Reasons for Napoleon's Success
· One of Napoleon's great strengths as leader was the devotion of his
men. His soldiers adored him.
· Despite his generally unprepossessing appearance, when he wished to
charm he could quickly win over anyone he met, however initially
hostile they might be. Within a couple of days he had completely
captivated the officers and crew of Bellerophon taking him to St.
Helena in 1815, much alarming the British government.
· One Admiral at that time exclaimed, "If he had an obtained an
interview with His Royal Highness the Prince Regent, in half an hour
they would have been the best friends in England!"
· His contemporaries had no doubt about the charismatic quality of
leadership. His great adversary Wellington said to him that the moral
effect of his presence in the field and worth an additional force of
40,000 men to the French army. This he ascribed to Napoleon's dual
position as both head of state and commander-in-chief, which gave him
unparalleled control over events, but also to his great personal
popularity with the army.
· One of Napoleon's own generals explained this popularity by saying
that it "was by familiarities that the Emperor made his soldiers adore
him, but it was a means available to only to a commander whom frequent
victories had made illustrious; any other general would have injured
his reputation by it".
· By the use of theatrical and emotional language in his bulletins and
Orders of the Day, Napoleon formed a special bond between himself and
the army. He played on the ideas of military glory, of patriotism and
of comradeship, while giving at the same time the impression that he
had a deep paternal concern for his men. To this they responded with
real devotion.
ii) The Changing Nature of War
· The majority of the eighteenth-century wars were fought with more or
less evenly matched, mainly mercenary armies, very similar to each
other in training, equipment, composition and strength.
In other ways Napoleon was also the savior of the French Revolution: he fought wars and won most as an attempt to try and unite Europe under one French Empire. Even though this eventually failed, French nationalism and pride emerged in its aftermath. Napoleons also regulated the economy to control prices, encouraged new industry and build roads and canals, built schools, and abolished privilege, leading towards benefaction towards centralizing the state. In his entirety as a ruler, Napoleon did more to help the French people than to hurt them. For these reasons Napoleon was the savior of the French Revolution: he transformed his power and strength into benefits towards his people, creating and bringing the change France needed during and after the Revolution to help its people.
Napoleon was not only a great leader, he was also a military genius. As a military genius, Napoleon won many battles to expand France and was always welcomed back to France as a hero. His use of strategic warfare throughout many battles allowed him to be seen as a hero not only in France but all of Europe. Although his army was outnumbered by the Russians and Austrians on December 2, 1805, Napoleon's brilliant strategies resulted in a defeat of the opposing armies in the Battle of Austerlitz.
Napoleon maintained the Revolutionary system of conscription and encouraged promotion based on ability.... ... middle of paper ... ... Broers, Michael.
Over the years of his work, Napoleon had many achievements that were hard for many rulers to get. For one, he had his entire empire loyal to him. For example, his army were not only loyal to their nation, but Napoleon as well and they were from the revolution. Ever since the Roman empire, it has been hard for any other ruler to rule
Napoleon was a man known for his greatest powers and successes as a leader. One of the many successful things Napoleon did early in his life was develop a highly successful military strategy. His tragedy consisted of starting a battle with an enemy while holding his forces back. He would then look for the enemies weakest points and throw all his strength against that point. This newly developed strategy helped him to win many of his attacks such as his attack on and defeat in Italy against Austria and his battle and defeat in Egypt against the Turks.
The mannerisms, attitudes, and background of the American and British soldiers contrasted greatly. The values held by the individual soldiers of the two armies differed. American soldiers had a tendency to think on their own accord and often with liberty in mind (143). In contrast, the British soldiers held the values that their army held (144). American soldiers often fought with the same men from their town or village (142). The British soldiers, however, were pulled from society and isolated from it (144). During the time of the British soldiers’ isolation, they were tightly disciplined and rigorously trained (144). This too shows a contrast between the British and American soldiers. British soldiers underwent a stricter regimen of training while the training Americans had was more informal. The commanding men of the armies, the officers, were different as well. The British officers held themselves aloof from war and quite distant from their men (145). British officers were also much harsher on their men and trained them more effectively (136). The American officer sought to achieve the refinement of the British officers but often failed in achieving it. (145). The training American officers gave to their men was also not as cohesive like the
French Revolution brought a great number of great ideas, but ideas are not beneficial unless they are realized and stabilized. The man to stabilize the concepts of French Revolution was Napoleon Bonaparte. He started out as an Italian general and ended up being one of the greatest historical figures. First, Directors requested Napoleon's support while organizing a coup d'etat. Then, Bonaparte fought Britain in order to benefit France. Lastly, he was called to help creating a new constitution and ended up as the First Consul of France. At home, he ruled using flattery, but also he strongly resisted the opposition. Napoleon is a pro-revolutionist because he denied all the privileges of the aristocracy, created a new constitution, and also established the Napoleonic Code.
But, most importantly, Napoleon did what he thought would make his country stronger. One of Napoleon’s first areas of concern was in the strengthening of the French government. He created a strong centralized government and pretty much got rid of the hundreds of localized law codes that had existed while under the control of the monarchy. He also created an army of government officials. He had the entire country linked under a rational administration.
Napoleon's military motto was concentrating on an enemy?s weak spot, capitalizing on it, and using it to crush them. After serving in the revolutionary army, napoleon distinguished himself in the military and gained the directory?s attention when he suppressed a riot in Paris. As Napoleon?s armies swept through Europe, the Europeans welcomed the French, thinking they were there to liberate them. When napoleon took over a country, he replaced its rulers with his own rulers and outfitted the country to suit his needs. Nationalistic pride streamed through Europe and people wanted freedom from French domination.
With all the glory and the splendour that some countries may have experienced, never has history seen how only only one man, Napoleon, brought up his country, France, from its most tormented status, to the very pinnacle of its height in just a few years time. He was a military hero who won splendid land-based battles, which allowed him to dominate most of the European continent. He was a man with ambition, great self-control and calculation, a great strategist, a genius; whatever it was, he was simply the best. But, even though how great this person was, something about how he governed France still floats among people's minds. Did he abuse his power? Did Napoleon defeat the purpose of the ideals of the French Revolution? After all of his success in his military campaigns, did he gratify the people's needs regarding their ideals on the French Revolution? This is one of the many controversies that we have to deal with when studying Napoleon and the French Revolution. In this essay, I will discuss my opinion on whether or not was he a destroyer of the ideals of the French Revolution.
Napoleon Bonaparte took power of France in 1799. Under his command, Napoleon took large control of Europe and forcing countries to become his allies. By 1806, Great Britain was the last to remain outside of his control. Since Napoleon was unable to take over Great Britain by military, instead he used economic means. He imposed an embargo known as the Continental System on the British. It led to adverse effects to not only Great Britain, but Napoleon allies. Russian especially was losing valuable trade with Great Britain. Furthermore the emperor of Russia, Czar Alexander I, despised Napoleon. So in 1810, Czar Alexander I stopped complying to Napoleon's request. Furthermore, he imposed heavy taxes on French luxury goods. In retaliation, Napoleon
Napoleon’s military career is what eventually led to his prominence. Napoleon began his military career above most of the other men his age. He rapidly made his way through the ranks eventually gaining a great support system. As the directory leaned more and more heavily upon the military, a coup d’état developed. Because of his military expertise, he immediately became first consul of France. The empire of France was soon to grow once Napoleon was in reign. In the 1790s the French army was near one million men, an advantage in the Austrian wars as well as future ventures. Wars raged with other European countries in the early 1800s. Napoleon was able to beat the continental coalition, thus gaining territory for France. France annexed some of Italy but also controlled states such as Spain, Holland ...
How Napoleon built and supplied his armies can be attributed to the military of the French Revolution. One of the most important innovations was universal conscription that the Convention initially used to greatly increase the number of soldiers. This policy allowed the French government to fight more aggressive and expensive wars than other countries in Europe. Key reforms of the artillery and cavalry gave Revolutionary France one of the best flexible and efficient artillery and cavalry forces in the world. The further division of the unitary army into corps and divisions (large field units that were capable of fighting their own “mini-wars”) made the army easier to control and maintain, but more importantly, gave the commander greater flexibility with movement and decisions. Combined with the new idea of “living off the land”, the French army had the speed and mobility that contrasted significantly with the slow, lumbering forces of the Austrians and Russians for example. Of course, these new methodologies did not immediately transfer into success on the field but it did provide a new foundation for the later inheritor of the system, Napoleon
Napoleon is remembered as a great military commander but his tactics was no unknown there were many military theorist but Napoleon refined it but you must understand that he was an effective administrator because of his reforms like introduction the merit system back into the French system.
Reasons for Napoleon's Defeat The Campaign of 1812 should have been another crusade for Napoleon, but he now faced 2 new policies that he had never faced before, the severe Russian winter and the notorious scorched-earth policy. On June 23, 1812 Napoleon's Grande Armee, over 500,000 men strong, poured over the Russian border. An equal amount of Russian forces awaited them. The result of the campaign was a surprise.