Military history of France: Encyclopedia II - Military history of France - Napoleonic France

Military history of France - Napoleonic France

The Napoleonic period saw France's influence and power reach immense heights, but just as quickly it collapsed back to its old borders at an immense cost to the French people. This, of course, can all be attributed to Napoleon Bonaparte — brilliant and charismatic, but opportunistic. The opportunism that led to his early victories eventually allied almost every major power in Europe against him to ensure his downfall.

At the height of Napoleon's power, France's influence dominated Europe as well as good portions of the Americas and Africa. During this period, only Britain's naval superiority saved most of the rest of Europe, and Napoleon was essentially unrivalled on the continent.

Napoleon changed warfare. The use of mercenaries had all but died out by the late 17th century, and the New Model Army developed to such an effect by Oliver Cromwell had taken root throughout Europe. Most armies of the early 19th century were small, well trained, made up of regular well paid troops, and were seldom used due to the cost of replacing losses. However, Napoleon could rely on none of this professionalism, as most of the military elite had been lost during the purges that categorized the French Revolution.

Napoleon developed an army based on conscription using huge masses of poorly trained troops that could usually be readily replaced, led by a few elite units, the Imperial Guard. What his armys lacked in skill it made up for in bulk. Indeed, the huge losses suffered by Napoleon during the disastrous Russia campaign would have destroyed any professional commander of the day, but those losses were quickly replaced with new draftees. Against the smaller professional armies of the day, wars of attrition were something other European armies simply could not afford.

After Napoleon, nations planned for huge armies with professional leadership and a constant supply of new soldiers, which had huge human costs as improved weapons such as the rifled musket replaced the inaccurate muskets of Napoleon's day during the American Civil War.

This large size came at a cost as the logistics of feeding a huge army made an army dependent on supplies. Most armies of the day merely relied on commandeering local supplies of food. However, Napoleon's armies were so large that feeding them off the land soon proved impractical. In fact, the process of canning food (at first, in champagne bottles) was developed in response to a contest to preserve food for use on campaigns.

Napoleon's campaigns had a worldwide effect, and the fact that British troops were tied down in Europe probably contributed to the American decision to invade Canada during the War of 1812. It is clear that Britain's decision to stop American ships in international water in order to recapture deserters was also driven by their need to replace losses caused by Napoleon. In any event, Napoleon's decision to sell his Louisiana territories to the United States was most likely driven by his need for cash to wage war.

• Napoleonic Wars
  • Battle of Trafalgar
  • Battle of Austerlitz
  • Peninsular War
  • Napoleon's invasion of Russia
  • Battle of Leipzig
  • Battle of Arcis-sur-Aube
  • Battle of Waterloo
  • War of the Seventh Coalition

Adapted from the Wikipedia article "Napoleonic France", under the G.N U Free Docmentation License. Please also see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki