Was Napoleon a military genius?

(rough notes)

Grand Empire
● Pays reunis
○ Territory directly ruled from paris, including tuscany
● Pays conquis
○ Independent satellite states ruled by frenchmen who were usually related to
napoleon
○ Formed buffer zone
● Pays allies
○ Small group allied states
○ Owed allegiance to napoleon

Why were the Ottoman Empire and Britain permanently outside

Napoleon’s control?
● Britain
○ Has the navy
○ Distinguishes British from the French
○ Battle of the Nile
○ Horatio Nelson
○ Not different in range
○ Organisation
■ Hygiene and cleanliness
■ Nelson ensured men prepared for battle
■ Didn’t have scurvy
○ Napoleon does not invest enough in his navy
● Ottoman empire
○ Vastness
○ Difficult to take due to geography
○ Physically removed from the rest of Europe
○ Difficult to capture within the scope of the French empire

Why did Napoleon support the idea of an empire?

- Protect revolutionary france
- Export revolutionary principles
- Liberate oppressed people
- Destroy old monarchies of europe
- Protect against arbitrary government
Consolidate power?
- Protect legacy

Brigadier General to Emperor

- Brigadier general 1793
- Consul 1802
- Emperor 1804

Initial success - the siege of Toulon

- Siege of toulon 1793

- Commander of artillery
- Devised plan which drove British Navy out
- In skirmishes against royalist navy
- Assisted by english, french and spanish

Background
- Surge of anti republicanism
- Southern France during 1793
- French royalist counterrevolution handed over major French naval base and arsenal
to Anglo Spanish fleet under command of vice admiral lord hood
- Admiral juan de langara on aug 27-28
- B fleet seized more than 70 french ships, almost half of french navy
- Both strategic importance of naval base and prestie of rev demanded that f recapture
toulon

Napoleon's plan
- Pleaded w superiors to surround port of little gibraltar, bu taking key strategic forts
overlooking port, first, before a full scale invasion of fort of little gibraltar - which
encompassed port
- Nap ignored by superiors, however dismissed and replaced by dugommer

Napoleon’s success
- Success at taking gibraltar ports
- Supported by general dugommer at siege of toulon

Italian campaign
- France had been fighting austrians and allies in italy
- Traditional rivalry going back to before marie antoinette
- Marriage saw peace before war being declared in 1792 once more
- By 1796 french were having little success
Two sides
- Bonaparte and french army with italian republican help - those italians pushing for
republican rule
- On other side - austrains and main ally, the principality of piedmont

Initial successes
- Nap gave italian sister republics new energy in fight
- By rapid advances and surprise attacks he defeated the northern italian state of
piedmont in two weeks
- He then led a series of victories against austrians culminating in battle of rivioli in
january 1797

New type of commander

- Motivating, inspired assault on a defended bridge at battle of lodi 10th may 1796
- Abandoned military tactic of slow moving infantry, common in 18th century and
replaced this with fast moving marches, where troops lived sustainably off the land,
rather than relying on supply depots or slow moving baggage trains for food
- He was adept at maximising artillery potential as not to waste rounds of ammunition

Closes in
- Military success meant f troops only 100km vienna in 1797
- Austria sues for peace and as such treaty of campo formio negotiated by nap
personally
- Extended f empire, giving f the austrian netherlands, modern day belgium, and much
of northern italy that had already been conquered in campaign
- Treaty established republicanism in italy, w several sister republic being annexed
created, most prominent = cisalpine and ligurian

Bonaparte takes venice

- Finished by takin independent state of venice
- Wealthy
- Important for trading routes

Military tactics
1. Maintained high morale
a. Personable and involved in battle lines
2. Dividing forces into logical battalions
3. Using artillery well and concentrating fire
4. Using doctrine of central position - holding centre of battlefield and attacking enemy
flanks
5. Bonaparte would use these in the latter campaign
Success of campaign
- In over 60 actions the f took 150k prisoners and defeated larger forces such as the
austrians
- Became a hero in f

The Egyptian campaign

- Nap turned attention to naval and colonial powerhouse of britain
- Nap wanted to establish a french presence in middle east by taking egypt that at this
point belonged to the ottoman empire
- By doing so, his plan was to blockade the british trading routes to india
- India resources that Britain wanted
- Spices - sought after

French expedition 1798

- Nap lands first in malta and then descends on alexandria in egypt
- He employs battle tactic of line and column, differing warfare artillery strategies,
where men marche din lines or columns depending on the situation
- This won him victory against the b at the battle of pyramids, with small losses for the
french
- Nap had engaged the b on land, however had yet to match them on sea

The battle of the Nile 1798

- 1st aug the b seeking revenge engaged on nap on nile, destroyed f fleet at
alexandria
- Severe limitation in f expansionist war machine
- Nap came across fierce advisory in nelson, who was commanding b fleet, he daringly
instructed his ships to sail in low water, and between f ships and shore, engaging in
close combat
- 218 b troops killed in comparison to an estimated 2k-8k f killed or imprisoned
- 9 f ships captured

Accessing egypt campaign

- Despite loss at nile
- Nap land forces carry on into gaza and took jaffa and haifa
- Stranded, most ships destroyed unable to take his troops home
- Succumb to disease, and nap returns to f with his generals
- His ego took a battering and egypt revealed need to invest in navy, however his
reputation remained, and was even heightened by his victory at pyramids
Pop quiz

1. Rather than taking little Gibraltar's port directly and instigating a direct invasion,
Napoleon suggested to his commanders, as he was commander of the artillery at the
time, to take the strategic forts surrounding little gibraltar. This was at first rejected by
his superiors and generals, however they were replaced by degommer who accepted
Napoleon's plan. This led to an effective invasion.
2. 1796 lodi, venice, 1797
3. Removed the baggage lines that would typically slow down the advance of the army -
instead he proposed living off of the land and the towns that the army passed
4. Napoleon wanted to curb Britain’s vital trading routes to the middle east and its
colonies. Specifically India and its spices.

Cruelty at jaffa
- Egypt campaign
- Napoleon crossed into syria and started to engage the ottoman empire
further, showed his ruthlessness as a military leader
- Often noted as a chivalric advisory, 2k-4k prisoners were killed showing he
could also be ruthless in his pursuit for territory

War of second coalition

- After returning to egypt, nap confronted on european stage by a coalition of european
powers
- Spring 1799
- Incl b, russia, and ottoman empire w some help from areas of austria that were still
resistant to nap
- Overall aims fo b and russ from european perspective was to limit nap advances in
europe and restore the monarchy to f
- Coalition x rlly a coalition at all, b x work well w austrians in partic and x unified
strategy
- No commitment to make peace w f due to conflicting interests
Course of the war
- 1799 intense fighting in it and victories for coalition, though cannot capitalised
- Tensions btw b and russ ove malta.
- B blockaded malta, but russ promised territory, b reluctant to hand it over
- B also campaigning to take f republic held land in austrian netherlands, which causes
tension w austrians who feel like land should be theirs

Result: second italian campaign

- Nap knows must try and consolidate his control in the austrian netherlands
- May 1800 once again enters n italy
- Famous victory against austrians at hohenlinden in bavaria
- All culminates in signing of treaty of luneville signed in 1801
- Austria does not come out well from treaty forces them to recognise f control of
austrian netherlands, it and parts of g prev controlled by austria

Peace of amiens
- W nap destruction of second coalition complete, b willing to negotiate, having lost
their allies
- Peace of amiens agreed in march 1802, but x last
- This peace coincided w nap being made lead consul in 1802

Peace revoked
- 1803 peace of amiens broken down, b and f officially at war once more

Problem of invading britain

- Nap desperate to conquer and invade b there were several reasons for this
● British colonies
● B imports and exports
● Presgive
● New naval fleet

Napoleon’s great failure at sea - battle of trafalgar

- Having lost at battle of nile during egypt campaign, no doubt nelson sought revenge
at battle of trafalgar
- Great victory destroying part of b navy and providing platform to invade b isles
- Fleet of 33 f and spanish vessels set sail w 30k men
- Met by a b fleet of 27 ships and just 17k men
British side
- Lord nelson
- Cuthbert collingwood
- Bounce (dog)

French side
- Pierre villeneuve
- Commander from ancien regime

Outcome of the battle

- Villeneuve wants to turn around fleet due to weather conditions, but n ap x relent
- W unwavering bravery and superior guns, nelson sent ships in column to make sure
close to f ships, enduring horrendous barrage in process
- W heavy losses b ships now lined perfectly close to f counterparts and f navy is
decimated
- F losses
- 4395 killed, 2541 wounded, 7-8k captured, 21 ships of line captured
- B losses:
- 458 killed, 1208 wounded