Download The French Revolution and Napoleon

The French
Revolution
and
Napoleon
Napoleon




Napoleon served in the army during the Revolution
In 1795 he became a national hero when he protected the
National Convention delegates from rebelling Royalists
In 1796 he was given control of the army in a war against
Austria
He was able to have a series of victories that made him
popular in France


In 1799, the government that
was set up at the end of the
Revolution fell apart
Napoleon was encouraged to
take power for himself




After gaining control of the government, Napoleon
started to make changes
He set up a tax system and central bank to help pay
debts
Got rid of corrupt government officials
Brought religion back to France


In 1804, Napoleon decided to become
an emperor
The Pope had always crowned a ruler
of France, but when Napoleon
walked up he took the crown from
the Pope’s hands and crowned
himself
Napoleon’s
Empire



Napoleon wanted to control all
of Europe and increase power
in the New World
After a rebellion in a French
colony by slaves Napoleon
decided to sell the Louisiana
Territory to America for $15
million in 1803
He did this for money to fight
in Europe and to hurt the
British



In 1805, Napoleon
started to fight against
Prussia (Germany),
Austria and Russia
After a series of
victories, each country
was forced to sign peace
treaties
Napoleon now had the
largest empire since the
times of the Romans
Battle of Trafalgar




In taking over Europe,
Napoleon only lost one
major battle
On the southwestern tip of
Spain, the Royal Navy was
able to split the French navy
and defeat them
This destroyed the French
navy and gave Britain naval
supremacy for the next 100
years
It also destroyed Napoleons
plans to invade England



Between 1805 and 1812, Napoleon controlled the
majority of Europe
Many countries were allied to him (but had puppet
governments)
By 1812, Napoleons empire started to fall apart
The Collapse of Napoleon (continential system)




After his loss at
Trafalgar, Napoleon
decided to blockade
England
He hoped that it would
destroy England’s
economy
But because of
smugglers, England was
still able to get goods
into Europe
England then responded
by blockading Europe
and because they had
the stronger navy, it
worked


The British forced neutral ships that were
going to Europe to England to be searched and
taxed
This angered the US and so in 1812, they
declared war on Great Britain





In 1808, Napoleon decided to invade Portugal
To do this, he went through Spain
This did not make Spain happy
They were afraid that he would attack the church the same
way the French did during their revolution
Many Spaniards were guerrillas, small bands of fighters
that struck the French army and then retreated (like
American Minutemen)


During the war in Spain, Britain sent help
This caused a defeat for Napoleon


He lost 300,000 men
This defeat weakened the French Empire



Napoleons most disastrous mistake came in
June of 1812 when he decided to invade
Russia
He led an army of 420,000 men into Russia
As Napoleon advanced the Russians retreated,
killing all livestock and burning all the grain
fields (Scorched Earth)



By September, the
Russians and the French
met in open battle
After several hours, the
Russians retreated
leaving Moscow (the
Russian capitol) open
Napoleon moved in a
few days later, but the
Russians had burned it
to the ground

By October, Napoleon decided to head back to France



The winter was coming and the army was not equipped for winter
in Russia
As they retreated, Russian raiders kept attacking
Many French were killed in these clashes or died from
wounds


Many more died from hunger, exhaustion and
the cold
By mid-December only 10,000 men survived
to make it back to France



After his defeats in Russia, Britain, Austria, Prussia, Russia
and Sweden declare war on Napoleon
Because of the major defeats, Napoleons new army was
inexperienced and were quickly defeated
Soon, Paris was taken and Napoleon was forced to
surrender



The victors forced him to abdicate his
throne and then they banished him to
a tiny island south of France called
Elba
Louis XVI’s brother then takes the
throne but become unpopular because
people thought he wanted to undo
progress brought by the revolution
This gave Napoleon incentive to
regain power
Hundred days



In March of 1815, he
escapes Elba and goes to
Paris
Thousands support him and
within days he is Emperor of
France again
The European allies quickly
gather an army to stop this





In June of 1815, the British went against Napoleon at the Belgium city
Waterloo
The British, led by Duke Wellington, were able to
hold their ground until the Prussians arrived
2 days later, the French troops were exhausted
and
surrendered
Napoleon was then banished to a small island in
the south
Atlantic (St. Helena)
He died in 1821 of a stomach illness (cancer maybe)
Revolution in South America





Creole- locally born people
with foreign ancestry.
Creoles were tired of being
treated as second class
citizens.
General Simone Bolivar
believed liberty made man’s
life worth something.
He started a revolt against
the Spanish in South
America.
This led to social equity and
ended Spanish colonization
and rule in Latin America.
Mexican War of Independence (1810 1821)




an armed conflict
between the people of
Mexico and Spanish
colonial authorities.
led by Miguel
Hidalgo, eventually
defeated
wanted independence
from Spain.
ended due to a
revolution in Spain
that changed its
government.
Haitian Revolution (1791–1804)




was the only successful
slave revolt in history.
It established Haiti as the
first republic ruled by
African natives.
Haiti was a colony of
France.
people of African ancestry
freed themselves from
French colonization and
from slavery.