Christopher Morales

Napoleon Bonaparte

Napoleon was a great military leader and had great influence on the development

of France and Europe. Born in Ajaccio, Corsica on August 15, 1769 Napoleon entered a

military academy at Brienne ten years later. Five years later Napoleon entered Ecole

Militaire (Military School) and a year later became commissioned as a lieutenant.

Napoleon spent his time studying history and geography which helped him in his great

military career. Under Napoleon’s leadership some have believed Napoleon to be a

dictator, however Napoleon was a conqueror and a true military genius.

Napoleon was born into a noble Italian family as his father, Carlo Bonaparte, was

an attorney and Corsica’s court representative of Louis XVI of France and his mother,

Maria Letizia Ramolino, was a strict disciplinarian. It was under her influence that he was

sent to a French military school. After attending various military schools Napoleon

graduated in January of 1786 at the age of sixteen as a second lieutenant of the artillery.

This was also around the same time that revolution was beginning in France. This was the

perfect opportunity for young military leaders such as Napoleon to show skill and talent

and earn a successful military career. It was Napoleon’s chance to shine during the Siege

of Toulon when he was appointed captain of the artillery for the Republican side of the

revolution. The siege was about two months long as it began in September of 1793 and

ended in December of 1793. Napoleon did his part excellently as he tactically placed his

guns to assault the British forces on the harbor. Napoleon also led successful assaults on

crucial forts and seized them. Napoleon’s performance during the siege proved

exceptional and surpassed the performance of his superiors. As Napoleon noticed the
poor performance of his generals he led a scheme to have them replaced. Napoleon then

influenced the commander to lead an assault on a key British fort which led to the

republican victory and his promotion to General of the brigade.

As General, Napoleon was serving in Italy but was arrested during August 9 to

August 20 of 1794 because his ties to the younger brother of Maximilien Robespierre led

to suspicions of Napoleon being a Jacobin. Upon Napoleon’s release in 1795 he had no

position and he began looking for power in Paris. He found himself working for the

corrupt Paul Barras who used Napoleon to end a rising Royalist mob known as

Vendemiaire. Napoleon used a canon loaded with a canister filled with iron balls to fire at

the Royalists which became legendary as a “whiff of grapeshot”. This led to Napoleon

gaining the position of commander of the Army of the Interior, which was a field army of

the French Revolution. Napoleon maintained his connections with government officials

and a year later in 1796 took new command in the Army of Italy. There Napoleon led a

great campaign beginning with the Austrian signing of the Treaty of Leoben on April 19,

1797. The treaty contained many secret clauses but it caused Austria to lose the Austrian

Netherlands and Lombardy and in return receive the Venetian territories of Istria and

Dalmatia. Also under his influence he proposed a treaty to the papacy and the Treaty of

Campo Formio, which was the succeeding treaty to the Treaty of Leoben. Besides being a

successful diplomat Napoleon was still a soldier and earned the French occupation of

Belgium and earned victories in Lodi, Arcola, and Rivoli. Napoleon was beginning to

develop as a politician and political experience was something that none of his military

peers shared.

After a successful campaign in Italy Napoleon returned to Paris where he was

appointed to take command of the army designated to invade England. Bonaparte did not

like the scheme as he has seen failed plots such as the one led by Lazare Hoche on

Ireland and Britain has proved to have a strong navy. Their naval force has proved to be a

serious threat against any nation’s military force that attempted to cross the Channel.

Because of this Napoleon decided to lead an invasion on Egypt even though this

expedition was just as dangerous. This invasion began when Napoleon and 25,000 troops

met the forces of the Mameluke, one led by Murad Bey who had 21,000 troops and

another led by Ibrahim Bey who had 100,000 troops. Although the confrontation seemed

to be one sided the Mameluke faced their own problems. The two forces were divided by

the Nile river leaving Murad’s forces to defend a village and Ibrahim’s forces out in the

open. Upon realizing this Napoleon strategically placed his soldiers in large square

shaped divisions. Using about five divisions covered by about thirty guns and each

supported with cavalry, the divisional squares were able to defeat the defending

Mameluke. This battle became known as The Battle of The Pyramids or The Battle of

Embabeh. The Mameluke defeat signified the end of 700 years of Mameluke rule over

Egypt. Napoleon wanted to take over this territory but was stopped by British forces led

by Admiral Sir Horatio Nelson who defeated Napoleon in the Battle of the Nile.

Napoleon continued to move into Syria until he reached Mount Tabor where he

found General Jean-Baptiste Kleber battling a 35,000 man army led by Pasha of

Damascus. After fighting with 1500 men for eight hours Napoleon arrived with 2500 men

and two cannons. Napoleon was able to strategize his men into defeating the winning

Turkish forces. The French forces had to continue through the deserts with disease and

fatigue until Turkish forces of about 8000 men met the French at Aboukir. Napoleon and
his closest friends decided to leave for France and left the French forces under the

command of General Kleber.

Napoleon wanted to explore his potential in French politics so upon his return he

became a part of the Coup de Brumaire. Napoleon was elected by the Directory’s largest

legislative Chamber, the Council of Five-Hundred. An end was brought to the five-man

executive Consulate as a new three-man Consulate was born. Napoleon was a member of

this consul alongside Roger Ducos, a Jacobin lawyer and Emmanuel-Joseph Sieyes, a

former priest and revolutionary pamphleteer and deputy. The French people saw the three

men with equal power but soon Napoleon found his way to the position of First Consul.

In the consulate Napoleon played a part in the negotiations that went towards creating the

new constitution. He has experienced similar discussion when he took part in creating the

Cispadane when in the Cisalpine Republic in Italy. Bonaparte earned other opportunities

to gain and use power from the constitution. The Senate had the ability to issue orders

that could bypass the legislature. Napoleon was able to bend the Senate more and more

towards his will and eventually avoid parliamentary opposition. He was able to begin a

new State council known as the Counseil d’Etat. The sole purpose of this council was to

provide advise to the First Consul which was beneficial because Napoleon was able to

prepare for any debate or criticism that may come his way. Napoleon has learned from

the revolution that the voice of the public people cannot be ignored. Napoleon’s

technique for tackling this situation was submitting general legislative outlines that would

please the people but execute the orders with detailed executive decrees. Napoleon was to

release a new constitution which on February 7, 1800 was supported by three-million

voters whose only opposition was one-thousand sixty-two voters in opposition. Napoleon
was able to earn internal order within his nation and made peace with enemies from other

countries.

Another thing that Napoleon wanted to bring an end to was the royalist counter

revolution in the West. This was about the same time period that Napoleon moved back to

Italy with an army, traveling over the Alps to confront the Austrians. General Napoleon’s

status as First Consul enable Napoleon to have the best coverage of all the generals.

Napoleon was always portrayed in the best light as his mistakes were overlooked and any

achievement that came as a result of luck was seen as part of master plan. A prime

example was the battle of Marengo on June 14, 1800 in which General Napoleon

believed the Austrians were retreating and he divided his army in half to go after them

only to find an Austrian force that was twice the size of Napoleon’s forces. Napoleon was

saved by the arrival of General Desaix who died as the French earned victory. Because of

Desaix’s death Napoleon received all the glory that rightfully belonged to General

Desaix. After two years as First Consul Napoleon was able to gain internal security and

an end revolution and upheaval. However Napoleon still had enemies in royalists and

radical Jacobins. The royalists plotted an assassination on Napoleon on December 24,

1800 as a group of them tried to bomb him. Bonaparte saw this as an opportunity to get

rid of the Jacobin threat as he issued a “senatus consultum” which exiled 130 Jacobins

and the real royalists were dealt with separately. This brought Napoleon closer to

becoming the head of state in France. On December 2, 1804 Napoleon was crowned

Emperor of France in the Cathedral of Notre Dame in Paris.

Now that Napoleon was Emperor he began to work on his ambition to dominate

Europe. However one large error occurred when a royalist figurehead was arrested and
tried without a fair trial eventually leading to the royalist’s execution. This turned

European nations against Napoleon as they formed the Third Coalition. The Third

Coalition consisted of Austria, Great Britain, Russia and Sweden. In response Napoleon

began assembling a massive army known as the first Grande Armee. On October 21,

1805 Napoleon took his French Naval Fleet and joined with Admiral Villanueve of Spain

to try and force Admiral Nelson’s British forces off the channel. The French and Spanish

allies were defeated by Nelson’s superior fleet. The British fleet did not lose a single ship

as the French and Spanish lost about eighteen vessels combined, although Admiral

Nelson was shot and died in this battle. Napoleon’s ambitions of invading England ended

with that battle but Napoleon continued to face the Austrians and Russians. General

Bonaparte secretly deployed his soldiers on Austrian territory where they found Austrian

General Mack waiting for the Russian General Kutusov. Without the help of the Russians

General Mack was forced to surrender at Ulm on November 22, 1805. Without Austrian

forces in the way Napoleon was able to take over Vienna by November 25, 1805. On

December 2, 1805 Napoleon faced the Austrian and Russian forces in the Battle of

Austerlitz. Napoleon used his knowledge of the field’s geography to defeat both the

Austrians and Russians by fooling them into thinking his army was in a weak position by

positioning his army in a weak location instead of the main center location that was made

of a frozen lake. Luring his allied opponents with his weak position the allies stepped

onto the frozen lake and under the weight of soldiers and guns the lake cracked and

drowned many of their soldiers. From this victory Napoleon earned areas in Germany and

Italy that were influenced by Austrians. With his new influence Napoleon once again

tried to focus on Europe. His new plan was to try and exclude England from trade in
hopes of crippling its economy. The only entity that was to be convinced of adopting the

new policy was Portugal. In order to gain support Napoleon placed his troops in Spain

and forced King Charles IV to step down from the throne and appointed his brother

Joseph Bonaparte to be king of Spain who was crowned in July of 1808.

Napoleon would have control over Europe for about six years until his career

would come to an end in a crucial turning point known as the Battle of Waterloo. On June

16 Napoleon had defeated Prussian forces at Ligny only to find the Duke of Wellington at

a crucial area. While Napoleon used some of his force to keep the Prussians retreating he

began advancing towards the Wellington forces south of the village of Waterloo. The

victory went to Wellington when they stopped the advancement of the French forces.

Bonaparte’s defeat at Waterloo ended Napoleon’s rule, dreams and ambitions as he lost

32,000 men and 7000 captured. Napoleon was a military genius who used his abilities to

work through the ranks and eventually become a politician who ruled France and later

Europe. Through luck and strategy he was able to build the great career and legacy that is

known by many people.