The French Revolution and Napoleon

Napoleon Napoleon served in the army during the Revolution In 1795 he became a national hero when he protected the National Convention delegates from rebelling Royalists In 1796 he was given control of the army in a war against Austria He was able to have a series of victories that made him popular in France

In 1799, the government that was set up at the end of the Revolution fell apart Napoleon was encouraged to take power for himself

After gaining control of the government, Napoleon started to make changes He set up a tax system and central bank to help pay debts Got rid of corrupt government officials Brought religion back to France

In 1804, Napoleon decided to become an emperor The Pope had always crowned a ruler of France, but when Napoleon walked up he took the crown from the Pope’s hands and crowned himself

Napoleon’s Empire Napoleon wanted to control all of Europe and increase power in the New World After a rebellion in a French colony by slaves Napoleon decided to sell the Louisiana Territory to America for $15 million in 1803 He did this for money to fight in Europe and to hurt the British

In 1805, Napoleon started to fight against Prussia (Germany), Austria and Russia After a series of victories, each country was forced to sign peace treaties Napoleon now had the largest empire since the times of the Romans

Battle of Trafalgar In taking over Europe, Napoleon only lost one major battle On the southwestern tip of Spain, the Royal Navy was able to split the French navy and defeat them This destroyed the French navy and gave Britain naval supremacy for the next 100 years It also destroyed Napoleons plans to invade England

Between 1805 and 1812, Napoleon controlled the majority of Europe Many countries were allied to him (but had puppet governments) By 1812, Napoleons empire started to fall apart

The Collapse of Napoleon After his loss at Trafalgar, Napoleon decided to blockade England He hoped that it would destroy England’s economy But because of smugglers, England was still able to get goods into Europe England then responded by blockading Europe and because they had the stronger navy, it worked

The British forced neutral ships that were going to Europe to England to be searched and taxed This angered the US and so in 1812, they declared war on Great Britain

In 1808, Napoleon decided to invade Portugal To do this, he went through Spain This did not make Spain happy They were afraid that he would attack the church the same way the French did during their revolution Many Spaniards were guerrillas, small bands of fighters that struck the French army and then retreated (like American Minutemen)

During the war in Spain, Britain sent help This caused a defeat for Napoleon He lost 300,000 men This defeat weakened the French Empire

Napoleons most disastrous mistake came in June of 1812 when he decided to invade Russia He led an army of 420,000 men into Russia As Napoleon advanced the Russians retreated, killing all livestock and burning all the grain fields

By September, the Russians and the French met in open battle After several hours, the Russians retreated leaving Moscow (the Russian capitol) open Napoleon moved in a few days later, but the Russians had burned it to the ground

By October, Napoleon decided to head back to France The winter was coming and the army was not equipped for winter in Russia As they retreated, Russian raiders kept attacking Many French were killed in these clashes or died from wounds

Many more died from hunger, exhaustion and the cold By mid-December only 10,000 men survived to make it back to France

After his defeats in Russia, Britain, Austria, Prussia, Russia and Sweden declare war on Napoleon Because of the major defeats, Napoleons new army was inexperienced and were quickly defeated Soon, Paris was taken and Napoleon was forced to surrender

The victors forced him to abdicate his throne and then they banished him to a tiny island south of France called Elba Louis XVI’s brother then takes the throne but become unpopular because people thought he wanted to undo progress brought by the revolution This gave Napoleon incentive to regain power

In March of 1815, he escapes Elba and goes to Paris Thousands support him and within days he is Emperor of France again The European allies quickly gather an army to stop this

In June of 1815, the British went against Napoleon at the Belgium city Waterloo The British, led by Duke Wellington, were able to hold their ground until the Prussians arrived 2 days later, the French troops were exhausted and surrendered Napoleon was then banished to a small island in the south Atlantic He died in 1821 of a stomach illness (cancer maybe)