Challenges To The Empire Flashcards

1
Q

What influence have Britain had since entering the revolutionary war in February 1793?

A

They had used this naval dominance to disrupt French trade, preventing goods entering or leaving France. In 1793, Parliament passed the ‘Prize Act’, which allowed British sailors to keep goods seized from French shipping and the French economy suffered as a result. Britain’s position as a strong trading nation meant that it had the resources to finance military coalitions against the French (as it had done with the Third Coalition of 1804 in particular), therefore undermining British commerce became a key part of French warfare.

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2
Q

How did Napoleon attempt to undermine British commerce?

A

After his plans to invade Britain were abandoned in 1805, the policy of targeting the British economy through trade was pursued with greater formality. In November 1806, Napoleon issued the Berlin Decree, which forbade all countries under French control (or the pays allies) from buying British goods and it declared that Britain and its oversees possessions would be blockaded.

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3
Q

How did Britain respond to the Berlin Decree?

A

In November 1807, Britain brought about the ‘Orders of Council’, which formalised and intensified the British blockade of France. This imposed the terms:

  1. Britain would not buy goods from France, its allies or any neutral countries that obeyed the French blockade.
  2. The Royal Navy would blockade the ports of France and its allies.
  3. All shipping coming from or heading towards a French-controlled port had to stop at a British port to be checked for contraband. Any ships that failed to comply could be seized.
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4
Q

How did Napoleon retaliate from Britain’s ‘Orders of the Council’?

A

With the Milan Decree of December 1807, which declared that:

  1. French warships were authorised to capture neutral ships sailing from any British port or country by British forces.
  2. Any ships that had allowed themselves to be searched by the British Royal Navy were liable to capture by the French.
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5
Q

What impact did the continental blockade have?

A
  1. Social unrest: the ‘continental system’ was one of Napoleons most unpopular policies throughout the Empire. Goods such as tea, coffee, sugar and tobacco became almost unobtainable (or prohibitively expensive) everyone in continental Europe, which provoked complaints and uprisings.
  2. Military considerations: the strains of maintaining the system also added to Napoleon’s commitments and military engagements.
  3. International relations: Portugal refused to obey, which provoked a damaging Napoleonic entry into Spain in 1808.
    In 1810, Tsar Alexander I opted out of the continental system as a result of the severe damage that was being caused to Russia’s economy. This was part of the worsening relations between France and Russia which led to Napoleon’s invasion of Russia in 1812.
  4. Economic impact: a few areas were unaffected by the ban or even thrived during it. Alsace and Strasbourg did quite well by developing trade with Germany, Italy and Eastern Europe. French Belgium also thrived.
    Ports and industrial cities in the west, e.g. La Havre and Rouen, were badly hit.
    Allowed France to get Atlantic trade back.
    France’s navy was not strong enough, smuggling thrived and gendarmeries indulged in illegal practices.
    From 1793, British goods had been prohibited from entering France.
    Between 1806 and 1807, French trade with Britain was banned, along with France’s allies and neutral countries.
    British trade with North and South America made up for losses-so country was never ‘brought to its knees’.
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6
Q

What was Napoleon’s relationship like with Spain before the Peninsular War?

A

Since it’s defeat by the revolutionary armies in 1795, Spain had been largely an ally of France. Although it formed an alliance with Britain from 1805-1807, following its defeat at Trafalgar, Spain was again allied with France in 1807 when a Franco-Spanish force was created with the aim of taking control of Portugal. Portugal was significant because it was being used as an entry point for British goods.

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7
Q

How did Napoleon start to attack Portugal?

A

December 1807: the Franco-Spanish force took Lisbon and forced the Portuguese royal family to flee.
March 1808: Against a backdrop of internal political chaos and corruption, King Charles IV’s pro-British son, Ferdinand, attempted a political coup. Supported by 100,000 French troops who were in Spain under the pretext of reinforcing the Franco Spanish army in Portugal, Napoleon forced the abdication of Charles IV in favour of his son on 19th March.
2nd May 1808: rebellion in Madrid against French occupation. 150 French soldiers are killed. Joachim Murat, commander of the Imperial Guard and a cavalry of Mamluk warriors who had been brought from Egypt to serve in the Guard, crushed the rebellion. Rioters were trampled by troops.
6th May 1808: Napoleon forced the abdication of Ferdinand VII.
15th June 1808: Napoleon’s brother, Joseph, was proclaimed King of Spain.

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8
Q

What happened following Napoleon’s proclamation King of Spain?

A

Groups of Spaniards formed local resistance committees (juntas) and in July 1808, the Spanish Army of Andalusia defeated Napoleon’s forces of 22,000 men at the Battle of Bailén, and forced the French forces to retreat and abandon much of Spain.

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9
Q

What were the consequences of the rebellion of July 1808?

A

August 1808: Napoleon imposed his brother, Joseph, as King of Spain.
August 1808: Britain sent Arthur Wellesley (late Duke of Wellington) to aid the Spaniards. A British/Spanish army defeated the French at the Battle of Vimiero in Portugal. This gave the British the strategic advantage of control over a number of ports and bases to maintain pressure on the French.
November 1808: Napoleon placed himself in control of Spain.
4th December 1808: Napoleon entered Madrid with 80,000 troops.

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10
Q

How was the Peninsular War different to Napoleons previous military encounters?

A

In this war, the French had to adapt to two new types of conflict: the more traditional military campaigns of the Spanish, Portuguese and British forces and the guerilla (‘little war’) tactics used by Spanish peasants. Therefore, instead of swift large-scale pitched battles, the Peninsular War became a War of attrition, wherein each side tried to undermine the other by launching a series of small-scale operations over a long period of time.

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11
Q

What were the problems faced by Napoleon’s armies in the Peninsular War?

A
  1. Living off the land in Spain was problematic as there was a great deal of hostility towards the French army from the Spanish peasantry.
  2. Napoleon’s strategy of using an overwhelmingly large number of French troops was undermined by the guerilla warfare tactics employed by the peasants. These tactics meant that French troops faced surprise ambushes, night raids and vicious attacks on outposts.
  3. The French army were not used to fighting in mountainous and barren areas where communications were poor. The problems of sending messengers in these conditions and facing hostility from the local population meant that commanders in different areas found it difficult to keep in contact.
  4. Supply lines back in France were difficult given the hostility, nature of the terrain and size of the peninsula.
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12
Q

What happened in the Peninsular War in 1809?

A

January 1809: French forces gained control of northern Spain as a result of forcing the British Army, now under the control of Sir John Moore, to withdraw to Corunna on the north coast before being evacuated by the British navy. Although this was a defeat for the British, and was compounded by the death of Moore in battle, it had also frustrated Napoleon’s ambition to retake Portugal and southern Spain.
Having taken personal control only three months earlier, Napoleon was forced to leave Spain in January 1809 to deal with the threat of Austria, who were encouraged by French setbacks in Spain and were planning renewed attacks on France’s eastern borders.

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13
Q

How did the British consolidate the Peninsular War and take offensive action?

A

April 1809: Wellesley returned to Lisbon with 30,000 troops.
1809-1810: British troops set about building a series of forts and earthworks (the Lines of Torres Verdas) in order to defend Lisbon and to use as a base from which to mount further attacks.
21st June 1813: following four years of small-scale skirmishes and battles which secured strategic position rather than outright victory, Wellesley’s forces defeated the French at the Battle of Vitoria and entered Madrid, forcing Joseph to flee to France.
10th April 1814: Wellesley leads an invasion of France and defeats French forces at Toulouse.

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14
Q

What was the overall outcome for the Peninsular War?

A
  1. Cost: 250,000 French troops and a huge amount of money were poured into he Spanish Campaign. It became known as the ‘Spanish Ulcer’ because France was gradually worn down.
  2. Failure to expand: every victory received by Napoleon’s deputies (Jean-de-Dieu Soult and André Masséna) was countered, so there was no decisive breakthrough.
  3. Threat to France: not only did Wellesley enter Madrid and cause Joseph to flee, he also led an invasion of France, defeating French troops at Toulouse in 1814.
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15
Q

Why did Austria re-launch the war against France?

A

In February 1809, Austria took the decision to re-enter the war against the French, taking heart from the French setbacks in the Peninsular. They also felt they were in a stronger position. Since the defeat at Austerlitz, adopting the corps structure, developing conscription and experimenting with different tactics had reformed the Austrian Army. However, the army was still led by old-fashioned commanders who disliked change and military leaders who were largely unwilling to change plans without written orders.

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16
Q

What happened in the Austrian Campaign?

A

Napoleon had a flawless intelligence concerning the timing and location of attacks.
9 April 1809: Austrian army invaded French Bavaria, much sooner than Napoleon had expected. Although poor roads and freezing rain slowed the Austrian advance, the Bavarian forces gradually retreated.
21/22 April 1809: following a rapid trip from Paris, Napoleon’s forces defeated the Austrian Army at the Battke of Eckmül, Austrian forces suffered 12,000 casualties to the French 6000.
May 1809: Napoleon entered Vienna as victor for the second time in 4 years, but there were still opposition forces north of Danube.
16-17 May 1809: Battle of Essling, Napoleon was outnumbered and his forces lose 20,000 men before being forced to retreat to an island on the Danube. Napoleon begins to plan his next crossing of the Danube and starts to bring in more troops and guns.
5-6 July: 188,000 French troops are prepared for battle at Wagram. Hard-fought two-day battle which featured the extensive use of artillery on a battlefield of 300,000 men. This led to huge casualties and, even though Napoleon emerged as victor, his army lost around 34,000 men. The Austrian forces had been depleted by 43,000 men and they immediately sought peace.

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17
Q

What was the impact of the Austrian Campaign?

A

The Treaty of Schönbrunn of 14th October represented the culmination of the Peace between negotiations. This treaty cost Austria a sixth of its population and 83,000 square km of territory.

18
Q

What were the terms of the Treaty of Schönbrunn?

A
  1. France received lands on the Adriatic coast, part of Croatia, and most of Carinthia and Carnola.
  2. Russia, which had supported Napoleon, received territory in East Galicia.
  3. The Grand Duchy of Warsaw (French) received territory in West Galicia.
  4. Bavrian extended its territories.
  5. Austria agreed to pay a large indemnity, reduce its army to 150,000 men and adhere to the continental system.
  6. Alliance was cemented by Napoleon’s marriage to Princess Marie-Louise, Archduchess of Austria.
19
Q

Why was the Austrian Campaign more difficult to quash?

A
  1. Napoleon had been over-confident and less well-prepared at the outbreak of hostilities, partly as a result of previously focussing his attention in Spain, but also due to poor information about Austrian plans.
  2. The French Army contained fewer veterans and more raw recruits than in the past. This meant that the army lacked confidence and experience.
  3. Napoleon had relied on foreigners from the satellite states; some of these had deserted at Wagram showing ill-discipline. Foreign troops also lacked the zeal to defend the revolution that many French troops felt.
  4. Austria had learned from the French and built up the size and mobility of its armies; its artillery had proved a better match for the French.
  5. The Spanish campaigns and risings in Germany and the Alps had diverted French troops and demoralised soldiers.
20
Q

How was control strengthened in Holland?

A

When Napoleon was distracted with the Austrian campaign and the resulting treaty negotiations, in July 1809 Britain tried to liberate the French Kingdom of Holland from the continental system. This attempt failed largely because of disease among the British army and the British force withdrew in December. In 1810, Napoleon brought Holland under direct French control, partly because Louis had failed to apply conscription or the continental system rigorously.

21
Q

Why did the relationship between Russia and France sour?

A

By 1810, Tsar Alexander I had tired of the constraints imposed by his alliance with Napoleon.
1. The strains of the continental system and the British blockade were causing hardship in Russia.
2. The Tsar was also annoyed by Napoleon’s marriage in 1810 to Marie-Louise of Austria (rather than to a Russian princess).
3. Each had a mutual distrust of the other’s hostile expansionist aims in the Baltic, Central Europe and the Balkans. The Tsar was concerned about Napoleon’s ambitions for Poland, which he feared might involve taking back the land, which Russia had seized from Poland in 1793 and 1795. Alexander attacked Sweden with French encouragement, but without French agreement, seized and annexed Swedish Finland.
4. He was offended by the French annexation of Oldenberg (whose duke was married to the Tsar’s sister).
5. He was dissatisfied by Napoleon’s failure to help him in furthering Russia’s ambitions in the eastern Mediterranean and Constantinople.
4.

22
Q

What happened preceding Russian invasion by the French?

A

On 31st December 1810, Tsar Alexander broke Napoleon’s trade embargo. He put tariffs on French important and allowed neutral ships (which would be carrying British goods) into Russian ports. An outraged Napoleon began assembling a Grand Armée. This army of 600,000 consisted of Germans, Swiss, Spanish, Portuguese, Italians, Poles and Lithuanians. Only 270,000 of the total were Frenchmen. This was the first time that Napoleon had commanded such a large force, over such a vast area. The army began to march on the Tsar’s Western frontier, ready to force a decisive battle with the Russian army. For his part, the Tsar allied with Sweden in March 1812, then waited.

23
Q

What happened when Napoleon invaded Russia in June 1812?

A

His armies marched from the Grand Duchy of Warsaw through what had formally been Lithuania: a territory incorporated into the Russian Empire in the partition of 1795. Had Napoleon been driven by the reforming principles that he often claimed, he might have seized this opportunity to liberate the Lithuanian serfs and win over anti-Russian Lithuanian peoples. Instead, he was too intent on destroying the Tsar’s army. He pressed towards Muscovy - the heartland of Russia - expecting to engage the Russian army and win a victory within weeks.

24
Q

What had Napoleon not bargained for in the Russian campaign?

A

The Russian tactic of withdrawal, backed up by a ‘scorched earth policy’. The Russians were determined to prevent the French army relying on their normal tactic of living off the land and burned villages, towns and livestock as they retreated. The soldiers of the Grand Armée, who had set off with only four days’ rations, became dependant on the ever-lengthening supply line, which proved incapable of feeding the large army.

25
Q

How was Napoleon unprepared for the Russian campaign?

A

He had not planned for a lengthy campaign. The French had poor maps, inadequate clothing for a struggle which would continue into the winter and carried limited medical supplies. Napoleon’s normal advantages of speed, manoeuvrability and surprise were of no use in this campaign. Not only did the size of his army slow him down, his reliance on raw recruits and conscripts from the Empire made it a less disciplined force. Furthermore, thousands died from disease as they advanced and the campaign was to be plagued by constant hunger leading more to succumb to illness and death.

26
Q

What happened in September 1812?

A

Napoleon met the Russians outside Borodino. The French failed to break the Russian Army and Napoleon did not dare risk his Imperial Guard, which was his last reserve. The Russians lost around 40,000 and the French approximately 28,000. But the Russians were able to withdraw in an orderly fashion.

27
Q

What happened following the battle at Borodino in September?

A

Napoleon advanced to Moscow (the most prestigious city of Russia) but his planned ‘victory’ eluded him. He found the city deserted and as the surviving troops looted the city, the Russian governor set it on fire. Since the Russians refused to sue for peace, the grand advance turned into an ignominious retreat. As the French withdrew, frostbite and starvation proved even greater enemies than the constant harassment of Cossack and peasant forces.

28
Q

What happened in December 1812?

A

Napoleon abandoned his men to return to Paris, having heard of a plot by Claude-Francois de Malet to overthrow him. He pledged to raise more forces; but with his departure, what army he had left had virtually disintegrated.

29
Q

What was the Malet conspiracy?

A

Claude-Francois Malet was a former Jacobin army general who had been imprisoned for opposition to Napoleon. In October 1812, Malet put about a rumour that Napoleon had died in Moscow. He tried to get support for the arrest of government officials so that France could return to republic. Suspicions of an officer led to his arrest and execution. However the support it briefly attracted showed how dependant the Empire was on Napoleon.

30
Q

What was the aftermath of the Russian campaign?

A

Estimates suggest that between 10,000 and 25,000 soldiers remained from Napoleon’s Grand Armée and barely 1000 of these were fit for further military service. The campaign was a disaster, which hit hard at Napoleon’s position. Not only had he lost his Grand Armée; his failures triggered a new coalition, as the first Prussia and the Austria chose to break their forced alliances with France and prepared for further battle against the Empire.

31
Q

What were the reasons for Napoleon’s defeat in Russia?

A
  1. Weakness of the Grand Armée: it was lost through a combination of bad management, poor supply arrangements, lack of knowledge and over-confidence.
  2. Poor tactical decisions: Napoleon had allowed himself nine weeks to defeat Russia and return to Germany. As a result: his army only had summer clothing and enough food for three weeks (by which time he had intended to be ensconced in Moscow as Emperor of the East); supplies were inadequate or non-existent (there was no fodder for the horses nor frost nails for their shows, no maps covering more than a few miles inside the Russian border and no bandages for the wounded).
  3. Confusion in the French command - General Caulincourt complained that the retreat was poorly planned and that the army marched with ill-discipline.
32
Q

What happened on 30 December 1812?

A

Alexander I was determined to force Napoleon from power and looked to create another coalition against him. The Prussians, who had, not entirely willingly, joined the French invasion of Russia, were won over. They signed a separate armistice with Russia on 30th December 1812.

33
Q

What happened in March 1813?

A

Frederick William declared war on France.

34
Q

What happened in June 1813?

A

Britain, which had concluded a formal alliance with the Russians in August 1812, joined Prussia and Russia. The alliance also brought in Austria and Sweden. This was the first time that all of the Great Powers were at war with Napoleon.

35
Q

When did Napoleon declare war on Prussia? Was he immediately successful?

A

In April 1813. He won three battles, including an impressive victory at Bautzen, but he failed to follow up a Prussian retreat and agreed to an armistice.

36
Q

What happened in October 1813?

A

He faced the joint forces of Prussians, Austrians, Russians and Swedes at the ‘Battle of the Nations’ at Leipzig. Although Napoleon had Denmark on his side, he was overwhelmed by the sheer force of numbers (roughly three allied soldiers for every two French fighters). After nearly three days of fighting, Napoleon was forced to retreat across Germany, pursued by the allied forces. He fought a series of battles, winning a good number, but was steadily forced back against overwhelming odds. He refused a generous peace deal (which would have allowed him to keep the ‘natural frontiers’ of the Rhineland and Belgium), and issued a decree for 900,000 fresh conscripts; but only a fraction of these were ever raised.

37
Q

What happened following the ‘Battle of the Nations’?

A

The Empire fell apart, until only Italy, Belgium, Switzerland and a typhus ridden army of 60,000 remained.

38
Q

What happened in June 1813?

A

The British under Wellesley had captured Madrid and expelled Joseph from Spain after the Battle of Vitoria in June 1813. In the last months of 1813 and into 1814 the British Peninsular Army pushed its way into south-west France.

39
Q

What were the terms under the Treaty of Chaumont?

A

In March 1814, the allies agreed to preserve their coalition until Napoleon had been totally defeated and the future of Europe was settled. The allies entered Paris from 30 March 1814 and Napoleon’s marshals persuaded him to accept terms.

40
Q

What happened in April 1814?

A

Under the Treaty of Fontainebleau, Napoleon had to give up his throne, but he was allowed to keep the title Emperor, an income of around £200,000 and the island of Elba (off Italy) as his own kingdom. Thus, with the Russians, Prussians and British encamped in Paris, Napoleon departed for his life in Elba; his wife Marie-Louise, left her husband and made her own way to Vienna.