstances and according to a
clear timetable, laid down in one of the secret clauses in the Tilsit agreement.

Russia and France will together demand of Britain that she allows freedom of the seas to
ships of all nations and that she returns any territories seized since 1805. If this is not agreed
by November 1807, the two emperors will insist that Sweden, Denmark and Portugal (the
only nations still neutral or allied to Britain) close their ports to British ships and join France
and Russia in declaring war.
If an invasion of Sweden proves necessary, France will have no objection to the Russian
annexation of Swedish Finland. Moreover France will give diplomatic support to Russia
against Turkey in the Balkans. The two emperors are in satisfactory agreement.

One big European family: AD 1808

The agreement at Tilsit, together with other refinements over the next twelve months, brings
Napoleon in 1808 to the peak of his power.

He now governs, either directly or through his close relations, the following regions: France
within its 'natural frontiers' of Pyrenees, Alps and Rhine; the Netherlands (the kingdom of
Holland, ruled by brother Louis); northwest Germany (the kingdom of Westphalia, brother
Jérôme); and most of Italy (Tuscany under direct rule, the kingdom of Italy under stepson
Eugène de Beauharnais as viceroy, the kingdom of Naples under brother Joseph). Spain
follows in 1808, when Joseph is transferred to that throne - leaving room for a new king of
Naples, brother-in-law Joachim Murat.

Meanwhile Napoleon's client states cover the rest of Germany (the Confederation of the Rhine),
part of what was once Poland (the grand duchy of Warsaw) and Switzerland (the Helvetic
republic). Portugal is an irritating exception - officially neutral, but by long tradition a friend of
Britain.

The agreement at Tilsit, bringing peace to continental Europe, leaves Napoleon free to focus
his attention once again on his main enemy, Britain - and on the Continental System. His
immediate problem is the need to make this system fully effective.
The Continental System: AD 1806-1807

The purpose of Napoleon's Continental System is to ruin Britain's economy by preventing

British goods from reaching any market in continental Europe. It is not, as it would be in
modern warfare, an attempt to starve an island enemy into submission.

Educated in the 18th-century mercantilist school of economics, Napoleon believes that

nations thrive primarily through wealth earned abroad. He therefore allows surplus French
corn to be sold to Britain in 1809 and 1810, even though a shortage is already causing his
enemy grave difficulty in high bread prices. Nevertheless a complete blockage of British
exports would in itself be extremely damaging if it could be made watertight.

Napoleon begins to build his system when he is wintering in Berlin after defeating the
Prussians at Jena. In November 1806 he issues the Berlin decree, denying the ports of France
and her allies to any ship sailing from Britain or a British colony.

This proves insufficient, since it fails to prevent a neutral ship from bringing in British goods.
At Fontainebleau in October 1807, and in Milan a month later, Napoleon adds extra clauses:
all colonial goods entering a port will be regarded as British unless producing some other
certificate of origin; and any ship submitting to British orders in council, or sailing from or to
Britain, will be regarded as a lawful prize if seized at sea.

The orders in council, issued in January and November 1807, are Britain's response to the
decrees that put in place the Continental System. In them the British government states that
any port closed by this system is now considered under blockade; and that any vessel trading
into such a port must first receive a licence from Britain, paying customs of 20% or more on
its cargo. The effect of these measures and counter-measures is particularly damaging to
neutral ships, which now risk being apprehended at sea by the British and in port by the
French.

Meanwhile, from Napoleon's point of view, the immediate practical problem is to ensure that
every European nation with a coastline joins his scheme.

By the end of 1807 Denmark, Russia, Prussia and Austria have done so. Sweden, an ally of
Britain's from the start of the Third Coalition, refuses to comply - so, as planned at Tilsit, she is
invaded by Russia (in February 1808).

Securing the Baltic may be left to Russia, but the Iberian peninsula is clearly France's own
responsibility. Spain is a feeble ally of France, usually acting only under compulsion.
Portugal is at best a neutral nation with a soft spot for Britain. This unsatisfactory situation
tempts Napoleon into an undertaking which harms his cause in the Iberian peninsula, and
becomes one of the factors in his ultimate downfall.

Spain and Portugal: AD 1807-1809

In October 1807 Napoleon decides that the only certain method of securing the Continental
System is a French occupation of Portugal. He despatches an army for the purpose and
summons Spanish envoys to Fontainebleau.

In a treaty signed at Fontainebleau, on October 27, the partition of Portugal is agreed. France
is to have the central section, including Lisbon and Oporto. The Algarve in the south will go
to Godoy, the Spanish king's unscrupulous chief minister. The north will be granted to the
young duke of Parma in return for his valuable kingdom of Etruria (or in plain terms
Tuscany), which will be ceded to France.
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. A Portuguese fleet, accompanied by a British squadron, sails from the
mouth of the Tagus on 29 November 1807. The vanguard of the French army enters the
capital city the next day.

It will be fourteen years before the return to Lisbon of a Portuguese monarch. But the French are
to have only a very short tenure. Their intrusion launches the Peninsular War. Before a year is
out, the British are in the city.

Meanwhile the French are stirring up further trouble for themselves elsewhere in the Iberian
peninsula. 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. In mid-March a force under Murat moves south towards Madrid.

This news causes Godoy to persuade his king, Charles IV, to follow the Portuguese example
and flee to Latin America. But on the way south an outraged patriotic mob corners the royal
party at Aranjuez. They escape with their lives only when it is agreed that Charles will
abdicate in favour of his son Ferdinand, and that the hated Godoy will be imprisoned and
brought to trial.
The new king immediately spoils his own chances by returning to Madrid, reaching it on
March 24 - just one day after Murat has arrived and captured the city.

There follows a typical piece of power play by Napoleon. Both kings of Spain, father and
son, are invited to Bayonne - just over the border in France - and are there persuaded, by a
combination of trickery and duress, to abdicate in favour of Napoleon's choice for the
Spanish throne. He has already selected his brother Joseph, who at present is king of Naples
(a dignity now to be transferred to Murat). This is politics at its most cynical. But just a few
days earlier a much more significant event has occurred in Madrid.

On May 2 a French platoon is escorting a coach containing the youngest son of Charles IV. A
furious mob attacks them. The soldiers disperse the crowd with some rounds of shot,
whereupon the whole of Madrid erupts in an explosion of popular rage. More than thirty
French officers and hundreds of soldiers and civilians are killed or wounded before order is
restored.

Murat reasserts French authority with brutal reprisals, but the event provokes a spirit of
passionate resistance (famously captured in Goya's painting of a street execution, entitled 3
May 1808). This spirit spreads rapidly through Spain.

Instead of the docile monarchy of recent years, Napoleon is now confronted on his southern
border by a popular uprising. His brother Joseph arrives in Madrid on July 20 to enjoy his
new dignity. Two days later a French army is defeated by insurgents in Andalusia, at Bailén,
with the loss or capture of some 17,000 men. By the end of the month King Joseph
(nominally of Spain and the Indies) has abandoned his new capital city, withdrawing for
safety's sake 150 miles northeast beyond the Ebro river.

Spain takes its place, with Portugal, as one of the theatres of the Peninsular War - which will last
six years and be a constant drain on Napoleon's resources.
Austria's expensive adventure: AD 1809

During the last two months of 1808 Napoleon takes personal charge of the campaign in the
Peninsular War. His absence in Spain, with large numbers of French troops, prompts the
Austrians to re-assert themselves. As many as three archdukes (brothers of the emperor
Francis) prepare to take the field with armies pressing south into Italy, north towards Warsaw
and west into southern Germany.

The largest force, under archduke Charles (by far the most distinguished soldier in the
imperial family), moves west along the Danube and enters Bavaria in April 1809. By then
Napoleon has hurried back from Spain to meet this greater threat.

As so often in the past, Napoleon is able to prevent his enemies from making the most of
their advantages. Engagements at Abensberg and Eckmühl on April 19-23 leave the
Austrians in retreat. By May 13 Napoleon is once more at the gates of Vienna, which are
opened to him when he threatens bombardment.

However the archduke Charles is nearby with a large army. The result is a hard-fought battle
on May 21-22 around the towns of Aspern and Essling, on the bank of the Danube a few
miles from Vienna. Neither side gains a clear advantage. But with Napoleon's invincible
reputation, this engagement is seen in Europe as his first serious personal defeat in battle.
Six weeks later the same commanders meet each other again on a plain near the village of
Wagram to the northeast of Vienna. The fighting on July 5-6 is extremely heavy, with some
74,000 casualties between the two sides, but this time the day is clearly Napoleon's. The
Austrians immediately ask for an armistice.

When the treaty of Schönbrunn (or Vienna) is signed in October 1809, the terms are once
again disastrous for Austria. The emperor Francis surrenders further slices of territory - to
Bavaria, to the grand duchy of Warsaw, to Russia and to France - losing in the process some
3,500,000 subjects and all his remaining coastline. It will be small consolation that he is
about to acquire a son-in-law.

The Russian campaign: AD 1812

With Austria an ally by conquest and marriage, Prussia crushed into submission, and nearly
the whole of western Europe as his empire, Napoleon perhaps understandably feels justified
in taking a strong line with Russia.

In spite of the congenial mood of Tilsit in 1807, and an attempt by Napoleon to revive it in
another grand meeting at Erfurt in 1808, Alexander I fails to give any practical support to his
ally in the 1809 campaign against Austria. There are various reasons. The Continental System
is doing harm to Russia's Baltic trade. The introduction of French republican principles in the
grand duchy of Warsaw alarms St Petersburg. And the terms agreed by the tsar at Tilsit have
been unpopular in Russia from the start.

With war between the two empires increasingly probable, Napoleon moves first in what he
intends to be a massive and rapid strike. From February 1812 armies begin to march from
many different regions to converge on the river Neman (the border famous already for the
raft at Tilsit).

The assembled force is vastly impressive, with 500,000 infantry, 100,000 cavalry and 80,000
in the baggage trains. About 200,000 of these troops are the French Grand Army. There are
other contingents from all over Napoleon's world, including even some rather half-hearted
regiments from Prussia and Austria. The crossing of the Neman into Russia begins on June
24.
The confronting Russian armies are heavily outnumbered, so they withdraw - dragging the
French ever deeper into an environment where it is hard to find food for such large numbers
of men and horses. There are occasional engagements, but the first major battle takes place
on September 7 at Borodino - at a distance, by then, of only seventy miles from Moscow.

The result is a narrow victory for Napoleon over a Russian army commanded by the veteran
Kutuzov. The Russians withdraw once again, leaving Moscow open to Napoleon. A week
later he enters the city, only to find much of it burning - set on fire by the Russians.

Napoleon waits in Moscow for a month, vainly hoping that envoys will arrive to make terms.
Nobody comes. He sends ambassadors to the Russian camp to suggest negotation. A sign of
weakness. Winter is approaching. On October 18 Napoleon gives the order to withdraw.

The retreat of the Grand Army from Moscow in 1812 has become one of the classic images
of an invading force suffering disaster and devastation. Harried by regular Russian troops, by
guerrillas and by hostile villagers, amid falling snow and plunging temperatures, often
finding the bridges ahead of them destroyed, the columns and squadrons of Napoleon's
greatest army seem to face an impossible task in getting home. Most fail to do so.

It is calculated that of more than 600,000 who entered Russia that summer, only about
112,000 come out again. The effect on Napoleon's ability to raise another army of this calibre
is devastating, but not as great as the damage to his reputation. All over Europe that winter, as
the news spreads, people chafing under French domination begin to imagine a different
future.

Napoleon, desperate to arrive in Paris before the bad news, hands the command over to Murat
and hurries on ahead. He reaches the city on December 18 and sets about recovering the
situation. The astonishing fact, typical of the man and his energy, is the extent to which he is
able to do so - at any rate for another eighteen months.

Shifting alliances: AD 1813

The three years from the disaster in Russia in 1812 to Waterloo in 1815 demonstrate vividly
Napoleon's resilience in fighting back from an apparently hopeless position. During the
winter of 1812 he imposes on a weary France a new level of conscription, bringing in a
broader range of older men and reducing the age limit for the youngest recruits. At the same
time strenuous efforts are made to rebuild the French arsenal.

When Napoleon moves east across the Rhine in April 1813 for a new season of campaigning,
he is once again in command of an army of more than 250,000 men, dragging with it nearly
500 cannon.

Meanwhile his alliance of the previous year against Russia is breaking up. Public
demonstrations in Germany against the French persuade the king of Prussia, Frederick
William, to change sides. He declares war on Napoleon in March 1813.

Austria is more cautious. Marie Louise, the Austrian emperor's daughter, is now empress of
France. And Austria instinctively distrusts any course of action which may restore the well-
being of Prussia. Nevertheless in the coming showdown it seems unwise to face likely defeat
as an ally of Napoleon. After signing a treaty with Russia and Prussia, Austria declares war
on France in August. Bavaria, the mainstay of the Confederation of the Rhine, follows suit in
October.

During the early part of the 1813 campaign Napoleon achieves several partial successes in
battles in Saxony, on Prussia's southern borders. But by the autumn, with the ranks of the
allies steadily increasing, he finds himself dangerously outnumbered. In eastern Saxony, in
October, his army of 185,000 is confronted by about 320,000 troops put in the field by
Russia, Prussia, Austria and Sweden. In one of the stranger twists of this complex period, the
Swedish army is commanded by Bernadotte, one of Napoleon's own marshals and linked with
the Bonaparte family by marriage.

The crucial encounter between France and the allies begins near Leipzig on October 16 and
lasts for three days.

The Battle of Leipzig, involving all the major powers of continental Europe and seen, in
retrospect, as a turning point in the downfall of Napoleon, acquires later another resounding
name - the Battle of the Nations. It ends in disaster for the French. Only about 70,000 men
arrive home, crossing the Rhine in early November. For the second year running the French
emperor has thrown away an army in his eastern adventures.

He has also let slip the chance of a peace which would perhaps leave France with some gain
from two decades of war.

At times during 1813 it seems that the allies might accept a settlement which allows France
her 'natural frontier' of the Rhine. It may be that this was never a serious offer on the allied
side (Britain in particular is profoundly opposed to Belgium being in French hands), but in
any case Napoleon cannot accept the loss of all his hard-won gains in Germany and Italy.

It is a deeply ingrained part of his character to fight on regardless of the circumstances. But as
he does so, during the winter of 1813-4, the allied position hardens. France must shrink back
to the borders of 1792. Meanwhile enemy forces, for the first time since 1792, are poised to
enter French territory. The wheel has come full circle.

The noose tightens: AD 1813-1814

Wellington's army is the first to cross the border into France. Pushing north in the final
campaign of the Peninsular War, he is on French territory in October 1813.

In January 1814 allied armies, under the command of the Prussian and Austrian field
marshals Blücher and Schwarzenberg, cross the Rhine. For two months Napoleon somehow
finds the energy to wage a vigorous and complex campaign against their advancing forces,
but he is unable to prevent them reaching and entering Paris on March 31. Talleyrand,
Napoleon's long-serving foreign minister and the most slippery of the many faithless
characters in these turbulent times, is on hand to welcome the Russian tsar and the king of
Prussia into the city.

On April 2 Talleyrand persuades the few available members of the senate to declare that
Napoleon is deposed. Four days later they invite Louis XVIII to return from exile and, on
condition that he accepts the terms of a constitutional monarchy, to mount the throne of his
guillotined brother Louis XVI. (Louis XVII has died as a child, supposedly of scrofula, in a French
revolutionary prison.)

Napoleon, meanwhile, is at Fontainebleau, where he still has 60,000 troops. Even in these
circumstances, with Paris lost, his instinct is to fight on. But his marshals tell him that the
army will not obey him. He has no choice but to abdicate, in the Treaty of Fontainebleau..

The allies settle their affairs with Napoleon in April in the treaty of Fontainebleau and with
the new king of France, Louis XVIII, in May in the treaty of Paris. The terms in each case are
surprisingly lenient, considering that the expansionist campaigns of the French republic and
Napoleon have brought Europe two decades of war and hundreds of thousands of deaths.

Napoleon is given the island of Elba as his own estate, is allowed to retain the title of
emperor and is given an annual pension of two million francs (to be paid by Louis XVIII). No
indemnity is required from France as a nation, and she is even allowed to retain many of the
works of art brought from elsewhere in Europe during the years of plunder.

France is confined to her borders of 1792, losing the territories won by the citizen armies of
the republic, but even here there are exceptions (Avignon, the anachronistic outpost of the
papacy, now becomes French).

On 29 April Napoleon crosses in a British warship from the south of France to Elba, where
with typical resilience he is soon enjoying himself in creating a miniature state. He reforms
the local agriculture, organizes artistic events and behaves like an enlightened despot in a
doll's house. Meanwhile his enemies convene in the congress of Vienna, from September 1814, to
tie up the loose ends of the continent which he has reshaped. But the little lord of Elba is still
capable of surprising them.
The return from Elba: AD 1815

Napoleon soon becomes bored with Elba. Moreover his existence there looks like becoming
impossible, since Louis XVIII shows no signs of paying the agreed annual subsidy of two
million francs. The money is essential if Napoleon is to continue to pay his guards, without
whom his life is certainly in danger. To make him even more restless, the reports from his
secret agents suggest that the French people are far from happy with the return of the
Bourbons, foisted upon them by the machinations of Talleyrand and the conquering foreign
powers.

The result is an exceptionally audacious plan - and one which succeeds beyond all likelihood.

Napoleon waits until the Royal Naval brig, stationed to watch Elba's coastal waters, is briefly
called elsewere. On 26 February 1815 he embarks his followers in a fleet of small vessels.
They make the passage unobserved and on February 28 reach the coast of France. Just over
1000 men, with forty horses and two cannon, land near Antibes. Napoleon tells them that
they will reach Paris before his son's birthday (March 20) without firing a shot.

A six-day march along icy mountain roads brings the little party to Grenoble. On the way
they are challenged by a detachment of the French army. With extraordinary panache
Napoleon walks alone towards the French muskets, identifies himself and asks the men to
join him. They do so.

The same thing happens in Grenoble. The party which marches north from the city is 9000
strong and now has thirty cannon. The pattern of welcome continues, as the news of the
emperor's approach runs ahead of him. As promised, he reaches Paris and an ecstatic crowd
on his son's birthday, March 20. And nobody has been killed on the way.
Napoleon instals himself in the Tuileries (from which Louis XVIII has fled the previous
evening) and starts to assemble a government. This is a harder task than the welcome of the
populace would suggest. The middle classes are chary of any further upheaval. And
retaliation is threatened swiftly from abroad, owing to the fact that Napoleon's enemies are all
in one place, Vienna.

News of Napoleon's landing in France reaches Metternich in Vienna early in the morning on
March 7. The allies' response to the crisis is immediately the agenda of the congress. Before
noon joint action is agreed. Couriers are despatched to mobilize the armies.

By May great forces are assembling round France's borders. Blücher is at Liège with 120,000
Prussians. Wellington is at Brussels with some 95,000 British, Dutch, Belgian and German
troops. 150,000 Russians and 210,000 Austrians are approaching the Rhine through
Germany. Napoleon, using his favourite tactic of dividing his enemies, decides to strike
northwards against Wellington and Blücher before the Russians and Austrians can join them.

Waterloo: AD 1815

With about 124,000 men Napoleon advances towards Brussels, hoping to take a position
between Wellington's and Blücher's armies - with the intention of containing or driving off
one of them while defeating the other. The way north is blocked by Wellington at Quatre
Bras. On June 16 Napoleon leaves marshal Ney to assault this position while he tackles
Blücher a few miles to the east, at Ligny. The engagement at Quatre Bras is indecisive. But
Napoleon wins convicingly at Ligny, causing the Prussians to retreat in disarray.

During June 17 Wellington withdraws to a more secure position on a ridge near the village of
Waterloo It is here, on the following day, that the crucial battle occurs.
When the engagement begins at Waterloo, on June 18, Wellington is in a defensive position
with about 68,000 troops and 156 guns; Napoleon has 72,000 men and 246 guns. An
extremely hard-fought battle looks almost certain to go Napoleon's way until the arrival in the
afternoon of Blücher and the Prussians, regrouped after their flight of two days previously.
They tip the balance. By the early evening the French are in full retreat, and Napoleon is on
his way back to Paris.

He arrives in the city on June 21 and abdicates the next day. Louis XVIII returns to Paris on
July 8 for his second restoration (dated from June 28, it is exactly a 'Hundred Days' after
Napoleon's arrival in Paris on March 20).

France's victorious enemies, irritated by the expensive diversion of this summer, are now in
less generous mood. The treaty of Paris, signed in November 1815, is markedly less lenient
than the terms offered in 1814 on the first Bourbon restoration. It removes some territory on
France's eastern frontier, subjects the controversial eastern provinces to a period of
occupation by allied troops and imposes an indemnity of 700 million francs.

Meanwhile the abdicating emperor, declared an outlaw by the congress in Vienna in March
and so technically liable to execution if captured, is in La Rochelle negotiating his future.

Congress of Vienna: AD 1814-1815

The congress of Vienna, summoned by the four powers who have done most to defeat
Napoleon (Britain, Russia, Prussia, Austria), is an attempt to stabilize the map of Europe after
the upheavals caused by more than twenty years of war. All the crowned heads and their
representatives are welcome in Vienna, with the result that there is much entertainment and
glamorous festivity throughout the winter of 1814-15.

Behind the glitter, orchestrated by Metternich, the hard work of diplomacy goes on. The four
great nations intend to make all the decisions themselves, but Talleyrand - representing the
newly restored Louis XVIII - ensures that France has an equal place at the table. Her
participation in any agreed balance of power will be essential.

Everyone is well aware that a breakdown in the negotiations can easily lead to a renewal of
war, in the familiar pattern of recent years. Yet each participant has a vested interest in
ensuring that none of the others becomes too strong. The main players are like heavily armed
gangsters who nevertheless need to clinch a deal.

Danger lies primarily in Poland and Saxony, the much fought over regions bordered by Russia,
Prussia and Austria. Poland has already been dismembered by her neighbours before being
partly reconstituted by Napoleon - as a grand duchy which he grants to the king of Saxony.
(Saxony remains a French ally longer than anyone else and thus ends up on the losing side.)

Eventually the major powers reach a compromise in Vienna, to the predictable detriment of
Poland and of a much reduced Saxony. In most other areas this congress of conservative
monarchies restores the pre-Napoleonic status quo. Just as Louis XVIII returns to the French
throne, so Naples is restored to the Bourbons, the papal states to the pope, and much of
northern Italy to Austria.

Among the more important changes, the larger German states keep their gains from the
process of rationalization introduced by Napoleon; Denmark loses Norway to Sweden; and a
new kingdom of the Netherlands links the Austrian Netherlands (or Belgium) and the United
Provinces, as a barrier to renewed French expansion northwards.

Austria by now has no objection to relinquishing the Austrian Netherlands. But decisions of this
kind are old-fashioned diplomacy, conducted between crowned heads and bearing little
relation to the wishes or identity of people in the affected areas. Partly for this reason, the
newly created kingdom of the Netherlands lasts only fifteen years before splitting apart.

Nevertheless in most respects the negotiators at Vienna succeed in their primary aim of
finding a basis for peace. Most of their solutions hold good for several decades. The new
Europe of the 19th century is no longer characterized by frequent wars. Instead, each nation
is confronted internally by the likelihood of revolution.