The Rise and Fall of Napoleon and His Empire
The Napoleonic Empire
In 1804, a Senate-approved consultation, agreed upon by a referendum (which consulted the people), stated that the government of the Republic would be entrusted to a hereditary emperor. That same year, Napoleon concentrated more power in his hands, replacing the Constitution of the Year VIII with the Constitution of the Year XII.
In the European Empire, Napoleon would be the emperor of kings. After arranging marriages between family members and appointing kings of Holland, Westphalia, Spain, and Naples, he awakened British fears. If Napoleon succeeded in his endeavors, Britain would fall.
Napoleon founded the 4th Dynasty, the “silent Bonaparte dynasty.”
Territorial Expansion After Napoleon’s Defeat
Napoleon tried to vanquish his worst enemy, Britain, in three ways:
- Landing in Ireland.
- Attacking Britain by sea, enlisting the Spanish fleet led by Admiral Horatio Nelson. This was a disaster (Battle of Trafalgar), and there was no chance of defeating the English by sea.
- Napoleon sought help from the people to present their ideas, although he did not accept any.
Seeing no other option, he conceived a continental blockade, which attempted to prevent economic relations between continental Europe and Britain. Almost all the kings of European countries refused to participate in the blockade.
Napoleon was made emperor, and when Emperor Francis II of Austria agreed, Napoleon was left without a title and also lost land.
Austria was forced to renounce its Italian possessions and the German empire, to give his daughter María Luisa in marriage, to dismiss his foreign minister, and to become an “allied state” of Napoleon. Poland was called “the Polish cake” because it was divided three times between Austria, Prussia, and Russia.
The consequences of Napoleon’s position against Austria were the creation of the Kingdom of Naples for his brother Joseph, the formation of the Confederation of the Rhine (which brought together multiple small German states), the recognition of the Kingdom of the Netherlands for his brother Louis, and the acquisition of Illyria.
The King of Prussia, Frederick, was defeated by Napoleon at Jena, and Napoleon occupied all of Prussian Poland. In the Peace of Tilsit, the King of Prussia was returned part of his kingdom and was forced to practice the continental blockade against Britain. The western part of Prussia-Hannover joined the Kingdom of the Netherlands, and Prussian Poland became the initial core of the Grand Duchy of Warsaw. Through the King of Saxony, it joined the Confederation of the Rhine.
The Russian Tsar Alexander I was defeated at Friedland, but Napoleon decided to sign a treaty of alliance (Tilsit) and make Russia his main ally. It was decided to identify areas of influence: the East would be for Alexander and the West for Napoleon.
Napoleon required Russia to blockade the British mainland. The Polish, who were separated, longed to be united. There was a great national upheaval.
Through Mary Walewska, Napoleon considered helping them, as she was his lover. He said he wanted to be allied with Alexander and that only his party could give Prussian land. Alexander believed that Constantinople was at the center of East and West, but Napoleon was opposed.
Alexander told her that he wanted the whole pie because he was considering putting in place a Polish Constitution. This was very unusual for an emperor, and also for a despot who was in Russia, as it was to establish a Constitution in Poland. Napoleon refused.
Napoleon was defeated in Spain (Bailén), and Britain wanted to call on its ally Alexander to help with the blockade and overcome their defeats. But the Czar did not agree and did not help.
Napoleon’s biggest mistake was the invasion of Russia in the summer and autumn of 1812. Napoleon’s victories during the summer turned into disaster at the Berezina River crossing when the cold and lack of supplies forced him to withdraw from Moscow. Of an army close to a million soldiers, only about 100,000 returned, ill and exhausted. The invasion of Spain and the cession of the Spanish throne to his brother Joseph Bonaparte was a continuous confrontation between French troops and the Spanish people, who stood up to the invader, particularly through the use of guerrillas.
The sum of these errors led to the failure of the continental blockade policy. Britain backed the Spanish opposition movements and formed a coalition with Russia and Sweden, which would later include Austria and Prussia. This coalition defeated Napoleon at Leipzig, which resulted in the loss of his empire.
Napoleon was forced to abdicate and retire as a prince to the island of Elba, keeping the imperial title, but over a tiny empire. In France, the monarchy was restored in the person of Louis XVIII. The old regime did not return. In 1815, encouraged by a sector of the population of France, Napoleon returned and restored a rule of “one hundred days,” which ended with the defeat at Waterloo.
The Fall of Napoleon
Bonaparte’s alliance with Tsar Alexander I was annulled in 1812, and Napoleon began a campaign against Russia that ended with the tragic retreat from Moscow. After this failure, all of Europe came together to fight him, and though he fought with skill, the superiority of his enemies made victory impossible. His marshals refused to continue fighting in April 1814.
His proposal to waive his rights in favor of his son was rejected. He had to abdicate but was allowed to retain the title of emperor and was granted the government of the island of Elba. Maria Luisa and her son were in the custody of her father, the Austrian Emperor Francis I, and Napoleon never saw them again, despite his dramatic comeback. He escaped from Elba in March 1815, arrived in France, and marched into Paris after defeating the troops sent to capture him, beginning the period known as the Hundred Days.
Established in the capital, he implemented a new, more democratic constitution, and veterans of earlier campaigns flocked to his call, beginning anew the confrontation against the Allies. This resulted in the Belgian campaign, which ended with defeat at the Battle of Waterloo on June 18, 1815.
In Paris, crowds begged him to continue the fight, but the politicians withdrew their support, so he abdicated in favor of his son, Napoleon II. He went to Rochefort, where he surrendered to the captain of the British ship Bellerophon. He was then imprisoned on Saint Helena, an island in the South Atlantic Ocean. He remained there until he died on May 5, 1821.