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| Napoleon�s Italian campaign When Napoleon took charge of the army of Italy, he made his headquarters in Nice. The army of Italy was in such a bad condition that �wore shoes made of straw� World leaders, past and present NAPOLEON, pg. 35 One of the battalions refused to fight or move and Napoleon had to split the rebel battalion into the other battalions. Napoleon was able to get enough supply for his army in order for them to advance with his plans. Here he clearly shows how he was a man who could inspire even an army of dead. He was able to make a tired, unfed, rebellious �army� into a great fighting force with witch would defeat the great Prussians, and the Austrians. Napoleon set them marching on April 2, 1796, into Genoese territory. He defeated Austrio-Sardinian forces and fromed a truce with the Sardinian king. Then he took Milan from the Austrians. Then on May 10, 1796 Napoleon took the city of Lodi in Northern Italy. Napoleon became known to all of Europe and became very popular in France. The directors started getting worried about his popularity nad started passing bad rumors but they quickly died out. Whenever Napoleon conquered a new city in Italy he would present himself as a liberator and would say something like this: �People of Italy! The French nation is the friend of all nations: receive us with trust! Your property, your religion, your customs will be respected. We shall wage war like generous enemies, for our only quarrel is with the tyrants who have enslaved you.� World leaders, past and present NAPOLEON, pg. 37 Already as you have seen Napoleon had killed thousands of soldiers, and yet strengthened his army. He was making all of the other empires into smaller regions, and dividing the people. He was signing treaties with other countries without the Directors consent, and gaining even more popular support. The directors needed Napoleon out of France if they did not want him to try to get political power, but while he was out conquering he was gaining more support.Napoleon returned to Paris on December 5, 1797 and was then given command of the army of England. He was supposed to invade England but he saw his soldiers were too untrained and he decided instead of conquering the island of Malta and Egypt. He said that once he conquered that he could destroy England. The Egyptian Campaign On May 19, 1798 Napoleon set sail to Malta with 300 ships with 30,000 soldiers and 16,000 sailors. They took over Malta in 3 days and took the city of Alexandria in less time. When he took Alexandria he told the Egyptians a similar thing as he had said to the Italians. Napoleon also took Cairo even easier. While in Egypt bubonic plague hit and other diseases. Napoleons scientists found the Roseta stone there. Napoleon would send reports to the Directors saying that everything was well even though it was not. Then Napoleon took most of his remainder of the troops through the Sinai peninsula and into Jerusalem. Napoleon supposedly called onto all Jews to �rally around my flag to re-establish ancient Jerusalem.� When he returned to Egypt he set sail back to France and destroy the coalition made by Austria, Russia, Britain and Turkey. Then Napoleon and a revolutionary called Emmanuel Sieyes overthrew the directory, but it failed but Napoleon was then somehow able to become first consul for ten years, the other consuls did nothing because of their fear for Napoleon. Emperor Napoleon With Napoleon being first consul and having the populations support, Napoleon was able to do things his way. He invited all the Royalists to come back to France and Paris so as to make all the French people feel united. Napoleon also invited the Catholic church to come back, since with the revolution the French had invented a new religion. By doing this he got the churches support and he also made Catholicism come back to France and parts of Europe. He prevailed in giving the church more power this way. Napoleon also wanted to act as a fair person to all his citizens in order to get they�re support. He gave them properties of whom which had belonged to rich noble families. He also made the Napoleonic code, which has influenced our governments even to this day. In 1802 Napoleon was able to make England sign a peace treaty as well as Russia. In May 1804 the French Parliament declared Napoleon emperor of France. The people of France were asked to vote on this and the majority voted for Napoleon as emperor. Napoleon then sent for the Pope Pius VII to be crowned emperor. The pope did come in 1804 but right before the pope placed the crown on Napoleon, Napoleon snatched the crown and crowned himself. He was acting as if he were superior to the Pope, but the church did not take much notice since Napoleon had helped Catholicism come back to France. On October 14, 1806 Napoleon smashed 25,000 Prussian troops and had Prussia completely defeated. Now Napoleon had all of Europe under his control, or as vassal states, except England and Russia. On February 8, 1807 Napoleons army of about 55,000 men confronted the Russian army of 80,000. The battle ended as a Stalemate. Then on June 14, 1807 Napoleon defeated the Russians at Freidland. Russia then agreed to negotiate. Napoleon wanted to make sure he had strong foot holds in his vast areas, so he made his family members kings and Queens of different parts. The Empire declines Napoleon then thought about conquering Portugal, which he did try. The Spanish king let Napoleon put troops in Spain to attack Portugal, but then in 1808 the people of Spain rose against the king of Spain, King Charles, and in favor of his son, Ferdinand VII. Napoleon took this advantage and put more and more soldiers in Spain with the excuse of getting ready to attack Portugal. He then got Ferdinand and Charles to come to France and locked them up, and made them give up their claim to the Spanish throne. A clear sign of Napoleons downfall is when he looses Portugal, to the Portuguese and the British. Then Austria taking advantage of Napoleons was with Spain, attacked France in April 1809. Napoleon was somehow able to defeat the Austrians back. Then he married Austria�s Archduke�s daughter and divorced Josephine. I think that by doing so Napoleon thought that he would be able to rest and rebuild his forces. Then on March 20, 1811 Napoleon�s wife had a son whom they called Francois Charles Joseph, king of Rome. Then Napoleon quickly made his claim to the throne hereditary, thus making his son heir to the throne. A very clear sign of Napoleons loss in power was when his family members (which he had put in command of different areas) were turning on him. Then Napoleon decided to invade Russia. Then on June 1812, Napoleon entered Russia with his grand army of half a million men, and contingents from Prussia and other states under his control. He entered Russia but could not fix a battle. His food supply was always short or not enough, and his army was dying quickly. The Russian army was also killing life stock, filling in wells and burning fields as they retreated in order to starve and weaken the French army. Then Napoleon reached Moscow on September 14 1812, but it was empty. Napoleon now had 100,000 men. End of a dream Napoleon returned to France with a small army of about 10,000. His defeated reached Paris and many planed plots to overthrow him. Napoleon had made thousands of French men lose they�re lives, and had weakened his empire. Now Russia, Austria and Prussia formed a coalition to destroy him. Napoleon somehow was able to get an army of 200,000 men and win some battles against the Russians and the Prussians. Then England took Spain from France, and Napoleons German allies were abandoning him. He again got another army but this time they were almost children. On March 30, 1814 the coalition force pasted Napoleons army undetected and entered Paris without a fight. Napoleon tried to take Paris back but he was finally defeated. Napoleon was sent to exile in the little island of Elba, with a few hundred loyal men. He was also made emperor of Elba. Then on February 26, 1815 Napoleon escaped Elba with an army of 1,000 men. Napoleon was able to rise an army of 128,000 but he was defeated at the battle of Waterloo. He was then sent to exile in the tiny isolated island of St. Helena. Conclusion Napoleon changed the world by making all the world get involved somehow in his wars. By attacking Spain he gave a chance to the Latin countries to fight for their independence. He fought England so bitterly that England lost strength in the Americas, and Napoleon sold a big piece of its territory to the U.S. Napoleon is responsible for the deaths of tens of thousands of peoples, Europeans, Asians, Arabs, and Africans. But he helped how many countries govern them selves, spreading the Napoleonic code. He made the French people unite as one, and wrote a big, long chapter in history. |
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