Download 1 Chapter 20 The Age of Napoleon and the Triumph of Romanticism

Chapter 20
The Age of Napoleon and the Triumph of Romanticism
European History
The people of France wanted stability and the Directory was not providing it. Only the
army was able to offer stability and the values of the revolution. Napoleon Bonaparte
comes to power and draws France into wars for conquest, while spreading many of the
ideas and institutions of the Revolution and overturned the old political and social orders
of Europe. Romanticism were new ideas which were spread because of the revolution and
wars.
Key Topics
- Napoleon’s rise, his coronation as emperor, and administrative reforms
- Napoleon’s conquests, the creation of a French Empire, and Britain’s enduring
resistance
- The invasion of Russia and Napoleon’s decline
- The reestablishment of a European order at the Congress of Vienna
- Romanticism and reaction to the Enlightenment
- Islam and Romanticism
The Rise of Napoleon Bonaparte
The biggest danger to the Directory was the Royalist, who wanted to restore the Bourbon
monarchy. To preserve the Republic the antimonarchist staged a coup d’etat with the
support of Napoleon on September 4 1797 and was successful.
Early Military VictoriesTreaty of Campo Formio October 1797, the treaty crowned Napoleon over Austria.
France also controlled Italy and Switzerland. Napoleon’s next focus was Britain.
Napoleon decided to attack British interest in the Mediterranean by cutting off the British
communications with India, damage British trade, and threaten the British Empire.
Napoleon’s venture into Egypt was a failure.
Constitution of the Year IIIA new constitution was proposed by Abbe Sieyes, and
with the help of Napoleon another coup d’etat was successful. The proposed constitution
dived the executive authority into 3 consuls. Napoleon pushed it and Sieyes aside and
issued the Constitution of the Year III, it provided male suffrage, checks and balances for
the government and established the rule of one man (First Consul) Napoleon.
The Consulate in France (1799-1804)
By 1799 most groups had achieved their goals. Hereditary privileges abolished, allowing
for individuals to achieve wealth, status, and security for property. The peasants gained
land and destroyed the feudal system.
Suppressing Foreign Enemies and Domestic OppositionNapoleon made peace with its Enemies, and by 1802 there was peace in Europe.
Napoleon restored peace in France by using generosity, flattery, and bribery. He
established a centralized administration and stamped out all rebellions by employing a
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secret police. The royalist wanted a return to the Bourbon monarchy. Napoleon seized the
Bourbon Duke of Enghien accused him of plotting with the royalist in an attempt to
assassinate Napoleon. The Duke of Enghien was innocent but by killing him, it put an
end to the royalist plots and insure the Bourbons would not restore the monarchy.
Concordat with the Roman Catholic Church-The Pope Pius III and Napoleon entered
into a concordat (agreement) which stated the following: the refractory clergy were
required to resign, the state named the bishops, paid their salaries, paid the salary of one
priest in each parish, and the church gave up its claim on confiscated property. The
Church wanted in return religious domination. Articles of 1802 established supremacy of
state over church.
The Napoleon CodeCivil Code of 1804 (Napoleonic Code) safeguarded all property, privileges based on birth
abolished, employment of official based on merit not purchase, workers organizations
forbidden, and all children could inherit.
Establishing a Dynasty1804 a bomb attack on Napoleon led him to seize power and make himself emperor. He
claimed in order to stop future attacks; he should create a dynasty, making future attacks
pointless for his heir would be the next successor and securing the new regime. Napoleon
was now called Emperor of the French instead of First Consul of the Republic.
Napoleon’s Empire (1804-1814)
Napoleon had conquered most of Europe putting an end to the Old regime and its feudal
trappings. Napoleons success was due to his ability to amass large armies, because of the
loyalty he had from the French citizens.
Conquering an EmpirePeace of Amiens (1802) was a truce between France and Britain. France tried to secure
its holding in Haiti, and it also regained Louisiana from Spain in 1800, which aroused
Britain’s fears of France trying to make a new empire in America. In Europe Napoleon
reorganized Germany which decreased Austria territory and enlarged Germany.
British Naval Supremacy-Britain declared war on France in May 1803. William Pitt the
Younger created the Third Coalition. Russia, Austria and Britain were to move against
France. October 21, 1805 the Battle of Trafalgar the British destroyed the French and
Spanish fleets just off the Spanish coast and put an end to all French hopes of invading
Britain and guaranteed British control of the seas for the rest of the war.
Napoleonic Victories in Central Europe- Napoleon forced Austria to surrender and
occupied Vienna. December 2, 1805 he defeated the combine armies of Austria and
Russia. The Treaty of Pressburg won major concessions from Austria, which Austrians
withdrew from Italy leaving Napoleon in control of everything north of Rome. July 1806
Napoleon organized the confederation of the Rhine, which is a league of German princes.
Napoleon raised the German states of Bavaria and Württemberg to the status of
kingdoms, created new states and grand duchies, and subordinated the cities to French
interests. On July 12, 1806, 16 German princes gathered in Paris and formally signed an
act of confederation. The act dissolved their connection with the Holy Roman Empire
and, in effect, allied them to France as satellites. As a result, Francis II, who had
proclaimed himself emperor of Austria in 1804 when he foresaw the dissolution of the
Holy Roman Empire, resigned his title of Holy Roman emperor, and the empire came to
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an end. During the next two years several other German sovereigns joined the
confederation. It collapsed in 1813, after Napoleon's defeat in the Battle of Leipzig, and
was replaced by the German Confederation established by the Congress of Vienna. On
November 21 Napoleon issued the Berlin Decrees, forbidding his allies from importing
British goods. By 1807 Napoleon mastered all of Germany with the defeat of Prussia in
1806 and the defeat of Russia 1807.
Treaty of Tilsit Signed in July 1807, between France and Prussia (July 9), ending the
War of the Third Coalition. Preliminary discussions were held by Napoleon of France
and Alexander I, emperor of Russia, during a famous meeting on a raft on the Memel
River (now Niemen River), on June 25, 1807. By the terms of the treaties, Prussia was
forced to cede all its territory west of the Elbe River to Napoleon, who used it to create
the kingdom of Westphalia. Prussia also relinquished to France the Polish territory it
acquired in the partitions of 1793 to 1795, out of which Napoleon created the duchy of
Warsaw; Danzig (Gdansk) was made a free city. Prussia joined Napoleon's Continental
System, for the blockade of Britain, and closed its ports to British vessels. The Prussian
army was reduced to 42,000 men. Prussian forts and provinces taken by the French were
occupied until a war indemnity fixed at 120 million francs was paid in substantial part.
The sovereignty of Napoleon's three brothers, Joseph Bonaparte, Louis Bonaparte, and
Jerome Bonaparte, as the kings of Naples, Holland, and Westphalia, respectively, was
recognized. Russia obtained only a small portion of East Prussia. In effect, by the
agreements, France and Russia divided the political control of Europe between them, an
arrangement that lasted until 1812.
The Continental SystemNapoleon planned to cut off all British trade with European continent and thus cripple
British commercial and financial power. The Milan Decree of 1807 attempted to stop
neutral nations from trading with Britain. Britain survived due to the North and South
America markets and their control over the seas. However the Continental System hurt
the other nations economically. France also had high tariffs protecting their nation which
hurt the merchant further causing animosity and smuggling.
European response to the Empire
The Napoleonic Code was imposed on all nations Napoleon conquered. Serfdom and
feudal rights abolished, churches lost their independence and toleration was practiced,
and men gained more rights under Napoleon’s rule.
German Nationalism and Prussia Reform
Beginning of the 19th century the Romantic Movement began. One of its basic features
was Nationalism which was a movement in which the nation-state is regarded as
paramount for the realization of social, economic, and cultural aspirations of a people.
Nationalism is characterized principally by a feeling of community among a people,
based on common descent, language, and religion. Germans sought to establish a unified
state based on Nationalism.
The Wars of Liberation
Spain- France and Spain were allies since 1796. However France armies were stationed
in Spain to force Portugal to abandon its alliance with Britain. While station in Spain a
revolt broke out in Madrid giving Napoleon the opportunity to depose the Spanish
Bourbons with his brother Joseph on the Spanish throne. Outraged peasants and the
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church, who took up gorilla war fare against France to regain the throne for the Bourbons
with Britain’s support.
Austria – Austria used Napoleons distraction with Spain, French was weariness and aid
from German princes to renew its struggles against France. They failed and the Peace of
Schonbrunn was established and deprived Austria of territory and Marie Louise the
daughter of the emperor becomes Napoleons wife to beget an heir.
The Invasion of Russia
The alliance between France and Russia was unpopular in Russia because they were
prohibited to sell timber to Britain, and Napoleon gave them no help against the Ottoman
Empire. In 1810 Russia withdrew from the Continental System and prepared for war.
France invaded Russia with more than 600,000 soldiers, Russia retreats with its 160,000
soldiers and destroys and kills everything while retreating (scorches and burn policy). As
a result Frances soldiers lack food, water and had a low moral. Napoleon refuses to
retreat and battles it out in Moscow, France lost 30,000 soldiers, Russia lost 60,000
soldiers. Napoleon gains nothing and on the return trip back to France most of his armies
dies in the Russian winter, only 100,000 of the original 600,000 returned.
European Coalition
In 1813 patriotic pressures and national ambition brought together another coalition.
Russia, Austria, Prussia and Britain defeated Napoleon in the Battle of Nations March
1814. Napoleon abdicated and went into exile on the island of Elba.
The Congress of Vienna and the European Settlement
Treaty of Chaumont March 9, 1814 provided for the restoration of the Bourbons to the
French throne and to return France to its former boarders prior to 1792, and created the
Quadruple Alliance between Britain, Austria, Russia, and Prussia.
Territorial Adjustments
The Quadruple Alliance agreed that no single state should be allowed to dominate
Europe. France borders were returned to 1792. A series of states were also created to
serve as barriers to French expansion such as the Netherlands.
The Hundred Days and Quadruple Alliance
March 1, 1815 Napoleon returned from Elba Island. France was still loyal to Napoleon
and the people thought it safer under his rule as that of the Bourbons. Napoleon was
declared an outlaw and the Quadruple Alliance sent out an army to crush him. Wellington
(English) defeated Napoleon on June 18, 1815 at Waterloo in Belgium. Napoleon was
exiled and sent to Saint Helena, an island off the coast of Africa, were he died in 1821.
The Quadruple Alliance in 1815 was renewed and for the first time an alliance was used
to maintain peace.
The Romantic Movement
Romanticism was a reaction against much of the thought of the Enlightenment. Romantic
writers / artist saw the imagination as a means of perceiving and understanding the world.
Romanics saw the world beyond that of empirical observation, data, and discursive
reasoning.
Romantic Questioning of the Supremacy of Reason
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The movement has its roots in the individualism of the renaissance. Jean-Jacques
Rousseau and Immanuel Kant raised questions about rationalism.
Rousseau and Education
Rousseau believed that society and material prosperity had corrupted human nature. In
his book Emile were he stressed the difference between children and adults, and that
children should be raised with maximum individual freedoms.
Kant and Reason
Kant wrote The Critique of Pure Reason and The Critique of Practical Reason. He
believed all humans possess an innate sense of moral duty or awareness called categorical
imperative.
Romantic Literature
The Romantic Movement peaked in Germany and England under the leadership of
Madame de Stael and Victor Hugo.
The English Romantic Writers
English romantics believed poetry enhanced the creative process of the mind and was the
highest of human acts.
Wordsworth- William Wordsworth (1770-1850) important works are Ode on Intimations
of Immortality. Wordsworth believed the process of maturation one loses childlike
visions and closeness to spiritual reality
Lord Byron- He rejected the old traditions and championed the causes of personal liberty.
His writing includes Harold’s Pilgrimage and Don Juan.
The German Romantic Writers
Romantic novels were often sentimental and barrowed material from medieval
romances. Ludwig Tieck’s wrote William Lovell and Schlegel Friedrich wrote Lucinde
which attacked prejudices against women.
Goethe- Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749-1832) wrote The Sorrows of Young Werther
which was a series of letters between two lovers one of which was married. Authors
admired his work because its emphasis on feelings and living outside social boundaries.
Faust is his greatest work, were a man sells his soul to the devil to gain knowledge and
breaks the pact by devoting his life to the betterment of mankind.
Religion in the Romantic Period
Romantic religious thinkers appealed to the inner emotions of humankind for the
foundation of religion
MethodismA revolt against deism and rationalism in the Church of England. John Wesley 17031791 was the leader and in 1739 he began to preach his ideas in open fields in England.
By late 18th century the Methodist became its own separate church. Methodism stressed
the role of enthusiastic emotional experience as part of Christian conversion.
New Direction in Continental Religion
The Genius of Christainity by Viscount Francois Rene de Chanteaubriand 1802 argued
the essence of religion is passion
Romantic Views of Nationalism and History
Romanticism glorifies both the individual person and individual cultures.
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Herder and Culture
Johann Gottfried Herder published On the Knowing and Feelings of the Human Soul he
believed that people like plants over time (organically). Humans were different at
different times and places. He wanted to preserve culture and not unify all cultures to
create one culture.
Hegel and History
George Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel was a philosopher. He believed that all periods of
history have been of equal value, because it was necessary for each to occur in order for
later achievements to happen. He also believed cultures are valuable because it leads to a
clash with other cultures causing humans to develop.
Islam, the Middle East, and Romanticism
Romanticism cast the Ottoman Empire and Islam in an unfavorable political light.
However it allowed Europeans to see it in a positive fashion through art and literature
allowing them to read famous works of art such as The Thousand and One Nights and
Arabian Nights
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