Napoleon Bonaparte (1769-1821)

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Rise to Power
Napoleon in Italy
Napoleon in Egypt
Napoleon as First Consul
Napoleon as Emperor
Napoleon in Spain and Portugal
Napoleon in Europe
Napoleon in Russia
Napoleon on the Defensive
Napoleon and the Hundred Days
Napoleon as Leader
Napoleon I is one of the most famous military and political leaders of History.
His political achievements are many and they alone have filled whole books, but
I shall focus on his military achievements which are no less remarkable, changin
g the face of Europe forever and bringing in a new era of warfare - that of the
nation at arms. Napoleon was a complex man, who at the start of his career was c
onstructive and took France to new heights of power but by the end had brought h
er years of war and destruction. Worshipped by his followers and seen as an ogre
by his enemies his boundless enthusiasm and limitless ambition are hard to resi
st. His glory as a military commander is paramount but hundreds of thousands die
d for his ambition which had an appetite that could not be sated even when he ha
d conquered most of Europe and beyond and had proclaimed himself Emperor of a co
untry which had started out as a revolutionary republic.
Napoleon was born on 15th August 1769 at Ajaccio on the island of Corsica. He wa
s the second son (having 7 siblings) of a lawyer who had minor connections to th
e aristocracy and was far from wealthy. Much like his contemporary Lord Nelson,
Napoleon had no advantage of birth, or family wealth and all that he was later t
o achieve was due to his own ability and a large amount of being in the right pl
ace at the right time. His family were radical in outlook and as a young man he
strongly identified with his Corsican heritage. Thanks in part to his mother s adu
ltery with the French military governor Comte de Marbeuf he began his military e
ducation at Brienne military academy and later in 1784 at the Military school in
Paris. Here he was commissioned as an artillery officer a year later and with h
is fathers early death in 1785 he worked hard to complete his studies in a furth
er year rather than the required three years. This was the natural choice of ser
vice for the young Bonaparte as he was gifted at science and mathematics, which
were essential skills for any artillery officer of the time. Also the infantry a
nd especially the cavalry drew their officers from wealthier and better-connecte
d families. The young Napoleon spent much of the next 8 years in Corsica support
ing the Corsican rebel Pasquale Paulo who had been a patron of Napoleon's father
. When the revolution broke out the Bonaparte family fled to France and Napoleon
became opposed to Pasquale. He would quite likely have been condemned to obsc
urity had not the revolution allowed for those with little wealth or influence t
o advance quickly. Napoleon's skill at the siege of Toulon while only an artille
ry captain under General Jacques Dugommier was to start Napoleon on the path of
greatness; a rise to power that was to be incredibly rapid. Toulon was a major F
rench naval base but loyalist counter revolutionaries handed it over to an Allie
d army under the command of Admiral Lord Hood consisting of about 16,000 men, in
cluding British, Spanish and Émigré French. The Revolutionary forces numbered about
11,000. The siege lasted between 27th August and 19th December 1793 and came to
an end when French government forces under the young Napoleon captured Fort Mulg
rave and the promontory of L Eguillette. This gave the French a commanding positio
n over the inner harbour with their artillery and the Allies withdrew.
Rise to Power
Napoleon was promoted to Brigadier-General in December 1793 shortly after his pe
rformance at the siege of Toulon. He was also named inspector of the Coast based
in Nice in the south of France. He was now 25 with a promising career and altho
ugh his family were still poor he quickly used his newfound influence to acquire
jobs for his brothers, Joseph, Lucien and Louis. Things were about to go sour,
as these were the days of the Terror in France as Robespierre and his followers hu
nted down and executed all those suspected of being nobles or royalists. As time
went on no one was safe as even Republicans who had made enemies found themselv
es on the executioners block in front of a baying mob. Napoleon was appalled and
when Robespierre s younger brother asked Napoleon to become the commander of the
Paris garrison Napoleon refused. This would have been a promotion but Napoleon p
robably believed such a position would be very dangerous at the time. Instead th
e government sent Napoleon on a secret mission to Genoa, but when he returned to
Nice, Robespierre had fallen and the new political masters saw his trip to Geno
a as treasonable. He was arrested in August 1794 but released after a couple of
weeks due to lack of evidence. He returned to command an artillery unit on the
Italian border but when this duty ended he was unemployed and set off for Paris
in 1795.
On arrival he had a stormy meeting with the Minister of war who had offered him
an infantry brigade to command but Napoleon refused, wanting to remain with the
artillery and he was sent on leave without pay. Lean times followed and he was f
orced to sell some belongings and even considered traveling to Turkey to become
an artillery officer there. Finally he got work with the Topographical Office.
Looking back on this period of Napoleon's career we can see future traits, his l
ove of artillery, his passion and skill for maps and his stormy temper. Things b
egan to look up once more. Lazare Carnot became the new Minister of War and Napo
leon befriended the powerful politician Paul Barras. A crisis emerged and this w
as to become Napoleon's golden opportunity. A group of disaffected Republicans s
upported by some Royalists started to openly plan a coup and took over the gener
al assembly. Riots broke out and General Menou commanding the Paris garrison fai
led to disperse the mobs. Rumours started to spread that the Army was siding wit
h the rebels and the politicians started to panic. On 13th October 1785 Barras a
sked Napoleon to take command and gave him 3 minutes to answer. This was a turni
ng point in Napoleon's career -he agreed but warned Barras Once my sword is drawn
, it will not be sheathed until order is restored , a statement that echoes down t
he centuries whenever marshal law is declared in a country. Napoleon now acted q
uickly. He realised that the rebels had few cannon and ordered a young cavalry o
fficer Joachim Murat to bring forty pieces of field artillery from Sablons into
Paris. By morning troops were quickly arriving in Paris and now with his guns Na
poleon went to meet the rebel forces that were marching on Tuileries in two colu
mns. He met the first column at Roch Church and grapeshot from the guns ripped
into them clearing the street in minutes. The second column met a similar fate n
ear the Palais Royal. Napoleon's cavalry and infantry mopped up and by ten that
evening the rebellion was over. The next day Napoleon was promoted to General d
e Division (Major-General) within four days he was made second in command of the
Army of the interior, he was a hero and had huge popular support at the age of
26. It was at this time that Napoleon became enamoured of Josephine de Beauharn
ais who was 32 and had 2 children. Once more Napoleon was a victim of his own su
ccess, the politicians were nervous of having such a powerful and popular genera
l in Paris. Napoleon at this time was not interested in a political career and w
as delighted when he was appointed Commander of the Army of Italy in March 1796
as he had already drawn up plans to attack Austria via Italy. The government app
roved this plan. On 11th March he left for the border as Austrian troops were a
lready gathering there, two days before he married Josephine.
Napoleon in Italy
Napoleon did not receive a very warm welcome from the officers when he joined th
e Army in Nice on 26th March. Many of them were experienced soldiers who saw Nap
oleon as young pup, but were ironically to later become famous under his command
. They included Massena, Joubert and Berthier and they saw Napoleon as a Street g
eneral , in reference to his actions in Paris and another political appointment fo
rced upon them by Paris. Napoleon found the army well armed but badly supplied a
nd with low morale due to months of back pay owed. Uniforms were poor and disci
pline was also weak with only 45,000 of the expected 60,000 men present. Office
rs had often risen from the ranks as many loyalist officers had fled abroad; the
se former NCOs had good practical skills but no experience or training as office
rs. Despite this the raw enthusiasm of the French Republican troops had served t
hem well and they had driven a variety of invaders off French soil and had invad
ed Spain, Belgium, Holland and Italy ready to bring Republicanism to the rest of
Europe. By the time Napoleon reached his army reality had caught up with the en
thusiasm, the government had run out of money and the poorly equipped armies wer
e now falling part. Napoleon acted quickly ordering all looters to face death if
caught and started constant drill and parades among the troops. His force of wi
ll carried the officers along with him and he began to motivate the men and offi
cers restoring their pride as soldiers of France and their self-belief. Napoleon
wrote to the government I will maintain order or will cease to command these br
igands . Everyone was kept busy for Napoleon knew that idle soldiers soon lost dis
cipline and became a rabble. Napoleon also knew that if he did not give the tro
ops a victory the effects of his measures would soon wear off and they would sli
p back into bad habits. With the Paris government keen but lacking any kind of
plan Napoleon took the initiative. Napoleon decided to strike against Piedmont,
the local troops were well equipped but had poor morale as they felt that Austri
a was using them in its struggle against France with no benefit to themselves. T
he Austrians for their part distrusted their allies and were poorly although tog
ether with allies they out numbered Napoleon's forces by about 10,000.
Napoleon then did what was to become his trademark tactic; he struck at one foe
in force and defeated them in time to concentrate on another. His army moved fas
t - he struck on 12 April at Montenotte crushing the Piedmontese forces and then
two days later he finished off the rest of the Piedmont Army and some Austrian
forces at Dego. The powerful Austrian army under General Beaulieu arrived too la
te and its initial successes against French forces led the General to underestim
ate Napoleon. The Austrians started to fall back carefully as they now realised
Napoleon had a larger force than them. On 28th April the Piedmontese asked for a
n armistice, the Paris convention prevented Napoleon negotiating diplomatic term
s so he quickly gave the Piedmontese terms that would take them out of the war,
which they accepted. The local population now became increasing hostile to the r
etreating Austrians. On 9th May the French crossed the Adda River and beat off t
he Austrians in a series of brief engagements, the Austrians now continued to re
treat out of Lombardy. The French now paused to loot and replenish themselves al
so seizing Italian gold reserves, this band of brigands that was the French army
now provoked an up rising in the city of Pavia which Napoleon ruthlessly crushe
d and the city was sacked, so much for liberty, equality and fraternity.
The Austrians were determined to strike back and gathered more troops including
some from the Kingdom of Naples. The Austrian army advanced in 3 columns but Nap
oleon defeated each in turn before they could regroup and concentrate against hi
m. Things were not all going well for Napoleon, he now had a huge area to contro
l with a dwindling force, promised supplies and reinforcements had not arrived.
By August the Austrians had massed again but yet again divided their army, Napol
eon struck on 8th September and spilt the Austrians yet again a move made possib
le only by his confidence and ability and helped by rigid and slow moving Austri
an army. Back in Paris Napoleon was compared to Hannibal and his reputation inc
reased. Napoleon knew to secure his victory he had to do what no other French ar
my had done, drive the Austrians out of eastern Italy. The Austrians also plann
ed to drive the French out
Napoleon at the Bridge of Arcola, 15 November 1796
In November 1796 the Austrian General Alvinzi led 60,000 men against Napoleon's
36,000. On 17th November Napoleon out manoeuvred the Austrians at Arcole and for
ced the Austrians to retreat. In January 1797, now reinforced Alvinzi tried agai
n but was defeated at the battle of Rivoli, the Austrian garrisons then started
to surrender. Napoleon now struck at Pope Pius VI who had sided against the Fren
ch Republic. Bonaparte s army marched into the Papal States who offered little res
istance with the Pope signing a peace treaty at Tolention on 19th February. Napo
leon now finally received reinforcements with 20,000 men under generals Delmas a
nd Bernadotte arriving. Archduke Charles now led the Austrians in a final attemp
t, which was out matched by Bonaparte s skill once again, on 7th April he was at L
oeben only 115km from Vienna and on the 18th April hostilities ceased. The Fren
ch retreated back to Italy and set up the Cisalpine Republic with the final trea
ty of Campo-formio being signed on 17th October 1797. Napoleon returned to Paris
in December, a hero, having achieved what no French general had ever done befor
e despite never having commanded an army in the field only a year and half befor
e. At 28 years old he had out manoeuvred and out fought a superior Austrian arm
y time and time again, his popularity was very high. Unsurprisingly this worried
the government. Another campaign would have to be found for the young hero of t
he Republic somewhere far from Paris.
Napoleon in Egypt
In February 1798 Napoleon inspected his new command, the French army assembled o
n the Channel coast awaiting the planned invasion of Great Britain. Napoleon qui
ckly saw (much like many leaders in history before and after him) that such an i
nvasion had no chance of success unless the Royal Navy was neutralised, somethin
g that was a long way from happening. Napoleon had no intention of being stuck a
t home so he suggested a new plan to the Directory. His plan was to strike at Br
itain s source of her wealth, her colonies in India and her sea trade. French Nava
l power was doing little towards this so Napoleon suggested an invasion of Egypt
, which would threaten British assets. The French government for their part woul
d be glad to get rid of this young, successful and popular General who they saw
as useful asset but also correctly as a future political threat. In May Napoleon
sailed for Egypt with the 40,000 strong Army of the Orient, while the threat of
a French invasion would keep the Royal Navy close to home. He quickly captured
Malta and then landed in force at Alexandria 1st July 1798. The port was quickl
y overrun as was much of the Nile Delta with the Battle of the Pyramids 21st Jul
y seeing the smashing of a larger Mameluke army with great loss, with Cairo bein
g captured the next day. Despite such successes things were about to take a turn
for the worse for the French. On 1st August Nelson destroyed The French Fleet
in Aboukir Bay, cutting the French Army and Napoleon off in hostile territory wi
th a Turkish Army now gathering in Syria in preparation to attack the French.
Napoleon took the offensive leading 8,000 men into Syria in February 1799. In Ma
rch he captured El Arish and Jaffa and on 17th March laid siege to Acre. The Fre
nch émigré Phelippeaux and a British sailor Sir Sidney Smith defended the town. In m
id April Napoleon defeated a Turkish attempt to lift the siege at the battle of
Mount Tabor, but disease was now taking its toll on the French and Napoleon aban
doned the siege in late May. In a shadow of future events Napoleon then had a g
rueling retreat back to Cairo and by the time the expedition had returned to Cai
ro 25% of his men had been lost. In July a large Turkish army of 18,000 arrived
in Aboukir having been transported by British ships from Rhodes. Napoleon attack
ed on 25th July with only 6,000 men . During the battle Marshals Lannes and Mura
t distinguished themselves and the Turks were once again routed. Napoleon could
see no progress in Egypt so with unrest at home he slipped away from his army on
a frigate and was back in Paris by October 1799.
Napoleon as First Consul
On returning to Paris he found a power vacuum. Internal unrest and foreign threa
ts to French gains made the situation unstable. Although the foreign threats had
 been stabilised by others, Napoleon carried out a coup on 9th November 1799 and
installed himself as ruler of France with the title of First Consul. He was 30
years old and a victor in a dozen battles with a great military record, now to m
aintain the power he had usurped he needed more victories. During the winter of
1799-1800 Napoleon raised a new army at Djion and planned to strike against his
old enemies the Austrians in Italy once again. The snows had hardly melted on th
e St Bernard Pass when Napoleon crossed over into Lombardy quickly taking Milan
and Pavia. Genoa fell to the Austrians when Marshal Massena was forced to surren
der and Napoleon with a dispirited army ran into an Austrian force about the sam
e size as his army at Marengo on 14th June. This was to be one of Napoleon's gre
atest battles. The Austrians attacked with vigour and drove the French forces ba
ck two miles, but then Napoleon rallied his forces and counter attacked the over
extended Austrian line. Kellerman and his cavalry served Napoleon well and the
Austrian army routed. The battle gave the French control over the Po valley and
another French victory in Germany in December forced the Austrians into the Peac
e of Luneville in February 1801. Britain was now alone against the French and ce
ased her hostilities in March 1802 with the Peace of Amiens. By May 1802 Napole
on had been voted First Consul for life by a referendum, he was now well on the
road to becoming a dictator. Within a year Napoleon's ambitions led to new hosti
lities with Britain and under the guise of securing France from any loyalist con
spiracies Napoleon had the First Consul title converted to a hereditary title an
d he became Napoleon I, Emperor of France. Napoleon's conceit was boundless and
with the Pope in the background he crowned himself! He was now a military dictat
or and his power was absolute, his revolutionary ideals dead and buried.
Napoleon as Emperor
Between 1803 and 1805 France faced only Britain as an enemy. The Grand Armee Nap
oleon had created now sat idle around Boulogne with hundreds of ships waiting in
the channel ports. The invasion depended on the crushing of British Naval power
and Napoleon's plan to use French and Spanish fleets to achieve this failed at
the Battle of Trafalgar in 1805. Despite Naval superiority Britain s army was too
small to act against the French without European allies and following Trafalgar
and British diplomacy a new coalition formed against the French in 1805 with th
e French facing Austria, Russia, Sweden and Naples. Napoleon moved with great sp
eed and secrecy with his Grand Armee advancing quickly up the Danube backed up b
y superb logistics. He quickly encircled the hapless Austrian General Mack at Ul
m in October 1805. Mack was forced to surrender 30,000 men and 65 guns a crushin
g blow to the Austrians. Napoleon invaded Austria in early November and occupied
Vienna on 13th November he left 20,000 men to guard it while he took the remain
ing 65,000. The allies had 19,000 Austrians at Prague, 90,000 Russians and Austr
ians under Kutuzov at Olmutz and another 80,000 Austrians south of the Alps. Th
ese enemies converged on Napoleon believing him trapped and brought him to battl
e at Austerlitz 2nd December 1805. This was to be one of Napoleon's greatest vic
tories. Napoleon deliberately over extended his right wing to lure the allies in
to concentrating against it. Once the allies were committed he sprung the trap a
nd smashed their centre splitting the army in two and carving it up. Marshall So
ult delivered the key attack on the Pratzen heights and then rolled up the allie
d left wing. Marshalls Lannes and Bernadotte crushed the right wing. The French
lost 9,000 men compared the Allied losses of around 26,000, within a month Austr
ia withdrew from the war.
During 1806 Napoleon formed his Confederation of the Rhine and then turned to at
tack Prussia. Prussia had been preparing for war as they were threatened by the
French domination of the Rhine area. Napoleon didn t give them a chance as his arm
y invaded in three large columns spread out over 30 miles. Screened by cavalry i
t covered an impressive 15 miles a day outflanking the Prussians and ending up n
earer to Berlin than the Prussian army. On 14th October 1806 100,000 French smas
hed the 51,000 strong Prussian army at the battle of Jena. At the Battle of Auer
stadt to the north 63,000 Prussians assaulted Davout s 27,000 French for six hours
without victory, when news of Jena reached them they broke. The day cost the Pr
ussians 25,000 dead and wounded and the same amount captured, the Prussian army
was virtually destroyed on that one day.
The winter of 1806-07 saw Napoleon overrun Prussia and advance into Poland. In J
anuary 1807 the Russians invaded Prussia to battle the French and the two enemie
s met at Eylau on 7th February 1807. A bloody clash ensued with 67,000 Russians
against 50,000 French. At the end of the day the Russians withdrew after suffer
ing 25,000 casualties while inflicting around 19,000. In June the Armies clashed
again at Friedland, a force under Marshal Lannes held the Russian advance while
Napoleon brought his main body of troops to bear in a concentrated attack. The
Russians were crushed and left 25,000 dead on the field of battle. Tsar Alexande
r now lost the heart for any more conflict and at Tilsit in July 1807 he agreed
a Peace treaty with the French Emperor. The Prussian were also involved and suff
ered greatly with the French gaining much territory and the Duchy of Warsaw. Nap
oleon was now at the height of his power and ruler of most of Europe.
Napoleon in Spain and Portugal
Unable to invade Britain his last great enemy Napoleon was determined to cripple
her financially. He tried to enforce a commercial quarantine making it illegal
for any European country to trade with Britain. Portugal could not afford to com
ply and in 1807 a French army passed through Spain and into Portugal. The weak S
panish monarchy had been pressurized into helping the French and was removed in
1808 with Spain occupied and Napoleon placing his brother Joseph on the throne.
This was one of Napoleons greatest mistakes and would ultimately be a major fact
or in his down fall. The Spanish rose in revolt what was to be called a Guerrill
a war with the major conflict becoming known as the Peninsular War, which was to
last between 1808-1814. The Spanish Guerrillas were bloody thirsty and brutal a
nd tied up increasing numbers of French forces only to disappear like mist when
threatened by battle. Spain gave the British an arena to battle the French and t
he Spanish uprising became a beacon of hope to all the Europeans under French ma
sters. Napoleon himself played little part in the war only being involved in 180
8. The war was a constant bleed on French resources and troops. The later succes
ses of Lord Wellington shattered the myth of French invincibility and British an
d Portuguese forces were later to invade France from Spain. French difficulties
in Spain encouraged the Austrians to once more go to war against Napoleon. Napol
eon's spies informed him of this and he returned from Spain in January 1809.
Napoleon in Europe
In April 1809 the Austrian Archduke Charles led an army into Bavaria and another
under Archduke John crossed the Alps into French held Italy. In response the Ty
rol rose in revolt against French rule. As always the Emperor moved quickly taki
ng command of the Grand Armee in April 1809 and quickly taking action. He forced
the Austrians back at the battles of Abensberg, Landshut and Eggmuhl. Napoleon
was slightly wounded at Ratisbon on 23rd April. The French troops were exhausted
but had inflicted 30,000 casualties in seven days and although the main Austria
n Army remained the French now had the initiative. In May Napoleon forced a cros
sing of the Danube but was unable to reinforce his bridgehead and had to withdra
w with heavy losses, although he did inflict slightly more on the Austrians this
battle of Aspern-Essling is regarded as Napoleons first major defeat. Marshal L
annes was also killed during the battle. Meanwhile French forces had forced the
Austrians out of Italy and Napoleon now concentrated a larger and better-prepare
d army to cross the Danube in June. He massed nearly 200,000 men and gained stra
tegic surprise by crossing the Danube at night to face Archduke Charles 140,000
men before 50,000 Austrians under Archduke John could join them. This was the ba
ttle of Wagram, which was to cost both sides in excess of 30,000 dead and force
the Austrians to once more sue for peace. As can be seen Europe was now learning
to mobilise huge armies to face the French and the huge number of dead and woun
ded was starting to drain Napoleons resources, his ambition was starting to deci
mate a young French population. The year 1810 is regarded by many as the height
of Napoleons power but with rising death toils and trouble in Spain the clouds o
f his future downfall were gathering. European armies were learning, especially
the Austrians and although defeated during the Wagram campaign the margin of vic
tory was narrowing and the European monarchs knew this.
Napoleon in Russia
With relations worsening between France and Russia, British diplomatic pressure
persuaded Russia and Sweden to withdraw from Napoleon's Continental System and s
ign a treaty with Britain in June 1812. Napoleon was about to make the mistake t
hat would cost him his Empire. He gathered 450,000 troops in Poland and on 24th
June he crossed into Russia to crush her once and for all. Of this huge army on
ly 200,000 were French the rest were made up of troops from allies and subject n
ations across Europe. Russian troops in the immediate area amounted to about 215
,000 but the French advance was delayed by heavy rain and bad weather, a taste o
f things to come. Like they would do in the future the Russians fell back destr
oying all resources as they went increasing the huge supply demands on the invad
ers. After a few brief clashes the Russians continued to fall back and in August
came under the command of Kutuzov. Napoleon had planned to winter the Army at
Smolensk, but Russian forces and the logistical problems force him to try and br
ing the Russians to battle in a decisive encounter. The result was the battle of
Borodino 7th September 1812, during which Napoleon's generalship was less than
impressive, possibly due to illness. The battle was a pointless bloodbath in whi
ch the Russians were defeated with the loss of 40,000 men and the French suffere
d 30,000 casualties. The French now entered an empty Moscow and found it devoid
of much needed supplies and on fire soon after they entered. The forward elemen
ts of the army number about 100,000 men with the rest spread out all along the l
ine of advance, morale was poor particularly among the allies and raids against
the French supply lines by Russian Cossacks were taking a toll. Facing 110,000 w
ell-supplied troops under Kutuzov the French began the famous retreat from Mosco
w on 19th October 1812. The snows came early and the retreat became a disaster,
men starving, horse often eaten by the men and harassing attacks by Russian irre
gulars and Cossacks. Ney s Rearguard fought bravely but the Army was doomed, with
only 37,000 effective troops under Napoleons command when it reached the bridgeh
ead at Berezina in late November. The defence allowed most of the French to cros
s but by the 8th December only 10,000 effective troops remained. The Russians wh
o had suffered very heavy casualties halted the pursuit but the French had lost
300,000 men. Napoleon's army was destroyed, many veteran troops had died, tens o
f thousands of military horses, thousands of wagons and hundreds of guns. Europe
now rose against the weakened Tyrant, many states had uprisings and many allies
now deserted, and it was the beginning of the end.
Napoleon on the Defensive
In February and March 1813 a new coalition formed, consisting of Russia, Prussia
, Sweden, and Britain. 100,000 allied troops gathered in the Elbe valley while N
apoleons conscription system provided a fresh 200,000. On paper this was a vast
amount but in reality many were young, poorly trained and few veterans survived
Napoleons ambition had bled France dry of young men. Napoleon advanced towards L
eipzig in April 1813 intending to take the battle to the allies but was surprise
d on the march and fought a battle near Lutzen, it was a draw and it was clear t
hat Napoleon could still show some of his old skill and would have won the day i
f he had not had such green troops. On 4th June Napoleon secured and Armistice,
which lasted till August and in this rest period both sides, built up their forc
es for the final clash. Austria finally entered the war on the 12th August and N
apoleon now faced 3 allied armies, 230,000 in Bohemia, Blucher with 195,000 in S
ilesia and the renegade former French Marshal Bernadotte with 110,000 Prussians
and Swedes in the north. Napoleon had about 300,000 men, but the allies picked
away at Napoleons outlying forces without engaging the main body, Bernadotte and
Blucher achieving victories at Grossbeeren and Katzbach during August. Napoleon
did achieve some successes at Dresden but the net was closing in. On 16th Octob
er the battle of Leipzig was fought (also know as the battle of the nations). Th
is was one of the largest battles in history and had one of the largest death to
lls of any battle in history with about 60,000 dead on each side according to so
me records. Napoleon was defeated but the allies failed to trap and destroy his
retreating army, with Napoleon defeating 40,000 Bavarians at Hanau on 30 October
with ease. Napoleon could have secured a favourable peace at this point but he
refused the allies' offers and in January 1814 the invasion of France began, wit
h Allied troops invaded from all routes even British forces under Lord Wellingto
n attacking from Spain. Napoleon fought brilliantly and won eight battles but a
gainst such a huge force and with the young conscript army under his command he
had little chance and was driven steadily back. Finally cornered, ill and exhaus
ted Napoleon abdicated on 11th April 1814. He attempted to persuade the allies t
o accept his infant son as his successor but they refused. He was exiled to the
Island of Elba with a token force of his beloved guardsmen and Louis XVIII was r
eturned to the throne of France. The victors settled down to redraw the map of E
urope at the Congress of Vienna, but Napoleon had one last throw of the dice to
make.
Napoleon and the Hundred Days
In March 1815 Napoleon left Elba landing at Cannes on the 1st March. The Bourbon
monarchy sent troops to arrest him, but they quickly rallied behind their belov
ed Emperor, as did the Generals sent to bring him back to Paris in an iron cage as
Louis requested. He marched into Paris triumphant and prepared to meet the quic
kly mobilizing allied armies. With all the hallmarks of his old speed and vigour
within a few months he had an army of 188,000 with another 100,000 in depots an
d training camps hurriedly training another 300,000. In his Army of the North ce
ntred around Paris he had 124,000 but many of his old Marshals were either dead
or not willing to follow their old leader, years of constant warfare had left mo
st of his veterans dead or crippled. He filled his command staff with loyal but
often less than capable officers and Napoleon himself was suffering from bouts
of illness, which left him indisposed at crucial moments. In early June Napoleon
moved to crush his enemies before they could mass in overwhelming numbers with
the Anglo-Prussian armies in the Low Countries being the most important target.
Blucher had 124,000 Prussians under his command while Lord Wellington had a mixe
d bag of British, Dutch, Hanoverian and Brunswick troops.
When Napoleon seized Charleroi on 15th June, Blucher acted quickly concentrating
his army at Sombreffe while Wellington was 15 miles away to the west showing gr
eat caution until he was sure of Napoleon's intentions. The key crossroads of Qu
atre Bras lay between the allied armies. Knowing this Napoleon sent Ney with 25,
000 men on 16th June to hold the crossroads while Napoleon attacked Blucher's 83
,000 Prussians with 77,000 French at Ligny. Napoleon soon had the Prussians in f
ull retreat and all was going to plan as long as Ney held Quatre Bras. Napoleon
was soon to be disappointed. Ney possibly suffering from what is now called post
traumatic stress had believed the crossroads to be held in far greater strength
than it was and his hesitation allowed Wellington to bring up reinforcements. F
inally Wellington withdrew on the 17th but not before each side had lost 4500 me
n and a 20,000 strong French corps under D Erlon had spent all day marching and co
untermarching between the two battlefields. With Ney's forces tied up Napoleon c
ommitted 33,000 men under Grouchy to pursue the Prussians, which was to cost him
dear in the later battle.
Heavy rain turned the battlefield of Waterloo into a muddy morass the next day a
nd the stage was set for Napoleons last defeat. Wellington deployed his troops b
ehind a low ridgeline to protect from artillery on the 18th June, Grouchy having
lost contact with the fleeing Prussians in the heavy rain; there was now nothin
g between the two Allied armies. Hoping for the ground to dry out to allow his
big guns to move more easily Napoleon delayed his attack till noon wasting furth
er time. The details of this historically significant battle can be found elsewh
ere on this web site but it was a bloody slogging match closely fought over two
strong points of La Haye Saint and Hougmount farms in which neither general show
ed much tactical flair, each sides' cavalry showed great bravery and recklessnes
s and heavy casualties were suffered on a battlefield 1 mile by 1 ½ miles which ha
d nearly 140,000 combatants on it at the start. Grouchy's failure to reengage t
he Prussians was to prove decisive as they reached the battlefield late in the d
ay but in time to have an enormous impact, Napoleon possibly ill showing no tact
ical flair. Defeated, his army scattered or dead, Napoleon abdicated for a secon
d time on 21st June 1815. He was exiled to the South Atlantic island of St Helen
a under a watchful jailor with no chance of escape. His health rapidly deteriora
ted and he died on 5th May 1821.
Napoleon as Leader
Napoleon is without doubt one of the greatest leaders in military history, his s
kill as a general both tactically and strategically is without question, his ris
e to power astounding. Few men in history have had such an impact on world histo
ry and he easily ranks along side such leaders as Alexander the Great and Genghi
s Khan. Like those leaders he was an authoritarian leader and a dictator whose s
kill was matched by his ambition, one of those who did not know when the possibl
e ended and the impossible began. He was ruthless and would tolerate no argumen
t, which produced a cadre of Marshals capable of carrying out orders well but ha
ving never learnt to think and act for themselves. This was to prove disastrous
as at Waterloo and in the later stages of the Napoleonic wars. Wellington said t
hat Napoleon was worth 40,000 men on the battlefield but he was just one man who
could not be everywhere at once, as the Empire was faced with war on several fr
onts, the Emperor could not be everywhere. How different the outcome of the Peni
nsular War would have been if Napoleon had been there is an interesting hypothet
ical question.
Napoleon was a tremendous innovator and administrator (although ably assisted).
His skill with logistics and the ability to raise tremendous amounts of manpower
was at times amazing. He changed the face of warfare from the sport of kings to
the nation at arms, with the whole nation being placed on a war footing, conscr
iption, mass production and truly a nation under arms, the beginning of modern To
tal War . He also instigated many fiscal, legal and educational reforms in France
but those are not within the scope of this article. As a leader of men he was a
great motivator and orator, he knew how to inspire fierce loyalty bordering on w
orship despite the fact he would cynically send tens of thousands to their death
s if it suited his purpose. He made a point of walking the line of troops before
a battle and recognising a veteran or two and taking to them of old times, a hu
man touch that some have suggested was staged to raise morale, something that wo
uld not have been beyond him. He knew how to raise morale and get the best from
weak troops and knew the value of praise and both monetary rewards as bestowed o
n his Marshals and less tangible rewards such as medals as with the Legion De Hono
ur he instigated.
Militarily he honed the Corps system of army groups able to function completely
independently with their own logistics, scouts, command, artillery etc which all
owed him to time and time again to divide his enemies with a smaller force holdi
ng a much larger enemy while he concentrated and destroyed another enemy force.
He enlarged the cavalry and once again made it a real battlefield shock force no
t just scouts and pursuing forces and in many battles large devastating cavalry
charges turned the tide. Most famously he made use of the column formation for h
is infantry, which proved a very successful mobile formation against such linear
armies as that of Austria and Prussia, with only the tactical skill of Lord Wel
lington being able to regularly defeat it. As a former artilleryman he increased
the size and number of guns and the Napoleonic artillery made great progress to
wards its modern form in both technology and tactics.
Napoleonic Home Page | Books on the Napoleonic Wars | Subject Index: Napoleonic
Wars
How to cite this article: Dugdale-Pointon, T (7 January 2006) Napoleon Bonaparte
(1769-1821), http://www.historyofwar.org/articles/people_napoleon.html
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