Napoleonic Wars: A History from Beginning to End

by Hourly History

Discover the remarkable history of the Napoleonic Wars... Free BONUS Inside! The Napoleonic Wars were a series of conflicts fought between France and various coalitions in Europe between 1803 and 1815 (though some put the start date at 1799). The prelude to the rise of Napoleon Bonaparte and the Napoleonic Wars is the French Revolution, and the conflicts that continued after Napoleon seized power would radically affect Europe and indeed political philosophies not confined by artificial boundaries. When Napoleon rose to power, he had first to get his country on stable financial ground. After he did so, he created a professional, well-trained army that would go on to dominate Europe for years to come. And, it wasn’t only his army that changed the continent; it was also the liberal ideals—including democracy, the abolition of serfdom, and the reduction in power of the church—that would change the course of history and leave an enduring legacy. Discover a plethora of topics such as Prelude to Revolution The Third War Breaks Out The Invasion of Russia The Battle of Waterloo Military Legacy Napoleonic Innovations And much more!So if you want a concise and informative book on the Napoleonic Wars, simply scroll up and click the "Buy now" button for instant access!

Genres: History, Nonfiction

40 pages, Kindle Edition

Published November 30, 2020

About the author

At Hourly History, we focus on publishing history books that are concise, straightforward and take no longer than one hour to read.

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Reviews

[James S · Rating 2 out of 5]

Awful book.

Very short book obviously meant to be a quick summary of Napoleons life. The battles are glossed over and often don’t have their official names mentioned. Trafalgar, one of the largest, very important, very famous naval battles in history isn’t even named.

Not useful for people using it as a first overview of Napoleon.

[Dr.J.G. · Rating 4 out of 5]

Well composed.
****

"“There are but two powers in the world, the sword and the mind. In the long run the sword is always beaten by the mind.”

"—Napoleon Bonaparte"
***

"“The only victories which leave no regret are those which are gained over ignorance.”

"—Napoleon Bonaparte"
***

"“Take time to deliberate, but when the time for action comes, stop thinking and go in.”

"—Napoleon Bonaparte"
***

"“Revolutions have never lightened the burden of tyranny: they have only shifted it to another shoulder.”

"—George Bernard Shaw"
***

"“It is the cause, not the death, that makes the martyr.”

"—Napoleon Bonaparte"

Indeed, as attested by examples galore, from Abraham Lincoln to Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose.

On the other hand, there was the Confederate South where they were emotional about their 'Cause', but no one dead defending it is termed a martyr, not even the killer of Abraham Lincoln. And the very word 'cause' is not familiar as a word related to the US Civil War, unless one is fond of Gone With The Wind.
***

"The reason so many coalitions formed to fight against Napoleon’s forces was that he was fighting for radical changes to Europe. The rise of Napoleon was borne of the French Revolution, a revolution that sought to destroy serfdom and the monarchy as well as the influence of the Catholic Church. ... "

Admitted finally there in last couple of words!

And yet, who then was the matchstick that set fire to the tinderbox?

" ... There were many in power throughout Europe who feared those ideals. The coalition forces sought to reverse some of the changes brought by the Napoleonic Wars by restoring the Bourbon royal house to the throne in France.

"Napoleon had been successful in uniting much of western Europe under one rule, and in those European countries, French rule brought many liberal features with it. Those included the concepts of democracy, due process in the courts, the abolition of serfdom, a reduction in the power of the Catholic Church, and constitutional limits on monarchs. As commerce and industry rose in those countries, a growing middle class increasingly shared in political decisions, and thus, the monarchs restored to rule after Napoleon’s defeat and exile found it difficult to impose the absolutism that had existed prior to the French Revolution. They were forced, instead, to retain many of the reforms Napoleon enacted during his rule. To this day, many of those institutional legacies remain in the form of civil law and defined codes of law that resulted from the Napoleonic Code.

"Additionally, the borders of Europe were once again redrawn. France was no longer a dominant power in Europe, and the Congress of Vienna restored a balance of power by resizing several countries. Prussia was restored in its former borders, and it also was the recipient of large parts of Poland and Saxony. Prussia became a permanent Great Power, meaning it was recognized as having the ability to exercise influence on a global scale. As such, it was given Rhineland and Westphalia, regions which transformed it into an industrial leader in the nineteenth century. ... "

Congress of Vienna then was responsible ultimately for WWI, nazis, holocaust and WWII, not to mention Russian Revolution, massacre of much of the Romanov clan, and untold miseries that resulted from this forced reversal of establishment of Napoleonic Code through the continent, to belligerent monarchies- and their inheritors - seeking to enslave everyone else.

" ... Britain had emerged as the most important economic power in Europe, and its Royal Navy had distinguished itself with unquestioned naval superiority across the globe. This would last well into the twentieth century."

So Congress of Vienna was responsible Aldo for the untold miseries visited on India by British Empire looting India, which included not only starvation to death of millions due to British stealing harvests, but ultimate fraud established by Macaulay policy of lying - and lying very deliberately, repeatedly and sanctimoniously - about anything and everything that was good in India.
***

"Following the Napoleonic Wars, nationalism emerged as a new and increasingly significant movement. That would shape European history well into the future. Fiefdoms and the aristocracy were increasingly replaced with national ideologies which sowed the seeds for the formation of nation-states, specifically Germany and Italy. Norway signed its own constitution on May 17, 1814, and following the end of the Napoleonic Wars, Denmark was forced to cede Norway to Sweden. Sweden then initiated the Swedish-Norwegian War of 1814, which lasted less than a month and ended with a Swedish victory. Norway then entered into a personal union with Sweden which was peaceably dissolved in 1905. The United Kingdom of the Netherlands, which had been created as a buffer zone against France, rapidly dissolved after the wars and ended with the independence of Belgium in 1830.

"The Napoleonic Wars also had far-reaching effects in the New World. The conflicts had weakened Spanish authority and military power in Latin America. That resulted in numerous uprisings leading to wars of independence for many countries. Brazil, which served as the seat of the Portuguese Empire, ascended to the status of kingdom, which eventually led to the Portuguese Liberal Revolution in 1820 and Brazilian independence in 1822.

"The end of the Napoleonic Wars also spurred a large inflow of immigrants to the United States with some 30 million Europeans relocating to the U.S. between 1815 and 1914. One of the failures that Napoleon lamented after his defeat was his dream of a unified Europe. His ultimate goal was to create a “European Association” that shared the same principles of government, a system of measurement, currency, and a civil code. Though he failed to achieve that dream, one and a half centuries later, his ideals re-emerged in the form of the European Union."

Indeed.

And UK questioned, joined, and seceded the EU.
***

"By 1789, France was in crisis. People were starving, and there was growing resentment of the monarchy and the nobility. France was in deep economic trouble, and the peasantry blamed the nobility and King Louis XVI along with his queen, Marie Antoinette.

"The queen was a particularly despised figure by the peasantry. She was a popular subject of ridicule in the various French publications, which frequently depicted her as a sexual deviant. In a state of deep depression, the king was increasingly seeking her counsel. As France sank deeper into an economic catastrophe, Marie Antoinette came to be seen as having single-handedly ruined the national finances. She was even given the nickname of “Madame Deficit.” She was later widely reported to have said, in response to starving peasants who had no bread, “Let them eat cake.” There is, however, no evidence she actually said that. Many historians believe it was the hatred of her that generated the rumor and kept it alive for centuries."

To begin with, Europe had had far worse, what with inquisition and "Black Death", neither of which could have been blamed on royals or rich, while church was certainly to be blamed for one.

And the only guilt of the queen was being not French, which made it easier for the country to heap everything on her. Her gender did the rest - in an abrahmic society misogyny is always rampant and calling a woman sexually deviant all too easy, particularly so a queen who is a foreigner and has no defenders.

Later, England disliked Albert for being German, his daughter Victoria was disliked by Germans (after she married the son and heir of Kaiser of Prussia) for being English, and Tsarina Alexandra was disliked by Russian court for being simple while Russian people disliked her for being German.

All this dislike moreover is mostly by those who couldn't have known the object of the dislike.

In recent times, it continues - one should see the poison poured on YouTube on Megan Markle, the woman who married a prince of British realm, which is undoubtedly due to her being foreign as much as due to her ancestry from historically slaves sold in US.

Of course, the last bit isn't expressed verbally just as those criticising president Obama never said the real reason why. And misogyny was the chief reason President Trump was elected that first time - that is, misogyny of voters in US, rather than his.

That this author and publishers are merely quoting the gossip rather than look for real reasons, isn't helping the book.
***

"It was in this context of growing economic turmoil and political unrest that King Louis XVI convened the Estates-General in May of 1789, and it was followed by a National Assembly in June of that same year. The finance minister, Jacques Necker, took part in the assembly, giving a speech in support of the common man. He published what was actually an inaccurate account of the government debt on July 11, 1789, and for that, he was fired by King Louis XVI who then proceeded to restructure the finance ministry. This resulted in chaos, riots, and widespread looting in Paris. On July 14, the riotous insurgents set their sights on the weaponry in the Bastille prison fortress, a potent symbol of royal power. They stormed the Bastille and the revolution officially began."

Did the author even read this compilation by the author? There have been countless times of such events individually or otherwise, without the riots following a sacking and restructuring of finance ministry by a monarch, a PM or a president of a country, much less the determination by people to even copy a Bastille, much less do an original.

The author and publishers are certainly not going into real agents of the revolution.
***

"The French Revolution greatly alarmed many European rulers, and that anxiety only grew worse with the execution of Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette after the overthrow of the French monarchy in 1793. For this reason, several European powers—Austria, the Kingdom of Sardinia, the Kingdom of Naples, Prussia, Spain, and Great Britain—formed what was called the First Coalition that was intended to curtail the unrest in France. Despite the civil war going on within her borders, France was able to defeat the coalition. At this time, Napoleon Bonaparte was a general in the French army, and it was he who forced the Austrians to sign a treaty, which then left only Great Britain to oppose the newly formed French Republic."

So - if the monarchies around hadn't attacked France in the first place, fearing their own thrones, perhaps Napoleon might have remained a general at most, or returned to academic life!
***

"A second coalition that included Great Britain, Austria, Naples, the Ottoman Empire, the Papal States, Portugal, Russia, and Sweden formed in 1798. At that time, the French Republic lacked funds, had lost their minister of war, and had suffered the effect of corruption and internal strife. Furthermore, Napoleon was fighting a campaign in Egypt with the intent to disrupt the British economic powerhouse in India. Because of this, France suffered several defeats against numerous enemies funded mainly by Great Britain."

How, exactly, were they "funded mainly by Great Britain", except by looting India, or as author terms it - "British economic powerhouse in India", exposing the rampant racist mindset of the author and publishers?
***


"After Napoleon’s campaign in Egypt failed, he returned to France on August 23, 1799. It was then that he seized control of the government on November 9 of that year. It was a bloodless coup d’état that immediately transformed the French Republic into a dictatorship. Napoleon reorganized the military forces and established a large reserve army to support campaigns in the Rhine and Italy. The Russians were already out of the picture, and Napoleon then led the French military to victory against the Austrians in June of 1800. The Austrians were forced to sign a treaty in 1801, and that compelled the British to sign the Treaty of Amiens that established a tenuous peace—one that would only last a year."

And the comet was on its way.
***

"“I am sometimes a fox and sometimes a lion. The whole secret of government lies in knowing when to be the one or the other.”

"—Napoleon Bonaparte"
***

"It only took a few short months after the collapse of the Third Coalition for the Fourth Coalition to be formed. The coalition consisted of Britain, Prussia, Russia, Saxony, and Sweden.

"Napoleon controlled the Rhineland, and in July of 1806, he formed the Confederation of the Rhine whereby he amalgamated several smaller states into larger electorates, duchies, and kingdoms. His aim was to make the governance of this non-Prussian region of Germany smoother, and so, he also elevated the two rulers of Saxony and Bavaria to kings.

"In August of 1806, the king of Prussia, Frederick William III, decided to declare war on France even without a coalition of allies. Napoleon responded by unleashing all of his forces located east of the Rhine into Prussia. He swiftly defeated the Prussian army on October 14, 1806, in battles at Jena and Auerstädt. Napoleon’s forces numbered 160,000 when they attacked Prussia, and they caused 25,000 casualties, took 150,000 prisoners, and captured 4,000 artillery pieces and more than 100,000 muskets. The result of the war with Prussia was that Saxony left Prussia and, along with a few of the small Germanic states, allied with France."

Perhaps if he'd been able to stop here and consolidate, shape and future history of Europe would be very different, with a prolonged Renaissance instead of two disastrous world wars and a bloody revolution. Perhaps Russia would have improved by emulating a strong and progressive France as a close and large neighbour to the west, instead of a feudal German federation led by a militant and war hungry Prussia.
***

"“Impossible is a word to be found only in the dictionary of fools.”

"—Napoleon Bonaparte"
***

"“A leader is a dealer in hope.”

"― Napoleon Bonaparte"
***

"“My regrets are not for myself but for unhappy France! With twenty thousand men less than I had we ought to have won the battle of Waterloo. But it was fate that made me lose it.”

"—Napoleon Bonaparte"
***

"The reason so many coalitions formed to fight against Napoleon’s forces was that he was fighting for radical changes to Europe. The rise of Napoleon was borne of the French Revolution, a revolution that sought to destroy serfdom and the monarchy as well as the influence of the Catholic Church. ... "

Admitted finally there in last couple of words!

And yet, who then was the matchstick that set fire to the tinderbox?

" ... There were many in power throughout Europe who feared those ideals. The coalition forces sought to reverse some of the changes brought by the Napoleonic Wars by restoring the Bourbon royal house to the throne in France.

"Napoleon had been successful in uniting much of western Europe under one rule, and in those European countries, French rule brought many liberal features with it. Those included the concepts of democracy, due process in the courts, the abolition of serfdom, a reduction in the power of the Catholic Church, and constitutional limits on monarchs. As commerce and industry rose in those countries, a growing middle class increasingly shared in political decisions, and thus, the monarchs restored to rule after Napoleon’s defeat and exile found it difficult to impose the absolutism that had existed prior to the French Revolution. They were forced, instead, to retain many of the reforms Napoleon enacted during his rule. To this day, many of those institutional legacies remain in the form of civil law and defined codes of law that resulted from the Napoleonic Code.

"Additionally, the borders of Europe were once again redrawn. France was no longer a dominant power in Europe, and the Congress of Vienna restored a balance of power by resizing several countries. Prussia was restored in its former borders, and it also was the recipient of large parts of Poland and Saxony. Prussia became a permanent Great Power, meaning it was recognized as having the ability to exercise influence on a global scale. As such, it was given Rhineland and Westphalia, regions which transformed it into an industrial leader in the nineteenth century. ... "

Congress of Vienna then was responsible ultimately for WWI, nazis, holocaust and WWII, not to mention Russian Revolution, massacre of much of the Romanov clan, and untold miseries that resulted from this forced reversal of establishment of Napoleonic Code through the continent, to belligerent monarchies- and their inheritors - seeking to enslave everyone else.

" ... Britain had emerged as the most important economic power in Europe, and its Royal Navy had distinguished itself with unquestioned naval superiority across the globe. This would last well into the twentieth century."

So Congress of Vienna was responsible Aldo for the untold miseries visited on India by British Empire looting India, which included not only starvation to death of millions due to British stealing harvests, but ultimate fraud established by Macaulay policy of lying - and lying very deliberately, repeatedly and sanctimoniously - about anything and everything that was good in India.
***

"Napoleon was no stranger to the use of innovative techniques of all kinds to achieve his goals. He used mobility to offset numerical disadvantages, and he redefined the role of artillery by allowing them to form mobile, independent units. He also utilized the semaphore system to communicate with French forces. The semaphore system is a kind of optical telegraph. Visual signals communicate messages between towers or stations—this system allowed for communication throughout the Napoleonic Wars. Furthermore, the French forces employed a type of aerial surveillance for the first time in these conflicts. They utilized a hot air balloon to survey the position of coalition forces.

"With regard to the increase in the size and scope of the conflicts, historians believe that the ideological clash that began with the French Revolution spurred the growth of the conflicts. The second reason for the dramatic increases in total warfare is related to the emergence of nationalism in France, Germany, Spain, and elsewhere that made these wars important to the people of these countries rather than only to the monarchy. Furthermore, the intellectual transformations in the culture of war that resulted from the Enlightenment turned war into a total societal experience rather than a routine event. The French Revolution effectively integrated every civilian into the war effort, either as a soldier or as a vital component of the ....

[Dennis · Rating 4 out of 5]

It is interesting to reflect (as this book does) how much that Napoleon contributed to the world, both politically and militarily. He certainly shook up Europe and the powers of the age in a way from which they never recovered. He particularly took the lessons of the French Revolution and aimed at reforming society, notably the Catholic Church and the Crown and the Nobility, in a way that they were never the same again. Clearly his military innovations have endured until this day and he certainly changed the face of warfare, so much so that he is still being studied today by military theorists. It is also interesting that one of his great wishes was for a united Europe, without borders, and although it was a long time coming, and a couple of wars later, they got there in the end.

[Quinton Baran · Rating 4 out of 5]

An introduction to the Napoleonic Wars

The Napoleonic wars and their after effects had a lasting impact on France, Europe, and the world. This short book provides a quick but fulfilling outline on the causes, involvements, and the lasting impacts.

I enjoyed this book because it broke down the details of how the conflicts occurred, and how they related to the French Revolution, and also other events (particularly the Louisiana purchase in America).

There is a bibliography at the end, with a wealth of additional material to consider. I recommend this for all casual historians.

[Mike Briley · Rating 5 out of 5]

Again another brilliantly concise treatment of a massive subject with some very interesting insights in the conclusions section. It is amazing how much of European culture is founded on innovations made during this short period. The sort of things you knew but had never realised.

[Nihal · Rating 5 out of 5]

"Impossible is a word to be found only in the dictionary of fools"

It's tough to believe that more than five countries together couldn't defeat Napoleon. 5 wars took place to destroy Napoleon, and this book covers all of them.

[Joshua Loew]

Insightful reding

This is an interesting topical book covering a condensed perspective of the Napoleonic wars. If this period of history engages you, it is worth reading.