A political and military genius
Early career
Napoleon started shining after the Siege of Toulon and the defeat of royalist rebellion against the French National convention by using cannon fire in the tube streets of Paris. Napoleon was appointed as the Commander of the Army of Italy.
“Great ambition is the passion of a great character. Those endowed with it may perform very good or very bad acts. All depends on the principles which direct them.”
He launched military campaigns against Austria to wipe out its influence in Southern Germany and Italy.
Egyptian expedition
In 1798, Napoleon invaded Ottoman-ruled Egypt, attempting to block British trade routes to India. He also brought a group of 167 scientists to investigate Africa. They discovered the Rosetta Stone, and their work was published in the Description de l'Égypte in 1809. The army was ordered to construct a Suez canal for providing supplies to the French expedition.
Sir Horatio Nelson captured and destroyed the entire French fleet in the Battle of the Nile. Due to the British naval threat and internal political instability, Napoleon had no choice but to retreat to France with his two surviving French battleships.
Wars against the Coalitions
The War against the Third Coalition was an enormous success for Napoleon. The Russian and Austrian tasted a massive defeat after the Battle of Austerlitz (the Battle of Three Emperors). The Austrians lost control over Germany and Italy and compensated 40 million francs after the Treaty of Pressburg.
The Prussians attempted to resist Napoleon's sphere of influence in Germany in the fourth coalition. At the twin battles of Jena and Auerstedt, Napoleon's Grand Armee and Corps military organization defeated the Prussians. Shortly afterwards, the Russian reinforcement was also defeated by Napoleon at the Battle of Friedland and led to the Congress of Erfurt. Both emperors met and formed a short-lived alliance.
Napoleon suffered an unprecedented defeat in the Wars in the Spanish Peninsula and the Invasion of the Russian empire. The French army suffered huge casualties due to deadly diseases, extreme weather and Emperor Alexander’s strategic warfare. The war with the sixth coalition exposed his weakness of relying on young conscripts and inexperienced generals, thereby incurring a defeat in Germany and Spain in 1814.
The Civil Code of the French
The French legal system was in chaos with years of revolutions and upheaval. Napoleon successfully composed all laws of post-revolutionary France into a consistent piece. The Civic Code abolished the privileges of the aristocracy, assured property rights, and created greater social equality. This has become an inspiration for civil law nowadays.
Long term influence outside France
Napoleonic wars indirectly enlightened nationalism in Germany and Latin America. The dissolution of the Holy Roman Empire and the Peninsula War weakened Australian, Spanish and Portuguese influence over their overseas territories. These caused the Mexican War of Independence, the peoples’ revolution in 1848 and the Austro-Hungarian Compromise of 1867.
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