Download Napoleon through the Congress of Vienna Notes

The Age of Napoleon
Chapter 18.4
 The last phase of the revolution is known as the Age of Napoleon it
lasted from 1799 to 1815.
 Napoléon Bonaparte: started as commander in the French army
(1796), he urged to assumed power by Abbé Sieyès, as dictator
of France after a coup d’état on November 9, 1799. He ruled as
the first Consul (1799-1804) He would crown himself emperor on
December 2, 1804. He will control most of Europe until 1814.
He will divorce his wife Josephine, in 1810, and marry the 18year-old daughter of Francis II, Holy Roman Emperor and great
niece of Marie Antoinette, Marie Louise. She will give birth in
1811 of his much wanted legitimate heir.
 The group originally set up a three-man governing board known as
the Consulate and due up a new constitution.
 Napoleon will write a new constitution and will have it ratified by
plebiscite: election by the people.
But he will be in complete control, this is also know as an absolute
despot
 Napoleon made the central government stronger, keeping many of
the changes of the revolution All classes supported this
1. Economic order – balanced budget, equal and efficient tax collection
system, as well as a national bank.
2. Social order- welcomed émigrés returning to France and promoted
officials by merit, and not by noble birth
3. Education order - Lycées or government run public schools, any
male could have the opportunity to attend
4. Religious order – religious freedom, He signed Concordat of 1801
with Pope Pius VII spelling out the new relationship between the
Catholic Church and the state.
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5. Legal order –Napoleonic Code – This new code of laws embodied
Enlightenment principles of equality, religious tolerance, and the
end of feudalism
A. abolished old estates and the Old Regime (Feudalism and
manorial dues)
B. limited liberty, women lost most of their newly gained rights
and were not considered citizens
C. Restored slavery in the French Caribbean Colonies.
D. Applied to everyone except Napoleon.
 In 1803, Napoleon will sell the Louisiana Purchase to the U.S. after
a failed attempt to put down a slave revolt on the island of
Hispaniola in the French colony of St. Dominique lead by
Toussaint L’Ouverture
 Napoleon abolished or annexed, or added to his empire, he
maintain control through forceful diplomacy by placing family
and friends on the thrones of most European nations except
Russian and Britain
 From 1804 to 1812, Napoleon fought to create a vast French
empire. Before each battle, he drafted a completely new plan. It
was because of this opposing generals could never anticipate
what he would do next. He rarely lost.
 Continental System – set up by Napoleon to destroy Britain’s
commercial and industrial economy. It closed all European ports
to British goods
A. Britain blockaded all of the European ports as well
B. Britain and France began seizing neutral ships in the
Atlantic Ocean
C. British attacks on the ships will led to the U.S. “War of
1812”
D. IT hurt Napoleon’s empire more than his enemies, by
raising prices in France
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 Peninsular War (1807-1814): Portugal’s and Spain’s resistance to
the French,
A. the blockade of the ports
B. Put his brother Joseph on the Spanish throne
C. the undermining of the Spanish Catholic Church
D. Napoleon having to send troop, these troops are needed
elsewhere.
E. Guerrillas – Spanish peasant fighters who fought the
French in Spain. Will cause Napoleon to loose about
300,000 men.
F. This will cause a strong Nationalism movement in Spain
 This feeling of Nationalism (loyalty to one’s country) will spread to
other countries and to colonies in Latin America
 Second Coalition: England, Austria and Russia
 Third Coalition – Britain, Russia, Austria, Sweden and Prussia
 Battle of Trafalgar (10/21/1805) - Attempted to invade England.
French fleet was destroyed and Lord Nelson of England was killed
in battle.
 Napoleon’s victories gave him power over most of Europe, except
Great Britain, the Ottoman Empire, Russia and Sweden
 Battles with Austria (1805)
A. Battle of Ulm(10/16-19/1805) – Invaded Austria
B. Battle of Austerlitz(12/5/1805)- crushing victory for
France
C. Battle of Wagram (7/5-6/1809)-Forced the Austrian
Emperor to make peace, it is later the following year that
Napoléon marries the daughter of the Austrian Emperor.
 Battle of Jena (10/14/1806) -Invaded Prussia
 Battle of Friedland (6/14/1807) - Wiped out Russian Army. Russian
Tsar Alexander I agreed to divide Poland with Napoleon.
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 The French empire was large, containing The Netherlands, parts of
Italy, Switzerland, Spain, the Grand Duchy of Warsaw, a number of
German kingdoms, but extremely unstable. Lasted 5 years (18071812)
 Russia
1. Russia had signed a treaty with France in 1807, but Tsar
Alexander I had strong pressure from the boyars to end the
assistance of the Continental system due to the economical
problems it was creating in Russia. The Russians began selling
grain to England
2. In June of 1812 Napoleon invades Russian with 600,000 soldiers
and 50,000 horses
3. Scorched-earth policy – Russians burned the grain fields and
slaughtered livestock. Leaving not supplies for the French army
as they advanced. Soldiers will desert in search of food.
4. There will be several battles before Napoleon reaches Moscow
5. The Grande Armée entered Moscow in September 14, but the
Russian army had moved north to St. Petersburg and had left the
city empty and burning.
6. By October, with supplies running low Napoleon makes the 1,000
mile trip home to France.
 Less than 20,000 will make it back. It is said that General Famine
and General Winter did more to conquer the Grande Armée
than the Russian soldiers.
 Grand Alliance – Britain, Russia, Prussia, Austria and Sweden
 Battle of The Nations at Leipzig (10/16-19/1813) – Grand Alliance
defeated Napoleon’s army in Saxony Germany.
 In April 1814, Napoleon abdicated, gave up his throne after he
accepted the terms drawn up by Czar Alexander.
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 Napoleon is exiled to the island of Elba. His exiled lasted until
March 1, 1815 when he escaped and sailed to France to
recapture his throne.
 Louis XVIII, brother of Louis XVI, (young Louis XVII died in prison in
1795) became King of France. He was not liked due to the fact
that the French were afraid that he would return France to the
Old Regime. He agrees to some of the changes made during the
Revolution, but will try and revert back to a strong monarchy
 As the members of the nations started to gather in Vienna,
Napoleon with the help of supporters escaped from Elba and
landed in France on March 15, 1815
 Louis will send troops led by Marshall Ney, who had served under
Napoleon, to arrest Napoleon, but as the troops meet Napoleon
they will defect and join Napoleon. As they got closer to the city
of Paris, Louis will make a run for the Netherlands.
 Napoleon will try to regain his “empire” and the allies will quickly put
together an army lead by British Duke of Wellington. They will meet
in at the small town of Waterloo, Belgium (6/18/1815). This last bid
for was known as the Hundred Day.
 After Napoleon’s defeat he was exiled to the island of St. Helena, a
1,000 miles from nowhere in the south Atlantic. He will die a
questionable death in 1821, on the island.
Congress of Vienna (September 1814-June 1815) – Meetings in
Vienna, Austria, of the purpose of restoring order to Europe, after
Napoleon’s defeat.
1. Austria: Emperor Francis I of Austria, Prince Klemens von
Metternich- the Foreign Minister of Austria, and by his deputy,
Baron Wessenberg. and the KEY leader at the Congress of Vienna
,
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2. Russia official delegation was led by the foreign minister, Count
Nesselrode, but Tsar Alexander I for the most part acted on his
own behalf
3. Britain: was represented first by its Foreign Secretary, the
Viscount Robert Castlereagh; after February 1815, by the Duke
of Wellington; and in the last weeks, after Wellington left to
meet Napoleon, by the Earl of Clancarty.
4. Prussia : Prince Karl August von Hardenberg, the Chancellor, and
the diplomat and scholar Wilhelm von Humboldt
5. France: Prince Charles Maurice de Talleyrand was sent by Louis
XVIII
 Initially, the representatives of the four victorious powers hoped to
exclude the French from serious participation in the negotiations, but
Talleyrand managed to skillfully insert himself into their inner councils
in the first weeks of the negotiation.
 Goals of Metternich at Congress of Vienna:
1. Make sure that the French would not attack another
country again, by placing strong countries around.
A. In the north they added Belgium and Luxembourg to
Holland creating the Kingdom of the Netherland
B. In the east they gave lands along the Rhine River to
Prussia
C. Austria was allowed to regain control over northern
Italy
D. A group of 39 German states were loosely joined to
create the German Confederation, led by Austria
E. Switzerland was recognized as an independent nation
F. The Kingdom of Sardinia in Italy was gained Genoa
G. Prevented France from being divided between the
winners, but it strength was diminished.
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2. Balance of Power. - Condition in which no one country
becomes a threat to the others
A. Quadruple Alliance: Austria, Russia, Prussia and Great
Britain pledged to maintain and suppress revolutions
and uprisings especially in France
B. Concert of Europe – Created by Metternich Series of
Alliance to prevent revolutions.
C. Holy Alliance (1815) signed between Tsar Alexander I,
Francis I of Austria and Fredrick William III of Prussia, in
this the group pledged to base their relationships with
other nations on Christian principals.
3. Restore order to prior to 1792 Legitimacy- Bring back the
kings that Napoleon had driven out and replaced
 The results of the Congress
1. The settlement were fair and left no grudges, unlike most other
Treaties
2. Created a lasting peace, until the Crimean war in 1853, between
Britain and Russia
3. Lead to the idea of Nationalism
 The decisions would influenced European politics for the next 100
years, until 1914 and the start of WWI
 They failed though to foresee to power of Nationalism and the
problems it would cause both in Europe and in Latin America
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