Today we're going to talk about the Napoleonic Wars
Napoleon Bonaparte is an extremely controversial figure some scholars see him as the man who led France out of the chaos
That was the French Revolution and went on to take down their enemies
Others see him as a man who seized control during political instability a militaristic
power-hungry dictator whose reign saw millions of soldiers and civilians killed
So how exactly did Napoleon take power in the first place?
Before the French Revolution the French government was divided into three broad classes
the clergy the nobility and the Third Estate or everyone else
France had supplied financial aid during the American Revolution and was now in an economic crisis
King Louie the 16th placed heavy taxes upon the peasants who were starving and suffering from bread shortages
Furthermore a movement known as the Enlightenment began to question the hierarchy of government and whether the king was truly chosen by God to rule
the Enlightenment promoted reason and science and these ideas soon spreads the nobility and wealthy businessmen in
1789 King Louie the sixteenth called together these
Representatives from these classes to meet at the estate general unable to make an accord on anything the Third Estate
left and formed their own national assembly the
King disagreed with these actions resulting in riots throughout Paris on the 14th of July
1789 the revolution storms the Bastille fortress
freeing half a dozen prisoners and seizing weapons and ammunition
the National Assembly abolished feudalism and formed a new constitution the
revolution had begun
most people wanted a constitutional monarchy
however, the revolution took a dark turn it became a bloodbath with internal and external Wars an
Extremist group known as the jacobins took control and around 16,000 people including the King were executed
the other monarchies of Europe were worried about the revolution and tried to stop it from spreading and formed several coalition's
these coalition's failed and France ended up creating several puppet states in Italy the Netherlands and Switzerland and
This is where your boy
Napoleon comes in
After spending his childhood at military school Napoleon was given command of an army at the age of 26
after fighting against Austria
Italy and a failed campaign in Egypt
Napoleon returned to France where a new government known as the directory were growing them popular in
1799 Napoleon overthrew the directory in a coup and became the first console of the republic
napoleon soon sold french Louisiana to the United States to save it from being captured by Britain in
The same year Napoleon sent troops to put down revolts in Haiti
But this failed and Napoleon gave up on his dream of an empire in the West
In 1803 Britain sent an ultimatum to France to leave the Netherlands and Switzerland
Napoleon tried to reason with Britain but no agreement could be made and so began the Napoleonic Wars the
Royal Navy blockaded France as Britain continued to rule the waves
Napoleon was declared Emperor and soon declared king of Italy but a third coalition was then formed consisting of Britain
Austria Sweden and Russia to push France out of the Netherlands and Switzerland in
1805 France paralyzed Spain joined naval forces at the Battle of Trafalgar
But were defeated by Lord Nelson on land Napoleon and his army moved across the Holy Roman Empire
defeating Austria
He occupied Vienna before the combined forces of Austria and Russia arrived the armies clashed at the battle of Austerlitz
25,000 Austrian and Russian soldiers died while Napoleon only lost 7,000 soldiers
Napoleon conquered the Holy Roman Empire and reorganized the area into the Confederation of the Rhine
With various duchies and kingdoms allied to France
Austria pulled out the war but another coalition was formed with Prussia Russia Britain
Saxony and Sweden in 1806 the
French army known as the Grand Army was formed through conscription. It was made up of hundreds of thousands of soldiers
with the Industrial Revolution
weapons were mass-produced for the artillery infantry and cavalry
Napoleon defeated Prussia and pushed to the Russian frontier creating more puppet States and the Duchy of Warsaw
In 1806 Napoleon set up the Continental System which stated no country could trade with Britain
Fearing Napoleon would use Danish ships to invade Britain attacked neutral Denmark, Norway to capture and destroy their fleet
This angered Denmark of Russia who then sided with the French
Portugal continued to trade with Britain as they were long-term allies
together Spain and France invaded Portugal
However, Napoleon turned on Spain taking control of the Iberian, Peninsula
This would be a turning point for Napoleon as the Spanish would fight for years using guerilla warfare
Napoleon invaded Russia after it refused to abide by the Continental System
In 1812 over half a million troops marched into Russia and burned Moscow
But the Russians retreated and refused to surrender
Napoleon left Moscow undersupplied as the Russian winter set in only
27,000 troops returned while 380 thousand died the rest were presumed missing or captured
The sixth coalition was formed and Napoleon lost at the bus of Leipzig and retreated to Paris where he surrendered
He was exiled but returned in 1815 though. He was defeated at the Battle of Waterloo and sent into exile again where he died