French Rev - the decline and fall of Napoleon Bonaparte II Flashcards
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Main events of the Peninsular War
- Early 1809 – Napoleon left Spain upon hearing of Austria’s mobilisation.
- July 1809 – Battle of Talavera. A bloody and inconclusive battle. The Anglo-Spanish army decided not to advance further into Spain.
- September 1810 – Massena, a French general, launched an invasion of Portgual. He forced Wellington to withdraw to defend Lisbon. Wellingto is secure behind the lines of Torres Verdras, a powerful defensive line.
- September 1810-March 1811 – Massena unsuccessfully tried to dislodge the British.
- January 1812 – After French disasters in Russia, Wellington decidds to move on the offensive.
- April 1812 – Wellington captured Badajoz
- July 1812 – Battle of Salamanca. Wellington defeated the French general Marmont at Salamanca. He then captured Madrid
- June 1813 – Battle of Vittoria. Another victory for Wellington. Northern Spain liberated.
- April 1814 – Battle of Toulouse. With victory at Toulouse (in France) the liberation of the Iberian peninsular was complete.
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Why did Napoleon lose the Peninsular War?
The nature of the war fought in Spain and Portugal did not suit the French army. Both countries were poor and barren and there was little opportunity for French soldiers to live off the land. French supply lines were lengthy and were constantly disrupted by guerilla forces.
· Napoleon did not grasp that the guerilla war constantly diluted the strength of his armies as they struggled to protect their supply lines and bases.
· The decision by Britain to commit forces to mainland Europe proved to be crucial.
· Napoleon’s decision to leave Spain at the beginning of 1809 was an error. Without his inspirational leadership, and with no other supreme commander, the war was left in the hands of mutually hostile rival generals.
· The Royal Navy was able to supply food and equipment, and transport troops, without interference to Spain and Portgual. This was a major factor in enabling the British army to remain in the Peninsular and was particularly important during the siege of Lisbon.
· The brilliance of Wellington as a commander. Wellesley provied to be a formidable opponent, and, although a cautious commander, he was able to exploit French weaknesses regarding lack of supplies, while at the same time fully exploiting British nval supremacy to resupply and reinforce his own forces.
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Consequences of losing the Peninsular War
The long drawn-out nature of the campaign, oftern against guerilla forces, eroded French military prestige. Maintaining garrisons in Spain proved to be both expensive and a siginificant drain on French military resources. As the war evolved it became increaswingly demoralising – earning its name ‘Spanish Ulcer’
· In addition to weakening France, the Peninsular War relieved the pressure on Britain. The economic damage to the British economy from the Continental Blockade was eased. Access to Spanish markets in Europe and South America helped to boost British exports to £48 million in 1810 (from £38 million in 1808)
· As French forces suffered a growing number of defeats, other countries were encouraged to renew their efforts to resist Napoleon.
· Large numbers of ordinary Spanish people rose in revolt against French rule.
· The Franco-Spanish attack on Portugal prompted Britain to commit military forces to defend its ally.
· Napoleon’s inability to resolve the situation cast doubts on his military and political judgement.
Why did the Russian Campaign begin?
The invasion of Russia is often seen as the key to the fall of Napoleon. On the face of it to invade such a vast and hostile country seems mad to us now. However, there are arguments that suggest the expedition was not in itself doomed to fail. The Russian Empire had 40 million people in 1812 and the French Empire at that date consisted of 144 million people. Also Russia had long indefensible borders and half its population were serfs who inevitably therefore did not have a vested interest in defending the country. Alexander had been defeated by Napoleon twice before and he was not a popular czar having alienated almost every major group in Russia when he made the Treaty of Tilsit with Napoleon. The Russians had not helped Napoleon in his war against Austria (though after Tilsit they were technically allied) and in 1809 they stopped enforcing the Continental System. Napoleon thought that he could invade with a huge army (far bigger than Russia’s) and that his invasion might easily lead to peasant revolts or an aristocratic coup to depose an unpopular czar.
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What happened in the Russian campaign
- On 22 June 1812, without any declaration of war, Napoleon crossed the River Niemen onto Russian territory. He was unable to use his usual strategy of luring the enemy towards him and forcing a decisive battle early in the campaign. The much smaller Russian armies refused to engage the French, preferring to retreat before them, destroying food supplies as they went. Napoleon was, therefore, drawn ever deeper into Russia, extending his supply lines and increasing the difficulties for his large, slow-moving force of catching up with the enemy. Medical supplies and food were short, and disease struck down 60,000 men even before the campaign had properly begun. The Russian army’s scorched earth tactic meant that Napoleon found it difficult to feed his men – they were unable to live off the country – and over 1000 cavalry horses died from eating unripe corn in the fields.
- By the time Napoleon reached Vitebsk, his army was demoralised. It had already suffered the same number of casualties, either from disease or by being picked off by skirmishing Cossacks (mounted Russian soldiers), as would be normally expected from normal battles. By mid-August the central army group commanded by Napoleon had lost nearly 100,000 men. Pressing on to Smolensk, they found the city had already been destroyed by the retreating Russians and that no food or shelter was available there. The recently appointed Russian commander, the one-eyed Kutusov, urged on by the Tsar, now decided to fight, and waited with an army of about 120,000 west of Moscow near the village or Borodino.
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Battle of Borodino “a slugfest”
- There, on 7 September 1812, in a day long battle of great ferocity both sides suffered heavy casualties. After a prolonged artillery duel and fierce fighting the French lost 30,000 men, and Kutusov’s army 50,000. The next day, the Russians began an orderly withdrawal, enabling Napoleon to claim victory. In his Order of the Day, Napoleon parodying Henry V at Agincourt, declared: ‘Let them say this of you: He was present at the great battle under the walls of Moscow.’ In reality the walls of Moscow were still 60 miles away.
- On 14 September 1812 Napoleon’s advance guard rode into a largely deserted Moscow. The rest of the army followed, ‘all clapping their hands and showing, Moscow, Moscow’. Two days later, two-thirds of the city was in ruins, burnt down by fires started on the orders of the Russian governor to destroy food and ammunition supplies. The Tsar refused to negotiate despite the loss of Moscow.
- The unusually mild autumn tempted Napoleon to linger in Moscow for over a month. He ignored the warnings of bad weather to come, and only the eventual realisation the army would starve to death if he stayed longer caused him to order a withdrawal. Laden with loot and slowed down by their wounded, the army began the retreat on 19 October 1812. Napoleon ordered them to take a route to the south of the one by which they had come, in the hope that there he would find food and shelter for his army, which now numbered only 107,000. The Russian army, however, soon pushed the French north again and back onto their original route. This forced them to march over the battlefield of Borodino, still strewn with the stripped and decaying bodies of their own dead.
The retreat from Moscow 1812
The retreat from Moscow was one of the great military disasters of modern European history. By the time Napoleon reached Smolensk in mid-November, there were only 50,000 left in the Grand Armée itself. Sickness and skirmishers, famine and exhaustion had taken their told, and the winter had only just begun to bite. In snow and intense cold, the army, now further depleted, left Smolensk and marched west. The Russians reached the River Beresina before the French and demolished the bridges. Thus prevented from escaping, Napoleon’s army faced destruction. That any of the Grand Armée survived at all was due to the discovery of a ford and the building of two temporary bridges across the river. Of the 40,000 men who got safely across these temporary bridges, some 25,000 survived to reach Germany at the end of the year.
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Reasons for Napoleon’s defeat in 1812
- Despite the version of events put out by Napoleon in his famous 29th Bulletin, that it was the snow and ice, the intense cold and the frostbite that destroyed the Grand Armée, this was not actually the true situation. The army, together with its auxiliaries, was destroyed long before winter arrived in the first days of November. Twice as many men (35,000) were lost on the retreat in a week of fair weather in late October as were lost in a week of snow and ice on the road from Smolensk to the Beresina in mid-November. Even more instructive is the fact that 350,000 (more than half the total French forces) died before they reached Moscow.
- There were a number of reasons why Napoleon and the Grand Armée failed so catastrophically in Russia.
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Why the French Campaign in Russia failed
- The smaller Russian army retreated and refused to fight, preventing a quick victory (Napoleon had estimated the whole campaign would be over in 2 months). This drew the French into Russia, stretched their supply lines. Russians refused to negotiate.
- Sheer numbers slowed down movement. This was not helped by the poor condition of Russian roads. The Russians employed a scorched earth policy and terrain limited shelter and food. This was not helped by the poor state of Russian agriculture in the first place.
- As usual Napoleon had not paid attention to supply and there was no fodder for the horses, nor covers for their hooves to cope with the intense cold so horses were dying. There were no bandages for the men and the army only had summer cothing and enough food for three weeks. Disease killed around 60 000, and starvation and exhaustion killed more.
- Victories, such as that at Borodino, were indecisive and led to high casualties (80 000 in this case – 30,000 lost by the French and 50,000 by the Russians). Napoleon should have sent in the imperial guard to finish the Russians and secure a victory but he didn’t.
- There was poor planning and preparation (inadequate food, rations, maps, no winter clothing, medicine). Napoleon had thought the campaign would be over quickly. The massive French army consisted of a great many raw and ill-disciplined troops (vast numbers were not French and could not understand orders shouted in the heat of battle, many were non-veteran).
- In Paris a plot by a former General Malet almost succeeded in persuading some key officials that Napoleon was dead and a provisional government needed to be formed. Napoleon heard and abandoned his desperate army to race to Paris to save his government.
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5 factors for the 6th coalition
- It had a common aim the liberation of Germany
- It included ALL four major European powers.
- Its members had reformed their tactics and armies.
- France was finally in decline.
- The coalition partners adopted and followed a unified military strategy.
Napoleon was determined to fight on and the next 15 months saw Napoleon at his most brilliant but fighting against a rising tide of opposition.
The Austrian campaign 1809
Treaty of Schonbrunn 1809
Role of Britain in defeating Napoleon
Britain’s navy
Diplomatic tactics and British subsidies
Role of Wellington
