The Napoleonic Wars: Overview

The Napoleonic Wars refer to the clash between France and Great Britain after the ascension of Napoleon Bonaparte to the helm of France in 1799, ending with his defeat at Waterloo in 1815. His career, however, began in 1793, as France endured the throes of revolution. General Bonaparte first waged war on behalf of the French Republic; he then would fight for a France that bore his name as emperor. So this period of conflict between these two great powers and involving Napoleon spanned almost 20 years. But the label "Napoleonic Wars" fumbles the understanding of this war—there is only one long period of conflict ending with Napoleon’s defeat and Britain’s victory. In between came a number of battles speaking to a series of campaigns. What follows offers a brief overview of that struggle.

Revolution gripped France starting in 1789. Bonaparte, as an Army captain, first helped French arms expel a British fleet from Toulon in southern France in 1793. That city had welcomed British forces to ward off the extremes of the revolution. Napoleon assisted with sighting artillery on high ground that threatened the British navy and compelled the British to evacuate the city. He then witnessed an excess of wrath as the French Army killed thousands of civilians in revenge for the city having welcomed Britain onto French soil. Disturbed by that scene, Bonaparte would face more turmoil that shaped his view as a commander and accelerated his career. In October 1795, while stationed in Paris serving on an Army planning staff, the sitting government, the Directory, asked Bonaparte to protect it from a mob threatening to storm government buildings and topple the administration. Without hesitation, Bonaparte fired into the oncoming crowd killing hundreds of citizens including a great many women. In this “whiff of grapeshot,” he made clear his preference for law and order over a mob.

As a reward, the Directory sent now General Bonaparte to Italy in 1796. In charge of an undermanned and undersupplied army of 30,000, Bonaparte rallied this force and in a few months chased Austrian troops from that theater of operations. Here was a promising start to a military career.

Next, France asked the general to take the war to Britain, and Bonaparte insisted on an attack on Egypt. This blow would harm British economic interests and help France secure a position of strength versus its rival. That campaign unfolded in 1798, achieved mix results, and then failed. The French landed in Egypt, only to see their fleet destroyed by a British fleet under the command of Lord Horatio Nelson, and Bonaparte’s army defeated by circumstance: little could be done to rule the Middle East with a small army bereft of naval support.

Bonaparte fled Egypt and returned to France in 1799, in time to help topple the Directory. He then had himself named consul, and engaged in more war. In 1800, he again campaigned in Italy and again defeated the Austrian forces there. The Battle of Marengo signified another Bonaparte success and another successful campaign. Austria withdrew from Italy and made peace with France.

Europe settled into something of a peace that really spoke to stalemate between France and Britain. That concord broke apart in 1803, and Napoleon planned a war against the British led 3rd Coalition. Prior to this outbreak of fighting, he elevated himself to emperor in December of 1804. The upstart was now a monarch on par with the other emperors and kings inhabiting the thrones of Austria, Russia, Spain, and Prussia. The move was both conservative and radical, a perfect synthesis of the revolution. As absolute ruler of France, Napoleon ended the revolution and advanced the threat France posed to other monarchs. The very understanding of legitimacy was at stake. The self-made man could not be allowed to remain in place given the measure of that rule was talent, less an assumed divine right. The Enlightenment age had been building to this point. Now that it had arrived, that challenge had to yield to an ordering of society to avoid anarchy. Bonaparte did not appear ready to withdraw the challenge.

This test of accepted practice would rest on combat arms in 1805. In answer to an Austrian move west and into Bavaria toward France, Napoleon leapt to the attack in October 1805. By December, he won his masterpiece of battle at Austerlitz. On the Moravia plain a short distance north of Vienna, Austria, he destroyed a combined Austrian and Russian army. This day-long battle set the stage for many battles to come. Napoleon would seek battlefield success in a single, great battle in each campaign that followed, and sometimes succeed, sometimes not. He risked much with each engagement.

After Austerlitz, Austria made peace with France, losing territory and paying a large indemnity. Russia withdrew east into its border and remained an adversary. The fighting continued. By October 1806, Napoleon was at war again, this time with Prussia. That state challenged growing French power, and quickly met destruction. In another swift campaign, Napoleon won the battles of Jena and Auerstädt, then completely destroyed the retreating Prussian army. He was in Berlin in but a few weeks seeking Prussian capitulation, but finding instead that a new Russian army had moved west into Poland to support the Prussians. Napoleon went to meet them, securing Poland and then encountering his first military setback—a battle fought to a draw in eastern Prussia 20 miles south of Königsberg at Eylau. Fought in the middle of winter, in February 1807, the losses were heavy on both sides, at least 15,000 men each. The Russians also remained intact, withdrew, and continued the war.

Napoleon found them in the late spring of 1807. At Friedland far in eastern Prussia, a French army of 100,000 met a similar Russian host. Napoleon broke this army in a day-long battle, and Russia sued for peace. At Tilsit on the banks of the Neiman River marking the border of Russia, Napoleon and Russian Czar Alexander I settled their differences and ended the war.

The peace at Tilsit may have ended hostilities between France and Russia, but Britain remained at war with France. Napoleon’s string of successes on land had not humbled the island nation. The emperor tried a different approach: economic warfare. His Continental System, declared in November 1806, forbade all British trade with Europe. Ports were to refuse British ships and reject British goods delivered via neutral shipping. Napoleon hoped an economically challenged Britain would sue for peace.

This goal may have been met over the long run, but Napoleon acted in the short term to shore up his blockade, inviting difficulties. Portugal did not comply with the system, so Napoleon sent an army to occupy that state in late 1807. Britain sent their own army to Portugal in August 1808, to challenge French control, and soon forced the French from the country. Napoleon reinforced his army in Spain to counter the British presence in Portugal, and deposed the Spanish monarchy as well. That step propagated wide-spread unrest in Spain, and soon a Spanish resistance teamed with the British army moving from Portugal into Spain in October 1808, to contest French occupation. Napoleon arrived in Spain himself in November 1808, taking his Grande Armeé to Madrid, and chasing the British army to Corunna. That force escaped by sea, and Napoleon soon controlled the entire peninsula. However, that control required a large French army nearing 400,000 men, a force that met continued resistance from Spanish guerrillas and a British army under the Duke of Wellington. That war would continue into 1814.

Napoleon left Spain in January 1809. He had to counter a growing Austrian threat that emerged once French forces were committed to Spain. By April 1809, a large Austrian army moved on Bavaria, set on expelling France from central Germany. Napoleon countered this advance just in time, and soon was on his way back to Vienna. However, the next series of battles revealed a great deal. Napoleon was still the master of arms, but the margin of victory was narrowing. First, in May 1809, he was rebuffed—really defeated—forcing a crossing of the Danube just south of Vienna. At Aspern-Essling, 30,000 French troops survived an attack from 100,000 Austrians. Napoleon had to withdraw, a "defeat" that echoed throughout French controlled Europe. But then, a month later, Napoleon beat the Austrians at the same crossing point, at Wagram in July 1809. This battle assumed some familiar dimensions: a large French army of 160,000 men encountered a similar host of Austrians, and over several days and after staggering losses of 30,000 men for each army, the Austrians asked for terms. Napoleon got another peace, and France remained in control of western Europe. But the price had been heavy in lives lost; moreover, the means of getting to peace too clearly rested on battle. And, finally, each victory invited more battle, a trajectory forcing Napoleon to risk his entire empire with each engagement.

The French emperor appeared to recognize this dynamic and sought some consolidation of empire. The next two years, 1810-1811, saw French arms in action only in Spain. That campaign dragged on, Napoleon remaining in Paris and delegating that struggle to his marshals. Otherwise, peace descended on the continent. But with Britain still an enemy, that peace was hollow in the extreme. Napoleon continued to try and force Britain to accept terms via the Continental System, but Britain remained at war with France. It was unclear if Europe could withstand not trading with Britain more than Britain could bear not trading with Europe. Napoleon convinced himself that one more push would complete the blockade and break Britain. If Russia were brought back into the system, that nation having lapsed in enforcement over the past few years, then France would be secure and so too the empire.

This thinking led Napoleon to invade Russia in June 1812. With his massive army of 660,000 men drawn from all parts of his empire, including detachments from Prussia and Austria, he hoped to bring Russia to terms. The Russians gave ground, standing only at Borodino, a village some 75 miles from Moscow. Napoleon won this slugfest, and again did so with massive carnage—30,000 men lost on each side. The Russians retreated, but the war continued even after Napoleon occupied Moscow in mid-October 1812. He remained there a month, retreating after failing to force a Russian capitulation. What remained of his army, some 120,000 men, disintegrated on the long retreat back to the Polish frontier. By mid-December, Napoleon was in Paris trying to create another army to replace the minions he had lost.

Napoleon emerged in April 1813, and moved a large if inexperienced army into western Germany. In Saxony, he met an advancing allied army of Prussian and Russian forces, defeating them in two battles, Lützen and Bautzen. The allies retreated, but, again, the war continued. Austria then declared against France, making Napoleon’s position desperate. He won a battle at Dresden, but soon found himself pinned down at Leipzig. There, in October 1813, 500,000 soldiers waged a three-day battle until Napoleon retreated given the sheer weight of the numbers of his enemies. Forced back into French territory, Napoleon faced complete defeat.

The emperor refused to accept reality. He prepared to defend France with a depleted army. The allies invaded from all sides, some 500,000 troops marching from the north, east, and south. Napoleon met the eastern invasion force of Prussians and Russians functioning alongside an Austrian army. The great general set himself and some 80,000 men in between the enemy numbering 250,000, and punished each as they moved on Paris. He avoided a large battle that he could not face, attacking separated columns dispersed along roads and paths. While exacting a toll from the invading armies, Paris fell in late March, and Napoleon was deposed.

A year later, he returned from exile and again mounted the French throne. The allies declared him an outlaw, and another vast army moved against France. Napoleon assumed the offensive in June 1815 against his nearest foes, a British army under the Duke of Wellington, and a force under Prussian General von Blücher, both stationed in Belgium. Initially, Napoleon separated the two armies, but proved unable to stop their juncture at Waterloo. At last, in that most famous of battles, Napoleon was defeated and forced to retreat—and accept a second abdication. He lived out his last days, some six years, a British prisoner removed to St. Helena Island in the south Atlantic. He died there in 1821.