The Napoleonic Era (1799–1815)

Core Idea

Napoleon Bonaparte, a general of the French Revolution, seized power in a coup in 1799 and crowned himself emperor in 1804. At home he kept some revolutionary gains, such as legal equality and the end of feudal privilege, through the Civil Code of 1804, while ending free elections and a free press. Abroad, his armies defeated most of continental Europe and redrew its map, spreading revolutionary laws but also provoking resistance and nationalism. After the disastrous invasion of Russia in 1812 and defeats at Leipzig and finally Waterloo in 1815, his empire collapsed, and the victors met at the Congress of Vienna to rebuild the European order.

How It's Best Learned

Sort Napoleon's policies into two columns: those that kept the Revolution's ideals and those that betrayed them. Follow his campaigns on a map from Austerlitz to Moscow to Waterloo. Use Goya's paintings of the war in Spain as primary sources on how occupied peoples saw French rule. Discuss how his invasion of Spain set off independence movements in Latin America.

Common Misconceptions

• Napoleon was unusually short. (He was about 1.68 to 1.70 metres tall, roughly average for a Frenchman of his time; the myth grew from confusion between French and English inches and from British cartoons.)
• Napoleon simply carried the ideals of the French Revolution across Europe. (He spread legal equality and ended feudal dues in many lands, but he ruled as an autocrat, censored the press and restored slavery in French colonies in 1802.)
• Napoleon was defeated mainly by the Russian winter. (Supply problems, disease, desertion and Russian strategy wore down the Grande Armée before winter set in, and a broad coalition of European powers defeated him in 1813–1815.)

Explainer

When you studied the French Revolution, you saw it move from constitutional monarchy to republic to Terror, and then to a weak government called the Directory. By the late 1790s many French people wanted order. Napoleon Bonaparte, a young general famous for victories in Italy, gave it to them. In November 1799 he joined a coup and became First Consul, and in 1804 he crowned himself emperor.

At home, Napoleon kept parts of the Revolution and discarded others. His Civil Code of 1804 declared men equal before the law, protected property and ended feudal privileges for good. Careers in the army and government were open to talent rather than birth. A Concordat with the pope in 1801 made peace with the Catholic Church. But Napoleon ended free elections, censored newspapers and ruled through police and loyal officials. The Code made wives legally subject to their husbands. In 1802 his government restored slavery in French colonies.

Abroad, Napoleon won a series of great victories, most famously at Austerlitz in 1805 against Austria and Russia. He ended the Holy Roman Empire in 1806 and placed relatives on the thrones of Spain, Holland and Naples. In conquered lands he abolished serfdom and feudal dues and introduced his Code. Yet French rule also meant heavy taxes and conscription. In Spain, from 1808, a long and brutal guerrilla war tied down French troops. The British navy's victory at Trafalgar in 1805 kept Britain safe, so Napoleon tried to crush its trade with the Continental System.

When Russia broke from that system, Napoleon invaded in 1812 with an army of roughly 600,000 men. The Russians retreated and burned what they left behind, and Moscow itself burned after the French arrived. Hunger, disease and the long retreat destroyed most of his army. A coalition that Britain helped fund defeated him at Leipzig in 1813 with Russian, Prussian, Austrian and Swedish armies, and he abdicated in 1814. He escaped from exile on Elba and returned for the Hundred Days, but British and Prussian armies defeated him at Waterloo in June 1815. He died in exile on Saint Helena in 1821.

His invasion of Spain also left Spanish America without a legitimate king, which helped start the wars of Latin American independence.