Napoleon, session i, Ambition

Napoleonsession iAmbition

Saturday, February 5, 2011

Napoleonsession iAmbition


It was only on the evening of [the battle of]Lodi [1796] that I believed myself a superior man, and that the ambition came to me of executing the great things which so far had been occupying my thoughts only as a fantastic dream

--Napoleon


major topics for this session

! Corsica

! Toulon

! 13 Vendémiaire

! Armée de l’Italie

! Egypt

! 18 Brumaire


Corsica


Corsica


Napoleon’s origins

The Emperor of the French, Napoleon, was born to Italian parents of the minor nobility. His ancestors had lived on the island of Corsica for several generations. Corsica was ruled by the Republic of Genoa, one of the major states of the Italian peninsula. Napoleone di Buonaparte would speak Italian for his first nine years. He would remain a Corsican nationalist until his twenties. His earliest political thoughts were shaped by the events in Corsica during his childhood, during the Age of the Democratic Revolution. Before the French Revolution there was a Corsican Revolution.


France

Corsica

Western Mediterranean

Republicof

Genoa


The history of Corsica has been influenced by its strategic position at the heart of the western [part of the] Mediterranean [Sea] and its maritime routes, only 7 miles from Sardinia, 30 miles from the Isle of Elba, 50 miles from the coast of Tuscany and 120 miles from the French port of Nice. This was first proposed by the 19th-century German theorist, Friedrich Ratzel, the father of geopolitics. To him is often attributed the description "mountain in the sea"….the idea is expressed in his magnum opus, Anthropogeographie, which calls Corsica

An isolated and singular land, both island and mountain .…

The "sea" part of the proverb refers to the easy accessibility by great powers to Corsica across the narrow waters from neighboring lands. Once they arrive the "mountain" provides a wall of defense against which invaders can make no easy headway. A central spine running north-south right along its length, which makes travel from (and communication between) one side to the other difficult, isolates Corsicans even from themselves. This spine and strategic position go some way to explaining the island's unique history.

Wikipedia, Corsica


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Corsica

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Corsica

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mediterranean

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mediterranean

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sardinia

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sardinia

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elba

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elba

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tuscany

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tuscany

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nice

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nice

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Friedrich_Ratzel

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Friedrich_Ratzel

Sardinia


AJACCIO

CORTE


Nationalism versus Patriotism

! nationalism is a 19th century “ism,” an ideology, which gained great currency with the movements to unify Italy and Germany

! patriotism, on the other hand, is an earlier term appropriate to describe love of one’s native land, birthplace (patria, Lat., from pater, father)

! the phrase “church spire patriotism” is used to connote the narrowest sort of local loyalty; village patriotism. During the middle ages many people never travelled more than 10-12 miles from birth to death!

! in general, people in the more rural parts of Europe tended towards village and clan loyalties. Such a place was Corsica

! its mountains increased the gap between highlanders and the more modern dwellers in the seaports

! still, most 18th century Corsicans resented rule by the Italian mainland Republic of Genoa and felt Corsican patriotism


Pasquale Paoli, “father of Corsica”the island’s first international celebrity

Monument to the 18th c. patriot


Pasquale Paoli, “father of Corsica”the island’s first international celebrity

! 1729-rebellions against Genoa begin

! the distant overlord didn’t protect Corsicans from the Barbary pirates or their own vendettas

! other complaints were oppressive taxes and economic depression

! 1741-this 18th c. Enlightenment figure received a classical education and, at 16, military experience in the War of the Austrian Succession

! 1751-at 26, returning to Corsica, he is elected by the highland clans to lead the revolution

! 1755-at 30, he writes the first constitution of the Age of the Democratic Revolution

Pascal Paoli1725-1807


Cortecapital of the

Republic


Cortecapital of the

Republic

Citadelledi

Corte


Paoli’s political career

! 1750s-60s--Genoa made several attempts to bring the rebellion to an end. They could control the seaports but the Corsicans in the mountainous interior defied them

! 1765-the Genoese opened secret talks with France to give them Corsica in payment of debts

! 1768-the French announced their sovereignty. Paoli fought a guerilla war from the mountains but in 1769 he was defeated by vastly superior forces. Corsica officially became a French province in 1770. Paoli took refuge in England where he was welcomed by liberals.

a graphic novel from 2008


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Provinces_of_France


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/England






a graphic novel from 2008

Johnson

Boswell

BurkeSheridan

Paoli

The ClubSaturday, February 5, 2011





! 1790-when the French National Assembly invited all exiles to return, Paoli gladly came home

! 1793-the execution of Louis XVI influenced him to break with the increasingly radical Jacobins

! 1794-he formally seceded from France and invited the British navy to back an Anglo-Corsican kingdom

! 1795-went into a second exile in Englanda graphic novel from 2008

BurkeSheridan

Paoli







Corsica

Ajaccio



origins

! born Napoleone Buonaparte, the son of a self-impoverished Corsican count

! the second surviving son of the eight children of Carlo and Maria Letizia Ramolino Buonaparte

! he was born the year after the Genoese gave the island to France

The house in which Napoleon was born, 15 August 1769, in Ajaccio, on the west coast of Corsica. It has been a museum since 1923.


NAPOLEON

EST NE DANS CETTE MAISON

LE XV AOVT M•DCC•LXIX

NAPOLEON

IS BORN IN THIS HOUSE

THE 15 AUGUST 1769


NAPOLEON

EST NE DANS CETTE MAISON

LE XV AOVT M•DCC•LXIX

NAPOLEON

IS BORN IN THIS HOUSE

THE 15 AUGUST 1769The room in Casa Buonaparte where tradition claims Napoleon was born


! 1764-Napoleon’s father Carlo dropped out of law school at the University of Pisa to marry Maria Letizia Ramolino

! He was seventeen, she fourteen. He next worked as secretary and personal assistant to Paoli

! 1766-68-Paoli sent him to Rome to negotiate with Pope Clement XIII

! 1769-70-returned to Corsica. The family, including the infant Napoleon, took to the mountains (living in a cave!) during the guerilla warfare against the French

! 1770-78-Carlo made his peace with the new masters. He served in various capacities in Ajaccio and became Corsica’s representative to the court of Louis XVI

! 1785-an inveterate gambler, he blew through several fortunes. At his death he left Letizia penniless with eight children

Carlo Maria Buonaparte

1746 – 1785


=

Napoleon was the fourth child and third son of Attorney Carlo Maria di Buonaparte, age 23, and his wife, Maria Letizia Ramolino, who would turn 19 a few days later. Both father and mother were of Italian descent and members of the island’s minor nobility.

Here are the eight children who survived to adulthood:

Joseph1768-1844

Louis1778-1846

Lucien1775-1840

Elisa1777-1820

Pauline1780-1825

Caroline1782-1839

Napoleon1769-1821

Jerome1784-1860

1746-1785 1750-1836


Military School at BrienneMay 1779-October 1784

aged nine to fifteen

! after a brief French language cram school the nine-year-old Napoleone entered one of the newly established military prep schools for the lesser nobility

above the gate,ANCIEN ECOLE MILITAIRE

(FORMER MILITARY SCHOOL)





! stories are told of how the other students mocked his Corsican accent






! the young tactician organized a snow ball fight where the younger students defeated the elder






! the young tactician organized a snow ball fight where the younger students defeated the elder

! his studies were successful enough to earn him a place at the prestigious national military academy


The image of the child Napoleon as an asocial loner, picked on by his fellow students, who displayed a strong desire for liberty, and who already displayed martial virtues--including stoicism and selflessness--is, in some respects, a political image that needs, accordingly, to be treated with a certain amount of scepticism. If not Bonaparte, then others were fabricating the image of an outsider….It fits the classical mould of the hero: alienated from his surroundings because misunderstood, he finds inner strength to continue on his path towards greatness.

Philip Dwyer, Napoleon; The Path to Power, pp. 30-31


École Militaire du ParisOctober 1784-September 1785

aged fifteen to sixteen

! “...continued his studies of mathematics, geography and history and added to his attainments a fair knowledge of German, dancing, fencing and fortification

! spring 1785-”...his father died….this placed a great strain on the already stretched family finances….Napoleon stayed on in Paris under conditions of real poverty. He read much and ate little and gradually acquired that lean and hungry look which stares out of a dozen portraits painted in the early years of his fame.

! he was allowed to finish the two-year course in one year, graduated 42nd and was commissioned a sous-lieutenant of artillery in the régiment de la Fère at Valence

quoted material from Chandler, David G. The Campaigns of Napoleon. 1966, p. 8


At the Artillery SchoolJune 1788-June 1791

aged 19 to 22

! with only $7 a month after deductions for board and lodging, Bonaparte still send aid to his mother and family

! “...the most formative fifteen months of his military career…. the best artillery training school in France, under the command of the experienced Baron du Teil

! “Under the paternal supervision of the old soldier, di Buonaparte’s studies took on new meaning and depth; ...36 manuscript notebooks in his precise handwriting have survived from this period

! “Also proceeding apace at this time was his gradual acclimatization to France as a whole and to French service life in particular….he was slowly losing the bitterness against all things French learned at Brienne

! 1789- “He viewed with intense interest the dramatic political events proceeding at Paris and Versailles

Bonaparte as a lieutenant at theArtillery school in Auxonne inthe Department of Côte-d'Or,

the former province of Burgundy

op. cit., pp. 10-11


Writing to his mother early in 1789:

“I have no other resource but work. I dress [meaning change my clothes] but once in eight days; I sleep but little since my illness; it is incredible; I retire at ten [to save candles] and rise at four in the morning. I take but one meal a day, at three; that is good for my health.”

It was not, however, the ideal regimen for a youthful convalescent. On August 8, 1789, he accordingly applied for a six months’ furlough; this was his entitlement under the regulations...really he was determined to share in the revolutionary ferment...in his beloved Corsica….on September 16 he left Auxonne for Corsica.

Ibid. p. 12


Back to Corsica

! May 1789-Bonaparte had written to the Corsican leader Pasquale Paoli : "As [our] nation was perishing I was born. Thirty thousand Frenchmen were vomited on to our shores, drowning the throne of liberty in waves of blood. Such was the odious sight which was the first to strike me."

! 1789-1793--He spent the early years of the Revolution in Corsica, fighting in a complex three-way struggle between royalists, revolutionaries, and Paoli’s Corsican nationalists

! 1 April 1792-he supported the Jacobin faction, gained the rank of Lieutenant Colonel in the National Guard and second in command over a battalion of volunteers, the Corsican federées

! June-October 1792-he returned to Paris, witnessed both the 20 June and 8 August attacks on the Tuileries and the September massacres. He was able to convince military authorities in Paris to promote him to captain in the regular army

! January 1793-the king’s execution turned Paoli against the revolution and the Jacobins

! thus Bonaparte came into conflict with Paoli, who had decided to sabotage a French assault on the Sardinian island of La Maddalena, where Bonaparte was second in command

! June 1793-Bonaparte and his family had to flee to the French mainland because of the split with Paoli


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pasquale_Paoli

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pasquale_Paoli

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jacobin_Club

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jacobin_Club

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lieutenant_Colonel

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lieutenant_Colonel

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kingdom_of_Sardinia

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kingdom_of_Sardinia

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/La_Maddalena

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/La_Maddalena

Toulon


Toulon


! March 1793-after the king’s execution, rebellion against the Jacobins in Paris erupted in the Vendée

! June-action against the Girondins sparked similar revolts in the Gironde, Marseille and the Auvergne

1793FRANCE IN THE GRIP OF THE

TERROR

Paris

TOULON

Allied* Armies

*Allies: Austria, Britain,Naples,Piedmont, Prussia, Spain


! March 1793-after the king’s execution, rebellion against the Jacobins in Paris erupted in the Vendée

! June-action against the Girondins sparked similar revolts in the Gironde, Marseille and the Auvergne

! 27-28 August-after General Carteaux crushed the rebellion in Marseille and visited a memorable vengeance there, Toulon rebelled and invited the Anglo-Spanish fleet to enter

! Toulon was the base of the French Mediterranean fleet

! the loss of these warships and their harbor might mean defeat of the Jacobins, the end of the revolution and French independence

1793FRANCE IN THE GRIP OF THE

TERROR

Paris

TOULON

Allied* Armies

*Allies: Austria, Britain,Naples,Piedmont, Prussia, Spain


13,000 British, Spanish, Neapolitan & Piedmontese troops land

! 18 September-the conqueror of Marseille, General Carteaux, begins the siege of Toulon

! since his general of artillery was ill, he has a young (just turned 24) major Buonaparte imposed on him by the Representative en Mission, Augustin, younger brother of the Jacobin leader, Maximilian Robespierre

! 1 October-Royalists in Toulon declared for the young son of the executed Louis XVI, now recognized as King Louis XVII

! Napoleon tries in vain to convince his general that he has the plan to force the city’s surrender


A Developed Eye for Strategy

! 1792--during his time with the Corsican volunteers Napoleon had developed a plan for fortifying Ajaccio

forts shown as of December, 1793




! guns on Aspreto hill would be able to command both the inner and outer harbors






! when he arrived at Toulon two years later, he immediately recognized the geographic similarity

! the Anglo-Spanish force firmly held the northern shore of Toulon harbor








! but a peninsula to the south and Le Caire hill, between the inner and outer harbors was the key to the entire siege








! but a peninsula to the south and Le Caire hill, between the inner and outer harbors was the key to the entire siege

! however, while he was trying to sell this plan to General Carteaux, the British got there first



Bonaparte did not originally think up this plan -- it had been decided on by other generals and the representatives-on-mission well before he arrived at Toulon -- but he, quite sensibly under the circumstances, adopted it and passed it off as his own….

According to tradition, Buonaparte’s military reputation was seen to have begun with the siege of Toulon. Indeed, some histories emphasize his role to the extent that the reader could be mistaken for thinking he was in charge of operations: the assumption is that Buonaparte thought up the plan of attack when, as we have seen, he did not….Buonaparte did, however, play a key role, and his talent as a soldier and a fledgling commander stands out here. According to a number of memoirs he, more than anyone else, was responsible for the disposition of the artillery.

Dwyer, pp. 138, 144


Napoleon’s Two-front War

! in addition to defeating the Allies and the French royalists in Toulon, he had to win over his own commander. Carteaux knew nothing about artillery and his two batteries were out of range!

THE LITTLE ROAD

THE GREAT ROAD

TOULON

the situation when Napoleon arrived

MOUNT FARON




! 20 September-Napoleon first installed two batteries which forced Admiral Hood to move his ships closer to Toulon

THE LITTLE ROAD

THE GREAT ROAD

TOULON

MOUNT FARON





! 22 Sept-by sheer persistence he got Carteaux to attack the lightly held British position on the key peninsula

THE LITTLE ROAD

THE GREAT ROAD

TOULON

MOUNT FARON






! but the attackers were too few and were easily repulsed. What was worse, the British woke up and strengthened their hold there

THE LITTLE ROAD

THE GREAT ROAD

TOULON

MOUNT FARON






! but the attackers were too few and were easily repulsed. What was worse, the British woke up and strengthened their hold there

! he now had to scrape up more guns and men and begin a systematic siege to gain “Little Gibraltar”

THE LITTLE ROAD

THE GREAT ROAD

TOULON

MOUNT FARON


Finally, a Competent General Listens

...weeks passed into months, and still Toulon defied the tricolor. At length on November 25 General Dugomier [Carteaux’s replacement, on 19 November] summoned a council of war--at which Bonaparte served as secretary--at which it was decided to implement the scheme Bonaparte had always had in mind: namely, a massive bombardment against the defenses of the promontory, followed by a dawn attack against Fort Mulgrave [which the French called Little Gibraltar] supported by a feint attack against Mount Faron, and lastly, the establishment of a battery on Point l’Eguilette which could rake the British fleet with red-hot shot.

Chandler, p. 26


The Final Assault

! 29 November--The Allies make a sortie, capture one of Napoleon’s batteries and spike the guns

! Napoleon leads 400 men in the counterattack, capturing General O’Hara, the Allied commander!

! 17 December--6,000 French troops storm and take “Little Gibraltar” (with 1,000 French casualties) Bonaparte receives a bayonet wound from a British sergeant

! 18 December--Toulon surrenders

•19 December--the suppression, led by representatives en mission Paul Barras and Stanislaus Fréron is bloody. Between 800-2000 prisoners were shot or slain by bayonet on Toulon’s Champ de Mars. Bonaparte, treated for his injuries, is not involved

• 22 December 1793--he is promoted to Brigadier General, commander of artillery for the Army of Italy


The Final Assault

! 29 November--The Allies make a sortie, capture one of Napoleon’s batteries and spike the guns

! Napoleon leads 400 men in the counterattack, capturing General O’Hara, the Allied commander!

! 17 December--6,000 French troops storm and take “Little Gibraltar” (with 1,000 French casualties) Bonaparte receives a bayonet wound from a British sergeant

! 18 December--Toulon surrenders

•19 December--the suppression, led by representatives en mission Paul Barras and Stanislaus Fréron is bloody. Between 800-2000 prisoners were shot or slain by bayonet on Toulon’s Champ de Mars. Bonaparte, treated for his injuries, is not involved

• 22 December 1793--he is promoted to Brigadier General, commander of artillery for the Army of Italy


Brigadier General of Artillery

Buonaparte packed all this many-sided experience into the short span of eleven years [1786-1796] and emerges to assume his first major command at the age of twenty-six. True, he was fortunate in his time; a career ouverte aux talents was a reality in the1790s. Yet only the career of Alexander the Great bears comparison to that of Napoleon Buonaparte in respect of rapidity…....Brigadier General Buonaparte to take up the appointment of senior gunner in the French Army of Italy….Now it so happened that both Saliceti [a fellow Corsican] and Augustin Robespierre were at this time the Government’s accredited representatives to the Army of Italy….

Chandler, p. 26


Bonaparte as Strategist

! because the army’s commander was afraid of Saliceti & Robespierre, who, in turn, were admirers of Bonaparte, Napoleon played an important part in planning for the French Army of Italy and its upcoming offensive

! for two years there had been little success against Piedmont and its British Royal Navy ally. France desperately needed to open the grain trade with Genoa

! April, 1794-Napoleon’s future marshal, Massena, opened an attack using the plan developed by his future emperor

! the first stage of the Italian campaign was successful

! June-Bonaparte undertook a risky secret undercover mission to Genoa, behind enemy lines, to plan future operations

! July 1794-the next month, events in Paris created a political upheaval which would send him to prison and endanger his life!


War and Politics! since 1789, a series of French governments had

sacked 680 generals! At least half of these had been executed by guillotine or firing squad

! after Thermidor (27 July 1794) Bonaparte’s connection to Robespierre’s brother suddenly switched from being an invaluable asset to a life- threatening liability

! the new Thermidorian faction had to find the narrow path between Royalists and Republicans. They began by purging Jacobin Republicans

! 6 August-Napoleon was imprisoned for treason in connection with his undercover visit to Genoa

! during this time he studied Marshal Maillebois’ account of his campaign in Piedmont (1745)

! 20 August 1794-he was released and returned to the Army of Italy to continue planning for an offensive


Bonaparte’s First Love(?)

! although he referred to her as “my tender Eugénie,” history knows her as Désirée

! her father was a wealthy silk manufacturer and merchant in Marseilles. Her education was in convent schools

! when her brother was arrested during the Terror, Joseph Bonaparte arranged his release

! August 1794-Joseph married her “unattractive twenty-two-year old[older sister] Marie-Julie”-Dwyer

! “it may even have been the prospect of a substantial dowery that persuaded [N] Buonaparte to court [Désirée]”

! 21 April 1795-they became engaged

! May-he has to bid farewell to his tearful seventeen-year-old fiancée as he departs for Paris to fight an undesired military transfer

Bernardine Eugénie Désirée Clary (1777 – 1860)


The “Dear John” Letter

While he was in Paris, the Clary family moved to Genoa.

You are no longer in France, my deserving friend; were we not far enough apart? You have resolved to put the sea between us. I do not reproach you; I know that your position was delicate, and your last letter deeply moved me with the touching portrait of your suffering. Tender Eugénie, you are young. Your feelings will at first weaken, will declare themselves, and a little while after, you will find yourself changed. Such is the empire of time. Such is the fatal effect, infallible, of absence. I know that you will remain interested in your friend, but it will be nothing more than interest, than esteem.

The rest of the missive is taken up with more advice, this time on what to do when she falls in love again. Curiously, the man he describes as the one she should choose above all others remarkably resembles how Buonaparte wanted to live his life. ‘With a fiery imagination, a cool head, a strange heart and melancholic tendencies, one can shine among men like a meteor and disappear like one.’

Dwyer, pp. 162-163


13 Vendemiare(5 October 1795)


13 Vendemiare(5 October 1795)

The Demonstration of 13 Vendémiaire, Year IV, The Église Saint-Roch, Honoré Street


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%C3%89glise_Saint-Roch

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%C3%89glise_Saint-Roch

The “Sword” of Paul Barras

! Spring 1795-a series of political appointments bring Napoleon increasing frustration

! he’s recalled from the French Army of Italy to Toulon to lead an expedition against Corsica, now in British hands

! when British sea power makes that impossible, he’s demoted and assigned to lead a second-rate army brigade against the royalist counterrevolution in the Vendée

! arriving in Paris to protest his orders, he learns that he had been put on the unemployed list

! September-but as things go badly for the Army of Italy, he is assigned to the general staff in Paris to plan a counter-offensive against the Austrians in Italy

! just as his connection with Robespierre’s brother had been damaging, now his connection with Barras proved advantageous


The Royalist Threat

! October 1795-with British help, Louis XVI’s youngest brother, Artois is landed on the French coastal Isle de Yeu to raise a rebellion

! Royalist sympathizers in the western Paris sections demonstrate

! the initial effort by general Menou to restore order fails

! Bonaparte offers his services to Barras who has been put in charge of the defense of Paris

! 5 October 1795-according to the Napoleonic legend, it is the forceful employment of cannon by the young General Bonaparte which puts down the Paris uprising and saves the new government





In front of the Convention, the relieved parliamentarians run to congratulate their savior. In the meeting room he is given an ovation. On this memorable day, Bonaparte becomes a national hero. His popularity jumps as much with the people as in the political circles. On 16 October, he is promoted to the rank of General of Division. He is 26 years old. Ten days later he is nominated Commandant of the Army of the Interior, replacing Barras who is now one of five Directors. It is in this respect an undeniable show of confidence from the Directoire, which is a new and fragile institution of the country…

www.napoleonicsociety.com/english/13vendangl.html

The Napoleonic Version


http://www.napoleonicsociety.com/english/13venda

http://www.napoleonicsociety.com/english/13venda

Did Buonaparte give the order to fire on the crowd? It is highly unlikely. The only historian [Henry Zivy] to have studied this episode at any length believes that Buonaparte was not involved in the shooting in front of the church. He also suggests that the cannonade did not and could not have taken place….Certainly, the legend that grew up around Napoleon made much of this episode, exploited to an extent by contemporary prints and engravings of the scene. By the end of the Empire it was commonly accepted that Buonaparte did indeed fire on the crowds on the steps of the church….

At two o’clock the next morning, Buonaparte wrote to Giuseppe [his older brother Joseph]:

At last, everything is over….We placed our troops; the enemy came to attack us at the Tuileries. We killed a lot of their people; they killed thirty men and wounded sixty. We have disarmed the sectiona and everything is calm.

Dwyer, pp. 174-176

The Historians Version


Josephine; A Romantic Beginning

! this 32 year-old Creole widow from Martinique in the West Indies had had an adventurous life

Marie Josèphe Rose Tascher de La Pagerie

1763 – 1814




! 1779-first married to a French aristocrat, Alexandre de Beauharnais, she bore him a son, Eugene (1781-1824) and a daughter, Hortense (1783-1837) who would marry Napoleon’s brother, Louis

! the couple was imprisoned during the Reign of Terror


1763 – 1814




! 1779-first married to a French aristocrat, Alexandre de Beauharnais, she bore him a son, Eugene (1781-1824) and a daughter, Hortense (1783-1837) who would marry Napoleon’s brother, Louis

! the couple was imprisoned during the Reign of Terror

! 23 July 1794- Alexandre was guillotined

! 28 July-as the execution of Robespierre ended the Jacobin Terror, Josephine was released

! through her friend, Therese Cabarrus, she became a mistress of Paul Barras, among others

! October 1795-legend has it that her son, Eugene, was the occasion of her meeting Napoleon


1763 – 1814


Buonaparte was impressed. He was drawn to her because of her sophistication and her experience -- ‘She was a real woman,’ as Napoleon later put it, and ‘she had the prettiest little backside possible.’ He went from a submissive Désirée, ...on whom he had projected many of his own feelings, to a very self-assured woman of the world….

After six months of courting, Buonaparte asked for Josephine’s hand in marriage….For women in the eighteenth century, marriage and dependency on a man were often seen as the path to happiness. The idea that one would marry for love was not all that common in the nobility and does not, in any event, seem to have influenced Josephine’s decision….Buonaparte had, in the meantime, written to Désirée with an ultimatum: if she did not obtain the consent of her mother and her brother to marry him, it would be preferable to ‘break off all relations….’

On 9 March 1796, Buonaparte and Josephine were married….

Dwyer, pp. 187-190

Love (?) Again



First Italian Campaign, 1796-971


Middle East Campaign, 1798-99 2

First Italian Campaign 1796-97


Armée de l’Italie


1796

Soldiers! You are naked, i"-fed; the government owes you much, it can give you nothing. Your patience, the courage you exhibit in the midst of these rocks, are admirable, but they bring you no glory; no luster is reflected on you. I wi" lead you into the most fertile plains of the world. Rich provinces, great cities wi" be in your power; there you wi" find honor, fame and riches. Soldiers of Italy, sha" courage or constancy fail you?

Napoleon, 27 March 1796


Beaulieu

Colli

Bonaparte

By seizing the interior position, Bonaparte struck first against Beaulieu, then Colli, then Beaulieu again, defeating their superior forces in detail

April 1796


Lodi


The Battle of LodiLouis-François, Baron Lejeune, c. 1804


The French artillery suddenly doubled its rate of fire. Out of the smoke, straight across the bridge, roared Dallemagne’s column (3,000). With men dropping at each stride, it got to the center of the bridge (some 200 yards long) before Austrian infantry fire smashed its head into a tangle of dead and wounded. Somehow untouched, red-bearded Major Dupas, commanding the leading battalion, shouted his men on. The column staggered, but Berthier seized a flag and went forward. Massena, Lannes, Dallemagne--a crowd of officers and men mixed together--followed. Some carabiniers, dropping from the bridge onto a sand bank in the river, gave the rush fire support….

Later, Bonaparte would say that it was Lodi that made him certain he could be a man of high destiny.

Esposito & Elting, West Point Atlas of the Napoleonic Wars, commentary on maps 10 & 11


Reproduction of a painting by Felicien de Myrbach-RheinfeldCaption: Where after seizing the bridge over the Adda, the French defeated the Austrians and proceeded to occupy Milan.Source: Life of Napoleon Bonaparte by William M. Sloane. New York: Century, vol. 1 (1906)

the petit caporal sights one of his guns


the man of destiny

...a few days after the Battle of Lodi [10 May 1796] he confided to Marmont, "They [the Directory] have seen nothing yet....In our days no one has conceived anything great; it is for me to set the example."

Napoleon, age 26

“It was only on the evening of Lodi,” he recorded a long time later, “that I believed myself a superior man, and that the ambition came to me of executing the great things which so far had been occupying my thoughts only as a fantastic dream.”

David Chandler, The Campaigns of Napoleon, p. 84


Napoleon teaches Austria’s generals the art of war

After forcing the Adda River at Lodi, he pursed the demoralized forces of general Beaulieu (age 70) east across Lombardy. A few soldiers were left to defend Austria’s fortresses while Beaulieu retreated north of the Alps. Austria would prove her resilience by raising army after army over the next two decades. The next general to “receive a lesson” from the twenty-six year old prodigy was Dagobert Sigmund von Wurmser (age 71).

Beaulieu Wurmser


Austria’s Famous “Quadrangle”Four interlocking, mutually supporting

fortress cities


...Mantua ..., a most imposing fortress surrounded by inundations and protected by no less than 316 guns and a garrison of 12,000 men

Chandler, p.86


the renewed siege of Mantua, August 1796

Strongest of the four fortress cities of the Austrian quadrilateral, Mantua was the key to Austria’s control of Northern Italy. General Wurmser would make a second attempt to lift the French siege, in September, only to be forced inside the city with his defeated army. The garrison was swollen to 22,000 with only 14,000 effective. The garrison was swollen to 22,000 with only 14,000 effective. Next, Austria sent her third general, Jozef Alvinczi, with fresh armies to make a third and fourth attempt to relieve the city.

Wurmzer Alvinczi




The Battle of Castiglione, August 5, 1796: early morning phase


The Battle of Castiglione, August 5, 1796: late morning phase


Austria 61,100France 41,500

Austria sends her thirdarmy with a new

general

Arcola


...would come back to haunt him throughout his life, especially when he was under duress or overworked. There were periods when he seems to have overcome it; there were others, like this time [summer of 1795] in Paris when his future was unclear, when it would reappear, dampening his spirit and deadening the soul. During the Italian campaign, for example, there were days when Bonaparte was completely despondent and when he thought of abandoning the army. Indeed, Bonaparte’s moods could swing violently from elation, especially after a hard-fought victory, to outright dejection before the start of a battle. Just before Arcola, for example, he wrote that his spirit was ‘lacerated’. These mood swings can be explained by the sheer strain of command -- he and his men marched hard, and fought almost non-stop for months -- but there was an underlying pessimism that dominated Buonaparte’s character.

Dwyer, p. 166

Melancholy


Later Propaganda Pictures








Now, at last, the issue was to be staked on a single decisive battle.

The clash promised to be a final test of the tactical merits of concentric columns as opposed to French grand tactics. The very terrain of Rivoli--a lakeside plateau approached by good roads from three directions--made it inevitable that the Austrians would rely on their favorite converging attack. Quite as inevitably, Bonaparte planned to make use of his interior lines in the hope of bringing up a local superiority of numbers at each threatened point.

At Rivoli, however, Bonaparte’s greater skill was balanced by an enemy numerical advantage of more than two to one at the beginning of the battle.

Montross, p. 473

Rivoli; 14-15 January 1797


Napoleon at the Battle of RivoliFelix Philipoteaux, 1845

Palace of Versailles, Gallerie des Batailles


In five days fighting and marching, Bonaparte had reduced the Austrian army of 48,000 men to a mere 13,000 fugitives. This had been achieved only by the superb endurance and courage of the French infantry.

Chandler, The Campaigns of Napoleon, p.121


Austria’s fourth and final army

The Austrian emperor’s younger brother, Archduke Charles, Napoleon’s own age, collected yet another army in the spring of 1797. It was a mix of raw recruits and experienced soldiers. But it fared no better than the first three. Bonaparte chased them back over the Alps and was marching on Vienna when Austria sought an armistice. Northern Italy had become a French satellite.

Alvinczi Archduke Charles


Austria’s fourth and final army

The Austrian emperor’s younger brother, Archduke Charles, Napoleon’s own age, collected yet another army in the spring of 1797. It was a mix of raw recruits and experienced soldiers. But it fared no better than the first three. Bonaparte chased them back over the Alps and was marching on Vienna when Austria sought an armistice. Northern Italy had become a French satellite.

Alvinczi Archduke Charles



Egypt


Egypt

Battle of the Pyramids, 21 July 1798





The Mamelukes

The Mameluke war lords of Egypt were splendid, headlong horsemen, individually superior to French cavalrymen in weapons, horsemanship, and fighting skills. But they were out of the Middle Ages, professional warriors, not soldiers. When it came to clashes with sizable bodies of cavalry, French organization and discipline shattered them. Also they were never able to deal with French infantry and guns.

Esposito, Swords Around A Throne. p. 504


Paddy Griffith, French Napoleonic Infantry Tactics; 1792-1815, map C, after p. 32

Inset 1- Cross-section of a file in an ‘Egyptian square.’ Only the front two ranks can fire their muskets or level their bayonets

3- Two guns at each corner protected by two platoons of grenadiers. Only one fires at a time while the other reloads






Napoleon at the pest house at Jaffa, 1799



Turkish losses: 2,000 KIA, 10-11,000 drowned, & 3,000 POWs; possibly 1,200 escaped

French losses: 150 KIA, 750 WIA

Bonaparte said later that the Turks were brave, but lacked proper organization, could not maneuver easily, and had no idea of tactics.


(9 November 1799)

18 Brumaire


(9 November 1799)

18 Brumaire

General Napoleon during the coup d'état of 18 Brumaire in Saint-Cloud, detail


the coup of 18 Brumaire

...with French military prospects waning badly in Europe...Napoleon decided to abandon his army and make his way back to France….On 9 October he landed at Fréjus, in southern France, precisely when the Directory stood on the brink of collapse owing to military failure, government financial cutbacks and the extension of conscription.

A coup was already in the making, and with the sudden appearance in Paris of Napoleon--hailed for his conquest of Egypt--the conspirators felt emboldened on 18 Brumaire (9 November 1799) to dissolve by force the legislative body known as the Council of Five Hundred, placing in their stead, by dubious election, three consuls, Napoleon amongst them. When, a month later, the new constitution proclaimed him First Consul, it laid the foundation for 15 years of absolute rule; the French Revolution was over and the Napoleonic era had begun.

Gregory Fremont-Barnes, Napoleon Bonaparte. p. 13




First Consul BonaparteSaturday, February 5, 2011

“The French can no longer be governed except by me.”

Bonaparte, quoted in Palmer, p. 569

...Bonaparte, as First Consul, would declare bluntly: “There must be no opposition.”

Lefebvre, p. 378


Burke’s Reflections on the Present Revolution [in France] 1790


Burke’s Reflections on the Present Revolution [in France] 1790

...In the weakness of one kind of authority, and in the fluctuation of all, the officers of any army will remain for some time mutinous and full of faction, until some popular general, who understands the art of conciliating the soldiery, and who possesses the true spirit of command, shall draw the eyes of all men upon himself. Armies will obey him on his personal account. There is no other way of securing military obedience in this state of things. But the moment in which that event shall happen, the person who really commands the army is your master;...


Education

Napoleon, session i, Ambition