Napoleon, session iv, Apogee

Napoleon
session iv
Apogee

The pope must be made to understand
that “I am Charlemagne, the sword
of the Church, their emperor; that I
must be treated as such...if he does
not acquiesce, I shall reduce the
papacy to the state that it occupied
before Charlemagne.”

--Napoleon

major topics for this session

! Eylau, 1807

! Friedland, 1807

! Tilsit

! The Continental System

! The Fifth Coalition

! Wagram, 1809

6 1809 campaign

1807 campaign

1807 campaign

1809 campaign

Eylau, 1807

Napoléon on the ﬁeld of Eylau by Antoine-Jean Gros, 1807

A general-in-chief should never allow
any rest either to the conquerors or
the conquered.
--Napoleon

I received your letter in a tumble-
down farm house where I have the
mud, the wind and some straw for my
bed.
--Napoleon

After the stunning victory of Jena, “Napoleon was not finished
with Prussia. A fast and furious pursuit in all directions captured
thousands of stunned troops.”
In all, a total of 140,000 POWs were taken “ one half to work on
roads and fields in France and as many as Prince Godoy wanted
to Spain.”
The Prussian officers who had sharpened their swords on the
steps of the French Embassy in Berlin “were marched past the
French embassy to the secret delight of those Berlin citizens who
had not wanted war.”

Robert Asprey, The Reign of Napoleon Bonaparte, pp. 35, 38

Russia

Eylau

a
ssi
Ru
Berlin
Warsaw

a
ssi
Ru

a romantic
interlude from
war

a romantic
interlude from
war

“...a raving beauty, blonde with
beguiling blue eyes set off by
exceptionally white skin and dark
curling eyelashes, soft inviting lips
and an exquisitely slim, full-
bosomed body”
Asprey, p. 51

Patriotic Adultery
! born to a wealthy Polish noble family

! one of her tutors was Nicholas Chopin, the composer’s father

! 1805-her mother and brothers forced the 17-year-old into a
marriage to Count Athenasius Walewska who was four times her
age!

! January 1806-when Napoleon arrived in Warsaw, Talleyrand
made sure that she came to his attention. He, as did the Polish
patriots, wanted her to convince the Emperor that a Polish state
should be resurrected

Maria Countess Walewska
(née !"czy#ska; 1786, – 1817)

Patriotic Adultery
! born to a wealthy Polish noble family

! one of her tutors was Nicholas Chopin, the composer’s father

! 1805-her mother and brothers forced the 17-year-old into a
marriage to Count Athenasius Walewska who was four times her
age!

! January 1806-when Napoleon arrived in Warsaw, Talleyrand
made sure that she came to his attention. He, as did the Polish
patriots, wanted her to convince the Emperor that a Polish state
should be resurrected

! she was at ﬁrst reluctant. But when even her husband
encouraged her, she gave Napoleon “three gorgeous weeks” in
Warsaw--Asprey

! she was 20, Bonaparte was 36, Joséphine was 42 and in Mainz Maria Countess Walewska
(née !"czy#ska; 1786, – 1817)
! Marie later followed him on campaign and back to Paris

Correspondence with Joséphine
Napoleon has often been criticized for [this liaison with Marie
Walewska], which is not altogether fair. Probably it would not
have happened had Joséphine been on hand but...Warsaw was
not a suitable place for her. Even before he had met Marie he
sympathized with Joséphine’s boredom at Mainz and advised her
to return to Paris and enjoy herself.
Joséphine did not take kindly to this advice and in short order
became a nagging pest. We don’t have her letters but judging from
his replies they were scarcely soothing. “What you say to me of
your sadness pains me,” he wrote in mid-January, “...I shall see
you soon...show some character and fortitude….” Three days
later: “I am told that you are always crying. For shame...I am very
well and love you very much; but if you are always crying I shall
believe that you have no courage or character; I do not like
cowards; an empress should have courage.”
Asprey, p. 78-79

The Grand Duchy of Warsaw
1807-1815

Polish patriots from the richest nobles to the poorest peasants
were rebelling against Prussian and Russian rule and were
allegedly raising an army sixty thousand strong.

Asprey, Reign, p. 40

Napoleon’s Polish Troops
! 1791-95--like so many patriotic Poles, Dombrowski
fought both Prussians and Russians who came to
partition his land

! when this effort failed, he and many others emigrated to
revolutionary France and formed a Polish army in exile

! 1796-97-commanded the 1st & 2nd Polish legions of the
Army of Italy

! 1798-commanded the auxiliary troops of the Cisalpine
Republic

! 1807-raised another Polish legion, this time in his native
land! He took part in the siege of Danzig and the battle of
General Jan-Henryk Dombrowski Friedland
1755-1818
! thereafter, he and his fellow Poles would rank among
Napoleon’s most loyal allied troops until the ﬁrst
abdication in 1814

Winter Quarters

! from time immemorial Europe’s armies began to settle down in the late fall and
await the spring thaws to begin ﬁghting again

! Napoleon ordered his forces in Eastern Prussia to make no forward movement
until the spring

! 27 January-he received the disturbing news that Russian General Bennigsen
had taken the offensive

! Russians, of course, were more accustomed to the harsh climate of this part of
the world than were the French, let alone their allied Spanish troops

! but Napoleon was further shocked to learn that his own Marshal Ney’s troops
might have triggered the ﬁghting

! ordered to forage for food, some had tired of trying to dig up frozen potatoes
and had attacked the Russian outposts to plunder their depots

Course of the Lower Alle River

Course of the Lower Alle River

Friedland
Eylau

“...the shivering and half-starved French soldiers [were] fortunate
that they were unable to foresee the sufferings the future held in
store for them as their pursuing columns, enveloped in a haze of
human breath, hurried forward…. For down the road lay the ﬁeld
of Eylau.”
Chandler, p. 535

! 7 February-the previous afternoon, an outpost
skirmish had escalated into a battle as both
sides wanted to spend the freezing night in the
town. Napoleon was almost captured!

! continuous snowstorms on both days added to
the troops’ misery

! 8 February-when Ney’s and Davout’s corps
67,000 would arrive in the afternoon the French
strength would reach 75,000

! Lestocq’s Prussians would bring Bennigsen’s
forces to 76,000. Already, the Russian artillery
45,000 was far stronger, 400 guns to the French 300

! so Napoleon’s plan was to hold out until his
two corps would make for a fairly even ﬁght

! 10 a.m.-Soult and Augereau were ordered to
make a pinning attack

after Chandler, p. 539
FRENCH in DARK GRAY
RUSSIANS in LIGHT GRAY

! 7 February-the previous afternoon, an outpost
skirmish had escalated into a battle as both
sides wanted to spend the freezing night in the
town. Napoleon was almost captured!

! continuous snowstorms on both days added to
the troops’ misery

! 8 February-when Ney’s and Davout’s corps
67,000 would arrive in the afternoon the French
strength would reach 75,000

! Lestocq’s Prussians would bring Bennigsen’s
forces to 76,000. Already, the Russian artillery
45,000 was far stronger, 400 guns to the French 300

! so Napoleon’s plan was to hold out until his
two corps would make for a fairly even ﬁght

! 10 a.m.-Soult and Augereau were ordered to
make a pinning attack

after Chandler, p. 539
FRENCH in DARK GRAY ! 1130-Murat’s cavalry rode through the
RUSSIANS in LIGHT GRAY Russian lines and back again

! 1 p.m.-3 p.m.--Davout’s III Corps hits the
Russian left ﬂank. Friant’s division takes
Kutschitten, Gudin’s, Anklappen

45,000

Chandler, p. 549

RUSSIANS in RED & RED
FRENCH in BLACK & GRAY


! the solid marks show the effect of these
attacks by 4 p.m.

45,000

Chandler, p. 549



attacks by 4 p.m.

! 4:30 p.m.-Lestocq’s Prussian corps arrives. He
stops Davout from completely enveloping the
Russians

45,000

Chandler, p. 549



attacks by 4 p.m.

Russians

! Although this denies Bonaparte his decisive
destruction of the Allies, it is not enough to
reverse the battle’s momentum
45,000

Chandler, p. 549



attacks by 4 p.m.

Russians

45,000

! 7 p.m.-Ney’s VI Corps drives into the Russian
right

Chandler, p. 549



attacks by 4 p.m.

Russians

45,000

right

! this forced Bennigsen to withdraw to the
position shown by faint red symbols behind
Chandler, p. 549 the road to Königsberg.



attacks by 4 p.m.

Russians

45,000

right

! this forced Bennigsen to withdraw to the
position shown by faint red symbols behind
Chandler, p. 549 the road to Königsberg.

FRENCH in BLACK & GRAY ! both sides are exhausted

A Russian Map
French in “enemy” red
Russians in green
Prussians in blue
showing the situation
at about 6 p.m.

PR. EYLAU

Fortunately for Napoleon, his adversary’s nerve broke ﬁrst. At
eleven that night Bennigsen held a council of war...to decide on
the best course of action. Several generals pleaded with him to
hold his ground and reopen the struggle the next morning, but
Bennigsen had already spent many hours in the saddle and his
endurance was at an end…. from midnight onward the Russian
columns began to draw away covered by a rear guard of cossacks
….there was no question of mounting an immediate pursuit. The
French army was in no condition to move another yard.
Chandler, p. 548

So ended the grisly and inconclusive battle of Eylau. The losses
and suffering had been horriﬁc. Napoleon claimed that the Grande
Armée had lost 1,900 killed and 5,700 wounded, but this is a case
of blatant propaganda, justifying the cynical phrase, “to lie like a
bulletin.” Even the most optimistic French commentators put the
French losses at 10,000 men, but this would still appear to be far
too conservative…. The havoc wrought by the cannonballs, sabers
and bayonets of the Russian soldiers will never be known, but it
may have been … 25,000 casualties, or one man in three. The
Russians had suffered rather less...probably 15,000 troops….
Nevertheless, it had been the most gory struggle for many a year,
and Napoleon was hard put to represent the outcome as a French
victory in spite of the propaganda machinery at his disposal.

Chandler, Ibid.

Charge of the French Cuirassiers at Friedland on 14 June 1807- by Meissonier

Friedland, 1807

[After Eylau] both sides returned to winter quarters to recover
from the carnage, with the renewal of hostilities planned for the
spring.
Bennigsen and Napoleon each planned to assume the offensive,
but when the former advanced ﬁrst, the Emperor stopped him at
Heilsberg on 10 June. Four days later the decisive encounter of
the campaign took place at Friedland...

Fremont-Barnes, Napoleon, pp. 27-28

Eylau
Friedland

Berlin
Warsaw

Situation on the 14th about 6 pm

The Battle of Friedland
14 June 1807

In June 1807, ﬁeld artillery came into its own as a combat arm,
becoming the equal of infantry and cavalry. No longer would
artillery be a mere supporting service: it would now be a
supported arm in that it could be the main force with the support
of infantry. It could not only lead attacks but, in certain
circumstances, could be the main attack. This development was
the work of French General Sénarmont who…, acting as the I
Corps artillery chief under General Claude Victor…, organized
and led, on his own initiative, an artillery attack against the
Russian centre, annihilating it through close-range rapid artillery
ﬁre and opening the way for a decisive victory.

Michael F. Pavlovic in, Fighting Techniques, p. 190

The Battle of Friedland
14 June 1807

In June 1807, field artillery came into its own as a combat arm,
becoming the equal of infantry and cavalry. No longer would
artillery be a mere supporting service: it would now be a
supported arm in that it could be the main force with the support
of infantry. It could not only lead attacks but, in certain
circumstances, could be the main attack. This development was
the work of French General Sénarmont who…, acting as the I
Corps artillery chief under General Claude Victor…, organized
and led, on his own initiative, an artillery attack against the
Russian centre, annihilating it through close-range rapid artillery
fire and opening the way for a decisive victory.

Michael F. Pavlovic in, Fighting Techniques, p. 190

Sénarmont’s horse artillery--”Get close, fire fast!”

! born the same year as Bonaparte, commissioned
in the same branch, artillery, and in the same
year, 1786

! 1800-he won recognition both for how he
brought the artillery of the Reserve Army over
the Alps and his handling of the guns at Marengo

! 1806-as brigadier general of Victor’s corps, he
also fought at Jena and in 1807 at Eylau

! 1807-for his part at Friedland he was created at
baron and in 1808 promoted on the battleﬁeld to
general of division in Spain
Alexandre-Antoine Hureau de Sénarmont
1769 – 1810
! 1810-he was killed in the siege of Cadiz

Friedland is on a loop in the Alle River…. The
commander of the main Russian army,
Bennigsen (1745-1826), discovered that
Marshal Lannes’ corps was on the western
bank of the river overlooking the town. Lannes
apparently being unsupported, Bennigsen
decided to cross the river and destroy his force.
By deciding on this course of action, Bennigsen
committed himself to fight with a river at his
back. Further, he had his pontonniers construct
three bridges leading into Friedland and
nowhere else, though he also had a civilian
bridge at his disposal. This limited his ability to
withdraw quickly if necessary. Lannes immediately sent couriers galloping off to
find Napoleon and the main French army and proceeded to fight an expert
delaying action against the Russians. [Remember the Corps d’Armée system?] He
never had more than 26,000 men at his disposal to face 60,000 Russians. Not only
did Bennigsen fail to destroy Lannes’ corps, he deployed almost his entire force
against it. When Napoleon arrived at about 5 p.m. on the afternoon of 14 June, he
could not believe the opportunity with which the Russian commander had
presented him.
Pavlovic, Ibid.

Lannes ranks with Louis Nicolas Davout and André
Masséna as the ablest of all of Napoleon's marshals. He was
continually employed in tasks requiring the utmost
resolution and daring, and more especially when the
emperor's combinations depended upon the vigour and self-
sacrifice of a detachment or fraction of the army. It was thus
with Lannes at Friedland and at Aspern as it was with
Davout at Austerlitz and Auerstädt, and Napoleon's
estimate of his subordinates' capacities can almost exactly be
judged by the frequency with which he used them to
prepare the way for his own shattering blow. Routine
generals with the usual military virtue, or careful and exact
troop leaders like Soult and Macdonald, Napoleon kept
under his own hand for the final assault which he himself
launched, but the long hours of preparatory fighting against
odds of two to one, which alone made the final blow
possible, he entrusted only to men of extraordinary courage
and high capacity for command. In his own words, he found
Lannes a pygmy, and left him a giant. Lannes's place in his
affections was never filled.
Jean Lannes, 1st Duc de Montebello, 1st
Sovereign Prince de Sievers
1769 – 31 May 1809

Napoleon overlooks the battleﬁeld at Friedland, by James Walker
“[He] reached the scene somewhere around noon reminding one and all that this was
the anniversary of Marengo.” --Asprey, p. 71

.

French 4th Hussars at the Battle of Friedland. "Vive l'Empereur!"
by Édouard Detaille, 1891

Charge of the Russian Leib Guard into the ﬁeld by Viktor Mazurovsky, 1912

Sénarmont took the responsibility of ordering his 36 guns forward
against the Russian centre. They advanced by bounds, opening
fire on the Russians at approximately 450 yards….The Russian
infantry stood firm. After firing five or six salvoes, Sénarmont
ordered his companies forward, stopping at 250 yards to open fire
again.
Ordering his guns to cease firing, he again ordered them
forward, this time to 150 yards (some sources say to 60 yards!).
Just over 20 minutes later, more than 4,000 Russians littered the
field and the Russian centre was destroyed. This was the decisive
action of the battle…. Sénarmont was counterattacked by the
cavalry of the Russian Guard, and his artillery companies changed
front and gave the horsemen two volleys of canister, shattering
their charge.
Ibid., pp. 191-192

It had been a famous victory and a bloody fight.The forces
actually engaged had been remarkably equal [app. 65,000 French
against app. 60,000 Russian]--at least 15,000 French (most of the
Guard and two divisions of the I Corps) never having been
engaged. The best figures on the French show 1,372 killed, 9,108
wounded, 55 prisoners. Russian casualties are obscured by poor
records, much straggling after the battle, and a considerable
number of deaths by drowning. Some 11,000 dead were left on the
field; 7,000 wounded are recorded. The French captured 80
cannon, but had few unwounded prisoners, most of the Russians
preferring drowning to surrendering. The effect of the battle on
the Russians, however, went far beyond the number of actual
casualties…. Bennigsen had casually led Russia’s best field army
into a trap; it had fought with extreme bravery and stubbornness,
but had barely escaped. It was now thoroughly disorganized and
shaken; much of its equipment and weapons were gone; and it had
lost confidence in itself and its commanders.
Esposito, Military History and Atlas of the Napoleonic Wars, commentary on MAP 82

Napoleon at the battle of Friedland 14 June 1807. Gen Oudinot, bareheaded, is on the
emperor’s left, and Russian prisoners are on the emperor’s right. Captured Russian
standards are in the background. The battle is noteworthy in that French artillery general
Sénarmont employed innovative artillery tactics.

Five days after the battle Murat’s cavalry entered Tilsit. Czar
Alexander now asked for an armistice to be followed by a meeting
of the two emperors and the opening of peace negotiations.
Sensing that he was about to win a new and immensely valuable
ally, Napoleon agreed.
Asprey, p. 73

25 June 1807

Tilsit

The two sovereigns appeared on the banks of the river and
embarked at the same moment. But the Emperor Napoleon,
having a good boat, manned by the Marines of the Guard, arrived
ﬁrst on the raft, entered the room and went to the opposite door,
which he opened, and then stationed himself on the edge of the
raft to receive the Emperor Alexander, who had not yet arrived,
not having as good oarsmen as the Emperor Napoleon.
The two emperors met in the most amicable way...
General Savary, quoted in Chandler, p. 586

Tilsit
Prussia after the Peace of Tilsit, 18 July 1807
Eylau Friedland

Berlin
Warsaw

It has been recorded that the first words of the tsar on this
auspicious occasion were:”I hate the English as much as you do
yourself.” To which Napoleon replied, “If that is the case, then
peace is already made.”
The first meeting of these two potentates, perhaps the first
prototype in comparatively modern times of a “summit
conference,”...lasted for approximately an hour and a half. It is
notable that the King of Prussia was not permitted to share in this
first meeting….
...it is evident throughout the proceedings that [Napoleon] was
straining every nerve to impress and captivate the impressionable
tsar.
Chandler, pp. 586-587

Terms of the Franco-Russian Treaty

! the war was ended and an alliance was made

! both secretly agreed to aid one another:

! France would aid Russia against Ottoman Turkey

! Russia agreed to join the Continental System

! Napoleon also convinced Alexander to make war against Britain and to wage
the Finnish War against Sweden to force Sweden to join the Continental
System

! the tsar agreed to evacuate Walachia and Moldavia. France would receive the
Ionian Islands and Cattaro which the Russian navy had captured

! In return Napoleon guaranteed the sovereignty of the Duchy of Oldenburg
and several other small states ruled by the tsar’s German relatives

As Napoleon already knew, Frederick William was easy to bully,
but he soon found out that his queen was made of sterner stuff.
She tried every female wile from tears to coquetry to wring
concessions from the apparently stony heart of the French
Emperor. By the 8th, Louise’s charm was having an...effect on the
increasingly susceptible Napoleon. [He wrote to Joséphine] “The
Queen of Prussia is really charming; she is full of coquettrie toward
me. But do not be jealous, I am an oilcloth off which all that sort
of thing runs. It would cost me too dear to play the galant.”

Napoleon greets King Frederick William and Queen Louise of Prussia

As Napoleon already knew, Frederick William was easy to bully,
but he soon found out that his queen was made of sterner stuff.
She tried every female wile from tears to coquetry to wring
concessions from the apparently stony heart of the French
Emperor. By the 8th, Louise’s charm was having an...effect on the
increasingly susceptible Napoleon. [He wrote to Joséphine] “The
Queen of Prussia is really charming; she is full of coquettrie toward
me. But do not be jealous, I am an oilcloth off which all that sort
of thing runs. It would cost me too dear to play the galant.”

Terms of the Franco-Prussian Treaty

! the treaty stripped Prussia of about half its territory. The state revenue was
diminished even more as the ceded provinces were the richest and most fertile

! Cottbus passed to Saxony

! the left bank of the Elbe was awarded to the newly created Kingdom of Westphalia

! Bialystok was given to Russia

! the rest of the Prussian Polish lands gained in the Second and Third Partitions
became the Duchy of Warsaw

! Prussia had to reduce her army to 40,000 and pay 100 million francs

! Talleyrand had advised Napoleon to pursue milder terms; the treaty marked
an important stage in his estrangement from the emperor

...If the basic realities of Napoleon’s international position already
contained many of the grave flaws that eventually led to his
downfall, the outer facade of his achievement was undoubtedly
magnificent. His influence now extended practically unbroken
from the Pyrenees to the Niemen, and for the immediate future his
grandiose rule would be undisputed by the cowed or cajoled
powers of the Continent. His soldiers had recovered from the
setback of Eylau and re-established their martial prowess.
Chandler, p. 590

Europe in 1811.
Colors indicate (from dark blue to light blue) :
- Dark blue - French Empire,
- Light Blue - French Satellite States,
- Blue grey - Countries applying the Continental System.

With Russia and Prussia knocked out of the war, only Britain
remained to face France, now at the height of its power. To
combat his remaining adversary, Napoleon had already issued the
Berlin and Milan Decrees, inaugurating the Continental System,
by which he sought to impose an embargo on the importation of
British goods to mainland ports and the exportation of
Continental goods to Britain in an effort to strangle its economy.

Fremont-Barnes, Napoleon, p. 28

! 21 November 1806--the Berlin Decree forbids the importation of British
goods into European countries allied or dependent on France and begins the
Continental System

! 11 November 1807--Britain responds with Orders in Council. These forbid
French trade with the UK, its allies or neutrals and instruct the Royal Navy
to enforce this with an extended blockade and inspection of ships on the high
seas

! America begins its impotent response to try to assert “Freedom of the Seas,”
and ultimately goes to war in 1812

! 17 December 1807--the Milan Decree extends the prohibition to any
European country. It authorizes French warships and privateers to capture
neutral ships sailing from any British port or from any country that was
occupied by British forces. It also declares that any ships that submitted to
search by the Royal Navy on the high seas were to be considered lawful
prizes if taken by the French.

! 22 December 1807--now Jefferson imposes the “damnbargo” and there is
talk of war with France

[The] army had become the sine qua non of [Napoleon’s] foreign policy
which was designed ultimately to bring England to its knees once the
war on land had won the war at sea. The peace of Tilsit had made him
the master of almost all of western and southern Europe. He felt himself
invincible, it was a matter now of closing the few remaining holes in the
coastal curtain….
This was a Catch-22 situation brought about by the villain of the piece,
the continental system, which was hurting France and its allies nearly as
much as it was hurting England. The Peace of Tilsit which so entranced
its creator was an insidious trap. Napoleon failed to realize that he had
guaranteed himself perpetual conﬂict by the insistence on expanding the
blockade to neutral countries. It was moreover a dubious strategy at
best in view of the diverse nature of European countries, long coastlines,
thousands of small ports and hidden coves, the universal appeal, indeed
necessity, of trade, the basic element of human greed and the tenacious
character of the English nation supported by two mighty weapons,
warships and money.

Asprey, Reign, pp. 87-88

...in 1805 Napoleon converted [the Italian
Republic] to the Kingdom of Italy, with
himself as king and his adopted stepson,
Eugène Beauharnais, as his viceroy.
Eugène was a long, lean young cavalryman,
a hard worker, thoroughly honorable and
completely loyal. Napoleon called him “my
son,” coached him carefully, and unhappily
compared his excellent service with Joseph’s,
Louis’s, and Jérôme’s bobblings. As a private
man, Eugène was kind and fond of family
pleasures…. As a commander…, Eugène
lacked something of the killer instinct of a
born independent commander; concern for
his suffering men and animals could slow his
movements. But he was a good soldier and a
good comrade, courageous, cool and resilient.

Esposito, Swords Around A Throne, p. 391

Eugène Rose de Beauharnais, Prince Français, Prince of Venice,
Viceroy of the Kingdom of Italy, Hereditary Grand Duke of
Frankfurt, 1st Duke of Leuchtenberg,1781 – 1824

At the south end of the Italian peninsula
sweltered the Kingdom of Naples. Evicting its
shoddy Bourbon rulers in 1806, Napoleon
replaced them with his older brother Joseph, a
man of liberal intellectual pretensions, charm,
a soft heart and head, and no demonstrable
common sense. Alone among the Bonapartes,
he was a coward; any danger sent him
scuttling. He considered wealth and high
ofﬁce merely his just due, without effort or
question. If not sufﬁciently humored, he would
play footsie with the Emperor’s enemies. He
went to Naples as a philosopher-king, resolved
to lead his subjects gently into the fuller life.
His reforms were genuine and mostly
necessary, but he was not interested in military
matters.

Esposito, p. 396

Joseph-Napoléon Bonaparte (1768 – 1844) King of Naples and
Sicily (1806–1808), and later Joseph I of Spain (1808–1813)

In 1806, wanting to bring Holland into an even
tighter alliance, Napoleon made it a kingdom with
his younger brother Louis as its monarch. Louis
was intelligent (if sometimes lacking in common
sense), utterly conscientious and exactly honest in
his dealings, generous, and a protector of the
unfortunate. As one of Napoleon’s aides-de-camp
in Italy, 1796-97 he had been devoted and daring,
but after that--from causes that bafﬂed European
physicians--his health deteriorated….As King of
Holland Louis promptly turned into a
thoroughgoing Dutchman….Louis saw his
primary duty as the immediate welfare of his
subjects: the long range welfare of the Empire
and his duty to his brother were distinctly lesser
concerns. He was reluctant to enforce the
Continental System….In 1810 Napoleon
therefore annexed Holland to France, leaving
Louis unemployed.

Esposito, p. 389 Louis Napoléon Bonaparte, Prince Français, King of
Holland, Comte de Saint-Leu (Lodewijk Napoleon in Dutch)
1778 – 1846

The most valuable of Napoleon’s allies in a
military sense were the German states of the
Confederation of the Rhine….On July 12, 1806,
sixteen states in south and central Germany
seceded from the old Holy Roman Empire to
form the Confederation of the Rhine with
Napoleon as its “Protector”….
The most important state to join the
Confederation in 1807 was the Kingdom of
Westphalia….a Napoleonic creation….Napoleon
made his youngest brother, Jérôme, its king….
Jérôme was wildly extravagant, always had a
string of mistresses, and rivaled Murat in
fanciful costumes and the ﬂash and ﬂutter of his
court. He could be very brave, but he had no
judgment--

Esposito, pp. 398, 402-403

Jérôme-Napoléon Bonaparte, French Prince, King of
Westphalia, 1st Prince of Montfort 1784 – 1860

Napoleon’s relations with [his brothers] varied. His letters to the
satellite kings, Joseph of Naples and Louis of Holland, generally
concerned administrative matters. One such is of particular
interest...he asks them to have their coins minted in the same value
as those of France, as was already being done in Italy and in the
confederation states. “In this way all Europe will have a uniform
currency which will prove of tremendous advantage to commerce”
in that it would eliminate false escalation of currency values.

Asprey, p. 81

Napoleon tried, through imposing his brothers upon the countries
he had turned into satellites, to master all of Europe. In 1807 he
began his fatal involvement in the Iberian peninsula in order to
close its ports to British trade.

In 1806, while in Berlin, Napoleon declared the Continental Blockade, forbidding
British imports into continental Europe. Of the two remaining neutral countries,
Sweden and Portugal, the latter tried in vain to avoid Napoleon's ultimatum
(since 1373, it had had a treaty of alliance with the English which became an
alliance with the United Kingdom). After the Treaty of Tilsit in 1807, now free
from obligations in the east, Napoleon decided to capture the Iberian ports.
Wikipedia, Peninsular War

Emperor Francis I
of
Austria

Austria wants to get slapped; she
shall have it. If the Emperor
Francis attempts any hostile move,
he will soon have ceased to reign.--
to stepson Eugene, Viceroy in Italy,

late February 1809

--Napoleon

Austria Seeks Revenge
! encouraged by developments in Spain which drew off French forces, the war party in
Austria believed the time was right

! Archduke Charles, the emperor’s brother and Austria’s best general, was opposed

! he pointed to Russia’s involvement against Sweden in Finland and against Turkey in
the Balkans. No help was to be expected there

! on the positive side, Austria had made major military reforms after her defeat in the
war of the Third Coalition (1804-1805). These included adopting many of Bonaparte’s
tactical innovations. Ironically, to solve the manpower crisis, Austria was adopting the
levée en masse just as France had shifted to a more professional experienced force

! Prussia initially encouraged Austria but then declined to ﬁght again as war
approached. Only Britain would join Austria with diversionary attacks in Portugal
and the Netherlands

! 8 February 1809-The Austrian Aulic (military) Council secretly decided on war

In one sense, Napoleon had little to fear from the Austrians in
view of his own troop strength in France and Germany and his
knowledge that neither Charles nor anyone else could ever
produce an inspired national army from the heterogeneous
makeup of the multi-lingual Austrian army of unwilling serfs.
Neither could Charles nor old and inept Austrian marshals and
generals, not to mention lesser fry, adapt to the Napoleonic system
of warfare within a few years, if ever. The Austrian character did
not lend itself to military daring and efﬁciency. A feudal command
arrogance and a gross schlamperei or sloppiness could not be
eliminated. As Charles would shortly learn, numbers were one
consideration, performance another.

Asprey, p. 149

The March on Vienna
Napoleon desired above all to wreak vengeance on Austria...for
what he regarded as a base betrayal of the 1805 treaty of
Pressburg. He also believed that he had just dealt the Austrians a
blow so severe that the would not risk falling easy prey to his own
splendid army and might even surrender before another battle.
Less than half his soldiers had ﬁred a shot in the recent battles--
“My army has never been so beautiful and numerous,” he wrote
Murat. A “decisive victory’ over the Austrian army would without
question ensure his power position in Germany, would possibly
bring Czar Alexander to his senses, and would allow him to
swiftly ﬁnish off the war in Spain before bringing England to its
knees by sealing off all Europe from its ships and goods.

Asprey, pp. 155-156

! having occupied Vienna with a
minimum resistance, it now remained
to destroy Archduke Charles’ army

! French engineers built a series of 3
pontoon bridges to cross the Danube 88,000
at Lobau Island

! Napoleon initially captured the two
villages of Aspern & Essling

! then “General Flood” intervened
destroying the 3rd bridge between
Lobau Island & the Left Bank 55,000
NORTH OF
THE DANUBE

! Marshal Lannes was outnumbered
and getting low on ammunition

! he tried to break out with his cavalry

! he was mortally wounded in the ﬁght

Napoleon Loses a Close Friend
! at ﬁrst the amputation seemed successful

! the soldiers on the Right Bank were evacuated
at night by boats, losing only a few but most of
their guns and equipment

! Napoleon saw that Lannes received the best
care possible. He was one of the very few
permitted to address the emperor as “tu”

! they had been comrades since 1796

! 1 June-ten days later, sepsis set in and Lannes
began to die

! Napoleon came to his side

! a grieving emperor paid a tribute to this man
which had to stand for the hundreds of
thousands other Frenchmen who had died and
would die in these wars

Napoleon at Wagram, painted by Horace Vernet
(Galerie des Batailles, Versailles)

Wagram, 1809

NOTE--map inverts
normal north-south
orientation
FRENCH RED
AUSTRIANS PURPLE

The Battle of Wagram, 5-6 July 1809: the ﬁrst day--the morning crossing and the evening battle

Realizing the fatuity of a
conventional attack Napoleon
instead chose to strike the
enemy left which, once turned,
would force Charles to leave
prepared positions to ﬁght in
open country.--Asprey, p. 163

The Battle of Wagram, 5-6 July 1809: the ﬁrst day--the morning crossing and the evening battle

c.11 am

Position

Battery

ARCHDUKE
JOHN
12,500
still approaching

The Battle of Wagram, 5-6 July 1809: the second day

Macdonald’s ‘Monstrous Column’
! the son of a Scots Jacobite emigrant, he had served in
the royal armies before the Revolution then under
Dumouriez at Jemappes

! at the battle’s climax a dangerous gap appeared in the
French line, between the villages of Süssenbrun and
Aderklaa

! Bonaparte ordered Macdonald to ﬁll it with his corps
consisting of two divisions, 21 battalions

Étienne Jacques Joseph Alexandre MacDonald
1st duc de Taranto
1765 – 1840

Macdonald’s ‘Monstrous Column’
! the son of a Scots Jacobite emigrant, he had served in
the royal armies before the Revolution then under
Dumouriez at Jemappes

! at the battle’s climax a dangerous gap appeared in the
French line, between the villages of Süssenbrun and
Aderklaa

! Bonaparte ordered Macdonald to fill it with his corps
consisting of two divisions, 21 battalions

! as he was first menaced by cavalry (4), he formed a
giant square (1), with its rear side filled with cavalry(3)

! Macdonald’s right flank is protected by a grand battery
of 100 guns, just visible at (5)

! the top part of the illustration shows the remains (14%)
of his men, weakened by deserting looters (inset 1)
approaching the Austrian strongpoint of Süssenbrun

Étienne Jacques Joseph Alexandre MacDonald ! Inset 2-at Aspern-Essling it became apparent that the
1st duc de Taranto quality of the army had declined. To bolster morale
1765 – 1840
Bonaparte introduced ‘battalion guns’--2 4 pounders to
each regiment. They were largely crewed by infantry.
They may have encouraged the infantry to stand their
ground.

The emperor later wrote that by 10 a.m. “even the less clairvoyant
observers saw that we had won the battle”…. By evening there was no
sign of the enemy...who retreated into Bohemia.
It was an enormous but very expensive victory. At least 40,000
Austrians including a large number of officers had been killed, wounded
or taken prisoner. The French admitted to 1,500 killed and 3-4,000
wounded, but the more likely figure was at least five times greater.
General Lasalle was killed and a number of generals...wounded.
Macdonald, Marmont and Oudinot who had fought brilliantly for two
days were promoted to marshal….
A few days later...the Austrians asked for an armistice.

Asprey, p.166

The Treaty of Schönbrunn
July-October 1809
Come to Vienna … I want to see you … You cannot imagine
what a tremendous importance I attach to everything that
concerns you … Many tender kisses on your lovely hands and
just one on your beautiful mouth. Napole.
Napoleon to the Countess Marie Walewska,
Schönbrunn, May 1809

The battlefield of Wagram had to be cleaned, the thousands of
dead bloating in the summer sun hurriedly buried in mass graves,
the thousands of wounded evacuated to Vienna and to makeshift
hospitals in neighboring towns and monasteries--a ghastly job
greatly impeded by lack of physicians and surgeons, orderlies,
medicines, bandages and transports. Battle-worn regiments had to
be sorted out and refitted, gaps filed with new bodies, units
deployed in ready defensive positions in case the armistice broke
down.
Asprey, p. 168

Other Fronts

! neither the Prussians nor the Russians cared to face Napoleon at this
time

! Britain, however, tried to open a second front by landing a force on
Walcheren Island in the Netherlands

! early August-at the same time as Napoleon learned of the British
landing, he found out that his general in Rome had arrested the pope
and was moving him to Grenoble

! and at Vienna’s request, Austrians in the Tyrol and Vorarlberg raised a
rebellion against their Bavarian and French occupiers

! Metternich stalled, hoping that Napoleon would be forced to lower his
demands

In all the British government had wasted almost £8 million on the
expedition, 4,067 men had died (only 106 in combat). Almost
12,000 were still ill in February 1810 and many others remained
permanently weakened. It was well known, that Walcheren was
an unhealthy place to be. The French Admiral Missiessy had
refused to station himself at Flushing for fear that his men would
contract the Walcheren fever, whilst the British should really have
remembered that their previous expedition to the region in 1747
had also been decimated by illness which had been
comprehensively documented by the military surgeon John
Pringle.

www.95th-riﬂes.co.uk/harris.htm

As meeting after meeting produced no results, as events in the Tyrol and
Holland began tilting in his favor, Napoleon grew more strident, even
threatening to return to ﬁghting. Several factors however dampened his
bellicosity and demands. He was eager to return to France whose internal
affairs including ﬁnances were becoming increasingly shaky, and also to
deal with the Spanish war which was not going well.
In mid September he suddenly cut his terms by nearly half: Austria to
cede territory on the frontiers of the Inn River and Italy that held about 1.6
million subjects; Saxony and Russia to gain lands in Galicia and Bohemia
that contained some 2 million persons. When this compromise produced no
action, Napoleon presented the Austrian court with an ultimatum: either
accept or face renewed battle. This time the court caved in and by mid
October the peace was signed.

Asprey, p. 176

[In 1810] Napoleon now confronted the three basic obstacles to
the consolidation of his rule: Spain, where popular insurrection
and Wellington’s army supported one another; Russia, technically
still an ally, but plainly a treacherous one; and the state of his
dynasty, which remained embodied in his own person, since he
had no heir….
...there was the matter of [his need for a] second marriage.
(Josephine, whom he had married in 1796 [and who was now 46],
had given him no children.) To ensure the continuity of his
dynasty, Napoleon needed a wife who could give him an heir. He
suggested that one of [tsar] Alexander’s sisters might satisfy all
requirements. Alexander temporized, and Napoleon decided to
marry Maria Louisa, daughter of the Emperor Francis [of
Austria]. Alexander chose to consider this a species of insult;
moreover, the implications of a Franco-Austrian alliance shook
him.

Esposito & Elting, “INTRODUCTION TO THE RUSSIAN CAMPAIGN’, AFTER MAP 106

...your Bonaparte represents his Sorrows of Napoleon Opera, in an
all-too stupendous style; with music of cannon-volleys, and
murder-shrieks of a world; his stage-lights are the ﬁres of
Conﬂagration; his rhyme and recitative are the tramp of embattled
Hosts and the sound of falling Cities.

Thomas Carlyle, Sartor Resartus, bk. ii, chap. 6, 1831

One problem was solved, but the first two remained.

Many more campaigns were to follow, but, increasingly,
things would not go his way.

...your Bonaparte represents his Sorrows of Napoleon Opera, in an
all-too stupendous style; with music of cannon-volleys, and
murder-shrieks of a world; his stage-lights are the fires of
Conflagration; his rhyme and recitative are the tramp of embattled
Hosts and the sound of falling Cities.

Thomas Carlyle, Sartor Resartus, bk. ii, chap. 6, 1831

Napoleon, session iv, Apogee

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