French Revolution, Points Test 15 - The Army and Conquest during the Consulate and Empire

Question 1

Why was the painting ‘Napoleon’s Crossing of the Great Saint-Bernard Pass, 1800’ misleading?

Answer 1

• Jacques-Louis David commissioned to produce a painting to commemorate Napoleon’s crossing of the alps.
• Napoleon intervened and said he didn’t want to be painted with a sword in hand (David’s original idea) because battles were no longer won that way.
• He also asked David to capture ‘a certain idea of genius’ in his face.
• David chose to paint Napoleon in the uniform that he wore at Marengo and astride a spirited stallion.
• Pure propaganda: Napoleon used a mule, as he recorded in his memoirs in 1823.

Question 2

Why was Napoleon in serious danger when he began his First Consulate in 1799?

Answer 2

• Shortly before Napoleon seizure power in November 1799, 2nd coalition weakened by Russian withdrawal at Zurich (September).
• Nevertheless, Napoleon faced formidable coalition of Austria, Prussia and Britain (as well as others).

Question 3

What was his response to the threat posed by the 2nd coalition in 1800?

Answer 3

• In 1800, he chose to mount a ‘surprise’ attack against the Austrians south of the Alps, in North Italy.
• In May he led 50,000 through the Great Saint-Bernard pass, but crossing took longer than expected, and Austrians waiting for him.

Question 4

Why was Napoleon arguably lucky to win at Marengo and how had he knocked Austria out of the war by 1801?

Answer 4

• Napoleon’s men outnumbered and exhausted when Austrians attacked them at Marengo.
• They looked set to lose, until timely arrival of reserves enabled French victory.
• In November, 2nd army sent against Austrians, travelling north of alps towards Vienna.
• Thus victorious at Hohenlinden (December 1800).
• Austria forced to sign Treaty of Lunéville (February 1801).

Question 5

What were the terms of the Treaty of Lunéville?

Answer 5

• By this, France allowed to keep all former gains (Belgium, left bank of Rhine and Northern Italy).
• It also got new lands in Tuscany, while Austria lost all lands in Italy except Venice and Dalmation coast.

Question 6

Explain the background to, and details of, the Peace of Amiens 1802.

Answer 6

• This left just Britain at war with France.
• By 1802, exhaustion on both sides led to the piece of Amiens.
• France agreed to leave United Provinces, Naples and Papal States for number of British withdrawals…
• All overseas territories taken by Britain in past nine years (e.g. several west indian islands).
• Minorca returned to Spain, Cape Colony in South Africa to Dutch.
• Egypt to be returned to Turks.
• Malta to be returned to the Knights of St John.
• Britain would keep Sri Lanka (taken from Dutch) and Trinidad (previously Spanish).

Question 7

Why didn’t the Peace of Amiens last?

Answer 7

• Peace didn’t last.
• Niether side fully honoured terms (Britain stayed in Malta, Napoleon in United Provinces).
• In May 1803, Britain declared war again.

Question 8

Why did Napoleon never invade Britain before/after the Battle of Trafalgar?

Answer 8

• Napoleon spent some time planning the invasion of Britain but abandoned it when he faced a renewed threat from Austria in the late summer of 1805.
• In any case, an invasion fraught due to British Naval Strength.
• All too clear due to destruction of Franco-Spanish fleet at Trafalgar (Oct 1805).
• Between 1803 and 1805, Napoleon created the massive ‘Army of England’.
• 193,000 men and 9149 horses.
• Camped along channel coast, 2443 boats built to transport it.
• This would require at least four days (six tides).
• It became essential to distract the british Navy.
• Admiral Pierre-Charles Villeneuve lured British Admiral Horatio Nelson to West Indies and back.
• BUT Napoleon had postponed his invasion to deal with Austria in August 1805.
• Nelson’s fleet trapped the combined enemy navy in Cape Trafalgar (SW Spain).
• On 21 October, 21 British ships under Nelson (HMS Victory) defeated 33 of the enemy.
• France-Spanish fleet lost 22 ships, while British, employing new tactics, lost none.
• This confirmed British naval superiority, and despite Nelson’s death, ended Napoleon’s hopes of invading Britain.

Question 9

How did the 3rd coalition form?

Answer 9

• William Pitt (British PM) worked hard to finance a 3rd coalition from 1804.
• Succeeded in forging an alliance with Russia in April 1805 and Austria a few months later.

Question 10

Why did Prussia remain neutral and stay out of the 3rd coalition?

Answer 10

• Prussia initially remained neutral, probably because its leader Fredrick-William, had hopes of seizing British Hanover.
• This allowed Napoleon to concentrate his forces against Austrians and Russians.

Question 11

Explain the 1805-1806 campaigns that helped Napoleon defeat the 3rd coalition.

Answer 11

• October 1805: Napoleon surrounded and defeated the Austrians at Ulm on Danube, capturing 50,000 Austrian troops with minimal French losses; in November, he entered Vienna unopposed.
• December 1805: Inflicted a crushing defeat on a larger Austro-Russian force (90,000 to French 68,000) at Austerlitz. This ended Austria’s part in the coalition and forced the Russians to retreat.
• July 1806: Napoleon established a ‘Confederation of the Rhine’ in central/western Germany. This provoked the Prussians, who were also angered by the French attempts to stop all trade with Britain. Prussia joined Russian and Britain in September 1806. However, the Prussians fared no better, and further defeats led they and the Russians to seek peace.
• October 1806: the Prussians completely crushed at Jena and Auerstadt, and Napoleon entered Berlin.
• 1807: A battle at Eylau in February, and another at Friedland in June, brought about the total withdrawal of Russian troops.
• Napoleon broke the 3rd Coalition and occupied the historic capitals of Vienna, Warsaw and Berlin.
• He made peace with Tsar Alexander I on a raft on the river Neman at Tilsit in June-July 1807.

Question 12

Who was Fredrick-William III of Prussia (1770-1840)?

Answer 12

• Came to throne in 1797.
• Supported some enlightened reform in Prussia.
• Joined coalition in 1806 but defeated at Jena, only retained his throne because Tsar Alexander I pleaded for him at Tilsit.
• He remained a client king of French until 1813.
• During this time reforms of the administration and military improved the country’s capabilities.
• In 1813 Prussia headed the ‘War of Liberation’.
• He was present at the battle of Leipzig and entered Paris behind Tsar Alexander I, where he attended the Vienna Congress.

Question 13

What were the terms of the Treaty of Pressburg?

Answer 13

• Took all austria’s Italian and german lands.

* Gave Napoleon Venice, Istria and Dalmatia.

Question 14

What was the Confederation of the Rhine (The Rheinbund)?

Answer 14

• Established in July 1806 to consolidate French control over western Germany.
• Comprised Barvaria, Wurttemberg, Hesse-Darmstadt, Baden and 12 other small states of the Holy Roman Empire. Westphalia, Saxony, Macklenburg and several other principalities joined in 1807.
• By 1808 it contained 36 states in all.
• Most states adopted the Code Napoleon, all supplied troops for the army and embraced the continental system.
• It collapsed in 1813.

Question 15

What were the terms of the Treaty of Tilsit?

Answer 15

• By the Treaty of Tilsit, Prussia had to give up its share of Poland.
• This enabled Napoleon to create the Grand Ducky of Warsaw.
• In addition, it lost other territory, incorporated into the kingdom of Westphalia.
• It also had to suffer the indignity of a French army of occupation until an indemnity of 120 million francs paid.
• By this treaty, Russia agreed to join the continental system.

Question 16

Describe the events at Tilsit.

Answer 16

• Napoleon agreed to meet Alexander I in the middle of the Neman river, which formed the border between Prussian and Russian territory in Poland.
• 1st meeting 25th June.
• Two grand white tents erected on raft with appropriate imperial eagle, the letter N one side, the letter A on the other.
• Both Napoleon and Alexander stayed in Tilsit and dined together every day, enjoying meals and evening entertainment.
• They are said to have walked along holding hands and exchanging cravats and handkerchiefs.

Question 17

How did Napoleon try to control Italy further by 1808?

Answer 17

• His year of success culminated in annexation of Papal States.
• February 1808, Napoleon ordered occupation of Rome.
• In March, Papal provinces of Ancona, Macerata, Fermo, and Urbino were annexed to the Kingdom of Italy.

Question 18

What were the results of the formation of Napoleon’s kingdom of Italy?

Answer 18

• Diplomatic relations between the French and the Papacy were broken.
• This annexation strengthened Napoleon’s continental system.
• It also showed that the balance of power had swung firmly away from the Papacy in favour of the empire.

Question 19

How did Napoleon treat the Papacy in his decrees from the Schonbrunn Palace?

Answer 19

• In May 1809, Napoleon issued two decrees from the Schonbrunn Palace near Vienna.
• It confirmed that territories under Papal control to be annexed.
• Although Pope given pension of 2 million francs per annum in lieu, he excommunicated Napoleon.
• Pope subsequently moved to Grenoble, and then to Savona in the Ligurian republic, where he was confined.
• Only returned to Rome in 1814.

Question 20

Why was the Grand Armee so strong?

Answer 20

• Napoleon’s Grande Armée (from 1805) the successor to the French revolutionary armies from 1792.
• It had been transformed during the wars, becoming more professional.
• Promotion by merit had increased pool of skilled and talented officers.
• Greater emphasis on military training and study (which Napoleon increased by establishing lycées and military academies).

Question 21

How has artillery advanced in the French Army that gave it an advantage over its rivals?

Answer 21

• The long era of war also brought weaponry advances, e.g. lighter field artillery.
• French artillery redesigned along scientific principles, by Jean-Bastiste Grimbeauval in the 1760s.
• Lighter, more manageable with better quality barrels and ammunition used to good effect at Valmy.
• Many artillerymen, including Napoleon, trained in this type of fighting.
• The improvements boosted morale and produced more aggressive battlefield tactics.

Question 22

How did Napoleon use artillery on the battlefield, in terms of general principles/how important it was?

Answer 22

• Napoleon no longer used it as a support, but as highly decisive destructive force of its own, to be supported.

Question 23

How did recruitment for French armies give it an advantage over its rivals?

Answer 23

• Recruitment had changed too: days of volunteers over.
• From 1793, recruits conscripted to provide army of unprecedented size.
• France had largest population in Europe, with 28 million, half of whom (males).
• Moreover, following earlier victories and his successes, could call on men from expanding empire, and linked pay allies, or satellite states.

Question 24

How did French propaganda help its recruits fight harder?

Answer 24

• Moreover, French recruits still imbued with revolutionary fervour.
• Propaganda machine encouraged them to fight for ‘la Patrie’ and for ‘libery and equality’.

Question 25

How did Carnot’s organisation of the army in 1793 help the French forces fight?

Answer 25

• Even if training rudimentary, process of military amalgam, which Carnot advocated in 1793, meant that raw recruits fought alongside veterans.
• This meant that morale of armies generally high.

Question 26

How did the corps organisation help the French army march and fight more effectively?

Answer 26

• Napoleon also inherited forms of military organisation by corps.
• He had already used this well in his first Italian campaign.
• In 1800 he permanently reorganised his army, creating smaller units (the corps d’armée).
• These could advance by separate routes and then concentrate for battle.
• These corps lived off the land, rather than waiting for lines of carts, permitting more greater manoeuvrability and flexibility.
• As a young man, Napoleon studied writings of Comte de Guibert and Pierre-Joseph de Bourcet on army organisation, mobility and marching in battle order.
• These were techniques used by revolutionary armies from 1793.

Question 27

What was the bataillon carré system?

Answer 27

• In this, separate corps would march along parallel roads within one/two days’ march of each other, and could easily concentrate in any direction, depending on which corps made initial contact with the enemy.
• This provided the French with a previously unknown flexibility and helped deceive the enemy.

Question 28

What advantages/skills did Napoleon possess as a military commander?

Answer 28

• Napoleon was an able military commander.
• He had been trained in warfare, shown considerable interest in studying tactics and military matters, and benefitted from experience.
• He had the advantage of being head of state as well as CnC.
• Such a position gave him the knowledge, resources and capabilities needed to prepare and support his campaigns.
• He had absolute authority and could drawn on whatever resources he needed.

Question 29

How did Napoleon conduct himself in planning and fighting as a commander?

Answer 29

• In addition, Napoleon had daring and military talent, which he used to good effect.
• He devised well planned mobility strategies, which often surprised the enemy, often cutting them in two.
• He also took a personal role in directing battles once troops engaged.
• He prepared and issued battle plans, and oversaw combined attacks of infantry, cavalry and artillery from headquarters.
• His supreme confidence, coupled with readiness to abandon his pre-prepared ideas and improvise at crucial stages of the fight, were all factors in his success.
• Napoleon displayed personal charisma.
• Quite apart from charming his former enemy Tsar Alexander I at Tilsit, Napoleon seemed able to demand and win feats of endurance and sacrifice from his soldiers.

Question 30

How did Napoleon motivate his soldiers to fight?

Answer 30

• He addressed his men directly (before and after battles) and he reported their valour in his military bulletins.
• He also ensured that they received rewards for their efforts: extra rations, opportunities for plunder, or for more senior honours and even land.
• He won the respect of his men through his readiness to share (or at least appear to share) their hardships, and his apparent invincibility induced a confidence in the ranks.
• The soldiers’ readiness to support him and speak well of him when dark times struck in Russia in 1812 is, in itself, an indication of the loyalty he could command.

Question 31

What mistakes did Napoleon make?

Answer 31

• Napoleon did make these.
• Nearly lost at Marengo.
• At Eylau he incurred very heavy French losses.
• Once engaged, Napoleon’s success often came through sheer force of numbers – French conscripts would give their all until the situation demanded massed artillery fire and further columns of reserve infantry and cavalry to finish off the day (in later campaigns?).
• These were traditional ploys, rather than the tactics of a military genius.
• Moreover, sometimes strategies (1812 Russian campaign) ill-thought through.
• Napoleon had little understanding of, and patience for, naval warfare.

Question 32

Why were France’s enemies weak, giving him an advantage?

Answer 32

• Napoleon’s enemies on land suffered from traditional approaches to warfare.
• These included generals appointed not for merit but for breeding.
• They often used conscripted soldiers whose heart not in the cause.
• Commanders who fought ‘by the book’, maintaining massed ranks moving slowly across the countryside.
• Followed by large wagon trail, reducing speed.
• Taking up static formations difficult to alter as battles developed.
• Just as constant victory boosted French confidence, train of defeats demoralised their enemies and crushed resistance, for a time.

Question 33

How did commanders fighting against Napoleon learn from being beaten by him?

Answer 33

• However, the best commanders of the coalition (and others) learned from experiences.
• Napoleon’s opponents gradually came to adopt the very tactics and approaches which provided the French with so much success before 1808.
• However, in early years they were demoralised as French ‘tricked’ them into taking up inferior battle positions, fighting below force or being mown down by Fresh French reserves just when they thought victory was theirs.

Question 34

Why did the divisions of France’s enemies also weaken them?

Answer 34

• France’s enemies also divided.
• 2nd and 3rd coalitions against Napoleon broke up because individual powers made separate peaces.
• Various coalition partners fought for different reasons, and Napoleon quick to exploit divisions.
• In 1800, exploited opposition of Russia/Prussia to British interference with neutral shipping to encourage Tsar Paul I to create a ‘League of Armed Neutrality’ comprising Prussia, Russian Sweden and Denmark.
• However, this collapsed when Tsar Alexander took the throne.

Question 35

How was the empire organised?

Answer 35

• There was already an embryonic ‘empire’ of Austrian Netherlands and Belgium, parts of modern Switzerland and parts of left bank of Rhine.
• These territories had been incorporated into France as Pays Réunis.
• These were territories ruled directly by France.
• They were treated differently from the Pays Conquis (conquered) and Pays Alliés (allied).
• In pays Réunis, all French legislation and administrative bodies automatically applied.
• In Pays Alliés, rulers had some choice in application of Napoleonic legislation and practices.
• Subsequent success led to direct incorporation of more territory.
• Also control of large number of satellite states.
• Once Napoleon had crowned himself Emperor in 1804, those areas directly controlled became known as the Empire.

Question 36

How large was the empire by 1810 in no. of departments and population?

Answer 36

• By 1810 France had 130 départements and population of 44 million.

Question 37

How did Napoleon present/justify his empire?

Answer 37

• In his memoirs, written after defeat, Napoleon provided his own explanation of French expansion and his reasoning for the empire.
• He claimed he wanted to provide Europe with a ‘common fatherland’.
• He wrote of a Europe in which peoples of all backgrounds and languages would coexist peacefully with a shared code of law and judiciary.
• He saw his empire as spreading enlightenment and helping to rid Europe of absolute rule, aristocratic privilege and feudal law.
• He was offering a replacement for the old and decaying HRE, which he ended in 1806 with the Confederation of the Rhine.
• Napoleon liked to compare himself with Alexander the Great, and Eastern Roman Emperor Justinian, who issued a unified code of law.
• Other allusions made to Caesar and Charlemagne whose rule, he claimed, brought civilisation to the oppressed.
• Whether these were pretences to cover his ambitions, it is impossible to judge, but it is interesting to note that he actually behaved rather like the royal families of Europe, creating a dynasty by placing his own family and French Marshals on the thrones of other conquered nations.
• Empire usually means France’s satellite states and own enlarged territories.

Question 38

How did Napoleon create a dynastic legacy with his family across europe?

Answer 38

• Married Austrian Pricess Marie-Louise in 1810.
• His brother Jospeh made king of Naples to 1808, then King of Spain.
• His sister Caroline married Marshal Murat who was made King of Naples form 1808.
• Another brother, Louis, created King of Holland.
• Jerome made King of Westphalia.
• The principality of Lucca ruled by Napoleon’s sister Elisa.
• Guastala ruled by sister Pauline.
• Kingdom of Italy went to his adopted son Eugéne de Beauharnais.
• Bernadotte, another Marshal, made king of Sweden (though he changed sides and fought Napoleon at Leipzig in 1813).

Question 39

What were the positives of the empire?

Answer 39

• A mark of prestige which glorified Emperor and France.
• Contributed to income through taxation and provided materials as well as revenue. Forced loans could be demanded as needed.
• Source of patronage; seized land could be used to reward service through donations and imperial titles.
• Helped provide men for the army (1812 force).
• Increased talent poor of administrators; sons of respected imperial families attended lycées and military academies and served in posts in France and the empire.
• Provided opportunity to export values of the French revolution – destroyed remnants of feudalism and created modern, bureaucratic states.
• Created a unified people of Europe.

Question 40

What were the negatives of the empire?

Answer 40

• Costly addition, at time when economy struggling to recover from turmoil of revolution.
• Not financially self-sufficient: cost of administration outstripped revenue.
• Impossible to ensure loyalty of those given land/positions in Empire. Even Napoleon’s brothers Joseph and Louis took an independent line, and Bernadotte betrayed N.
• Maintenance of large empire required conscription of larger armies. French nucleus of army more loyal and motivated than those of satellite states. ‘Training’ given helped states of Europe when they turned their armies on napoleon in 1813-1814!
• Scholarships and positions given to imperial personnel reduced number available for true French citizens. Since most went to former nobility and the wealthy, this tended to reinforce class divisions.
• Imposition of French ways not always welcomed. Resentment at conscription, taxation, attitude to the church and economic blockade. This led to uprisings.
• Imposed an alien culture and gave rise to patriotic nationalist movements which sought to destroy Napoleon’s empire.