Early Modern Topic Blog

Napoleon Bonaparte was possibly the greatest battle strategist and commander in history. He graduated from his first military school at the age of 9, and was promptly accepted into the Ércole Royale Militaire in Paris, where he completed the standard 2-year course in a single year. He accepted a post as a second lieutenant at age 16, serving through the revolution in 1789. During the siege of Toulon, which had been taken by the English, Napoleon was appointed artillery commander of the French forces. He coolly aimed the guns at the British ships, forcing them to retreat. During the skirmish that followed, the French successfully retook Toulon and Napoleon was promoted to brigadier-general.
A few years after this event, Napoleon became romantically involved with Joséphine de Beauharnais, the former mistress of the leader of the executive power in France. They married on March 9, 1796. Just days after they married, Napoleon took command of the French ‘Army of Italy’ and led it in a successful invasion into its namesake. Shortly after this success, Napoleon showed his independence by ignoring a direct order to march into Rome and dethrone Pope Pius VI. Instead, he stayed at home, not making another move until early 1797, when he marched into Austria and forced it to sue for peace. The Treaty of Campo Formino gave France a good portion of Northern Italy, as well as the Low Countries and Rhineland. However, Austria included a secret clause which promised Venice to them. Napoleon consequently marched on Venice and ended over 1,000 years of independence.
All of these military victories were a result of Napoleon’s encyclopedic knowledge of modern war tactics. As he so eloquently put it, “I have fought 60 battles and I have learned nothing that I did not know in the beginning.” One of his more simple strategies was to focus all his forces onto an unsuspecting foe, obliterate their army, take control of their land, and be back in position before anyone else had a chance to react. Though he was gaining more and more land for the French, they newly elected royalists in the government accused Napoleon of overstepping his bounds and looting Italy. Napoleon, in turn, sent one of his generals to Paris on a coup d’etat to ‘purge the royalists.’ Having put the Republican Directors firmly back in control, Napoleon quickly became more popular than any government figure, which gave him unbelievable power in matters of state.
In March of 1798, Napoleon proposed an expedition to seize Egypt, protecting his country’s trade routes and jeopardizing Britain’s access to India. The Director’s, thinking to rid themselves of the most popular man in their midst, agreed readily, though thinking regretfully of the cost and scope. After landing in Egypt, Napoleon attacked Mamelukes, one of the oldest powers. He was greatly outnumbered, but again his strategy prevailed. Only 300 French were killed, as opposed to 6,000 on the Egyptian side. Though the land battle was won by the French, the British began to compensate by sea. Spotting the French ships anchored near the land, Horatio Nelson ordered his ships to slip into the small gap between the French and the land. Attacked from both sides, all but one of the French ships were captured or sunk. Confined to the land, Napoleon could only watch as his Egyptian campaign began to crumble. It is debated why, but it was at this point he turned control of the army over to General Kleber and returned to France.
Being Napoleon, he was always looking for opportunities. One arrived in the form of a man named Sieyés, who wanted to overthrow the French Constitution. After securing Napoleon’s help, he thought that he would become the dominant force, but Napoleon quietly undermined his plans. When he drafted the new Constitution, he carefully secured his own election to the post of First Consul. When the constitution was rewritten 3 years later, he was given the position for life.
After deciding that the territory we know as the Louisiana Purchase was simply a nuisance, he sold it to America for around 3 cents to the acre. 10 years later, he divorced and remarried in order to produce an heir, shortly after being crowned the king of Italy. To give a crash course of what happened next would make it much easier to deal with, so here we go.
Napoleon campaigned extensively in Russia, despite many people’s advice against it. Though all seemed well, the French could only elude defeat for so long. Eventually, the much reduced French forces were surrounded, and Napoleon was forced to abdicate in favor of his son. He was promptly exiled to a small Mediterranean island called Elba. A year later, Napoleon managed to escape and returned to the mainland. He returned to his soldiers, marched on Paris, and ruled for a hundred days, a which point he was defeated in the battle of Waterloo. He fled to a nearby port, where he began to sail desperately for the United States. He was quickly accosted, forced to surrender, and exiled to Saint Helena, where he died several years later.
Though the cause of Napoleon’s death remains disputed, it is thought that he died from the high levels of arsenic he absorbed throughout his lifetime. This is supported by how well preserved his body was, because arsenic is a strong preservative. Also, after examining portions of Napoleon’s hair, it was discovered that the arsenic levels there were seven to thirty-eight times higher than normal. However, during that period arsenic was used in hair tonic and also as a cure for syphilis. Modern day scientists performed an autopsy on the body, and discovered that the most likely cause of death was, in fact, stomach cancer, not arsenic.