By Brian Maregedze and Vincent Chenzi
Right from the start Napoleon
was too ambitious and wished to control the whole of Europe. His aims and
objectives were to conquer and dominate the entire European continent and
thereby spread the revolutionary ideas. He believed that it was only him alone
who had the immediate solution to problems facing the inhabitants of Europe.
1. The second
coalition (1789-1802)
Napoleon came to power at a
time when the second coalition (Britain, Turkey, Austria, Russia, Portugal and
Naples) had defeated the French troops. Napoleon re-organized the French army
and defeated Austria at the battle of Morengo in March 1800. Austria was forced
to sign the treaty of Luneville (1801) in which she surrendered Italy, Holland,
Switzerland and the Rhine territory to France. However, although Napoleon
defeated the rest of the coalition powers, he failed to defeat Britain because
of her naval superiority.
2. The treaty
of Amiens (March 1802)
By 1802, both France and
Britain were fed up of war and they had failed to defeat each other. They thus
resorted to a peace agreement known as the treaty of Amiens. According to the
provision of this treaty, Britain was to recognize French boundaries of 1802.
Moreover, Britain was to evacuate Egypt, Malta and West India. On the other
hand, France was to evacuate Southern Italy and Sri-Lanka which was to be
retained by Britain. However, the treaty of Amiens was short lived since
Britain refused to evacuate Malta and France did not surrender Egypt and
Turkey.
3. Napoleon
and the third coalition
By 1805, the third coalition
was formed against France. It was made up of Britain, Austria, Russia, and
Sweden. Their aim was to force France out of Italy, Belgium, and the Rhineland.
Britain blocked the French troops and cut them off from the French colonies.
This made Napoleon to plan to invade England. Napoleon was reported to have
remarked that, “If I can be the master of the sea for six hours, England would
cease to exist.” Consequently, Napoleon attacked Britain and he was assisted by
the Spanish fleet. However, his joint naval fleet was hopelessly defeated by
the British Naval commander, Horatio Nelson at the battle of Trafalgar on the
21st of October 1805. This was a great disaster for Napoleon since
he lost all his naval troops in Atlantic Ocean.
4. The
continental system
The continental system was an
economic war which was initiated by Napoleon in an attempt to defeat Britain.
It was an effort to bring Britain to her knees after realising that she could
not defeat her by naval supremacy or war. Napoleon was advised that Britain
could easily be defeated by attacking her trade. Montgaillard remarked, “It’s
through her commerce that England must be attacked.” Napoleon and his advisers
realized that the British military power rested on her strong economy and her
dominance of international trade. They therefore, started destroying the
British trade throughout the continent. To effectively implement the
continental system, Napoleon passed the Berlin and Milan decrees of 1806 and
1807 respectively. Through these decrees, Napoleon established a ban on British
ships and ordered French access to confiscate British goods whenever they were
found.
Reasons for
the failure of the continental system
Napoleon’s naval inferiority
compared to the British naval supremacy rendered the continental system a
failure. Britain used her naval power to bully the states which had accepted
the continental system to abandon it. Moreover, Napoleon lacked a strong navy
to patrol far and distant coastlines where British goods were still being
smuggled into Europe. The battle of Trafalgar destroyed Napoleon’s naval power
and weakened his ability to affect the continental system hence its failure.
The confiscation of the Danish fleet by Britain in 1807 also frustrated
Napoleon’s plans of using the fleet to patrol the European coastline. Smuggling
of British goods continued and was unchecked in some places. There was also
corruption that facilitated the consumption of British goods. Britain was the
workshop of Europe and Napoleon’s continental system led to lack of essential
commodities whilst inflation and starvation made the system to be rejected in
both Russia and Portugal.
More so, the French substitute
to the British goods, were of poor quality and yet very expensive compared to
the British products. This made European public opinion to pressurize their
governments to withdraw from continental system. Hence, it was because of this
reason that Portugal, Russia and the Papal States had to reopen their ports for
the British products and trade. In addition, the timing of the continental
system was unfortunate since it was implemented during the economic depression
following a long period of war and instability throughout Europe. This is why
it was impossible for Napoleon to divert the European economy from depending on
British trade.
Additionally, the peninsular
war tied Napoleon’s 300,000 troops in an acute guerilla struggle with the
Spaniards which his conventional military was not prepared to confront thereby
rendering his continental system ineffective. Moreover, it diverted his
attention from implementing the continental system and brought Spain and Portugal
in an alliance against him. The Moscow campaign of 1812 was also another
by-product of the continental system and it diverted Napoleon’s effort from
enforcing the system in other states. Besides, he lost at least 500,000 troops
who would have assisted in patrolling the European coastlines against the
rampant smuggling of British goods. Moreover, the severe European winter made
those who could not do without coal and winter clothing to abandon the
continental system. That is to say, this is what partly forced Russia out of
the continental system hence rendering it a failure. Napoleon’s own mistake was
a cause for the failure of the continental system. In other words, he over
concentrated on the British exports and not imports. Moreover, he did not stop
the export of wheat to Britain for fear that it would provoke European
resistance against him. He miscalculated that the cause of British prosperity
was her exports and not imports. He failed to realize the reciprocal
relationship between imports and exports. That is to say, imports led to
exports and vice versa, hence failure of the continental system.
Napoleon and
the Pope
The Papal States were the
first to denounce the continental system. This was due to the economic hardship
that was caused by the system and the Pope’s desire to remain neutral as a
spiritual leader made him to open his ports to the British trading ships in
1808. In retaliation, Napoleon ignored the concordant of 1801 and went on to
invade the Papal States, abducted the Pope and imprisoned him in France. This
greatly undermined Napoleon’s popularity amongst Catholics in France and the
other catholic states throughout Europe and the world over.
The
Peninsular war
Napoleon’s ambition to enforce
the continental system also drove him to invade Portugal and Spain. When Prince
John the regent of Portugal refused to abide by the continental system,
Napoleon attacked Portugal through Spain. The Spaniards rose against their King
Charles IV for his weakness that made it possible for the French troops to
march through their territory up to Portugal. Napoleon used this confused
situation to force Charles to resign and imposed his brother Joseph Bonaparte
on the Spanish throne in 1808. However, Spain and Portugal combined and
defeated Napoleon. He lost above 300,000 soldiers. Napoleon later remarked,
“The Spanish ulcer destroyed me”.
The Moscow
campaign (1812)
The negative effects of the continental
system made Alexander of Russia to abandon the continental system and opened
the Russian ports to British goods. Napoleon mobilized over 600,000 troops the
largest ever in history up to that time to teach Alexander a lesson that he
would never forget. He crossed the River Niemen with great expectations as he
remarked, “Moscow is the half-way house of India”. However, the Russians
reacted by withdrawing and using scorched earth policy in which they destroyed
everything that would be useful to the French soldiers. Napoleon reached Moscow
only to find the city burning without anyone. Above all, there was neither safe
water nor food and there was also an outbreak of cholera that led to the
widespread death of Napoleon’s soldiers. The bridges also drowned tens of
thousands of soldiers especially the perennial Beresina River. The above
circumstances resulted in Napoleon retracing back to France with about 20,000
out of which only 10,000 soldiers were still useful for military service.
Reasons for
the defeat of Napoleon during the Moscow campaign
Poor planning and military
miscalculations undermined Napoleon’s conquest of Russia. Russia was a big
state which needed proper planning and two years to accomplish the campaign.
Unfortunately, Napoleon wanted the campaign only in one year that is why he
withdrew after conquering Moscow. Moreover, the geographical landscape of
Russia was an obstacle to the invading French army. The Russian terrain was
rugged and wintery and this favoured the Russian forces who were used to it
compared to the French troops. In addition, the Russian scorched earth policy
was a total nuisance to Napoleon. The Russian destruction of food, shelter,
water, wells, gardens and bridges led to massive death of Napoleon’s soldiers.
The Russian withdrawal and the
burning of Moscow was a big blow to Napoleon’s conquest. When Napoleon reached
the city of Moscow, he conquered an empty place with no people. He could not
declare himself successful and that is why he finally withdrew from Moscow. Winter
became a natural weapon that helped the Russians to defeat Napoleon. Napoleon
and his soldiers had not anticipated to get as far as Moscow. They thus
ventured into the campaign without any winter clothing. When winter came, his
soldiers therefore, froze and died in large numbers due to extreme cold
conditions. Napoleon’s invasion of the city of Moscow was a fatal strategy that
led to his failure. It aroused Russian nationalism to the highest level. This
is why there was severe resistance that forced him to finally withdraw.
The Russian guerrilla warfare
was a big blow to Napoleon’s attempt to conquer Russia. Aware that they could
not withstand the strength of the French army, the Russians decided to withdraw
and engage the French troops in acute guerrilla warfare that weakened him for
example, during the battle of Borodino, Napoleon lost 30,000 horses and 50,000
commanders. In addition, the loss of sense of judgement and foresight also
undermined Napoleon’s attempt to invade Russia. By 1812, Napoleon had fought
too many wars which weakened him leading to exhaustion, fatigue and brain
depreciation. As a result, he failed to properly plan and foresee the winter
conditions which later destroyed tens of thousands of his soldiers. The
distance between France and Russia also worked against Napoleon’s success.
Russia is located in the Far East of Europe and France is located in the
extreme West of Europe. This long distance made it impossible for Napoleon to
get extra fodder and horses in order to replenish and replace the ones which
had died of starvation and cold. Consequences of the Moscow campaign
The campaign was the worst
disaster in the history of France and Napoleon ranked it highest in his life
time. Napoleon lost over 580,000 soldiers and this made him militarily weak.
Immediately after the campaign in Moscow, Tallyrand, Napoleon’s foreign
minister later claimed that, “This is the beginning of the end”. It was
therefore a turning point against his control over Europe. Napoleon’s defeat in
the Moscow campaign then contributed to the formation of the 4th
coalition and even the 5th coalition against him. It was a clear
testimony that Napoleon was not untouchable. This led to unity of all European
states including even the weaker ones.
The Moscow disaster led to the
rise of European nationalism against Napoleon’s dominance over Europe. It
became a source of inspiration for the states that were dominated by Napoleon
to start struggling for their independence. This led to a war of liberation
among the Germans, Italians and Australians against Napoleon. The Russian
victory also increased Russian prestige and ambition in Europe. Russia also
began to interfere in the French dominated states like Poland and German states
in order to destroy Napoleon’s influence in those countries. That is to say, it
made Prussia promise to help Russia against Napoleon
The defeat also denied
Napoleon internal support from a section of the French. Resultantly, Napoleon
resorted to widespread conscription into the army. That is, he recruited young,
ill trained and inexperienced youths who were easily defeated. Moreover,
Napoleon’s failure in the Moscow campaign was the last blow to the continental
system. His failure to defeat Russia marked the end of the continental system
and he was forced to abandon it. Many people and countries learnt how to defeat
Napoleon and they later adopted the same policies used by the Russians to
defeat Napoleon especially guerilla warfare.
For feedback, email: bmaregedze@gmail.com
