Conflicts

The battles fought from 1799-1815 between France and several European nations are already historically known as the Napoleonic Wars where Napoleon stood out of the crowd. These military confrontations were a continuation of war in Europe held by France during the French Revolution (1789-1799). Napoleon spent a year developing his military tactics in provincial garrisons such as Valence and Auxonne.

The First Coalition
It was led between the years 1793-1797 in northern Italy where France confronted an alliance consisting of many European countries. In less than a year, Napoleon had defeated the Austrian forces, superior in number. A year later Napoleon was given an expedition to conquer Egypt in order to get new routes to India, however the invasion failed and Napoleon was sent back to France.

The second coalition
That try on conquering Egypt is known as the second coalition where France, again, battled against Russia, Britain, Austria, the kingdom of Naples, Portugal and the Ottoman Empire. These battles were took place in northern Italy in late 1798 and in Switzerland next year. French were defeated by the Austrian and Russian in the battles of Magnano, Cassano, Trebbia, and Novi.
Despite French were defeated, the outcome was more favorable to them because French troops led by general Andre Massena defeated the Russian troops on 26 September. The Russians withdrew from the Second Coalition on October 22 citing as reason the lack of cooperation by the Austrians.
When Napoleon returned to France from Egypt in October 1799, he offered peace to the Coalition, however this was rejected. Napoleon continued his attacks against Austria with a new and extended army of 40,000 in the battle of Marengo. Meanwhile, Moreau also attacked the Austrians from the south of Germany in the battle of Hohenlinden. Both French armies defeated the Austrians forces.
Because of French victories, Austrians were obligated to sign The Treaty of Luneville in 1801, making many concessions on benefice of France. Another treaty was signed next year by Britain: Peace of Amiens with France.
However, the Peace of Amiens turned out to be a bad thing. There was a conflict in order to get the position of the Island of Malta. Austria, Russia and Sweden joined the conflict to support Britain and Spain did the same to support France. This was the beginning of The Third Coalition.

The Third Coalition

Napoleon quickly tried to fight against the new coalition that was formed leaded by Britain. States such as Bavaria, Württemberg and Baden allied themselves to France. Napoleon defeated the Austrian forces at Ulm, captured 23,000 prisoners and then marched his troops along the Danube and conquered Vienna. Russia, again, supported the Austrians, although the alliance was defeated in the battle of Austerlitz. For the second time, Austrian had to sign a treaty: Treaty of Pressburg (1805).

The Confederation of the Rhine

This confederation was eventually formed by all German states except Austria, Prussia, Brunswick and Hesse on 12 July 1806. However, the successes on the continent were largely offset by the defeat that the British Admiral Horatio Nelson inflicted on the joint force of French and Spanish fleet off Cape Trafalgar on October 21, 1805. The British naval superiority made it difficult to implement the scheme scupper Continental and European economic policy of Bonaparte.

The Fourth Coalition

Prussia, after the rise of French power in Germany, he joined the Fourth Coalition composed of Britain, Russia and Sweden in 1806. Bonaparte crushed the Prussians at the Battle of Jena on 14 October of that year and took Berlin. Then, he defeated the Russians at the Battle of Friedland and forced Alexander to make peace I.

The Battle of Friedland (box Carle Vernet)

Prussia was facing territory difficulties, Russia had terms to follow according to the Treaty of Tilsit and in order to avoid the crowning of the heir of Charles XIII, Bernardotte, Russia and Denmark launched a military action against Sweden known as The Battle of Friedland.

Anti-Napoleonic Nationalism

In 1808, Napoleon dominated Europe, with the exception of Russia and Great Britain. The main reasons for the subsequent decline were the rise of nationalistic spirit in several European nations defeated and the continuing opposition of Great Britain.

The first revolution was the country they were allied to: Spain. Spanish wanted back his king, Charles IV, who was dethroned by Napoleon and instead was put Joseph Bonaparte. War broke out Spanish Independence (1808-1814) among the French, trying to restore Joseph Bonaparte on the throne, and the Spanish, backed by British forces commanded by Arthur Colley Wellesley, Duke of Wellington's.

Battle of Wagram (box Carle Vernet)

The French were defeated, and the number of casualties it suffered severely disadvantaged when Napoleon was forced to face their new enemy's eastern and northern Europe. His first opponent was Austria, which joined Britain to form the Fifth Coalition in 1809. The French emperor defeated the Austrians at Wagram (July 1809) and forced them to sign the Treaty of Vienna, by which Austria lost Salzburg. Also divorced his first wife and married the daughter of Francis II of Austria, in the vain hope that this country did not participate in new coalitions against him.

The defeat of Napoleon

In 1812, France and Russia fought because Alejandro I refused to apply the Continental System. Since most of his men were in Spain, Napoleon invaded Russia. He defeated the Russians at Borodino and conquered Moscow on September 14, 1812. The Russians invaded the town, preventing the French troops there to establish winter quarters. They left Russia and penetrated into Germany, but most of the men died along the way from the cold, hunger. The Russian Empire then joined the Fifth Coalition, which also formed part of Prussia, Britain and Sweden. He won his last major victory at the Battle of Dresden, where the French army defeated the combined forces of Austria, Prussia and Russia on August 27, 1813. However, during the month of October, Napoleon was forced to retreat over the Rhine. Russian armies, Austrians and Prussians invaded France from the north in March 1814, Napoleon abdicated and was exiled in Elba Island, located in the Mediterranean Sea.

Conflict with Britain

(1799 – 1815) Series of wars that ranged France against shifting alliances of European powers. Originally an attempt to maintain French strength established by the French Revolutionary Wars, they became efforts by Napoleon to affirm his supremacy in the balance of European power. A victory over Austria at the Battle of Marengo (1800) left France the dominant power on the continent. Only Britain remained strong, and its victory at the Battle of Trafalgar (1805) ended Napoleon's threat to invade England. Napoleon won major victories in the Battles of Ulm and Austerlitz (1805), Jena and Auerstedt (1806), and Friedland (1807) against an alliance of Russia, Austria, and Prussia. The resulting Treaties of Tilsit (1807) and the Treaty of Schönbrunn (1809) left most of Europe from the English Channel to the Russian border either part of the French Empire, controlled by France, or allied to it by treaty. Napoleon's successes resulted from a strategy of moving his army rapidly, attacking quickly, and defeating each of the disconnected enemy units. His enemies' responding strategy was to avoid engagement while withdrawing, forcing Napoleon's supply lines to be overextended; the strategy was successfully used against him by the duke of Wellington in the Peninsular War and by Mikhail, Prince Barclay de Tolly, in Russia. In 1813 the Quadruple Alliance formed to oppose Napoleon and amassed armies that outnumbered his. Defeated at the Battle of Leipzig, he was forced to withdraw west of the Rhine River, and after the invasion of France (1814) he abdicated. He rallied a new army to return in the Hundred Days (1815), but a revived Quadruple Alliance opposed him. His final defeat at the Battle of Waterloo was caused by his inability to surprise and to prevent the two armies, led by Wellington and Gebhard von Blücher, from joining forces to defeat him. With his second abdication and exile, the era of the Napoleonic Wars ended.

For more information clic here: http://www.channel4.com/history/microsites/H/history/napoleon/timeline1.html

All You Need To Know About: Napoleon Bonaparte

100 Days Empire

The Hundred Days, sometimes known as the Hundred Days of Napoleon orNapoleon's Hundred Days for specificity, marked the period between Emperor Napoleon I of France's return from exile on Elba to Paris on 20 March 1815 and the second restoration of King Louis XVIII on 8 July 1815 (a period of 111 days). This period saw the War of the Seventh Coalition, and includes the Waterloo Campaign and the Neapolitan War. The phrase les Cent Jours was first used by the prefect of Paris, Gaspard, comte de Chabrol, in his speech welcoming the King.

Napoleon returned while the Congress of Vienna was sitting. On 13 March, seven days before Napoleon reached Paris, the powers at the Congress of Viennadeclared him an outlaw; four days later the United Kingdom, Russia, Austria and Prussia, members of the Seventh Coalition, bound themselves to put 150,000 men each into the field to end his rule. This set the stage for the last conflict in the Napoleonic Wars, the defeat of Napoleon at the Battle of Waterloo, the restoration of the French monarchy for the second time and the permanent exile of Napoleon to the distant island of Saint Helena, where he died in May 1821.

The Last Days Of Napoleon

Napoleon was banished to the remote island of St. Helena (Atlantic Ocean), under British control. There he remained until his death, seeing their health deteriorate gradually, while dictating the Count of Las Cases a memoir in which he played his work as an attempt to continue and strengthen the work of the Revolution of 1789, adding a sense of order and extending for the rest of Europe. On May 5, 1821, on the island of St. Helena, NapoleonBonaparte died at fifty-one years of age.

The Most Important Battles

1789: Participate in the uprising in Corsica.

1793: Gets promoted to brigadier general for his war merits.

1795: Save the National Convention (Republican revolutionary French government) of a Parisian insurrection.

1796: Appointed chief of army general in Italy, obtained numerous victories. He married Josephine de Beauharnais.

1798-1799: Campaigns Italy and Egypt.

1799: Fails to conquer Syria and returned to France. Seizes power in France through a coup. He was appointed First Consul, which happened to be the main ruler of France with dictatorial powers.

1800: Beat Australia at the Battle of Marengo and consolidated his conquests in northem Italy. New Constitution.

1804: Emperor of the French in Notre Dame.

1805: Beat Austria and Russia at the battle of Austerlitz.

1806: establishes the Confederation of the Rhine and now controls Poland. It creates the Continental System, designed to block and ruin the English trade.

1807: Invade Portugal.

1808: King of Spain appoints his brother, Joseph I. War of Independence from Spain and Portugal, which will last six years.

1809: is annexed Rome and the Papal States. Annulment of his marriage to Josephine.

1812: Disastrous Russian campaign.

Military Career

The Corsican Misadventure
Despite being posted on the French mainland, Napoleon was able to spend much of the next eight years in Corsica thanks to his ferocious letter writing and rule bending, as well as the effects of the French Revolution and sheer good luck. There he played an active part in political and military matters, initially supporting the Corsican rebel Pasquale Paoli, a former patron of Carlo Buonaparte. Military promotion also followed, but Napoleon became opposed to Paoli and when civil war erupted in 1793 the Buonapartes fled to France, where they adopted the French version of their name: Bonaparte. Historians have frequently used the Corsican affair as a microcosm of Napoleon's career.

Fluctuating Success
The French Revolution had decimated the republic's officer class and favoured individuals could achieve swift promotion, but Napoleon's fortunes rose and fell as one set of patrons came and went. By December 1793 Bonaparte was the hero of Toulon, a General and favourite of Augustin Robespierre; shortly after the wheel of revolution turned and Napoleon was arrested for treason. Tremendous political 'flexibility' saved him and the patronage of Vicomte Paul de Baras, soon to be one of France's three 'Directors', followed.

Napoleon became a hero again in 1795, defending the government from angry counter-revolutionary forces; Baras rewarded Napoleon by promoting him to high military office, a position with access to the political spine of France. Bonaparte swiftly grew into one of the country's most respected military authorities - largely by never keeping his opinions to himself - and he married Josephine de Beauharnais. Commentators have considered this an unusual match ever since.