| | |
|[pic] | |
| | |
| | |
| | |
| | |
|The Campaigns of Napoleon | |
|During his long career Napoleon Bonaparte conquered most of Europe and became such a feared soldier that his opponents in Britain, Russia, Austria and Prussia had| |
|him declared 'an enemy of humanity'. This section on his military campaigns covers the important details and battles of the wars that led to Napoleon Bonaparte | |
|becoming the greatest leader of armies in history. | |
|First Coalition | |
|1792 to 1797 | |
|Egypt Adventure | |
|1798 to 1801 | |
| | |
|[pic] | |
|Campaign of the First Coalition, 1792 to 1797 | |
|Almost all of Europe united against the revolutionary government in France and sent major armies to destroy the fledgling nation. Read how France's mass armies | |
|were tested in battles such as Valmy, Jemappes and Napoleon's superb performance at Toulon, which catapulted him towards power. | |
|[pic] | |
|Napoleon's Egyptian Adventure, 1798 to 1801 | |
|Napoleon Bonaparte launched an invasion on Egypt to attack British interests in India. He was marooned when Admiral Nelson destroyed his fleet at the battle of | |
|the Nile. Read about the battles, the soldiers, look at maps and the discovery of the Rosetta Stone. | |
| | |
|Second Coalition | |
|1798 to 1801 | |
|Third Coalition | |
|1805 | |
| | |
|[pic] | |
|Campaign of the Second Coalition, 1798 to 1801 | |
|The campaigns against the Second Coalition included Napoleon's expedition to Egypt, major clashes in North Italy, Germany and Switzerland. Descriptions of the | |
|battles of the Pyramids, Marengo and Hohenlinden, plus images and much more. | |
|[pic] | |
|Campaign of the Third Coalition, 1805. | |
|One of the most brilliant military campaigns in history saw Napoleon Bonaparte out-think and out-fight the armies of the Third Coalition. The surrender of Ulm and| |
|the crushing victory at Austerlitz over Russia and Austria are included. | |
| | |
|Fourth Coalition | |
|1806 to 1807 | |
|Fifth Coalition | |
|1809 | |
| | |
|[pic] | |
|Campaign of the Fourth Coalition, 1806 to 1807 | |
|In 1806 Napoleon attacked a threatening Prussia and in a lightning campaign destroyed his enemy's armies at Jena and Auerstadt. Included are descriptions of the | |
|follow-up battle for Poland and the nightmarish battle in the snow at Eylau. | |
|[pic] | |
|Campaign of the Fifth Coalition, 1809 | |
|Taking advantage of France's preoccupation with the Peninsula, the Austrians launched a surprise attack. Read about how Napoleon recovered and the 1809 Campaign | |
|on the Danube. Included are the battles of Aspern-Essling and Wagram, together with battle maps and much more. | |
| | |
|The Peninsular War | |
|1808 to1814 | |
|The Russian Campaign | |
|1812 | |
| | |
|[pic] | |
|Campaign of the Peninsular War, 1808 to 1814 | |
|Known as the Spanish Ulcer, the Peninsular War bleed Napoleon of some of his finest troops. Read about the bloody fights with the Duke of Wellington's British | |
|army, including Talavera, Rolica, Vimiero and Salamanca, see the brutality of guerrilla warfare through the images of Goya. | |
|[pic] | |
|Campaign in Russia, 1812 | |
|One of Napoleon Bonaparte's biggest blunders was to invade Russia. The march on Moscow, the battle of Borodino and key clashes, eyewitness accounts of the horrors| |
|of the disastrous retreat and the death of the French army. | |
| | |
|Liberation of Germany | |
|1813 | |
|France Invaded | |
|1814 | |
| | |
|[pic] | |
|Liberation of Germany, 1813 | |
|Weakened by the disastrous losses in Russia, Napoleon Bonaparte was on the back foot when the Allied powers struck into Germany. Read about the action at Dresden | |
|and the battle of nations at Leipzig. | |
|[pic] | |
|France Invaded, 1814 | |
|The 1814 invasion of Napoleon's France by the avenging allies saw Bonaparte back to his brilliant best. Outnumbered and encircled he almost saved his throne with | |
|battle victory after victory. | |
| | |
|The 100 Days | |
|1815 | |
|The War of 1812 | |
|1812-1815 | |
| | |
|[pic] | |
|The 100 Days or Waterloo Campaign, 1815 | |
|The 100 Days or Waterloo Campaign decided the fate of modern Europe. Napoleon Bonaparte launched a desperate strike at the closing Allies and after four battles | |
|in three days was defeated at Waterloo by the British master general the Duke of Wellington. | |
|[pic] | |
|The War of 1812 | |
|The War of 1812 was a sideshow compared with other major Napoleonic campaigns, but it decided the independence of Canada from the United States. Read about the | |
|various battles, including the bloody battle of New Orleans and the burning of Washington, look at maps and images and much more. | |
| | |
|The West Indies | |
|1793 to 1810 | |
| | |
|[pic] | |
|Campaigns for the West Indies, 1793 to 1810 | |
|The battles for the rich West Indies islands were lengthy and costly in casualties. Read about the slave revolt of San Domingo, Toussaint l'Ouverture and much | |
|more. | |
| | |
| | |
| | |
| | |
| | |
The First Coalition{1792 to 1797}
The principal parties of the first attempt to defeat the French Revolution were Austria and Prussia, the leaders of which - Frederick William II and Leopold II - wanted to restore King Louis XVI to the throne.
The execution of Louis XVI catapulted Britain into the alliance, with Spain joining in March of 1793. In August of 1792, an 80,000-man army entered France under the reticent Duke of Brunswick, capturing key fortresses on its march towards Paris.Half of the force was Prussian and 30,000 were Austrian, French emigres and minor German states made up the rest.Opposing the Allied army was a force of 36,000 Frenchmen, a combination of troops from General Francois Kellerman's army and that of General Charles Dumouriez. Kellerman stood his ground at Valmy where French artillery caused huge casualties in the enemy ranks and Brunswick took it as a good excuse to return home. In Germany, a French invasion force under General Adam Custine threatened Frankfurt for a time, but it was in the Netherlands that the greatest successes occurred. Dumouriez moved against the Austrian provinces - the southern Catholic provinces of the Netherlands - and caught the retreating Hapsburg army at Jemappes. Within two weeks he had taken Brussels and Paris annexed the territory. 1793 saw serious moves by the Allies to deal with the upstart revolutionaries and with Custine bottled up in Mainz by Brunswick, an Austrian army led by Prince Frederick of Saxe-Coburg sought to recover the Netherlands.Dumouriez attacked Saxe-Coburg at Neerwinden, but was sent into flight. The Austrian advance then retook Brussels and when the political police travelling with the revolutionary armies accused Dumouriez of betrayal he fled to his former enemy's camp.France's ruling Committee of Public Safety sent the unlucky General Dampierre to hold Saxe-Coburg, but he was killed in action. Next they tried Custine but the demoralised French were no match for the Austrians at Valenciennes and Custine was guillotined for his troubles.With paranoia gripping France, General Jean Houchard took over the Army of the North - which had been bolstered by the conscripts of the the newly introduced levee en masse - and sparked confidence when he defeated the Duke of York at Hondschoote.He then went on to beat the Prince of Orange at Menin but, staggeringly, was alleged to have not tried hard enough and found himself a victim of Madame Guillotine.General Jean-Baptiste Jourdan now took the poisoned chalice of leading the army, but the pressure was somewhat eased by Lazare Carnot, the Minister of War, who held supreme command. Carnot sent Jourdan against Saxe-Coburg's force that was investing Mauberge and the French won the resulting battle of Wattignies. It was the first of many pieces of good news. Toulon was recaptured from the Anglo-Spanish naval expedition that had held it for months, General Lazare Hoche refused to be put off by a loss at Kaiserslautern and beat a Prussian army at Froschwiller on 22 December and an Austrian one under General Dagobert Wurmser at Geisberg on 26 December. Revolutionary zeal continued to build in 1794 with victories at Tourcoing, Hooglede and Fleurus. Jourdan captured Brussels and Antwerp and finally drove the Austrians from the Netherlands.
On the southern border, French forces checked moves from Spanish armies, but lost Corsica, its West Indies holdings and the naval battle of First of June.The northern Netherlands - the United Provinces - were Protestant and joined the fight against France when its southern cousins were annexed into Revolutionary France. Early in 1795, General Jean Pichegru moved against the Protestant Dutch and seized its ice-locked fleet with horsemen. The Netherlands was now under complete French control.
On 16 May, Prussia quit the war and signed the Treaty of Basle. Soon after, Spain and the minor German states also made their peace with France.In June, the British navy landed 3500 pro-royalist and émigré troops in France at Quiberon. The hope was to ferment unrest, but the plan underestimated French resolve and Hoche moved quickly to crush the insurgents. The uprising was short-lived and fewer than half of the landed troops escaped back to Britain. One major loss for France was that of General Pichegru who, defeated at Mainz on 29 October, defected to the Austrians rather than face the wrath of his superiors, or the bite of the guillotine. In 1796, the two remaining protagonists - France and Austria - squared up to each other in Germany and Italy.
General Jean Moreau and Jourdan took on Archduke Charles along the Rhine, with Jourdan trying to pin the new Austrian commanders forces to allow his colleague to cross the mighty river and invade Bavaria.
Charles beat Jourdan at Wetzlar, forcing him back across the Rhine, and then pursued Moreau. He caught him at Malsh where neither side could get an advantage and then returned his attentions to Jourdan. Charles beat the Frenchman at Amberg, and then Wurzburg, while Moreau bested the Austrian covering force at Freidberg.However, with his colleague pushed back it left Moreau in an untenable position and he, too, retreated.The two nations then signed an armistice.
The war in Italy saw the rise of one of the great military leaders - General Napoleon Bonaparte - who transformed a ragtag army of half-starving troops into a fine fighting force.His first problem was being faced by two enemies, the Austrians under General Jean Beaulieu and General Michael Colli's Piedmontese army. Getting in between the two forces, Bonaparte split them further at Montenotte and defeated Beaulieu at Dego. Turning on Colli, the French general hammered his army at Mondovi. Colli then called for a halt to hostilities and two weeks later Piedmont quit the war. Another clash with the Austrians, this time at Lodi, cleared Lombardy of the enemy and Bonaparte then kept then pressure on the withdrawing Beaulieu and followed him into the Tyrol.A new danger loomed when General Dagobert Wurmser led another army into northern Italy to break the siege of the fortress of Mantua, the last toehold the Austrians had in the region. Wurmser divided his force and sent General Peter Quasdanovich to cut Bonaparte's lines of supply. Again using interior lines - the tactic of getting between enemies and defeating them in detail before they can unite - the French commander pinned Wurmser and then beat Quasdanovich at Lonato. Wurmser's men then felt the full force of the French at Castiglione, from which they fled back to the Tyrol.After he regained his composure, Wurmser tried a new attempt to help Mantua, but again split his forces. General Paul Davidovich remained to protect the Tyrol, while Wurmser moved down towards Mantua. Bonaparte beat Davidovich at Caliano and then sped on a cruel forced march to catch the main Austrian army.He caught Wurmser at Bassano and while he beat him, the bulk of the Austrians managed to get through to Mantua.The garrison was 28,000 men, but they were not enough to break out of General Andre Massena's encircling forces.A third rescue attempt was made by Austria and General Josef Alvintzy moved against the French. For a third time the Austrians split their forces and while a French covering force held off Davidovich, Bonaparte hit Alvintzy at Caldiero. The battle ended in Alvintzy's favour, but at the desperate battle of Arcola the young French general routed the Austrians. Early in 1797, Vienna made its last move to free the trapped troops in Mantua. Alvintzy, who was clearly no fast learner, split his army and attacked the French at Rivoli without the weight of his full force.
Despite this, he began well and Bonaparte was under pressure until reinforcements arrived and gave him the decisive upper hand. Having won Rivoli, Bonaparte then returned to Mantua to help a surrounded General Jean Serurier caught between the Mantua garrison and another relieving Austrian army under General Johann Provera. The reinforcements allowed Serurier to again bottle up Wurmser's garrison, while Bonaparte encircled Provera's men and forced a surrender.It was the last straw for Wurmser and the troops and people in Mantua, the siege had cost them 18,000 dead - mainly from disease.
A victorious Bonaparte now set his sights on Vienna. Although opposed by Archduke Charles, the French crossed the Alps and were only 100 miles from the Austrian capital when the emperor Francis I requested peace. Bonaparte set out the terms for the treaty of Leoben - the recognition of France's claim over the Austrian Netherlands and the acceptance of the Cisalpine Republic in northern Italy. Considering the turmoil of previous years, 1798 was relatively quiet in revolution terms. France occupied Switzerland, creating the Helvetian republic, and Rome, Roman Republic, and there was an ill-fated landing of French troops in Ireland. General Jean Humbert's force had been sent to assist an Irish rebellion against Britain but found it had been squashed as brutally as France's dealing in La Vendee and Quiberon.The battle of Vinegar Hill smashed the rebels and Humbert's troops were eventually surrounded by Lord Cornwallis and forced to surrender.
Napoleon's Egyptian Campaign {1798 to 1801}
The French attempt to exert influence over Egypt was due to economics, a political need to weaken Britain and the personal needs of General Napoleon Bonaparte, who saw the shadow of unemployment - and a loss of influence - looming as his armies in Italy were nearing the end of their successful struggles against Austria. Having seen the benefits of Britain's profitable colonies, France's Directory listened to Bonaparte's idea to invade Egypt, expel the ruling Mamelukes and establish a modern style of government friendly towards French ways. Within three months, the young general had raised and outfitted an expeditionary force of just under 40,000, which included scientists, engineers and veteran troops from the Army of Italy.On the way, the French seized Malta, and its considerable treasury, and then proceeded on towards Alexandria where the city fell to Bonaparte within hours of the French fleet's arrival. The first major engagement against the Mamelukes occurred at El Rahmaniya, where Bonaparte showed the fierce, excellent horsemen that their bravery could not match modern European weapons and tactics. The French forces then continued their difficult march down the Nile towards Cairo, enduring heat, disease and exhaustion.On 21 July they drew within sight of Cairo and were treated to an awe-inspiring view of the Pyramids and a large Arab and Mameluke army. The total force was some 120,000 men in two bodies. The first, under Murad Bey, was some 6000 Mamelukes and 15,000 irregular troops. Ibrahim Bey's army - estimated at 100,000 - was split from the vanguard and waited across the Nile. They took no part in the battle. Forming large squares that incorporated cannon the 25,000 French troops waited for the Mameluke assault under Murad Bey and when it came repulsed the attacks with steady, disciplined fire. Some 5000 enemy became casualties while Bonaparte had just under 300 killed and injured.
The second force of some 100,000 under Ibrahim Bey retreated north-east towards Syria. Three days later, the French took Cairo but the campaign's successes were ruined by Admiral Horatio Nelson's defeat of the French navy at Aboukir Bay, which saw Bonaparte's army cut off from its supply lines. October of 1798 saw a bloody uprising in Cairo against the infidel invaders. Bonaparte's attempts to molify Egyptians by saying they were being freed from Mameluke rule did not succeed and when a mob of several thousand rampaged through the city it cost the lives of 300 Frenchmen. The rebellion ended after the Europeans turned their cannons on to the El Azhar mosque.Next the invaders had to suffer an outbreak of the plague, which decimated French ranks, but Bonaparte's bravery again put heart into his troops when he personally visited the sick and dying at a time when even their physicians were avoiding them. In February of 1799, Bonaparte marched at the head of 13,000 men towards Syria, where the Syrian leader, Djezzar Pasha, had organised a huge army to attack Egypt.France was also now at war with Turkey and Bonaparte knew there were British plans to transport and land an Ottoman army to his rear. Speed, therefore, was of the essence but the campaign got off to a poor start when a strong fort at El Arish held out for 10 days before surrendering. The delay was crucial, as was another at Jaffa, when it was discovered that many of the troops in that city had given their word not to fight against the French having been given clemency at El Arish.
In a pressure cooker situation, Bonaparte and his officers debated for almost a week over the fate of those who broke their bond and finally decided they would be executed. Some 4500 men were killed.
Plague again broke out in the army and again Bonaparte showed great bravery in attending the sick and dying. Advancing to Acre, he then discovered that his army's large-calibre siege guns had been captured by a British naval officer, Sir William Sidney Smith, and the delays at El Arish and Jaffa had allowed his enemies to fully prepare the strong fortress before him to withstand an assault. On 28 March, Bonaparte launched an assault that succeeded in getting inside the walls, but a counterattack by Djezzar Pasha threw them out again.
A man with no mercy, Djezzar - "the Butcher" as he was known - then proceeded to slaughter hundreds of Christian prisoners inside the city.Bonaparte now found himself tied to a difficult siege and with enemy forces encircling his small army. Sending out strong detachments under generals Junot, Murat and Kleber, Bonaparte knew he was in some trouble. On 5 April, Junot beat off an attack near Nazareth and when Kleber was sent to reinforce him, he found his own 1500 troops facing 35,000 men under the Pasha of Damascus.The resulting battle of Mt Tabor was one of the great episodes in the annals of the French army, with Kleber holding the enemy off for 10 hours. The arrival of Bonaparte with a division of reinforcements threw the Turks into chaos and they fled. The victory at Mt Tabor did not help with the siege at Acre, which dragged on into May. The nearest Bonaparte came to capturing the city was on 8 May when General Jean Lannes led a heroic assault that penetrated the walls, only to discover that a second line of defences made going any further impossible. Lannes was almost killed in the day-long attack, the eighth unsuccessful one launched, and it forced Bonaparte to finally accept that his visions of capturing Syria would not succeed.
Returning to Cairo in early June, Bonaparte then made secret plans to return to France.He still had one more battle to be fought in Egypt, however, and at Aboukir where Mustapha Pasha's 15,000 men faced Bonaparte's 10,000. The battle was decided when General Joachim Murat led the French cavalry against the enemy commander and captured him. On 22 August, Bonaparte sailed for France with his closest friends and supporters. Behind him he left his French army, under Kleber, he sailed for his home.
|The Second Coalition [1798 to 1801] |
|On 22 June 1799, Britain became the last nation to join the Second Coalition against France. Before her signature were those of Austria, Russia, Turkey, the Vatican, |
|Portugal and Naples.The first success for the new anti-French league was the capture of Rome by a Neopolitan army, led by Austria's General Karl Mack, but the high point |
|was short-lived as French troops threw them out two weeks later.With Napoleon Bonaparte on his Egyptian Campaign, the military leadership of France fell upon Lazare Carnot|
|who decided the best form of defence was to attack all his enemies at once.That called for three operations - against Austria and Russia in Italy, Austria in Germany and |
|Russia and England in the Netherlands. |
|There were some big-name commanders against them, with Russia's General Alexander Suvarov leading the Italian forces, Archduke Charles the forces in Germany and the Duke |
|of York in the Netherlands.General Jean-Baptiste Jourdan initially took the offensive in Germany, but was pushed back at Ostrach and then beaten four days later at |
|Stockach.General Andre Massena performed well in Switzerland and, when Jourdan resigned, he took over the German forces as well. He was pushed back at Zurich, but did the |
|same to the Austrians at Dottingen.Facing a mutiny in the army of Naples, Mack threw himself on the mercy of the French and his loss meant the disorganised Neopolitans |
|were brushed aside by the rampant forces of General Etienne Championnet.The victory in southern Italy did nothing for the French cause, however, as defeat after defeat set|
|its armies reeling back and the Allies recovered almost of of the ground lost to Bonaparte's brilliant 1796 Campaign.Led by General Paul Kray, the Austrians defeated a |
|French army at Magnano, then a combined Russo-Austrians army under General Alexander Suvarov routed the new French commander General Jean Moreau at Cassano.Having lost the|
|major cities of Turin and Milan, the situation was dangerous for France, but when General Macdonald lost at Trebbia, Moreau was dismissed and his replacement General |
|Joubert defeated and killed at Novi, things looked hopeless.Fortune then took a hand in the war, with the Allies deciding to switch Charles to the Netherlands and Suvarov |
|to Germany. This gave General Massena the opening he needed. |
| |
Attacking the Russians at Zurich, Massena routed General Alexander Korsakov's troops effectively won control of Switzerland from the Allies.
In the Netherlands, the Allied efforts were hampered by poor supply lines and worse co-operation. The Duke of York's forces were halted twice within a fortnight at Bergen and a third poor result at Castricum on 6 October had the commander reassessing the campaign. When the prime target for the invasion - the Dutch fleet - fell into French hands, he abandonned the venture.Another who was sick of the war was Tsar Paul I, who gave up on being part of the coalition.However, a more dangerous thing occurred on 9-10 November 1799. The returning General Bonaparte staged the Coup de Brumaire, ending the Directory and setting the stage for his own, new vision, for France.One of Bonaparte's first aims was to regain the territories lost in Italy. Only Massena remained on Italian soil, and he was locked in an under-siege Genoa.
With the Austrians forcing French forces through Nice on the Cote d'Ázur, Bonaparte decided on a daring campaign that would see his army cross the Alps and, hopefully, surprise the enemy and cut them off from their homeland.The Austrian commander, General Michael Melas, quickly pulled his men back to face the new threat. The only good news he received was that of the surrender of Massena.It was, however, the beginning of a dire period for Austria. An Austrian army was beaten at Montebello by General Jean Lannes, but the situation almost worked in Melas' favour as an overconfident. It was almost a battle of two halves as first the Austrians had the decisive edge, then the arrival of General Louis Desaix and reinforcements swung it entirely in France's favour.The ensuing rout destroyed Austria's army in Italy and any hopes for the Second Coalition.In the German theatre, Moreau beat the Austrians at Stockach, Moskirch, Ulm and Hochstadt - a series of defeats that led to the replacement of General Paul Kray with the Archduke John.
The Austrian commander, General Michael Melas, quickly pulled his men back to face the new threat. The only good news he received was that of the surrender of Massena.It was, however, the beginning of a dire period for Austria. An Austrian army was beaten at Montebello by General Jean Lannes, but the situation almost worked in Melas' favour as an overconfident Bonaparte stretched his forces too far and walked into the Austrian commander's full force at Marengo.It was almost a battle of two halves as first the Austrians had the decisive edge, then the arrival of General Louis Desaix and reinforcements swung it entirely in France's favour.The ensuing rout destroyed Austria's army in Italy and any hopes for the Second Coalition.
In the German theatre, Moreau beat the Austrians at Stockach, Moskirch, Ulm and Hochstadt - a series of defeats that led to the replacement of General Paul Kray with the Archduke John.The last major battle of the Second Coalition was at Hohenlinden where the Austrians again were decisively beaten.With French forces advancing on Vienna from several directions the Austrians sued for peace and signed the Treaty of Luneville.
The Third Coalition [1805]
In April 1805, the time looked perfect for the members of the Third Coalition - Britain, Austria, Russia, Sweden and some German states - to strike back at France. The French fleet could not gain control of the English Channel and the mass of the Grande Armee was camped near Boulogne awaiting orders to invade Britain.It was decided that a concerted invasion would put the upstart Napoleon Bonaparte in his place and so plans were made to attack Italy and Bavaria.The only problem was that the French emperor had foreseen such attempts and had secretly moved the Grande Armee across the Rhine and then the Danube, cutting off Austria's General Karl Mack from his supply lines and forcing him to surrender his army at Ulm.
Bonaparte then set off for Vienna, where he captured the enemy capital and forced Russia's General Mikhail Kutusov into two rearguard actions at Durrenstein and Hollabrunn.In Italy, Marshal Massena defeated Archduke Charles at Caldiero forcing him out of that country.Meanwhile, Bonaparte proved himself the master of tactics by tempting the Russian and Austrian armies, led by their emperors, into attacking him 110 kilometres north of Vienna at Austerlitz.Making out that his forces were weak, Bonaparte retreated before the enemy armies only to swiftly counterattack when fast-marching reinforcements arrived to help him.The Austro-Russian army was split in two and then destroyed with a loss of 27,000 men compared with 9000 French casualties.Austria surrendered immediately and later ceded parts of Germany and Italy to France, while the Russians retreated to their homeland.Napoleon Bonaparte was on the verge of being master of Europe.
The Fourth Coalition [1806 to 1807]
As a watcher from the sidelines, Prussia became increasingly more concerned at French influence spreading over the minor German states and, in October 1806, finally joined Britain and Russia against Napoleon Bonaparte.On 8 October, Bonaparte launched a surprise invasion of Prussia and within days had the unprepared, sabre-rattling monarchy of Frederick-William III under extreme pressure.
Berlin was in danger of being captured and the king's nephew, Prince Louis Ferdinand, had been killed during the defeat at Saalfield. On 14 October, two battles occurred with the French main army, under Bonaparte, crushing Prince Frederick Hohenloe at Jena and Marshal Davout overcoming astounding odds to defeat the bulk of Prussia's army at Auerstadt.Ten days later the capital of Berlin was captured and within a month the final Prussian army surrendered at Lubeck, forcing Frederick William III to run for sanctuary in Russia.Bonaparte immediately moved against the Russians, captured Warsaw and would have caught up with the Russian army but for a brutal clash at Pultusk that allowed General Levin Bennigsen to escape.
The harsh winter of early 1807 had both sides in camp but Bennigsen moved within Bonaparte's reach and the emperor set out to destroy him.The result was the battle of Eylau, which was one of the bloodiest of the Napoleonic Wars and one fought in possibly the worst conditions.A blinding snowstorm turned the battle into a mistake-riddled bloodbath and while indecisive, still cost 25,000 French casualties and 15,000 Russian ones.The crucial battle of the campaign came at Friedland where Bennigsen moved against a single French corps only to be pinned by the skilful defence of Marshal Jean Lannes.With reinforcements quickly arriving, the French trapped the Russians against the River Alle and proceeded to destroy it.
Bonaparte's army suffered some 10,000 killed and wounded, but the Russian dead and injured were up to 25,000.Shattered by the speed of his defeat, Tsar Alexander met the French emperor on a raft in the middle of the River Niemen and signed the Treaty of Tilsit.That document slightly embarrassed the Tsar by forcing him into an alliance with France against Britain, but it humiliated Prussia by allowing French occupation of that country until a 140-million franc indemnity was paid, broke Polish territories from Berlin in the form of the new Duchy of Warsaw and gave the infant Confederation of the Rhine considerably greater lands.Napoleon Bonaparte was now, probably, at the zenith of his career.
The Fifth Coalition [1809]
Still smarting from its earlier defeats at the hands of Napoleon Bonaparte, Austria was always keen to have another crack at the French.Army reforms gave its military confidence in being able to tackle the French army and it was just a matter of biding time until the opportunity arose.That chance came in April 1809 when Vienna, and its coalition partner Britain, decided to take advantage of Bonaparte's preoccupation with matters in the Peninsular War by striking at Bavaria, France's key ally in Germany. Archduke John led an Austrian army into Italy, brushing off Eugene de Beauharnais' forces at Sacie, while Archduke Charles fell upon the unsuspecting French who had been poorly placed by the out-of-his-depth Marshal Berthier.
Caught completely on the back foot, the French were in dire trouble when help came in the form of the emperor himself. Bonaparte quickly united his soldiers and immediately threw them into an offensive against the strung out and confident Austrians.His lightning crossing of the Danube smashed into Charles' men at Abensberg and split the Austrians in two. Each wing of the retreating army fell back but were pursued vigourously by the French and two further battles, at Landshut and Eckmuhl, again ended in defeat for the Austrians.After capturing Ratisbon, Bonaparte moved into the enemy capital of Vienna eager to track down Charles' army and destroy it.Overconfident after the way the campaign had swung, Bonaparte decided to cross the flooding Danube at Aspern-Essling, but that cockiness and poor scouting sent a large portion of his force headlong into the entire Austrian army. The bridge connecting his forces continually was broken - by raging waters or objects sent down by the Austrians - and the vanguard was trapped.
Fortunately, for Bonaparte, he had two top marshals in the forms of Jean Lannes and Andre Massena leading the isolated men, who soon established solid defensive positions in the villages of Aspern and Essling. The trick was, however, to get them back across the river. Bonaparte achieved it after two days of hard fighting but lost his friend Lannes, an irreplaceable marshal, and some 21,000 men. The Austrians suffered 23,000 casualties but had put a large dent in the myth of Bonaparte's invincibility.Suitably chastened, the French emperor ensured his next crossing of the Danube was carried with proper care and he fell upon the Austrians at Wagram.In two days, he inflicted 40,000 casualties upon his enemies and forced Austria to sue for peace, agreeing to give up large territories and join the Continental System of trade against Britain.
The Peninsular War [1807 to 1814]
The Peninsular War was probably the worst mistake Napoleon Bonaparte made during his lengthy reign over France - the attempted subjugation of Portugal in a bid to tighten his trade blockade of Britain.
To get at Portugal, Bonaparte had to trick his ally Spain into allowing a French army under General Jean-Andoche Junot to move through its territory. On 1 December 1807, the French captured Lisbon - the Portuguese capital - but just missed the royal family who fled to Brazil the day before Junot arrived.
Just three months later, Marshal Joachim Murat took a huge army into Spain on the pretext of restoring order - the king, Charles IV, was quarreling with his son, Ferdinand - and soon had the entire family taken to France for protection. Next, Bonaparte made the major error of having his brother Joseph chosen as the new king by the large party of French-loving reformists, a move that sent the peasantry and church into a rebellious frenzy. Within two months there were open uprisings against Joseph and the conflict descended into one of the most brutal periods of warfare seen.
The Spanish artist Goya sketched a series of ink images, Disasters of War, that show the inhuman levels reached during the campaign.
Despite its shockingly poor regular army, the war began well for Spain with the French being forced into a lengthy siege of Saragossa and an army, under the luckless General Pierre Dupont, being made to surrender at Bailen.
The reverses in Spain cut Junot off from any support he might have anticipated, but he felt strong enough to defeat a British army that landed in Portugal on 1 August 1808.
The Russian Campaign
1812
While allies in name, France and Russia were never real friends.
Russia's economy was being hurt by Napoleon Bonaparte's Continental System that banned trade with Britain and internal pressures forced Tsar Alexander to turn a blind eye to those who broke it.
Bonaparte decided to bring the Russians back into line and gathered a Grande Armee of more than 500,000 men - including contingents from all France's allies - to frighten them.
The implied threat did not work and the tsar ordered two Russian armies to protect the Motherland.
Led by General Barclay de Tolly and General Bagration, the Russians retreated as Bonaparte's troops swarmed across the frontier on the River Niemen on 24 June.
Combining at Smolensk, the Russian armies fought at Smolensk and Valutino, but the overall strategy was to trade space for time and continue to avoid a major battle with the French. Finally the retreat stopped some 110 kilometres west of Moscow.
Now under the command of General Mikhail Kutusov, the Russians set up strong defensive positions for his 120,000 troops at Borodino and waited for Bonaparte's men to come on.
They did so, 133,000 strong, and the fighting was brutal, even in Napoleonic terms, with little quarter being given.
Although advised by Marshal Davout to manouevre around the defences and attack from another direction, Bonaparte threw his men into a series of bloody attacks on the Russian positions.
At the end of the day - and at the cost of 44,000 Russian casualties and 30,000 French losses - the battle was indecisive, as Bonaparte withheld his Imperial Guard in a move that probably saved Kutusov's army from destruction. But, so far from friendly territory, Bonaparte said he could not take the risk.
Kutusov retreated again and the French occupied a burning Moscow - set on fire by the Russians themselves.
Hoping for a Russian surrender that never came, Bonaparte waited in Moscow for five weeks - far too long - and then began what would become one of the greatest disasters in military history.
Again ignoring good advice from Davout to take a different, better-supplied route to that they had advanced on, Bonaparte sent his men back to Smolensk through already-plundered territory.
To make a bad situation worse, the snows came early in 1812 and the cold, together with hunger and cossack attacks, doomed what had been one of the most impressive armies ever to be formed.
Defended by a magnificent fighting rearguard led by Marshal Ney, the French struggled on. They were almost destroyed during the crossing of the River Beresina where a two-day battle to hold off the Russians allowed what was left of the army to limp across two fragile bridges.
Bonaparte left the army on 5 December to return to Paris where a coup had been foiled and to raise another army. His troops dragged themselves on and on 7 December finally crossed the Niemen out of Russian territory. They had survived, but only 20,000 of them.
The Liberation of Germany
1812 to 1815
Recovering from the disaster of the invasion of Russia, Napoleon Bonaparte frenetically rebuilt his army as the Sixth Coalition formed to remove him from power.
The enemy nations began as Britain, Russia, Spain and Portugal, but were joined by Prussia, Austria (unofficially), Sweden and minor German states.
Determined to re-establish his hold over Germany, Bonaparte's new army successfully began his campaign by beating the Russians and Prussians at Lutzen and Bautzen.
This gave him the political strength to force an armistice and earn a breathing space in which he could gather more men to his cause.
Hostilities resumed when Austria officially entered the fray in August and now France found herself up against almost all of Europe once again.
Leading the Allies were Field Marshal Blucher, Austria's Karl Schwarzenberg and Sweden's Jean-Baptiste Bernadotte.
From the outset things were tough for the French with Marshal Oudinot losing the battle of Grossbeeren against Bernadotte.
Bonaparte evened the campaign by besting Schwarzenberg at Dresden, but then followed a series of disastrous reverses.
A battle at Kulm saw a French corps under General Vandamme destroyed, Marshal Macdonald was beaten by Blucher at Katzbach and, at Dennewitz, Bernadotte defeated Marshal Ney.
The deliberate campaign to avoid battle with the emperor and try to defeat his subordinates had worked well for the Allies.
Bonaparte's fate was sealed during the three-day battle for Leipzig, the biggest clash of the Napoleonic Wars, although the sheer bravery of his troops allowed the French army to extricate itself from complete destruction.
Two more allies, Bavaria and Saxony, now switched sides and a Bavarian army was brushed aside at Hanau and the battered French army crossed the Rhine to lick its wounds. It wouldn't get much rest, however, as the invasion of France was imminent.
The 1814 Campaign for France
Having managed to survive through both the disastrous 1812 and 1813 campaigns in Russia and Germany, Napoleon Bonaparte made the politically fatal error of not agreeing to peace terms set by the Allied Powers.
The ever-strengthening Allies wanted to restrict France to borders based on the Rhine and the Alps but Bonaparte felt, as he had done before, that he would be able to best the combined forces ranged against him.
This time, however, his inexperienced troops would be assailed from all sides and by seasoned and numerous soldiers led by the likes of the Duke of Wellington, Field Marshal Blucher and a former French marshal, now Crown Prince of Sweden, Jean-Baptiste Bernadotte.
Despite the odds, an energised Bonaparte performed brilliantly and handed out defeat after defeat to his enemies.
Victories at Brienne, La Rothiere, Champaubert, Montmirail, Chateau Thierry, Vauchamps, Montereau and Craonne had the Allies reeling, but the losses by Marshal Macdonald at Bar-sur-Aube, and marshals Mortier and Marmont at La Fere-Champenoise did not help the cause.
Despite being greatly outnumbered, Bonaparte was forced to take increasingly desperate actions and launched a high-risk assault on Blucher at Laon. He lost and then moved to attack Austria's Field Marshal Karl Schwarzenberg at Arcis-sur-Aube. Again he lost and, before he could reinforce Marmont and Mortier near Paris, the former surrendered his army.
Paris was occupied on 31 March and within a week his marshals had forced Bonaparte to abdicate. The Allies, however, would accept nothing less than unconditional surrender and so the emperor agreed on 11 April.
Ahead lay exile on the island of Elba.
100 Days (Waterloo) Campaign 1815
This was the last campaign of the Napoleonic Wars and finally ended Napoleon Bonaparte's dreams of remaining emperor of France.
It began with Bonaparte's now legendary escape from his exile on the island of Elba to a France that had quickly become disenchanted with the returned Bourbon king Louis XVIII.
The former emperor landed near Cannes with 600 guardsmen of his bodyguard and moved towards Grenoble where he was confronted by men of the 5th Regiment, which had been sent to arrest him.
Advancing alone Bonaparte said: "Soldiers of the 5th. You can shoot your emperor if you dare." None did.
As he advanced on Paris his military force grew with thousands of old soldiers and regular troops flocking to his banner. So many, in fact, that a notice appeared in the Place Vendome in Paris: "From Napoleon to Louis XVIII. My good brother - there is no need to send any more troops - I have enough."
On March 19, the Bourbons fled for Belgium and a day later Bonaparte took government and began preparations for the Allied military onslaught he knew would come.
Two months after his return to France Bonaparte had an army of 280,000 men, with half again due within another two months. Impressive though that force was, it would be moved upon by Allied armies filled with almost 1,000,000 men.
Initially, however, only England's Duke of Wellington (110,000 men) and Prussia's Field Marshal Blucher (120,000) were close enough to threaten France and so Bonaparte decided to strike before the numbers told against him.
Moving with stunning speed, he invaded Belgium with 125,000 men in a bid to split Wellington and Blucher's armies and defeat each separately.
The strategic plan worked brilliantly and, picking the Prussians as his first target, he despatched Marshal Ney to hold off the Anglo-Allied force.
Bonaparte attacked the Prussians at Ligny on 16 June and ordered Ney to advance towards Quatre Bras and do the same if Wellington's forces came within reach.
The struggle for Ligny was a brutal affair and the day long struggle ended with the Prussians losing 16,000 killed and wounded and a further 9000 through desertion. Although the Prussians fled the field, the French had also suffered heavily with up to 12,000 casualties.
At Quatre Bras, Ney mishandled his command and allowed a small contingent of Anglo-Allied troops to hold up his force long enough for reinforcements to arrive. By the time the French made a serious attack the defenders, now under Wellington himself, were able to hold him off.
Casualties were high, 4000 French and 4800 Anglo-Allies, but Ney's inability to take the vital crossroads had fatally injured Bonaparte's campaign.
With both Wellington and Blucher retreating on parallel courses the chance to force them away from each other had gone, but Bonaparte now set his sights on smashing the British who had retreated just south of Waterloo.
Sending a corps under Marshal Grouchy to pursue the Prussians, Bonaparte caught up with Wellington and on June 18 the battle of Waterloo began.In another horrendously bloody clash, the French launched attack after attack upon the Anglo-Allies, but were unable to breakthrough. Casualties were high on both sides and when the exhausted troops of Wellington seemed on the verge of breaking, Blucher's Prussians entered the fray and Bonaparte was doomed. Waterloo cost Wellington 15,000 dead and wounded, and Blucher some 7000. For Bonaparte, the price of the battle was 25,000 dead and injured, 8000 prisoners and his crown.On the same day as Waterloo was the battle of Wavre where Grouchy defeated a small Prussian covering force.Fleeing for Paris, Bonaparte was urged by Marshal Davout to fight on - for French armies on other fronts had beaten off Austrian forces - but an exhausted emperor abdicated a second time on June 22.Ahead, for the man who had conquered most of Europe, was exile on a tiny Atlantic island called St Helena.
The War of 1812[1812 to 1815]
In 1812, the American War of Independence was still within living memory for governments in London and Washington. Britain still felt the pain of losing a prized colony, while America was eager to make itself more secure from foreign interference. Therefore, it did not take too much to get the blood of both nations up and a clash of wills, at least, was a certainty. The British Royal Navy ruled the waves and was keen to keep doing so. Much of its effort during the long wars went on ensuring that France and her allies did not receive supplies that could help their war effort. Britain claimed the right to search all neutral shipping for such cargo - and for ex-British sailors who had deserted - a suggestion that infuriated America. The war at sea was essentially limited to duels between single ships - and for the first time in a very long while the British navy came up against an opponent that could match its own prowess. The Americans, however, were not blameless and their desire to control Canadian territory backing on to the Great Lakes lead to a series of battles between the two nations. In fact, the United States declared war on Britain and militia units crossed the border into Canada on 18 June 1812.The first engagements went poorly for the Americans - with the none of the expected support from colonists, French Canadians and the local Indians.Recovering from the initial shock, the British then drove into America and seized key forts around the Lakes.
An American force of some 2500 militia under General William Hull surrendered to General Sir Isaac Brock and his Indian ally Tecumseh at Detroit in August. Two months later, a larger American force (3200 men) again invaded Canada and took on Brock's 1000-strong force at Queenston. It was a decisive defeat for the invaders, losing 250 men and having 700 captured, although the British suffered a major blow when their commander was killed. The war, however, then swung America's way, with a naval battle at Lake Erie halting a British amphibious push and a land encounter, at Thames River, leading to a British surrender after the death of Tecumseh and the desertion of his warriors.Another move was launched by the Americans aimed at capturing York (now Toronto). Some 1600 troops took part in the offensive and more than a fifth of them became casualties when a powder magazine blew up. The force's commander, General Zebulon Pike, was killed in the incident. Going against orders, the Americans then burnt York's public buildings.In May, there some success for Washington when American troops attacked and captured Fort George, which overlooked the mouth of the Niagara River.The 700 British defenders retreated followed by some 2100 Americans. The pursuers may have been too eager to follow the redcoats and were caught by surprise when the British abruptly turned around and stood at Stony Creek. Despite their huge advantage in numbers the Americans were routed.A British attack on the enemy arsenal at Sackett's Harbour, on Lake Ontario, failed when a combined naval-army force was unable to capture a ferociously defended fort, held by a small garrison. Following that success, the Americans sent two separate forces - one of 4000 men led by General Wilkinson and another of 8000 men headed by General Wade Hampton - against Montreal. Hampton's push ended at Chateaugay when he was tricked by another clever British bluff - using buglers to make it seem there were more redcoats than there actually were - and withdrew.
The other attack wing suffered more humiliation when it came up against another small British force at Chrysler's Farm. Wilkinson had some 8000 men - 10 times the number of the defending British troops - but they were completely humiliated and fled for safer territory, ending the danger to Montreal and Wilkinson's career. The new American leader, General Jacob Brown, spent much time training his militia and the British, under pressure, sent reinforcements to Canada. Before they arrived, however, came the battle of Chippewa, where Brown's men defeated an outnumbered General Riall.The new British units bolstered the defence of Canada and, at Lundy's Lane, Brown and the British, now under General Sir Gordon Drummond, clashed. It was a bloody encounter, with both commanders injured - along with some 900 men each - and the Americans retreated.
Seeking safety at Fort Erie, the Americans were besieged by the British for several months before they finally fought through the lines and escaped.It was now time for the Americans to be on the back foot and, in 1814, two British expeditions now moved against the United States.
The first was a combined land-amphibious attack on Plattsburg, where some 14,000 veteran British troops pushed back fewer than 5000 American troops and militia.General Sir John Prevost won the land encounter, but Britain's seaborne assault force was halted by the Americans and then forced to surrender. In danger of being cut off, Prevost withdrew.The second was more successful and ended with the burning of the White House by British troops under General Robert Ross, who had landed at Chesapeake Bay with 5000 men. Opposed by a larger force of militia at Bladensberg, the British veterans brushed past the Americans and headed for Washington. On August 24, the symbol of American independence - the White House - along with other public buildings, was ablaze. American politicians weren't there to witness the scenes, having earlier fled.Ross didn't enjoy the success for long, however, as during his follow-up invasion of Maryland, he was mortally wounded in a clash near Baltimore. The successful American defence of Fort McHenry in 1814 inspired the lyrics of what would become the US national anthem The Star-Spangled Banner. The final encounter of the sideshow war was at New Orleans, where an army of British veterans from the Peninsular War was spectacularly defeated by heavily entrenched American troops and militia under General Andrew Jackson. The British commander, Sir Edward Pakenham, launched a frontal assault that was shattered by the accurate fire from Jackson's men. Pakenham was mortally wounded and 2000 others killed or injured. The Americans are reported to have suffered only 13 casualties. The War of 1812 achieved little, but did save Canada's independence. It was also a bloody turning point in Western affairs that eventually led to a strong bond between Britain and the United States.
|Fight to Control the West Indies |
|The struggle for the rich islands of the West Indies was an important part of the overall battle for supremacy between Britain and France.Whoever controlled the region |
|would gain the valuable resources of sugar, spices, rum, coffee, cotton and cocoa and, obviously, deny them to the enemy.The majority of islands of the West Indies are |
|located just to the north of the South American continent and run in a semi-crescent from southerly Trinidad to Jamaica in the west and the Bahamas in the north.Britain |
|had long controlled Jamaica and Barbados, it took over Trinidad from Spain in 1797, and picked most of the other islands in the chain with an aggressive policy of military|
|force. London's interest in the islands was no small wonder as the booming trade from the West Indies netted the Goverment more than 4 million pounds a year. |
|With a dominant navy, Britain could land its forces wherever it chose.Between 1793 and 1810 it captured Tobago, Martinique, St Lucia, Guadeloupe, St Martin and French |
|Guyana from the French; Trinidad from Spain; St Bartholomew from Sweden; Demerara, St Martin, Curacao, Surinam and Essequebo from the Dutch and St John, St Thomas and St |
|Croix from Denmark.Islands would change hands several times as the fortunes of war flowed one way then the other, and in 1802 the Peace of Amiens saw Britain having to |
|give up all its conquered possessions (apart from Trinidad). It later reconquered them.While there were very few major battles, casualties were extremely high among |
|European troops as tropical diseases struck with regular brutality. Over a period of a decade, more than 45,000 British soldiers died while serving in the West Indies - |
|with fevers being blamed for almost all of the deaths - and almost as many again were forced out of military service with debilitating conditions caused by the |
|illnesses.On San Domingo, where Napoleon Bonaparte sent some 60,000 men to topple the rebel black leader Toussaint l'Overture, more than 80% had succumbed to yellow fever |
|- including his brother-in-law and expedition commander General Charles Leclerc. |
| | |
