Napoleon in Europe Flashcards
French victory over the Russians near Zurich
September 1799
Tsar decided to pull Russia out of the Second Coalition
November 1799
Napoleon attempted to make peace with Britain and Austria
Winter 1799-1800
Napoleon’s Second Italian Campaign
1800
Napoleon and his troops began to march over the Alps on the Great Saint-Bernard Pass
15 May 1800
Masséna surrendered Genoa to the Austrians
4 June 1800
Battle of Marengo (date)
14 June 1800
Battle of Marengo (events)
- Field Marshal Melas (leader of the Austrian troops in Italy) attacked Victor’s corps on the River Bormida
- The French had been forced to retreat over 5 miles during the day (Melas had double the number of troops)
- Desaix arrived, having heard the battle by chance and come back
- Napoleon then launched a counter-attack
- Austrians retreated across the Bormida
Battle of Marengo (casualties)
French = 4500 Austrians = 6500
Battle of Hohenlinden (date)
3 December 1800
Battle of Hohenlinden (events)
- Moreau ambushed the Austrians as they emerged from the Ebersburg Forest
- At the same time, Richepanse’s division enveloped the Austrian left flank
- Despite being outnumbered, the French were thus able to defeat the Austrians with an encircle and eliminate manoeuvre
Battle of Hohenlinden (casualties)
French = 2,500 Austrians = 4,500
Treaty of Lunéville (date)
9 February 1801 with Austria
Treaty of Lunéville (terms)
French gained control of Belgium and the area west of the Rhine
Austria accepted French satellites in Italy and the Netherlands
Treaty of Amiens (date)
25 March 1802 with Britain
Treaty of Amiens (terms)
Napoleon withdrew from Naples
Britain returned France’s colonies (except Ceylon and Trinidad)
British monarchy dropped ‘King of France’ from its title
Britain recognised the French Republic
Britain declared war on France (start of the Third Coalition)
16 May 1803
Austria and Russia had joined the Coalition with Britain against France by…
August 1805
Battle of Ulm (date)
16-19 October 1805
Battle of Ulm (events)
- Napoleon realised he had inadvertently missed a large Austrian army
- Napoleon used the Grande Armée in a massive encirclement manoeuvre, cutting off the Austrians from Russian forces (who were actually 100 miles away anyway)
- Archduke Ferdinand fled from Ulm with 6,000 troops
- Napoleon sent Murat and cavalry after them
- Napoleon began to bombard Ulm
General Mack was forced to surrender after Ulm
20 October 1805
General Mack failed again to persuade the Austrians to attack from the rear
12 October 1805 (before Ulm, when Napoleon was still unaware that he had missed the Austrian army)
Battle of Trafalgar (date)
21 October 1805
Battle of Trafalgar (events)
- Franco-Spanish fleet planned to escort barges of soldiers across the Channel to invade
- Lord Nelson realised the French plan
- British decimated the Franco-Spanish fleet
Battle of Trafalgar (casualties)
Franco-Spanish = 22 ships British = 0 ships lost
Battle of Austerlitz (date)
2 December 1805
Battle of Austerlitz (events)
- Napoleon ordered Soult to evacuate Pratzen Heights in fake panic and disorder
- Met with a Russian envoy and presented the French as weak
- Lured the Russians/Austrians into occupying Pratzen Heights, exposing their rear to an attack from behind
- Russians/Austrians charge down from Pratzen towards Napoleon’s right flank
- Hidden French units charge back up the hill and attack the weak Russian/Austrian centre, eventually turning their attack towards the rear of the Russian forces
- The French force the Russians/Austrians into a frozen swamp where they are unable to defend themselves
Battle of Austerlitz (casualties)
French = 1,500 Russians = 15,000
Treaty of Pressburg (date)
26 December 1805
Treaty of Pressburg (terms)
- Austrians had to recognise French supremacy in northern Italy and cede Venetia, Dalmatia and Istria to Kingdom of Italy
- Austria agreed that the German states of Baden, Bavaria and Württemburg would be independent kingdoms
- Austria cedes further land to Bavaria (staunch French ally)
- Austria pay 40 million francs in reparations
Napoleon abolished HRE and created Confederation of the Rhine
July 1806 - ‘Rheinbund’
Murat is placed in charge in Dusseldorf (which had been the Grand Duchy of Berg)
Formation of the Fourth Coalition
October 1806
Battles of Jena-Auerstädt (date)
14 October 1806
Battle of Jena (events)
- Napoleon ordered Lannes to shift from the centre to aid Ney, weakening the French centre
- Napoleon deployed his Imperial Guard to hold French centre
- Napoleon ordered the army to break through the Prussian flanks and encircle the main Prussian army
- Many of the Prussian flanks fled and the army withdraw
Battle of Auerstädt (events)
- Napoleon misjudged where the Prussian army lay and thus gave his whole attention to Jena - bulk of the army was in fact at Auerstädt
- Davout broke the Prussian centre and cavalry, forced them back over the Lissbach Stream
- Davout’s single corps destroyed the Prussian army and prevented Brunswick joining the Russians
Battles of Jena-Auerstädt (casualties)
French = 5,000 Prussians = 11,000
Fall of Berlin to Napoleon
27 October 1806 - Prussian capital of Berlin was taken by the French in the aftermath of Jena-Auerstädt
Battle of Eylau (date)
7-8 February 1807
Battle of Eylau (events)
- Frontal attack against Russians led by Napoleon failed, with catastrophic losses (troops were blinded by a blizzard and artillery was launched against their own men)
- Cavalry charge (Murat) and flank attack (Davout) strengthened the French position
- Bennigsen’s army was in danger of collapse but was joined by 9,000 Prussians
- Davout forced to retreat
- Ney attacked Bennigsen
- Two sides disengaged and then Bennigsen retreated
- Technically a French victory but not decisive
Battle of Eylau (casualties)
French = 25,000 Russians = 20,000
Battle of Friedland (date)
14 June 1807
Battle of Friedland (events)
- Bennigsen attacked the isolated corps of Marshal Lannes
- Lannes only had 26,000 men so he forced Bennigsen to commit progressively more troops across the River Alle to defeat him
- By late afternoon, the French had amassed a force of 80,000 troops on the battlefield
- Relying on superior numbers, Napoleon ordered a massive assault against the Russians
- The main attack was delivered against the Russian left, which Napoleon saw at once to be cramped in the narrow tongue of land between the river Alle and the Posthenen mill-stream (many Russians died falling into the river)
Battle of Friedland (casualties)
Russia lost over 40% of its forces in that battle
Treaty of Tilsit with Russia (date)
7 July 1807
Treaty of Tilsit with Russia (terms)
- Russia agreed to recognised French domination over W and central Europe
- Russia agreed to join the continental blockade system against Britain
- Russian territory in Poland would become French (Grand Duchy of Warsaw)
- Napoleon recognised Eastern Europe as a Russian sphere of influence
- French agreed to aid Russia again Turkey, if the Turks didn’t agree to give Russia some of their land
Treaty of Tilsit with Prussia (date)
9 July 1807
Treaty of Tilsit with Prussia (terms)
Almost half of Prussia’s territory would become French (Kingdom of Westphalia)
Nelson bombarded Copenhagen which angered the Russians
February 1801
League of Armed Neutrality (Russia, Denmark, Sweden and Prussia) keptBritainout of the Baltic
1800-1801
Reorganisation of the Grande Armée
1805
Corps of 20,000-30,000 men (cavalry and infantry so self-sufficient)
Imperial Guard
1805
Napoleon’s personal elite army - could deploy them wherever necessary in a battle (as in Jena)
% of officers who had risen through the ranks
50% - meritocratic so better
Napoleon’s generals came from humble beginnings
Murat the son of an innkeeper
Ney the son of a barrel maker
Lannes the son of a stable-keeper
Meritocratic system meant that generals were actually good
Pays réunis (9 areas)
Modern-day Belgium German lands west of the Rhine Nice Savoy Piedmont (1802) Ligurian Republic (1805) Parts of modern-day Switzerland Holland (from 1810, had been a pay conquis since 1806) Rome
Pays conquis (11 areas)
1805
- Kingdom of Italy
1806
- Kingdom of Naples
- Kingdom of Holland
- Confederation of the Rhine
- Grand Duchy of Berg
1807
- Kingdom of Westphalia
- Portugal
- Grand Duchy of Warsaw
1808
- Kingdom of Spain
- Papal States annexed to Kingdom of Italy
1810
- Sweden
Increase in military expenditure
1807-1813, military expenditure almost doubled
Prussians had to pay following their defeat at Jena-Auerstädt
1806 - 311 million francs
From 1806 onwards, the Kingdom of Italy had to pay…
1.5 million francs to French treasury
Cash contributions to ship building
An extra 1.5 million for the Russia campaign
Population of the Kingdom of Italy fell by…
23,000 men (1809-14) - people moved to try to avoid conscription
Impact of the Continental Blockade on Italy
Destroyed silk industry
Froze trade in parts of Venice and Ancona
Boosted wool industry
Numbers of marshals/generals gifted with land in Poland
26 (before 1807)
Fraction of Poland’s income deprived by dotations
1/5
Piedmont was forced to export silk only to…
Lyons - Napoleon wanted to stimulate the silk industry there
Impact of the CB on Belgium
Textiles and manufacturing prospered, better access to imperial market now that there was no competition with cheaper British goods
Benefitted Belgian weavers and miners in theRhineland
Negative impact of CB on farming across the Empire
Good French harvest meant that satellite states could not sell their surplus anywhere as France already had enough and prices decreased rapidly due to overproduction
Napoleon’s views on France vs the Grand Empire
‘LA FRANCE AVANT TOUT’
L’Agglomération
Unification of people who share the same language, culture and traditions
Idea that Napoleon spoke about on St Helena
Men from across the Empire in the Russian Campaign
Men from Bavaria, Saxony and Württernberg and Baden
Bernadotte (King of Sweden) turned traitor
1812 - allied with the Tsar
Empire at its peak - number of departments and people
Over 130 departments
40 million people
Belgium and Luxembourg annexed
1795
Number of departments representing Belgium and Luxembourg
9 departments
Gendarmeries in pays réunis
Very effective
Murat in Naples
Ruled from 1808 until the fall of Napoleon
Murat employed Neapolitan ministers
E.g. Giuseppe Zurlo (Minister of the Interior)
They wielded more power than many of the French officials
Council of State was primarily comprised of Neapolitan bourgeoisie and nobles
Murat tried to get French officials to assume Neapolitan citizenship or be fired
1811
Kingdom of Westphalia
From 1807
Jerome = constitutional King
Melzi in Italy
Vice-president of Italy under Napoleon until Eugène de Beauharnais takes over as Viceroy in 1805
Melzi divided Italy into 12 departments
1802
French Civil Codes became law in Italy
1806
Joseph Bonaparte in Naples
1806 - 1808
Joseph’s administrative reforms in Naples
Split into 14 provinces
Mayors were elected by councils of local professionals
Napoleon annexed Holland to France
1810
Napoleon quotation on control over the Empire
Ordered Eugène (his step-son) who ruled Italy – ‘even if Milan is in flames, you must ask for orders to extinguish it’ (1805)
Napoleon dissolved the legislative body in Italy after it opposed a new tax and replaced it with a council of the state and later a senate
July 1805
Shocking parts of the Civil Codes
Civil marriage and divorce became legal (shocking to Catholics)
Division of inheritance introduced (partage)
Napoleon enforced the Civil Codes in Berg and Naples
1810 - even though rulers there believed them to be culturally inappropriate and asked for more time
Division of common land between landlords and towns in Naples
1 September 1806
Resistance to Napoleonic rule in Naples
Resistance in 1806
British arrived in Calabria
French were defeated at Maida
British encouraged widespread revolt which drove the French out of Calabria
French regain control in Naples after initial opposition
February 1808
Feudal system persisted in Naples
Feudal commission (established in 1807) was not very successful
Many disputes were outstanding over 100 years later
Landlords often won the battles for property and the peasants were left empty handed
Impact of CB on Strasbourg
Traders in wine and tobacco were benefitted due to absence of competition
1807-1810, Strasbourg handled 1/3 French exports
Impact of CB on Bordeaux
Badly affected - denied trade in textiles and silks with England
1808, wine trade collapsed
700 to no rope makers by 1811
Minister of Finance in Italy
Giuseppe Prina
Indirect taxes led to disturbances in Italy
1809, tax on milling flour led to disturbances
1813-14, attacks on consumption tax collectors
State revenue increase in Italy
x 2 (1802-1811)
Property survey erased differences between tax payers in Italy
1807
Reformation of the taxation system in Naples
August 1806 - reorganised a complicated tax system of 100 taxes into a single tax on income and property
Modern land assessment introduced in Naples
August 1809
Budget was brought back to balance in Naples
By 1813
Impact of CB on Naples
Agricultural sector suffered
Maritime trade = virtually paralysed
Number of men conscripted (1800-1812)
73,000 men a year (not very high)
Number of men conscripted (1812-14)
1.5 million (more than double before)
Revolt in Belgium at the introduction of Jourdan’s law
1798
Conscription introduced in Italy
August 1802
Size of the Italian army in 1812
70,000 men
Conscription introduced in Naples
1806 (difficult due to the Calabrian revolt)
% spent on military in Naples
1812, military expenditure = 70% of the budget
Conscription in the Rhineland
Almost 5% of the population called between 1802 and 1814
Draft dodging in Westphalia
1804, 25%
Number conscripted in Westphalia
1806, 600,000 from a population of 2 million
National breakdown of generals
70 Italians
32 Poles
20 Germans
Fraction of troops in Grande Armée that were foreign
1/4 in 1805
% arable land that changed hands into the Rhineland
12.5% (due to sale of religious properties)
% of land on sale in Jemappes (department in Belgium)
11% of cultivated land sold
1/4 by French bankers and army contractors
3/4 by local bourgeoisie
Number of monasteries sold in Naples
1300
Jews emancipated in…
Belgian deparments
Italy
Jews not emancipated in…
Grand Duchy of Warsaw
Concordat had little impact in…
Holland and Batavian Republic
Sale of property in Hainault (Belgium) - % breakdown of who got the land
57% went to bourgeoisie
10% peasants
Lycées established in…
Italy, Belgium and Berg
Universities established in…
Padua, Bologna and Pavia
But not in Dusseldorf (which had been promised)
Abolition of feudalism in GD of W
1807 (but ineffective - corvée and nobility remained)
Abolition of feudalism in Berg
1809 (but feudal burdens had to be redeemed)
Abolition of feudalism in Westphalia
1809 (but feudal system was so entrenched there this was mostly ineffective)
Abolition of feudalism in Naples
1806
Evidence that the feudal system was entrenched in Naples
80% of all feudal revenue had been collected by 600 families (highly concentrated and entrenched system which was very difficult for the French to reform)
Napoleon promised the Polish independence vaguely in return for…
98,000 men for his 1812 campaign against Russia
Britain had begun to blockade Europe
May 1805
Berlin Decrees
21 November 1806
Prohibits trade between Britain and Europe
Orders the seizure of goods from Britain and her colonies
Decrees also stated that English subjects were to be seized
British Orders in Council
January and November 1807
Ordered neutral ships to sail first to British ports and pay duties before continuing to the Continent
Milan Decrees
17 December 1807
Ordered the confiscation of ships that had stopped in British harbours
Russia, Prussia, Denmark and Spain joined CB
1807
Papal States and Illyrian Provinces joined CB
1809