background of Napoleon Flashcards
napoleons first military experience
the siege of Toulon december 1793
between 1789 and 1792 it is estimated that as many as ? commissioned officers left the country
6,000
why did Napoleon get to involve himself in the siege of Toulon
chance
the commander of the artillery was injured and nap was offered his position bcos there was a lack of suitable officers and it was his friend Saliceti who chose who got the job, so offered it to Nap
was napoleon important at Toulon
yes he was crucial in recpaturing the port from the british
was capturing the port at toulon naps idea
no but he executed it well, knew the terrain well and took credit for it
apart from Saliceti what two other important powerful friends did Nap have
Paul Barras a politician , Naps career was helped by his patronage
Augustine Robespierre, Maximilian’s brother
naps jacobin history
- in corsica joined the patriotic club in 1791 which was affiliated to the jacobin club
- nap published pamphlets v sympathetic to extreme jacobin governent to the point where they caught the attention of Augustin Robespierre, brother of maximilian
- augustin even talked abt nap in a letter to his bro
following toulon, what was napoleon then supposed to be engaged in
suppressing the vendee rebellion may 1795
commander of artillery
how did nap feel about supressing the vendee rebellion may 1795
he felt that it was beneath him SO DIDNT TURN UP nd refused to take up post!
did nap suppress the vendee rebellion may 1795
no he felt it was beneath him and refused to take up the post
after napoleon refused to suppress the vendee rebellion
removal from the list of active officers
his whole career appeared in jeopardy and he even contemplated offering his services to the ottoman empire
after robespierre and the jacobins were overthrown who took over
the directory
what were aims of the directory
secure the position of the bourgeoisie
prevent dictatorship
a new more moderate constitution was adopted
when did directory begin and end
1795-1799
4 years
so when directory snatched power how come nap became an active military commander once more
directory faced great opposition, there was a royalist uprising in paris, barras, naps friend, was put in charge and barras appointed him as a commander, they were in desperate need
date of paris royalist uprising amidst directory in which barras appointed nap
1-5 october 1795
what did napoleon potentially do / not do
decivisive incident in the paris royalist uprising - ‘whiff of grapeshot’ delivered potentially by order of nap which killed approx 400
why does it not matter whether napoleon ordered the whiff of grapeshot or not
he took all the credit for it
following the whiff of grapeshot incident, what as well aas luck happened
barras was then made one of the five directors and nap promoted to command the army of the interior
when barras made a director, what was nap promoted to
command the army of the interior
why is it loco that nap was promoted to command the army of the interior by barras
he was 26 and had never commanded a significant force on the battlefield and now he was in charge of the largest army in France
whilst commander of the interior what did nap make sure the directors knew
his desire to prove himself on the battlefield
he also did not hesitate to comment on the campaign occuring in italy ineffectually and criticised the commander General Scherer
who appointed nap to command the army of italy
carnot
when did nap command the army of italy
march 1796
why did carnot appoint nap as army of italy?
saliceti argued in favour of this appointment (luck)
naps knowledge of the area followinh postings and missions there post-toulon (luck tht he happened to be posted there and that he got to perform at toulon)
nap’s CONFIDENCE that he could reverse the dispirited army whose moral was at rock bottom
so yeah luck brought him to being the commander of the army of italy but then what did he do
he turned a low morale mutinous army into one of greatness, was v successful, soldiers respected him and he had great skill in raising espirit de corps
his actions as commander of the army of italy led to what
next two years his impressive array of victories earned him a good rep
