3. Military Rise
1793, Captured Toulon from Royalists and the
British and promoted from Captain to Brigadier
General at 24
Rebuffed an uprising against the Directory (group of
5 men that replaced the Committee of Public Safety)
Marched into Italy and defeated Austrians, forcing
them to withdraw.
Attacked British forces in Egypt. Escaped from
British by leaving his army surrounded.
4. Coup d’etat
Abbe Sieyes (―What is the 3rd Estate‖) conspired with Napoleon to
replace the Directory.
Napoleon becomes ―temporary consul‖ on 9 November 1799.
―confidence from below, authority from above‖
Napoleon would not have been able to rise above the rank of major
in the pre-revolutionary French army because he did not have
enough money to purchase his rank. As a a result of the abolition of
rank purchase, Napoleon was able to rise on his own merits—
making him a son of the Revolution.
But Napoleon was unwilling to wait for the democratic process.
First Consul
Second Constitution
White male suffrage for literate men
Indirect elections
1802 Consul for Life ratified by Plebecite
Centralized authority
5. Domestic Reforms Under Napoleon
Napoleonic Code
Affirmed ―natural authority‖ of husband over wife
Married women required husband’s permission to sell property, own a
business or enter a profession
Unequal divorce: men- adultery of wife. Women: only if a man moved his
mistress into the family home.
No paternity suits to establish male parentage of illegitimate children
Criminal Code
Citizens are equal before the law
Outlawed arbitrary arrest and imprisonment (required independent
determination of reasons for arrest)
Abolished cruel punishments like branding and cutting off hands
Educational Reform
Established ―lycees” (high schools) in every major town.
Institute of France
Military Academy
Teacher Education
6. Concordat with Pope
1801
Pope had right to appoint and depose Bishopsand discipline
French clergy
Pope would forego claims to French land once owned by
church and seized during French Revolution
Did not revoke principle of religious freedom
Did ease worries of religious conservatives whose support
Napoleon needed to remain in power
7. Emperor Napoleon I
2 December 1804 Napoleon crowns himself Emperor
at the Cathedral of Notre Dame.
8. Napoleonic Wars
1805 Russians, Prussians, Austrians, Swedes and British
allied to contain France.
Napoleon’s military advantages
Conscript army
Revolutionary Militias
Promotions based on talent and merit not birth or patronage
Domestic economy geared to support of military
Battle of Austerlitz 5 December 1805
Napoleon defeats combined forces of Austria and Russia
Rules the continent from Portugal to Russia
Allies and client states
Rome, Papal states, Confederation of the Rhine (principalities in
Germany and part of Poland); Dalmatian territories (Croatia)
Spain, Naples, Holland: Napoleon’s brother, brother-in-law and general
installed as monarchs.
10. Consequences of Empire
Brought the practical consequences of French Revolution
to Europe
Powerful, centralizing state and an end to old systems of privilege
Changed terms of government service: merit vs. patronage or birth
Ended nobility monopoly on officer corps
State sponsored military
Training
Support beyond pay (food, clothing, armaments)
Defense taxes ―liberty and requisitions‖
Universal conscription
Elimination of feudal and clerical courts
State support for education on a broad scale
11. Continental System: Beginning of Napoleon’s Fall
1806 Napoleon sought to starve the British into
submission by and embargo on continental trade in
British goods
1807 British Navy blockades the continent
Continental trade was hurt more than British trade
WHY?
British global colonies
Trade with South America
12. Napoleon Dreams of Rome
Napoleon’s ambition
Recreate Roman empire
Rule Rome from Paris
Divorces Josephine
Marries Marie Louse (great niece of Marie Antoinette)
Loses support of former revolutionaries in France, enlightenment
thinkers on the continent, and liberals at home and abroad
13. New Militaries Emerge
Prussia
Demand for rigorous practical training
Citizen army– no mercenaries
Support from State
Effect of Napoleon’s defeats on allies
Defeat at Trafalgar 1805 led to rift with Spain
Napoleon’s invasion of Spain in 1808
Peninsular Wars
British and Spanish insurgents
French atrocities
15. Invasion of Russia 1811
Tsar Alexander I turned blind eye to Russian trading
with Britain
Napoleon collected ―Grande Armee‖ of 600,000 soldiers
to invade Russia
Russian army was outnumbered and withdrew deep into
interior of Russia, burning land which Napoleon’s army
might use
Russian partisans burned Moscow rather than allow it to
be conquered by Napoleon.
Insurgent strikes on sick and demoralized army of
France
By December 1812 French army had dwindled to a few
thousand
16. Last Battles
Battle of Nations, Leipzig October 1813
Austrians, Russians, Swedes and Prussians defeat Napoleon
March 31 Tsar Alexander & King Frederick William
III of Prussia marched into Paris
Napoleon sent to exile on Elba
17. Brief Return, Final Defeat
Victorious Allies restore a Bourbon King to throne of
France, Louis XVIII (brother of Louis XVI)
Napoleon escaped from Elba and Louis XVIII flees
France.
Allies meeting at Congress of Vienna hastily organize
and army against Napoleon.
Battle of Waterloo June 15-18, 1815
Napoleon defeated by Britain and Prussia
Exiled to Saint Helena and died in 1821
18. Haitian Revolution
Caribbean Islands & French sugar plantations
Guadeloupe, Martinique, and Saint-Domingue
Intense competition with British and Spanish
Saint-Domingue
40,000 whites of different social classes
30,000 free people of color
500,000 slaves
1790 Delegation of Free People of Color to Paris asking to be seated
in the General Assembly.
Refusal to seat delegation caused unrest in Saint-Domingue
Vincent Oge` and other leaders of delegation
Broken on the wheel and decapitated
August 1791 Largest slave rebellion in History?
Spanish and British poised to take over the island
French promised citizenship to Free People of Color and freedom to slaves
19. Toussaint L’Ouverture
Leader of indigenous forces for independence
Defeated French planters in 1797
British 1798
Spanish 1801
Haitian Constitution
Abolished slavery
Established Christianity
Toussaint –governor for life
Allegiance to France but French cannot interfere in Haiti internal affairs
1802 Toussaint captured
20,000 French troops
Yellow Fever
Insurgency
Atrocities
French troops recalled in 1803
Jean-Jacques Dessalines declares independent state of Haiti in 1804
