|
The social and political work of Napoleon also continues in religious field.
In 1806 he permitted in the diocese of France a “common Catechism” according
to which duties of a good Christian had to be also the love of homeland, the payment
of the tributes, the military service and the obedience to the throne of France.
Napoleon had to be served as God and who doesn't attend to this service he would
have been destined to the eternal damnation. Complimentary of the dictator, straight
it was inserted in the almanac the feast of S. Napoleon, absent name in the Actas
Sanctorum. This mistake produces the amazement of the believers, even if it was
quickly damped by the skilled collaborators of the emperor who found such name
in a Roman officer martyred at the epoch of Diocletianus, whose image appeared
well soon upon all the glass door of the most important structures. The birthday
of Napoleon, 15 August, darkened the feast of the assumption of Mary, while the
pagan feast of the taking of the Bastille was replaced by St. Napoleon.
Trafalgar and Austerliz
Napoleon didn't lose of sight, however, his military objectives and just in
this period it gave birth to the idea of the invasion of England. Despite the
numerous forces deployed along the Channel, because of the bad result of the naval
operation of admiral Villeneuve near Cadiz against the astute English Admiral
Nelson, the project failed before starting because the English fleet commanded
by Nelson was too strong to allow the landing of French in the south of England.
Napoleon so assembled his forces against the new anti-French coalition led from
Austria. The tactical genius of the emperor had founded above all on the speed
of movement of the troops that well soon were directed toward the Austrian front
just in the moment in which the news of the defeat of the French fleet of Villeneuve
near Trafalgar, few miles far from Cadiz in, where also lost life the brave Nelson
who had already caused great problems to Napoleon.
Avoided the momentary problems, the emperor knew to organize the 1805 country
that constituted his tactical masterpiece. Having understood that northern Italy
was for Austria a territory of vital strategic importance, Napoleon sent there
Massena, the best of his marshals, ordering to assume a offensive behavior despite
he had half men than the Austrian had. He succeeded so in stopping the hostile
forces and to capture 50000 soldiers in Bavaria. Then he succeeded in attracting
the army Austrian in a battleground near Austerliz that the great general had
already studied. At the beginning of the clashes the French army was prepared
on the defensive inducing the Russians and Austrians to attack and to try to surround
the Grand Armèe deployed on the highland of the Pratzen. But just when
the adversaries seemed winning, Napoleon ordered the attack and the annihilation
of the enemy with the large part of his troops and, shortly time after this he
forced it to the surrender. From the victory of Napoleon, it was born “imperial
peace” that redrew the European map. But his limits of statesman were shown:
with the dismemberment of Prussia and the fact to have stimulated the birth of
the German nationalism and with the birth of a continental block, he would have
lost the hesitant allies that he still had; with the ideological repression effected
particularly in Spain he would have alienated the great thinkers and intellectuals.
If had the Austro-Russians won?
The victory of the allies at Austerliz would not have been quite possible,
rather, according to numerous experts, if the attack to south had been brought
with less troops, the first attack on the Pratzen would have been rejected. The
battle would have been decided from the wearing out more than from the maneuver
and, in that case, the 3000 guns of the allies would have had a weight against
the brave French fighters. The victory of the allies would been possible in the
southern sector and the emperor only, in this case, would have had to face, immediately
after the defeat, serious problems as the entrance in war of Prussia to the side
of the Allies.
Napoleon attacks Russia and Prussia
From the victory of Austerliz emerged a French army highly galvanized by the
success and soon it would have fought with the Prussian army. In Europe, after
the Austrian defeat the people wanted a long period of peace but the idea of Frederick
William III, King of Prussia, to attack France, aroused the anger of Napoleon
who in little time totally destroyed the Prussian army at Jena. The data speak
clear: 30000 among wounded and casualties, 35000 prisoners among whom 30 Prussian
general and 300 artillery guns conquered. Napoleon could march triumphant from
Weimar in Berlin destroying every memory of French defeats suffered because of
the Prussians during the history; however, the principal objective in the mind
of the emperor was to force England to suffer the continental Block emanated directly
by the Bonaparte himself from Berlin. Convinced to have set a great brake to the
English power with the Block, Napoleon was looking with interest to unknown Russia.
Despite the first attempt of attack it badly failed with “an useless slaughter”
because of the bad meteorological conditions, on the second attack the French
war machine didn't fail and succeeded in destroying on June 14 1807 the army of
the Czar Alexander at Friedland. But the diplomatic ability of the Czar succeeded
in sweetening Napoleon with the signing of the agreement of Tilsit that was favorable
to both nations. Who made the expenses of these fast and repeated battles of the
napoleonic army and was defeated Prussia that, besides to refund the war expenses,
all territories of his that were divided in the Great Dukedom of Warsaw and kingdom
of Westphalia.
The problems with Spain
The problems for Napoleon were not ended. Arranged the east and the center
Europe, the French army was moved into the Iberian peninsula because of the fact
that the rebellious Spanish and Portuguese decided not to accept the continental
Block because this would have also damaged their economy. Soon, General Junot
was sent to conquer Lisbon, while the king of Spain Ferdinand VII was dismissed
in favor of the brother of Napoleon, Joseph. The popular revolt of the Spanish
“in the name of Christ and king Ferdinand” was not let attend and in
the day of the "Dos de Mayo" (2 May) in Madrid the whole population
rose up against the French army taking it of surprise as it happened to the 20000
men of Dupont that were forced to surrender. Same fate for Junot in Portugal,
forced to sign the convention of Cintrab that enacted the French defeat until
the arrival of the Grand Armèe lead by Napoleon that, not without difficulty,
conquered Madrid and Saragoza, but he was not able completely to put down the
insurrection supported, besides, from England.
Such tumults also stimulated the attempt of revenge of Austria that declared
war to the decimated French army that was, however, able to sustain the battle
and to go toward Vienna. Nevertheless, the project to conquer the opposite bank
of the Danube harshly failed and the invincible French army you had to accept
the fact to be “defeated.” After the defeat of Essling, the emperor
between 4 and 6 1809 ordered the passage of the Danube on boat bridges. Reached
Wagram, Napoleon directed in first person the operations in the decisive battle
against Austria that was soon defeated and forced to demand peace. On October
14, in Vienna the agreement was signed: Austria would have respected the continental
block, it would have lost the Carintia, the Carnia and the Croatia and it would
not have kept an army of more than 150000 units. France was the largest European
state since the times of Charles V.
Crisis with the Vatican
Napoleon, however, had for a moment to abandon his military ventures and to
devote to the relationships with the Catholic Church. After the emperor had conquered
Ancona and had subtracted numerous territories of the Pontifical state, Pope Pious
VII started not to bear Napoleon who also forced him to respect the continental
block. To the refusal of the Pope, France responded with the conquest of Rome
and the arrest of Pious VII that was brought in the jail of Savona, even if this
fact cost to Bonaparte the excommunication. He tried later to reestablish the
good relationships and he reached the second Agreement on 25 January 1812 and,
one year later, Pious VII returned in Vatican. At the end of so many problems,
after having repudiated Josephine and married Mary Louise of Austria, Napoleon
missed only a male heir to consolidate his power. In a climate of enormous joy
in whole France, on 20 March 1811 was born the dream of Napoleon: his son, king
of Rome.
The “great flop” in Russia and the massacre of the retreat
But the party lasted little time. The Russian enemy driven by Alexander was
more and more threatening. The emperor decided to inflict a hard defeat to the
Russians and to do this departed with half million men. On June 23 1812 started
the battle, but the enemy was withdrawing in the Russian hinterland, refusing
the clash. On September 5 at dawn time Napoleon said: “here is the sun of
Austerliz”, but this time he had bad luck, disclosing the French objectives
to the Russians. At the end, however, Napoleon won near the village of Borodino
(battle of the Moscowa), even if with an high number of losses and a bad condition
of the army, such military action resembled mostly to a defeat. The Grand Armèe
entered Moscow where Napoleon thought finding supply, but he found only flames
and smoke because for the Russian mentality there was “only burnt land for
the invader.”
After having tried to come to an accord, Napoleon, closed in a dangerous threat
by the general "Winter", was forced to order the retreat not to lose
the control of Europe. In Russia Napoleon started to think between the rooms of
the Kremlin that being a winner imprisoned by the defeated enemy had to be the
beginning of the end. In fact, also the retreat was a massacre, described in this
way by the Count Rochechouart: “I was on the place where the French army
had passed the Beresina. Nothing would have been able to be more agonizing. Mountains
of dead bodies of all armies and different nations could be seen that were there
still iced, crushed by the fugitives and ended by the Russian grapeshot.”
The first exile for the Elba
After the defeat of the French army, Paris had become the principal target
of Russia, Prussia, Austria, England and Sweden. Napoleon had to reorganize a
constituted army, for the greatest part from twenty-year old boys who were forced
to face the enemy at Weissenfels and Luzten. Despite the “Mary Louise”,
name given to the new French army in honor of the empress, had fought bravely
on all fronts, the clashes were lost and Napoleon, pressed from every part and
because of the incapability of his marshals who didn't know how to win at Dresden,
had to accept the defeat. On January 25 1814 at 3 AM, Napoleon left Paris and
tried an useless resistance, but the invaders were soon able to conquer it on
March 31.
The empress and the king of Rome were forced to escape to Bloise, while Napoleon
was withdrawing in his center of Fontainebleau to meditate a new march on Paris
with the help of his generals who, however, did not follow him, pushing him to
an inevitable abdication in favor of his child and of his wife, on April 20 1814,
be fore departing for the Elba.
His activity is not stopped: he was preparing for the hundred days.
During the exile in the Elba, the emperor didn't know to stop from his spirit
of command. in a brief time, he reorganized the whole island surprising the inhabitants
of the place. In the meantime, he always remained informed about what happened
in France, where the population started to have the regret of Napoleon and had
already organized some revolts. Logically, being surrounded by his faithful general,
Bonaparte didn't hesitate to return in France and to go toward the center while,
along the walk, whole regiments were freely set under his command so that king
Louis XVIII who since the exile of Napoleon had taken the throne of France, retired
without opposing resistance. The old emperor had returned to the command but this
time, contrarily what the other nations thought, he had expressed pacific intents
in one his famous affirmation: “I am the emperor of the soldiers, but also
of the people.”
The definitive defeat: Waterloo
The resounding escape of Napoleon from the Elba surprised the reunited allied
heads in Vienna for the congress for the European reconstruction. The emperor
was declared outlaw and an alliance between Russia, England, Austria and Prussia
was decided to face him . He decided to attack for first at Waterloo where he
had to fight against the English army of Wellington and that Prussian one of Blucher.
At 11 AM on 18 June 1815 the battle started and at the beginning it seems entirely
favorable to France when, however, at 7 PM it arrives in help of English general
Blucher that in three hours it turned upside-down the fates of the battle. Napoleon
was definitely defeated perhaps because of the minority of men, perhaps for the
betrayal of the general Bourmont or, perhaps, because, in any case, he had reached
the apex of his “descendant parables.”
Returned in the homeland, France turned his back and forced him to the abdication
in favor of his son Napoleon II. Just before Napoleon signed the document, the
Council of the ministers had sent to him a deputation of five persons among which
the Vice-president La Fayette who said: “Say to Bonaparte to send his abdication
to us , otherwise we will send his deposition to him.”
Deepening: the lynching of Prina
To the collapse of the napoleonic regime the minister of the finances Joseph
Prina fell victim of a revolt in Milan. Technical competent and energetic, Prina
paid with life the grudge that he had earned among the population with his hard
fiscal measures (he had restored the hated tax on the corn), approved to restore
the public debt and to pick up the necessary funds to feed an army, the French
one, more and more expensive.
On April 20 1814 the Milaneses knew of the collapse of the napoleonic regime
massacring one of his more qualified exponents, Joseph Prina, that had been minister
of the Department of Internal Revenue for twelve years. That day the city was
abandoned by the public forces: the authorities were dispersed, numerous political
men had preferred to save their life with the escape and the soldiers were without
orders. Also to the Prina it had been advised to abandon the city before disorders
rose up, but he had refused because he thought to have a clean conscience. Really,
he behaved as a reckless person: he had tied his own name to the most unpopular
provisions of the napoleonic epoch; it was to him that they were debited the taxes
that had been introduced. The Milaneses considered him “the damned soul of
Napoleon.”
The morning on April 20 an unusually high number of farmers flowed in the city
and this was a symptom that the opponents of the regime meditated to take a revenge.
Crowd started invading the senate, where deputies tried a pacific passing of the
powers. Really, the senators were all tied with the napoleonic power: people dispersed
them and threw the furniture from the building out the windows. When there was
anything else to devastate, from the violent crowd a cry was raised: We want "
Prina "!.
When the crowd started to riot under the windows of his building, at St. Fedele,
Prina tried to hide himself but soon the entry front door was broken down and
the hot heads rummaged all rooms: the minister was discovered, naked, beaten and
then thrown by the window. The unlucky person tried to rise again but crowd attacked
him again. It was formed a procession and Joseph Prina was dragged in the mud
while he was beaten.
There was, saying the truth, who looked for an end to that torture letting
the victim hide in a house but the bloodthirstiest had upper hand and again the
poor man was brought in the road. At the end, he was not able anymore to stand
up and so they stretched him on an axle and they brought him in Cordusio plaza
, where he stayed exposed to the general mockery. He was agonizing but the spitfire
that struck him/ on the head at that point, perhaps with a hammered, breaking
down his skull, didn't do it to assuage his sufferings. Only after this a unit
of soldiers arrived to disperse crowd.
The sad exile in St. Helen
After the abdication, Napoleon had reached his preferred summer residence at
Malmaison, where he spent his days planning a great return or an escape toward
America. The decision of the French government was extended for a long time and
despite, he had had the possibility to run away breaking down the English block,
he decided to deliver himself to the crown of England. Arrived with the Bellerophon
in England, however, the sad news of the exile was given to him. The decided place
was in the island of S. Helen, in the southern Atlantic. After two months of trip
on the Northumberland, he arrived in the port of Jamestown and for him and for
his last and faithful followers and servants started a hard period, made more
sour from the presence on the island of a rigid English governor: Hudson Lowe.
From 1816 to the 1819 Napoleon passed all his time in sorrowful rides accompanied
by an English officer, until he seriously got sick and lost strengths. He was
fully convinced to recover, but after having written the will for “safety”,
on April 10 1820 the emperor said: "I am still enough strong, the desire
to live suffocates me.” On May 4, he succeeded in swallowing some sweetened
water. Then a crisis of vomit. At dawn, was calmed and he remained immovable for
all day on May 5 with the fixed look. At 17.51 o'clock he died and with him an
important piece of history that can, still today, transmit, through his military
actions and his political genius, all his charm. After having been buried in S.
Elena in 1821, in 1840 his body was exhumed for being returned to France, and,
for a strange joke of the destiny, to the eyes of everybody, the body of Napoleon
after 19 years from his death, dressed with the uniform of the national guard,
it intact.
Perhaps, is Napoleon immortal?
Beginning of Page 1st Part
of the Article
|
