Bonaparte Napoleon

Early Life

□ Napoleon was born in Ajaccio Corsica (French territory) in August 1769.

□ His family belonged to the high social class

□ When he turned 9 he moved to the French mainland and enrolled at a religious school in
January 1779.

□ In May, he transferred with a scholarship to a military academy at Brienne-le-Château.

□ „I am no ordinary man.”

□ Napoleon at the age of 16, and joined the artillery as a second lieutenant.

□ During the French Revolution he served the Revolutionary Army.

□ Napoleon rose quickly in the army during the revolution because so many officers fled
France.

□ In 1793, he commanded the French troops that ousted the British from Toulon.

□ By age 27, Napoleon was a general.

□ Battle of Tulon

□ In July 1793, a pro-republican pamphlet entitled Le souper de Beauciare (Supper

at Beauciare) was published by him.

□ Bonaparte was appointed senior gunner and artillery commander of the republican forces
which arrived on 8 September at Toulon.

□ He adopted a plan to capture a hill where republican guns could dominate the city's harbor
and force the British to evacuate.

□ The assault on the position led to the capture of the city. Catching the attention of
the Committee of Public Safety, he was put in charge of the artillery of France's Army of Italy.

□ Successes of Napoleon

□ The young general soon received command of the French army for an invasion of Italy.

□ He won several brilliant victories over the Austrians who ruled there.

□ He immediately went on the offensive, hoping to defeat the forces of Piedmont before their
Austrian allies could intervene. In a series of rapid victories during the Montenotte
Campaign, he knocked Piedmont out of the war in two weeks.
 □ Napoleon’s successes forced Austria to withdraw from the war in 1797.

□ The next phase of the campaign was the Habsburg heartlands. French forces in Southern
Germany had been defeated by the Archduke Charles in 1796.

□ In the first encounter between the two commanders, Napoleon pushed back his opponent
and advanced deep into Austrian territory after winning at the Battle of Tarvis in 1797.

□ The Austrians were alarmed by the French thrust, reached all the way to Leoben, and finally
decided to sue for peace. The Treaty of Leoben, followed by the Treaty of Campo Formio,
gave France control of most of Northern Italy and the Low Countries, and promised
the Republic of Venice to Austria.

□ Egyiptian Expedition

□ In 1798, Napoleon invaded Egypt because it was a vital lifeline to British outposts in India.
Napoleon quickly defeated the Egyptian army. However, the British fleet, under Admiral
Horatio Nelson, destroyed the French fleet in the Battle of the Nile.

□ Leaving the army in Egypt, Napoleon returned to Paris. The French people were not fully
aware of the losses in Egypt, and they welcomed him as a hero.

The Directory

A new constitution established a new government known as the Directory. The Directory included an
elected legislature and an executive branch with five directors.

□ Consulate

□ After returning from Egypt, Napoleon launched a successful coup d’ etat on November 9,
1799.

□ In Paris, Napoleon found that many people were dissatisfied with the Directory. With the
help of troops loyal to him, he and two directors overthrew the government in November,
1799.

□ It was replaced by the Consulate. (was the top-level Government of France from the fall of
the Directory on 10 November 1799 until the start of the Napoleonic Empire on 18 May
1804.)

□ Napoleon as “First Consul”

□ Napoleon established the Banque de France, 1800, Napoleon enforced a law requiring all
citizens to pay taxes.

□ He also created the National Bank of France, in which the tax money was deposited. The
Bank, in turn, issued money and made loans to businesses.

□ He proclaimed himself “First Consul”- and did away with the elected Assembly. He also set up
a 3 man Consulate.
 □ In 1802, he made himself sole “Consul for Life.” Two years later he proclaimed himself
“Emperor.”

□ Napoleon’s Domestic Policy

□ By 1804, Napoleon had gained almost absolute power. He knew the French would never
stand for a return to the Old Regime. Therefore, he continued many reforms of the
revolution.

□ But at the same time, he kept firm personal control of the government.

□ Code Napoleon

□ Napoleon’s greatest achievement in government was the Napoleonic Code, which influenced
French law to the present. It divides civil law into:

👉Personal status.

👉Property.

👉The acquisition of property.

□ Its purpose was to reform the French legal code to reflect the principles of the Fr.
Revolution

□ Create one law code for France.

□ Some other facts from the Napoleonic Code

□ By 1810, new laws in commercial and criminal cases had been developed

□ Equality before the law

□ Marriage completely secularized-divorce restricted

□ Women: patriarchal society-obedience-no political voice

□ Penalties for political crimes increased

□ guaranteed freedom of religion as well as a person’s right to work in any occupation.

□ The Influence of the Napoleonic Code

□ Wherever it was implemented [in the conquered territories], the Code Napoleon swept away
feudal property relations.

□ Napoleon as Emperor

□ In 1804, Napoleon became “Emperor of the French.”

□ As Pope Pius VIII prepared to crown the emperor, Napoleon took the crown and placed it on
his head himself. (By this gesture, Napoleon showed that he did not bow to any authority.)
□ He then proceeded to crown his wife, the Empress Josephine.

□ The Empire of Napoleon

□ In the early 1800s, France fought all the major European powers. Through shrewd
diplomacy, Napoleon usually kept the European powers divided so they could not unite
against him.

□ From 1807 -1812, Napoleon was at the height of his power. He controlled an empire that
stretched from France to the borders of Russia

□ While ruling the empire, Napoleon helped spread the ideas of the French Revolution across
Europe. He introduced religious toleration, abolished serfdom, made the Napoleonic Code
into law and reduced the power of the Catholic Church.

□ The Continental system

□ Although Napoleon defeated the major powers on the continent, he was unable to defeat
Britain. In 1805, Admiral Nelson dashed Napoleon’s plans by sinking most of the French fleet
at Cape Trafalgar. Napoleon then decided to blockade British ports and ordered all European
nations to stop trade with Britain. This was called the Continental System.

□ Unfortunately for France, the Continental System backfired. Britain did lose trade, but
France suffered more. The powerful British navy was able to cut off overseas imports to
France and the rest of the continent. This weakened the French economy.

□ Nationalism

□ During the reign of Napoleon, the concept of Nationalism began to become popular.
Nationalism is the belief that a people group can make one great nation together.

□ Napoleon used the desire of people to have their own nation to help him defeat the Austrian
Empire.

□ Opposition to Napoleon also grew among the conquered and allied peoples of Europe, who
were developing a sense of nationalism, or pride and devotion to one’s own country. They
resented paying taxes to France and sending soldiers to serve in Napoleon’s armies. They
wanted to restore their own governments, customs, and traditions. As nationalists feelings
grew, revolts broke out all over Europe.

□ Downfall of Emperor Napoleon

□ In 1812, Napoleon decided to invade Russia. Napoleon assembled an army of over 500,000
soldiers, and in May 1812, he led this Grand Army into Russia.

□ Napoleon planned to defeat the Russians in a quick, decisive battle. To his surprise, the
Russians refused to stand and fight. Instead, they retreated, burning their crops and homes
as they went. They forced Napoleon to lead his army deeper into Russia.
 □ The Russians finally engaged the French near Moscow, 500 miles inside Russia. The French
won, but when Napoleon entered Moscow, he found the Russian capital in flames. Napoleon
soon realized he could not feed and house his army in Moscow. In October 1812, he ordered
a retreat.

□ 36. n During the retreat, the bitterly cold Russian winter turned the French victory into a
disastrous defeat. Thousands of Napoleon’s soldiers starved or froze to death. The Russian
army attacked the stragglers. Fewer than 100,000 escaped from Russia.

□ Disastorous defeat

□ During the retreat, the bitterly cold Russian winter turned the French victory into a defeat.
Thousands of Napoleon’s soldiers starved or froze to death. The Russian army attacked the
stragglers. Fewer than 100,000 escaped from Russia.

□ Battle of Waterloo

□ In June 1815, near Waterloo in Belgium, part of the United Kingdom of the Netherlands at
the time.

□ A French army under the command of Napoleon Bonaparte was defeated by two of the
armies of the Seventh Coalition, consisting of units from:

👉 the United Kingdom

👉 the Netherlands

👉 Hanover

👉 Brunswick

👉 Nassau

□ The battle marked the end of the Napoleonic Wars.

□ Final defeat

□ A powerful alliance made up of Britain, Austria, Russia, and Prussia pounced on the
weakened French army as it limped out of Russia.

□ Napoleon rushed home to raise a new army, but his efforts failed. In March 1814, the allies
captured Paris.

□ Napoleon abdicated and went into exile on the island of Elba, off the coast of Italy.

□ Napoleon’s final exile

□ Napoleon was exiled to the island of St. Helena in the Atlantic, where he died in 1821.

□ His tomb is at Les Invalides. Napoleon was initially interred on Saint Helena, but King Louis
Philippe arranged for his remains to be brought to France in 1840.