The world we live in today would not exist without Napoleon Bonaparte. Napoleon I was a stubby, later chubby, Corsican with a gigantic ego. He decided that his best path to glory and fame was through a military career. Volunteering for military service continues to be a path to fame and fortune, as illustrated by the number of military veterans elected to political office across the U.S.
Napoleon was an artillery officer. In the late 18th and early 19th centuries, artillery was an elite branch of the military because artillery barrages could shatter defensive emplacements and kill scores of the enemy without endangering one’s own troops. Napoleon followed the conventional military which required opening every battle with artillery barrages to soften up the enemy position before committing the infantry, usually in a frontal assault on the enemy position. Napoleon was so successful that armies around Europe and in the U.S. adopted his tactics while ignoring technological upgrades of military weaponry.
Napoleon’s troops, for example, faced the “Brown Bess” a British gun that was only effective at close range. Fifty years later in the American Civil War, everyone used Springfield rifles which were accurate at a distance. One hundred years later in World War I, troops went over the top into machine gun fire that mowed down a generation of young men. But in December 1944, the Germans omitted an artillery barrage (lack of ammunition) and caught American troops off guard in the Battle of the Bulge.
Napoleon’s career sputtered following the French Revolution in 1789. The revolutionary government caromed from one crisis to the next. Revolutionaries and radicals tend to turn on each other after they get rid of their original opponent, in this case the French king and queen. The country descended into a low-grade civil war as the various factions fought for control.
Initially, none of the factions wanted to include Napoleon because they were leery of his ambition. But desperate times lead to hasty, stupid decision-making. One faction asked for Napoleon’s help to defeat a rival faction, fully expecting to dump him when the deed was done. That failed when they realized Napoleon was more popular than they were.
In 1798, Napoleon was packed off to Egypt with the goal of breaking British supply lines that stretched to India. To ensure plenty of favorable PR, he invited scientists and artists to accompany his troops. They were fascinated with the monuments of ancient Egypt and busily sketched and painted everything they saw. Their sketches and paintings inspired others to dig in the Egyptian sands. Effectively, Napoleon created a new academic discipline, archaeology.
While the invasion of Egypt was an abject military failure, Napoleon didn’t care and neither did most French citizens. Back in France, people had decided that democracy required too much effort, and that ceding their civil liberties was worth the price of a dictatorship promising law and order. Naturally, Napoleon was one of the three members of the new dictatorial Consulate. He quickly dispensed with the other two members and in 1804 he was crowned emperor.
Unlike most egotists and dictators, Napoleon was intelligent and had excellent organizational skills. Under his leadership, revisions to the legal code were finalized in 1804 into the Napoleonic Code. The Code is still used by countries that were part of the French Empire and by the state of Louisiana. He also reformed the army, which was necessary for his other goals.
Napoleon had bold plans for expanding French territory in Europe and overseas, including plans to reoccupy Louisiana after selling it (and most of the North American continent) to the U.S. Since the French navy was no match for the British navy, and because he was an artilleryman, he opted for land battles in Europe.
Every battle won was a propaganda opportunity to convince opponents that resistance was futile. Some countries caved in, signing treaties with France which Napoleon had no intention of honoring. Napoleon excelled at exploiting the fears and political divisions of everyone in Europe.
Europe was a patchwork of countries and territories with fluid borders from centuries of warfare. The biggest and weakest political entity was the Holy Roman Empire (962 – 1806 AD) which covered most of central Europe and stretched down into northern Italy. Napoleon blew it apart. The Holy Roman Empire splintered into self-selecting groups based on their local languages and customs, eventually forming the countries we know today.
Napoleon’s successes lulled him into believing his own propaganda. He decided to invade Russia because he was unhappy with Tsar Alexander I for not sucking up sufficiently. Like all egotists he had surrounded himself with sycophants who cravenly agreed that stretching supply lines past the breaking point to attack a country spread across 11 time zones was a good idea. Napoleon’s Grand Army starved in the snow outside Moscow or drowned at the Berezina River during the retreat. (Archaeologists recently found the graves at the Berezina River.)
When a bully is down, it is irresistible to kick the stuffing out of him. (It’s why bullies and tyrants are terrified of losing power.) Everyone in Europe who opposed Napoleon and French control piled on. By April 1814, Napoleon was backed into a military and political corner and forced to abdicate.
Napoleon’s influence on the modern world is undeniable, both the good and bad. The good category includes creating the academic discipline of archaeology and modernizing the laws and political structure of France. Destroying the Holy Roman Empire had both good and bad consequences.
As the Holy Roman Empire transitioned into modern Europe, the new countries needed more than just a common language to maintain cohesion. They needed to believe their country and their culture was superior to all others, a notion that underpins the jingoistic patriotism that still plagues too many countries today. This laid the groundwork for the 19th century arms race that culminated in a World War in 1914.
Napoleon didn’t invent imperialism, but his desire to build an empire encouraged other nations to prove their superiority by colonizing the non-white world. Throughout the 19th and early 20th centuries, European countries and the U.S. scurried around the world subjugating Asian and African people in a mad scramble to create empires that would supply minerals and natural resources to the imperial power. They brought along their racism and cultural chauvinism, treating the local cultures as inferior. The residue of these attitudes continues to poison international relations today.
We can honor Napoleon for the good consequences arising from his rule. But we should be appalled by the bad consequences the flowed from his actions.
There are scores of books about Napoleon examining his personality, his military prowess and his political career from every possible angle, for those who would like to delve more deeply into this fascinating and flawed man.