“Napoleon – Revolutionary Influence or Beneficiary?”

Napoleon Bonaparte is widely regarded as one of the greatest military commanders of all time. At the height of his power, he had “expanded the conquests of France from her revolutionary borders to that of an empire that stretched from Spain to the steppes of Russia.”[1] In his book The Napoleonic Wars, noted historian Gunther Rothenberg states that Napoleon “created the most effective army of its time, transforming the art of war itself.”[2] While it is true that the French army under Napoleon was the superior force in Europe for some time, credit for its creation and the ways in which it was employed can not be attributed to him alone. In fact, as Hew Strachan points out in European Armies and the Conduct of War, “The components, the technology and the techniques of Napoleonic warfare were all present before Bonaparte’s first successful campaign in 1796.”[3] Napoleon was indeed a superb military commander, but he inherited, rather than created, the conditions and practices which enabled his success. Napoleonic warfare was dominated by large, mobile armies. Decisive battles were sought and the primacy of the offensive was encouraged. The destruction of the enemy’s forces took precedence over geographic aims and victory was to be pursued at all costs. Warfare under Napoleon has been described as being more ‘total’ in nature than those which preceded him. There is little doubt that the ways in which wars were fought changed during Napoleon’s time, but the conditions and reforms which allowed him to conduct this new form of warfare predated his rise to power. Prior to the late eighteenth century, warfare was typically limited in scope, as were the size of combatant forces. The large armies which were to become the norm during the Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars were not yet possible. “With