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Napoleon’s Wars
The Napoleonic Wars were a series of conflicts fought between France under the leadership of
Napoleon Bonaparte and a number of European nations between 1799 and 1815. They followed
on from the War of the First Coalition (1793-97) and engaged nearly all European nations in a
bloody struggle, a struggle that also spilled over into Egypt, America and South America. During
the Wars (for during this period the fighting was not constant) warfare was to change and move
towards modern warfare leaving behind forever the idea of war as a sport of kings and moving
towards the concept of Total War and the nations in arms. Weaponry also evolved though at a
much slower rate than the ideas of the nation at arms and conscription. By the end of the period
most European armies had riflemen and the British made the first large scale use of Congreve
Rockets in a European war. The period starting with bright uniforms but by the end of the period
dark blue or green uniforms had become common for skirmishers, the beginnings of military
camouflage. The period also saw the British Army under the leadership of the Duke of
Wellington become renown as the best in Europe.
The first campaign of the Napoleonic wars was the War of the second Coalition - with Bonaparte
absent in Egypt fighting the British a new coalition formed against the French in 1798. This
consisted of Russia, Great Britain, Austria, Portugal, The Ottoman Empire and the Kingdom of
Naples. The fighting took place mainly in Northern Italy and Switzerland, with the Russians
under General Aleksandr Suvorov being successful at first undoing the damage done by
Napoleon's victories in Italy. The French defeated the Russians who pulled out of the coalition.
Bonaparte offered peace but the coalition refused and in 1800 he crossed the Alps and defeated
the Austrians at the battle of Marengo 1800. Other French victories followed and soon only
Britain remained to stand against the French. After a failed attack in Holland, Britain made peace
(1802). this was not to last long.
In 1805 the War of the Third Coalition broke out, with Britain joined by Russia, Austria and
Sweden. Napoleon defeated the Austrians at Ulm (1805) and finally at Austerlitz in 1805 (known
as the battle of the three Emperors). Once again the coalition reformed this time with Prussia but
without Austria in 1806. Napoleon quickly moved against the Prussians and crushed them at the
battle of Jena in 1806. By 1808 Napoleon was master of all Europe but he was now to begin a
series of mistakes that would lead to his defeat. Dethroning King Charles IV of Spain he made
his brother Joseph Bonaparte King, causing a revolt and what was to be known as a Guerrilla war
in Spain. During the Peninsular war (1808-1813) the Spanish Guerillas aided by British troops
under Wellington and Portuguese allies drove the French out and eventually invaded southern
France. A fifth Coalition formed but the Austrians were defeated at the battle of Aspern and
Wagram in 1809.
With large numbers of his troops tied down in Spain, Napoleon decide to invade Russia in 1812
with an Army of 500,000 men and although he defeated the Russians at the battle of Borodino in
1812 and took Moscow he was forced to retreat due to weather, costing him most of his army
and marking the beginning of the end. Surrounded by enemies on all sides with his best troops
dead Napoleon was forced to abdicate in 1814. As the members of the Fifth coalition decided the
fate of Europe, Napoleon staged a daring return to power and tried to reverse the outcome of the
war at the battle of Waterloo (18 June 1815). Waterloo was a bloody battle which saw his
remaining elite guard destroyed and Napoleon exiled to St Helena from where he was never to
return, marking the end of the Napoleonic wars.
Napoleonic Wars casualties
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The casualties of the Napoleonic Wars (1803-1815), direct and indirect, break down as
follows:
Note that deaths listed include being killed in action and of other causes, such as dying of
disease, wounds, starvation, exposure, drowning, friendly fire, atrocities, etc.
French Empire
France and allies:





371,000 killed in action[1]
800,000 killed by disease, primarily in the disastrous invasion of Russia[2]
600,000 civilians[2]
65,000 French allies (mainly Poles fighting for independence lost in 1795)[2]
Total: 1,800,000 French and allies (mostly Germans and Poles) dead in action, disease
and missing[1]
Allies






120,000 Italians
289,000 Russian dead or missing (note; the French army went into Russia with 600,000
men and left with 20,000)[2]
134,000 Prussian dead or missing
376,000 Austrian dead or missing
300,000 Spanish dead or missing
311,806 British dead or missing[3]
Total dead and missing


2,500,000 military personnel in Europe
1,000,000 civilians were killed in Europe and in rebellious French overseas colonies[4]
These numbers are subject to considerable variation. Erik Durschmied, in his book The Hinge
Factor, gives a figure of 1.4 million French military deaths of all causes. Adam Zamoyski
estimates that around 400,000 Russian soldiers died in the 1812 campaign alone; this figure is
backed up by other sources.[citation needed] Civilian casualties in the 1812 campaign were probably
comparable. Alan Schom estimates some 3 million military deaths in the wars and this figure,
once again, is supported elsewhere. Common estimates of more than 500,000 French dead in
Russia in 1812 and 250,000-300,000 French dead in Iberia between 1808 and 1814 give a total
of at least 750,000, and to this must be added hundreds of thousands of more French dead in
other campaigns - probably around 150,000 to 200,000 French dead in the German campaign of
1813, for example. Thus, it is fair to say that the estimates above are highly conservative.
Civilian deaths are impossible to accurately estimate. Whilst military deaths are invariably put at
between 2.5 million and 3.5 million, civilian death tolls vary from 750,000 to 3 million. Thus
estimates of total dead, both military and civilian, can reasonably range from 3,250,000 to
6,500,000.