The Age of Napoleon

Background

• Born on the island of Corsica

• Family were minor nobles but had very little land

• Trained for a military career• At the age of 9 he was sent to France to train

Early career

• Napoleon rose quickly through the army

• Won victories against the British and Austrians• Led the French against the British in Toulon and Egypt• Captured Hapsburg lands from the Austrians

• Helped overthrow the Directory in 1799 and set up the Consulate

• Consulate: three-man governing body

• Soon took title of First Consul

• In 1802, he named himself consul for life

• Proclaimed himself Emperor in 1804• Invited the Pope to preside over the coronation in Paris, but he took

the crown from him and placed it on his own head

Reforms

• Strengthened the central government

• Restored economic prosperity• Controlled prices, encouraged industry, built roads and canals

• Set up a system of public schools under government control• Used to train officials and military officers

• Made peace with Catholic Church• Signed the Concordat of 1801: kept the Church under state

control but recognized religious freedoms for Catholics.

• Instituted the Napoleonic Code of Law

• The code reflected Enlightenment principles by guaranteeing equality of all citizens before the law

On the Battlefield• Annexed Netherlands, Belgium and parts of Italy and Germany

• Abolished the Holy Roman Empire• In its place, he created a 38-member Confederation of the

Rhine under French protection

• Cut Prussian territory in half• Turned part of old Poland into the Grand Duchy of Warsaw

• Also unseated the King of Spain and placed his brother, Joseph Bonaparte on the thrown

• Failed to overtake Britain• In 1805, France tried to invade England but lost in the Battle

of Trafalgar• France waged economic warfare through the Continental

System • Tried, but failed

Challenges to Napoleon’s Empire

• Under Napoleon, French armies spread the ideas of the revolution across Europe.• They backed liberal reforms in the lands they

conquered.• The Napoleonic Code was carried across Europe

• Nationalism spurred French armies to success but worked against them, too.• Those conquered saw Napoleon and his armies

as foreign oppressors• They resented the Continental System and

Napoleon’s effort to impose French culture

Challenges to Napoleon’s Empire

• Resistance was high in Spain• In 1808, Napoleon replaced the King of Spain with his brother,

Joseph Bonaparte• He also made reforms that undermined the Catholic Church

• Many Spaniards resisted these invaders, sparking Spanish nationalism

• Spanish patriots used guerrilla warfare, or hit-and-run raids, against the French.

• In 1805, at the Battle of Austerlitz, Napoleon won a victory against an Austro-Russian army• In 1809, the Austrians wanted revenge, but were crushed• In 1810, Napoleon divorced his wife, Josephine, and married

the Austrian princess Marie Louise• By marrying Austrian royalty, his heirs could claim kinship to the

royalty of Europe

Challenges to Napoleon’s Empire

• Czar Alexander I withdrew from the Continental System• In Russia, they were unhappy with the economic effects of

Napoleon’s Continental System• They were also concerned with the enlargement of the Grand

Duchy of Warsaw that bordered Russia to the west

• Napoleon responded to the Czar’s actions by assembly his Grand Army to invade Russia in 1812• While retreating, the Russian army burned crops and villages• Left the French invaders hungry and cold as the freezing

Russian winter set in• By the time they reached Moscow, only about 10,000 French

soldiers survived• According to French General Ney: “General Famine and General Winter,

rather than Russian bullets, have conquered the Grand Army.”

Downfall of Napoleon

• Napoleon’s disaster in Russia brought a new alliance of Russia, Britain, Austria, and Prussia against France• In 1813, this alliance defeated Napoleon in the Battle of

the Nations at Leipzig• In 1814, Napoleon abdicated and went into exile on Elba

• In Napoleons place came Louis XVIII as king of France• The restoration brought economic depression and fear of

the return to the old ways• Because of this, Napoleon returned to France and Louis XVIII

fled in 1815

Downfall of Napoleon

• Napoleon’s triumph was short-lived because on June 18, 1815, the alliance reassembled in Waterloo in Belgium• The combined forces crushed the French in a day-long

battle and once again Napoleon was forced to abdicate and go into exile

• Napoleon died in 1821, still in exile on St. Helena

• Napoleon left a legacy throughout France and the world• In France, the Napoleonic Code embodied the

Revolutionary ideas• Allowed for more suffrage, rights, and access to education

• In the rest of the world, Napoleon’s conquests spread the ideas of the revolution and sparked nationalist feeling across Europe

Congress of Vienna

• Diplomats and leaders met at the Congress of Vienna charged with the task of restoring stability and order in Europe after revolution and war

• Met for 10 months, from September 1814-June 1815

• The chief goal of the Congress of Vienna was to create a lasting peace by establishing a balance of power and protecting the system of monarchy

• To create the balance of power, they redrew the map of Europe• They wanted to contain French ambitions so they

surrounded France with strong countries

Congress of Vienna

• The leaders at the Congress of Vienna also promoted the principle of legitimacy, restoring hereditary monarchies that the French Revolution unseated• They restored Louis XVIII to the French throne and

replaced legitimate monarchs in Portugal, Spain, and the Italian states

• Problems of the Congress of Vienna:• The new map paid no attention to national cultures

• Forgot about the new nationalism that arose in these countries

• In Germany, they created a loosely organized German Confederation with Austria as its head

• Austria, Prussia, Russia, and Great Britain extended their alliance