Definition of Napoleonic Wars

When on Brumaire 18 of the year VIII (November 7, 1799), Napoleon Bonaparte gave a coup that allowed him to seize power in the Republic French, it was the beginning of the end of the revolutionary order (in fact, many authors put an end to the revolutionary phase here) and something started new.

With Napoleon also came a series of warlike conflicts that would extend throughout his reign, and which would be known for posterity as Napoleonic Wars, which would cement both the fame of a Corsican strategist (at the height of Hannibal or Julius Caesar), as well as a personalist dictator.

The first conflict that Napoleon undertook in power was the second part of the fight against the Second Coalition.

This, formed by the United Kingdom, the Austrian, Russian and Ottoman empires, the Papal States, Portugal, and the Kingdom of Naples, had achieved, since 1798, successes against a France that suffered as much from the remoteness of her best generals (Napoleon himself was on a campaign in Egypt), and from the corruption that reigned in the

government republican.

The first problem faced by the brand new First Consul of the Republic was an Austrian offensive on two fronts: in Italy, to turn from the south over France, and directly from the river Rhine, the historic border between the Gallic territories and Germans.

In Italy the famous battle of Marengo took place (all Napoleonic campaigns are filled with names of battles that have passed to the history), with a narrow victory for the French forces, while on the Rhine, the Battle of Hohenlinden also proved favorable to the Gauls.

Both defeats led Austria to negotiate peace, which was signed in 1801, the same year that France lost the Egyptian campaign (in the hands of Napoleon's second). In 1802 it was the United Kingdom that formed the peace, recognizing the Gallic conquests.

The end of this conflict would give way to a period of peace that would constitute the exception in Europe at the time since the outbreak of the French Revolution, period that would end with the war against the Third Coalition, the first conflict that we can consider purely Napoleonic.

The beginning of this conflict goes back to the end of the previous one, as the British, unhappy with his resolve, declared war on France, assembling a coalition of countries that included the Austrian and Russian empires, the Kingdom of Naples, and Sweden.

Napoleon concentrated troops in the southern part of the Normandy peninsula with the aim of invading Great Britain, estimating that to accomplish this he must first obtain maritime supremacy.

Allying himself with the Spain of Carlos IV and Godoy, Napoleon tried to drive the British fleet towards Spanish shores to destroy it.

This plan failed as the combined Franco-Spanish navy was defeated by the British at the Battle of Trafalgar, one of the most significant of the Napoleonic wars.

Reconducted the battlefield to the continent, the Gallic troops faced the allies led by the Austrians in Bavaria. The main battle of this campaign was Austerlitz, in which the combined Austro-Russian troops were defeated by the French army.

The consequences of Austerlitz were the capitulation of Austria, and the dissolution of the Holy Roman-Germanic Empire. But it would also be the germ of the next conflict.

Without a solution of continuity, and after Austria withdrew from the conflict, Prussia joined the fight against France in protest of the Gallic violations of its territorial space, giving rise to the Fourth Coalition. This was made up of Great Britain, Russia, Sweden, Prussia and Saxony.

Napoleon realized that the main risk he was taking was that the Prussian troops would join with the Russians to jointly attack the territory controlled by the French, so he applied the maxim of divide et rule, attacking the Prussians first and defeating them first at Jena and then entering Berlin, only to continue to meet the Russian forces.

With the victory in the Battle of Friedland, Napoleon managed to force Russia to negotiate peace. At the same time, almost half of the Prussian territory was ceded to allied states of France, such as the Duchy of Warsaw (entity created from territories that the Russians had to cede) and the Kingdom of Westphalia, as well as keeping some land.

One of the consequences of this war was the decree of continental blockade that Napoleon issued against Great Britain, and that he sought to extend to all the countries of Europe.

The compliance of this decree The blockade confronted France with Portugal, and was the reason for the entry of French troops into Spain, theoretically to attack the country Lusitanian, but who ended up appropriating Spain to enthrone one of Napoleon's brothers as King of Spain under the name of José I.

This led to a guerrilla war that would last until 1814 and that would bleed the Gallic troops. Napoleon himself would recognize that entry into the Spanish “hornet's nest” had sealed the course of the war against France.

While the conflict broke out in the Iberian Peninsula, the Fifth Coalition against Napoleon was formed.

In this, Great Britain and the Austrian Empire were framed. The great Achilles heel of this fifth coalition: the numerical inferiority of its forces.

Great Britain always had an army numerically far inferior to the Gallic, disturbing France so alone in the sea, where she dominated and could fight not only face to face with Napoleon, but even get over it. Austria recruited a new army, but even so, both armies combined were not enough to equalize the troops. French, the fruit of a popular levy and intense preparation that, moreover, were fired by the conflicts previous.

It is only in this way that the presence of French troops on so many different fronts can be understood simultaneously throughout the Napoleonic Wars.

Austria's initial onslaught earned her minor victories, pushing the French forces that she had taken by surprise westward, although with the presence of Napoleon in person, France managed to balance the situation until waging the decisive battle of Wagram, in which Austria lost.

The Treaty of Schönbrunn signed the end of this contest, despite the fact that Great Britain still remained and a great danger was beginning to loom over Napoleonic France: Russia.

The invasion of the latter country by Napoleon in 1812 with the excuse of forming Tsar Alexander I on the side of the continental blockade of Great Britain, set off the conflict. On the allied side, the same Russia, Great Britain, Austria, Prussia, and Sweden would be counted, signing up at different times.

As the Axis troops would suffer some 130 years later, the Grande Armée (name that received the numerous army recruited by France and her allies for the invasion) would suffer firsthand the strategy of "scorched earth" consisting of leaving nothing that could serve the invading enemy, forcing him to use his supply lines to the maximum.

This, in a country like Russia, where distances are a great handicap for the quartermaster, is a deadly thrust for any army.

Napoleon came to occupy a Moscow devastated by retreating Russian troops, only to bury his dream in the snow of the steppe.

Not at Borodino could the Gauls force direct mass confrontation in the open, and they had to leave Russia with the Russian imperial army on their heels. Especially tough were the Cossacks, who made a real slaughter attacking the French rear by means of guerilla tactics.

Only 27,000 men from the Grande Armée of the more than 650,000 who had entered Russia returned.

Seeing the results of the war in Spain, adverse to Napoleon's interests, and what had happened in Russia, Prussia entered the fray on the Allied side.

Although Napoleon managed to contain the Prussian advance, he had to request a truce, which both sides took advantage of to reinforce themselves; on the allied side, Austria was recruited, while the exhausted France was rebuilding the ranks with new levies.

The battle of Leipzig, fought in a ratio of forces of more than 2 to 1 in favor of the Allies, would end in Gallic defeat, which would push Napoleon to fight within France.

The emperor could do little due to the superiority of his enemies and the progressive march of the troops of his allies, who, seeing the end, began to abandon the imperial ship.

Overwhelmed by the numerical superiority of the coalition, without the possibility of obtaining new levies, and with the people French increasingly against, Napoleon abdicated on April 13, 1814, shortly after the Allies entered the Paris.

The ex-emperor was going into exile on the island of Elba, from which he would only return in an attempt to seize power in what would later be known as the period of one hundred days, and that would give way to the Seventh Coalition and the definitive defeat of the one that he was defined as "the great usurper" by his detractors.

Since his landing on mainland French territory from the island of Elba, Napoleon had received the support of the French army and people, and disturbed his traditional enemies.

These, despite the peace promises of the emperor, declared war on France.

The confrontation took place in the north, in Belgium, and despite a first success at Ligny, Napoleon ended up losing at Waterloo, a battle name (from the population Belgian namesake) that would go down in history as a synonym for defeat.

Exiled to the secluded island of St. Helena, on which he died under strange circumstances not yet clarified (despite studies that have been inconclusive), Napoleon stopped represent a danger for the other countries.

The passage of the great privateer, as defined by his admirers, left a geopolitical legacy that redrew the European map and left a deep mark on military practices.

Fotolia photos: Olena / Marco

Themes in Napoleonic Wars