Napoleon Bonaparte is one of the famous figures in French history by the importance of his internal reforms. However, he remains primarily in global memory as one of the greatest military commanders in history. Indeed, Napoleon Bonaparte delivered more battles than Alexander the Great, Hannibal, or Caesar. His campaigns covered all Europe from Spain to Russia, without forgetting the East with Egypt and Syria. The French Emperor entered in the prestigious capitals of Europe, Milan, Vienna (twice), Berlin, Madrid and Moscow. Napoleon has greatly influenced the Western way of war, not only by the new organization of armies, but also by the optimization of different capabilities and the combination between leadership and creativity in the battlefields. He did not hesitate, during the campaign, to modify its lines of operations. Gradually, when he progressed, he created temporary provisional storage lines, which allowed changing direction of attack without interruption in logistics. During the campaign of Poland, at the line of operation Warsaw-Thorn, he added another after the fall of Danzig . At planning level, Napoleon demonstrated the importance of logistics by the size of its staff. Four hundred officers on his staff took care of the smallest details of logistics , from planning until the delivery of rations to the troops and Before being fighter, Napoleon was a brilliant statesman, he knew what he wanted and aligned the necessary resources accordingly. The use of military force was for him the last resort. After having exhaust political means, he committed the maximum possible force to maximize the chance of the success of his campaign. He avoided making the same error than Austrians who have engaged against him, in 1796, only a segment of the available forces then a second and a third, what was easy to defeat in the
criticized for this, he stood by his decision stating that he knew the Russians would force the army into the cold harsh, Russian winter, such as the case of Napoleon. Even though Schlieffen came up with this wonderful and well thought out plan, his successor, General von Moltke, changed the plans entirely.
From this announcement, Napoleon competes for equivalent rights to keep the general population cheerful and not revolt. He instructs strategies to a solid tenet to his sibling. Napoleon, himself more likely than not utilized these strategies effectively before showing them to his sibling. Depicting him as force hungry is
Napoleon was an emperor, military officer, husband, and father to many. He ruled France before being exiled and lived a long life, leaving behind a lasting legacy and impression that most people will not forget.
However, both authors argue that Napoleon could have saved the lives of his troops if he wasn’t over confident about his chances. The logistics during a war is one of the most or is the most important part of going into battle because without a properly establish logistics organizing large armies would be impossible. Napoleon failed in this aspect in many different occasion during the invasion. As explained by Theodore Dodge napoleon could have destroyed the Russians quicker than they did which would have let them return home earlier and saved thousands of lives. Clausewitz argued also how logistics played a big role in Napoleons campaign in a way that was negatively impacted Napoleons chances of victory throughout his campaign. However, this failure in logistic wasn’t caused by lack of loyalty but by napoleons tirades where he would humiliate his officers in front of their men when they report to him that his troops were lacking food and supplies. Theodore disagreed with how napoleon treated his officers during this campaign. The officers didn’t want to be the center of Napoleons arrogance, so they would lie about their reports to napoleon. Being punished for telling the truth was what the officer wasn’t able to cope with. So the easiest way for them not to get punished was to lie about their food supply amount. Theodore argued that if Napoleon fix the problem of
...rned the essential plans that a leader would need to lead him troops. He also had the morale and spirits to keep the troops ready to fight for the freedom they wanted, as well as his ability to command such troops in placement and tactics.
Napoleon was a military general that participated in multiple war victories. His interests included history, law, and mathematics. His strengths as a leader benefitted in planning financial, legal, and military plans. His aspiring attitude made him believe he was destined to be the savior of France (Coffin & Stacey, 494). He favored a republic over a constitutional monarchy. When Napoleon came to power, he immediately consolidated personal power by overthrowing the five-man Directory and created a Republic. Napoleon used his status and power during the Revolution to bring out and surface Revolution ideals and help his people. Napoleon’s role in European history was the savior of the French Revolution due to the fact he accomplished most objectives that the people hoped for. Goals of the French Revolution included overthrowing the old regime of an absolute monarch, write a basic and worthy constitution, and give more rights to the third estate and limit the first and second estates power in the Estates-General.
Napoleon was not only a great leader, he was also a military genius. As a military genius, Napoleon won many battles to expand France and was always welcomed back to France as a hero. His use of strategic warfare throughout many battles allowed him to be seen as a hero not only in France but all of Europe. Although his army was outnumbered by the Russians and Austrians on December 2, 1805, Napoleon's brilliant strategies resulted in a defeat of the opposing armies in the Battle of Austerlitz.
Napoleon was an outstanding military commander and enjoyed many successful campaigns. Napoleon maintained the Revolutionary syst...
· By the use of theatrical and emotional language in his bulletins and Orders of the Day, Napoleon formed a special bond between himself and the army. He played on the ideas of military glory, of patriotism and of comradeship, while giving at the same time the impression that he had a deep paternal concern for his men. To this they responded with real devotion. ii) The Changing Nature of War · The majority of the eighteenth-century wars were fought with more or less evenly matched, mainly mercenary armies, very similar to each other in training, equipment, composition and strength.
With his battle plan set, Napoleon prepared his troops for the attack on Russia. But, Napoleon did not consider the fierce Russian winter which awaited him. According to Ludwig Wilhelm Gottlob Schlosser, a onlooker, he described the army by saying,
It is generally accepted that the Napoleonic era (1799-1815) begins when Napoleon gained control of the French Directory by staging a coup and ends with his defeat at the battle of Waterloo. (Barzun 2014) Within that fifteen year time period Napoleon waged war across the whole of Europe. His armies marched from Russia in the East, to Spain in the West reaching the height of their power in 1812. During the Napoleonic era new command structures, use of combined arms, nationalization of the French army; changed all aspects of warfare, and forced the rest of Europe to change as well, this combination of events created the fundamentals of modern warfare used in the twenty- first century.
Napoleon’s military career is what eventually led to his prominence. Napoleon began his military career above most of the other men his age. He rapidly made his way through the ranks eventually gaining a great support system. As the directory leaned more and more heavily upon the military, a coup d’état developed. Because of his military expertise, he immediately became first consul of France. The empire of France was soon to grow once Napoleon was in reign. In the 1790s the French army was near one million men, an advantage in the Austrian wars as well as future ventures. Wars raged with other European countries in the early 1800s. Napoleon was able to beat the continental coalition, thus gaining territory for France. France annexed some of Italy but also controlled states such as Spain, Holland ...
Later on Napoleon gained command of the French army for an invasion of Italy. Napoleon had
With all the glory and the splendour that some countries may have experienced, never has history seen how only only one man, Napoleon, brought up his country, France, from its most tormented status, to the very pinnacle of its height in just a few years time. He was a military hero who won splendid land-based battles, which allowed him to dominate most of the European continent. He was a man with ambition, great self-control and calculation, a great strategist, a genius; whatever it was, he was simply the best. But, even though how great this person was, something about how he governed France still floats among people's minds. Did he abuse his power? Did Napoleon defeat the purpose of the ideals of the French Revolution? After all of his success in his military campaigns, did he gratify the people's needs regarding their ideals on the French Revolution? This is one of the many controversies that we have to deal with when studying Napoleon and the French Revolution. In this essay, I will discuss my opinion on whether or not was he a destroyer of the ideals of the French Revolution.
Misused intelligence and underestimated opponents were at the heart of Napoleon?s downfall. This was clearly shown at Moscow when the Russians outwitted him by using their scorched earth policy and not meeting him in battle as they agreed. With careful planning, the Russian invasion could have gone a lot better and maybe not have led to Napoleon?s downfall.