Napoleon Forges an Empire

Napoleon Bonaparte  5ft, 3 inches tall  One of the world’s military geniuses  During the Revolution, Napoleon joined the new government’s army  Royalists stormed the National Convention, and Napoleon received orders to defend the Convention  Becomes a hero

 1796, the Directory appoints Napoleon to lead an army against Austria and the kingdom of Sardinia  Napoleon’s army won a series of battles in Italy, crushing the threat of Austrian troops to France  The newspapers praise Napoleon’s victories

 Next, Napoleon’s army moved on to Egypt to disrupt trade between Britain and India  Napoleon’s series of victories ends, and his luck ran out  His troops were defeated by British, but Napoleon was able to keep this defeat from the press Napoleon vs. Nelson

Directory Loses Control  The French people had lost confidence in the Directory  Napoleon puts a plan in motion  His troops drove out the members of the legislature and then voted to dissolve the Directory  Napoleon assumes dictatorial powers as 1 of 3 consuls  Sudden seizure of power called a coup d’etat

Napoleon ’ s Coup d ’ Etat

Europe at Peace  France was still at war  1799 Britain, Austria and Russia join to drive Napoleon from power  By 1802, as a result of war and diplomacy, all 3 countries had signed peace agreements with France and Europe was at peace for the first time in 10 years.

 Napoleon could now focus on restoring France  To stabilize the economy:  Sets up tax collection and national bank  Dismissed corrupt officials  Sets up lycées, government run public schools to train officials  Signed concordat (agreement) with Pope which restores the church in France  Concordat gains Napoleon support from church and the French Napoleon Restores France

Napoleonic Code  He was most proud of Napoleonic Code, gave France a uniform set of laws -eliminated many injustices -eliminated many injustices -limited and promoted order and authority over individual rights -freedom of speech and press restricted, as well as women’s rights -restored slavery in French colonies in the Caribbean where slavery had been abolished

Napoleon Crowned as Emperor  In 1804, Napoleon makes himself emperor

Napoleon Creates an Empire  Napoleon wants to create an empire and control all of Europe and reassert French power in the Americas  Napoleon sends troops to St. Domingue to put down slave rebellion  Thousands of soldiers die from yellow fever  Napoleon decides to cut his losses in the Americas

Louisiana Purchase  He offers to sell all of the Louisiana territory to the U.S. for $15 million.  This benefited Napoleon 2 ways: 1) France gains money to finance operations in Europe 2) punished Britain by giving them another rival (the U.S.)

Napoleon Focuses on Conquering Europe  Napoleon had already annexed the Austrian Netherlands, parts of Italy and set up a puppet government in Switzerland  Fearful of his ambitions, Britain persuaded Russia, Austria and Sweden to join against France

 Napoleon has a series of brilliant battles and crushes his opposition  All rulers sign a peace treaty with France except Britain  Napoleon has the biggest empire since the Romans  The only threat is Britain’s Navy Hey… Why do you think Britain needs to have a strong Navy?? Yep- it’s an island and surrounded by water!

 In his war against the third coalition, Napoleon lost just one major battle, the Battle of Trafalgar  This naval defeat was more important than all of Napoleon’s victories on land

 1804 off coast of Spain  British led by Admiral Nelson  Nelson outmaneuvered the much bigger fleet of French-Spanish fleet  Destruction of French fleets had 2 major results: 1) assured supremacy of British navy for the next hundred years 2) Napoleon had to give up idea of invading Britain Battle of Trafalgar

Napoleon ’ s Empire  By 1812, the only major European countries free from Napoleon’s control were Britain, Ottoman Empire, Portugal and Sweden  Other countries in Europe had rulers who were puppets of Napoleons, or even related  French Empire is huge, but unstable.  Napoleon was able to maintain the empire for just 5 years ( ), but caused the collapse himself