The Rise of the Emperor

The Napoleonic Wars were the continuation of the French Revolutionary Wars, fueled by the ambition of one man: Napoleon Bonaparte. A brilliant Corsican artillery officer, he rose through the chaos of the Revolution, saving the government with a "whiff of grapeshot" and leading dazzling campaigns in Italy and Egypt.

In 1799, he seized power in a coup, becoming First Consul. In 1804, in a ceremony at Notre Dame, he took the crown from the Pope's hands and placed it on his own head, declaring himself Emperor of the French. His military genius was matched by his administrative skill; he reorganized France, creating the Bank of France and the Napoleonic Code.

But Europe's old monarchies—Britain, Austria, Russia, and Prussia—feared the spread of revolutionary ideas and formed a series of Coalitions to crush him. Napoleon didn't wait for them to attack; he marched.

The Emperor

1804 Crowned

60+ Battles

The Grande Armée

Napoleon forged the Grande Armée into the finest fighting machine in history. He organized it into Corps—self-sufficient mini-armies of 15,000 to 30,000 men containing infantry, cavalry, and artillery. This allowed them to march on separate roads for speed and concentrate quickly for battle ("March divided, fight united").

He revolutionized artillery, massing guns into "Grand Batteries" to blast holes in enemy lines. His soldiers were highly motivated, fighting for merit ("Every soldier carries a marshal's baton in his knapsack") rather than aristocratic compulsion.

Speed was his weapon. The French marched faster and lighter than anyone else, living off the land rather than relying on slow supply wagons. He would often outmaneuver enemies before a shot was fired.

Total War

Napoleon sought the destruction of the enemy army, not just territory.

Corps System: Flexibility.
Imperial Guard: The elite "Immortals".

The Sun of Austerlitz

On December 2, 1805, at the Battle of Austerlitz, Napoleon achieved his greatest victory. Facing a larger combined Russian and Austrian army, he deliberately weakened his right flank, luring the Allies into attacking him there.

As the Allies moved troops to crush his right, they exposed their center on the Pratzen Heights. Napoleon unleashed Marshal Soult's corps to storm the heights, splitting the Allied army in two. It was a tactical masterpiece.

The Third Coalition collapsed. Napoleon dissolved the Holy Roman Empire and redrew the map of Germany. He later crushed Prussia at Jena-Auerstedt (1806) and Russia at Friedland (1807), forcing the Tsar to sign a peace treaty on a raft in the middle of a river. Napoleon was now the master of Europe.

1805

"Soldiers, I am pleased with you."

Casualties: Allies lost 27,000.
Result: Dominance.

The Spanish Ulcer

Napoleon could not defeat Britain at sea after Admiral Nelson destroyed the French fleet at Trafalgar (1805). So he tried economic warfare: the Continental System forbidden trade with Britain.

When Portugal refused, Napoleon invaded the Iberian Peninsula in 1808. He underestimated the Spanish people, who rose up in a brutal uprising. This was the Peninsular War, where the term "guerrilla" ("little war") was born. Every bush hid a sniper; every village was a trap.

British troops under the Duke of Wellington landed to support the Spanish. The war drained French manpower and resources for years, becoming what Napoleon called his "Spanish Ulcer." It proved he could bleed.

Guerrilla War

A brutal war of attrition that tied down 300,000 French troops against Spanish rebels and the British.

The March into Disaster

In 1812, aiming to force Russia back into the Continental System, Napoleon invaded with the largest army ever assembled: 600,000 men. The Russians retreated, burning everything in their path (Scorched Earth).

Napoleon won the bloody Battle of Borodino and took Moscow, but the city was empty and soon set ablaze by Russian saboteurs. Napoleon waited for a surrender that never came.

Forced to retreat in winter, the Grande Armée was destroyed by the cold, starvation, and Cossack raids. Temperatures dropped to -30°C. Only about 20,000 men returned fighting fit. The disaster emboldened all of Europe to rise against him.

1812

600k Entered

~30k Returned

Waterloo

Defeated in 1814 and exiled to Elba, Napoleon escaped in 1815 for one last gamble: The Hundred Days. He reclaimed his throne and marched into Belgium to strike the British and Prussians before they could unite.

On June 18, 1815, he faced the Duke of Wellington at the Battle of Waterloo. It was a close-run thing. French cavalry charges failed to break British infantry squares. As the sun set, the Prussian army arrived on Napoleon's flank, sealing his doom.

He was exiled to the remote island of St. Helena, where he died in 1821. His legacy lives on in the map of Europe, the metric system, and the Napoleonic Code, which remains the basis of law in many nations today.

Legacy

He was a tyrant to some, a liberator to others, but undeniably a giant of history.

Code Civil: Modern Law.
Exile: St. Helena.