THE NAPOLEONIC WARS

ABOUT THE WAR

Napoleonic wars, described as a series of wars between the Napoleonic France and the other
Europeon countries, where France undertook a brief French dominance over most of the
Europe. The Napoleonic wars were a period of recurrent conflicts, under the emperor
Napoleon Bonaparte, that ended with the Battle of Waterloo and the second abdication of the
emperor.1 To know about the Napoleonic wars the research initially focuses on the reign of
the emperor, Napoleon Bonaparte.

ABOUT THE EMPEROR

Napoleon Bonaparte, recognised as one of the greatest military leaders, was born on 15th
August, 1769 in Ajaccio Corsica, France. He was the fourth son of Carlo Bonaparte. By the
time of Napoleon’s birth Corsica’s occupation by the French had already started facing local
resistance. Carlo Bonaparte, who first supported the nationalists Pasquale Paoli, siding his
leader who was then forced to flee away from the island was again forced to switch his
allegiance to the French, after which he was appointed as the assessor of the judicial district
of Ajaccio, pushing his sons, Napoleon and Joseph to d’autun college in France.2

Eventually Napoleon ended up at the military college of Brienne where he studied for five
years, before moving to the military academy in Paris. The death of his father, Carlo
Bonaparte, due to stomach cancer propelled him to graduate early as the second lieutenant
from the military academy and back to Corsica in 1786, to take the reins as the hire of the
family.3

Returning to Corsica, Bonaparte initially supported the rebellion against the French siding his
father’s ally, Paoli. The coalition soon collapsed due to the outbreak of a civil war in Corsica
and Bonaparte as the enemy of Paoli, moved back with his family to France.4

Return to French meant a return to the service at the military forces, rejoining Napoleon
showed his support to the Jacobins a political movement kept aside and one of the popular
groups of the French Revolution. The execution of King Louis XVI, and the declaration of
the country as a republic in 1792, led to the rise of Maximillien Robespirre whose reign was
also known as the reign of terror where almost 40,000 people were killed. Eventually
Robespirre was executed and the directory took control of the country.5

All such situations created flourishing opportunities for leaders like Napoleon, who fell into
the good books of the directory by saving the government from counter-revolutionary forces.
Once into the army, Napoleon was soon known as the commander of the army of interior. In
1786, Napoleon took over the control over the Italian army that was poorly fed, distorted and
1
https://www.britannica.com/event/Napoleonic-Wars
2
https://www.biography.com/people/napoleon-9420291
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disgruntled he changed the way it worked, and under him the army soon won many victories
against the Austrians, he greatly expanded the French Empire that made him the brightest
military star.6

Napoleon’s political skills soon led to a new constitution constituting the position of thr first
consul, leading to nothing less then a dictatorship. Napoleon was the person who fulfilled the
first consul duties, and the new constitution was accepted easily. Under his reign, he created
many reforms that forbided privileged rights by birth, and rights to religion were also
acknowledged by him. His reforms were widely accepted, and soon in 1802, he was declared
as the French Emperor.7

NAPOLEONIC WARS:

 NAPOLEON AGAINST AUSTRIA-1800-1801

After signing up as the first consul, Napoleon’s principle agenda was to bring back
the assets taken over by the Austrians.
In the 1796, the Austrians had chances of being attacked from the north i.e., from the
Germany and from the south i.e., through Italy. In the hope of surprising the army by
entering through the St Bernard pass before the snow clears Napoleon decides to enter
from the south, he himself covering the way through a mule. But this does not avoid
the painter Jacques-Louis David from expecting him on a magnificent stallion among
the snow peaks.
As the encounter began it clearly seemed as a disaster on Bonaparte’s part, by mid-
afternoon it seemed as the Napoleon army was defeated, but a brave counter reverse
attack backflips the situation, ending with the defeat of the Austrians.
Victory at Marengo is followed by an armistice breached by Napoleon in November,
where he sends the French army north of Alps to Vienna, and another victory urges
the emperor to sign a treaty at Luneville in February 1801, and Austria recognises the
four French sister republics.8

 NAPEOLEON AGAINST BRITAIN 1800-1802

The conflicts between France and Britain had been going on from 1793, such clashes
between the nations were not through coastal or sea wars, but by preventing the
trading of one nation with the others i.e., it was the duty of the Britain to prevent any
French trading ships from being able to reach the ports whereas it was the duty of the
French to avoid Britain ships from entering the same ports. These conflicts took a
severe turn with the implementation of the policy by Britain to seize the goods carried
by French ships to neutral ports.
Furious at the British policy, Napoleon pressurises nations like Russia, Sweden, and
Denmark to form a coalition and declare Baltic ports from the bounds of the Britain.

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http://www.historyworld.net/wrldhis/PlainTextHistories.asp?groupid=99&HistoryID=aa13&gtrack=pthc
 Britain responds to this by sending a naval fleet into the Baltic port, under the
command of Nelson, who successfully destroys many ships and damages the shore
completely. The victory retaliates danes to make peace in may followed by Sweden
and Russia. Moreover following such events, the Britain and French are the only
nations persistent in the war.
In 1801, the Britain sends a fleet through the Mediterranean to help the turks expel the
French from the Egypt.
After the never ending conflicts between the nations finally peace is restored through,
the peace treaty signed in Amiens in 1802. Where all the French territories acquired
by Britain are returned back to France and territories like the sri lanka were kept by
the Britain.9

 NAPOLEON AGAINST RUSSIA AND PRUSSIA 1806-1807

Prussia initially maintained a neutral relationship with its neighbours French and
Britain, but the confederation of Rhine, led to the Prussians joining the Russians
against Bonaparte, which resulted in a disaster when the French army went over to
destroy the Prussians before the arrival of their supporters. Six weeks later after the
arrival of the Russian assistance, they were horrified at the site of whole of Prussia
being acquitted by the French. After the two day endless war between Russia and
French Napoleon decisively wins over the Russian army.
This resulted in an extraordinary meeting between Napoleon and the Russian tsar,
Alexander I, in Tilsit as none agree to set foot on the others territory. After a series of
conferences, peace is finally brought back through the Tiltis agreement, wherein
Napoleon persuades Prussia to close its ports to Britain and Russia also agrees to join
in the continental system boycotting Britain ships.
Itv was decided that Russia and France would mutually demand Britain to allow ships
of other countries to the seas, and if not agreed then they would mutually insist
Sweden, Denmark and Portugal to boycott Britain ships as well. 10

RESEARCHERS PERSPECTIVE ON THE WAR CONTENDING THE

JUST WAR THEORY

 NAPOLEON AGAINST AUSTRIA

Reflecting towards the criteria based for a Just War according to the Just War Theory,
the war between Napoleon and Austria cannot be considered as a just war in my
opinion as the below mentioned unavoidable criteria for a war to be considered just
were not contented.
CRITERIA NOT FULFILLED-

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  The right intention for fighting the war is because it is in a just cause. Any
other intention, e.g., material gain, undermines the justice of war.11
War upheld against Austria was unjust as the motive behind it was of material
gain i.e., the main intention of Napoleon behind the war was to regain the
assets he lost to Austria and not to commence peace or bring mutual benefit to
both or one of the states.
 The decision to go to war must be made with proper authority and by a public
declaration.12
Another reason for the war to be stated unjust is that there was no public
declaration on the part of Napoleon, moreover, he tried to attack the Austrain
army surprisingly by entering through the snowy passes, where they might not
be expected.
 The response of declaring war must be proportionate i.e., the good that can be
secured through war must outweigh the evil that will most likely occur. The
end must justify the means. And in thid calculation, the state must take into
account not just the costs and benefits to itself, but those that will affect
everyone involved in the war.13
The war was unjust as the means appropriated by Napoleon did not justify the
end. It neither brought peace nor did it bring mutual benefits to both the states,
rather it was a brutal action for acquisition of what one originally owned,
which could have been brought back through more effective and peaceful
manners.

 NAPOLEON AGAINST BRITAIN-

As mentioned above, the war between Britain and France was confined within the
areas of trade, wherein they stopped the trade between the opposite state and the other
countries. The war can be considered a just war as, there were no material gains14
involved.
Another reason for the war to be considered just was that the means used justified the
end results as it resulted in the Ameins peace treaty that benefited both the states
where Britain returned back the French territories acquired by it. And both mutually
agreed upon non-interference by each other in the other states trading activities.

 NAPOLEON AGAINST PRUSSIA AND RUSSIA-

The war between France and Prussia with the interference of Russia can be viewed
through different perspectives wherein one supports the idea of it being a just war
whereas the other conflicting the prior.
 AN UNJUST WAR-
11
http://documents.routledge-
interactive.s3.amazonaws.com/9781138793934/A2/Political/JustWarTheory.pdf
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 The war is considered unjust as France attacked Prussia without a public
declaration,15 and the intention behind it was only to expand its control to
achieve support against its powerful rivals. It was not aimed at bringing
mutual agreements that brought benefits to both sides but can be considered a
minor collateral damage to achieve higher goals.
 A JUST WAR-
The declaration of war must be the last resort, following the exhaustion of all
plausible alternatives means to resolving the conflict.
The response of declaring war must be proportionate, i.e., the good that can be
secured through war must outweigh thye evil that will most likely occur. The
end must justify the means. And in this calculation, the state must take into
account not just the costs and benefits to itself, but those that will affect
everyone involved in the war.16
The only reason for this being subjected to being a just war is of the end
results, wherein both the emperors mutually come up with an agreement to
form a coalition that benefitted both the countries politically and economically
as well. Hence, the main reason behind a war being waged was justified
through the results where, different and effective method of negotiation was
utilised to avoid damage and bring benefit to both the states.

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