Napoleonic Wars

The Napoleonic Wars (1803–1815) were a global series of conflicts fought by a fluctuating array of European coalitions against the French First Republic (1803–1804) under the First Consul followed by the First French Empire (1804–1815) under the Emperor of the French, Napoleon I. The wars originated in political forces arising from the French Revolution (1789–1799) and from the French Revolutionary Wars (1792–1802) and produced a period of French domination over Continental Europe. The wars are categorised as seven conflicts, five named after the coalitions that fought Napoleon, plus two named for their respective theatres: the War of the Third Coalition, War of the Fourth Coalition, War of the Fifth Coalition, War of the Sixth Coalition, War of the Seventh Coalition, the Peninsular War, and the French invasion of Russia. Origins It is with them a war or a revolution, or it is nothing. . . . They have some change in the church or state, or both, constantly in their view. . . . This sort of people are so taken up with their theories about the rights of man that they have totally forgotten his nature. Edmund Burke, Reflections on the Revolution in France (1790), pp. 94–95 War between Britain and France, 1803–1814 Daddy Neptune one day to Freedom did say,If ever I live upon dry land,The spot I should hit on wou'd be little Britain!Says Freedom, "Why that's my own island!"  O, it's a snug little island!  A right little, tight little island,  Search the globe round, none can be found  So happy as this little island. Thomas Dibdin, The British Raft (c. 1797) Between 1793 and 1797, the French would lose 125 warships to Britain’s 38, including 35 capital vessels (ships-of-the-line) to Britain’s 11, most of the latter the result of fire, accidents and storms rather than French attack. The maritime aspect of grand strategy was always one of Napoleon’s weaknesses: in all his long list of victories, none was at sea. Andrew Roberts, Napoleon: A Life (2014), p. 57 War of the Third Coalition, 1805 Battle of Trafalgar, 21 Oct. 1805 thumb|England expects that every man will do his duty. thumb|Let us do something today which the world may talk of hereafter. England expects that every man will do his duty. Adm. Lord Nelson, Signal to the British fleet. Initially dictated as: "England confides that every man shall do his duty." The signaller pointed out that "expects" was in the signals alphabet, but "confides" was not and so had to be spelt out, taking longer, and Nelson agreed to the change. Variant, reported in The Times (26 December 1805): "England expects every officer and man to do his duty this day." Now, gentlemen, let us do something today which the world may talk of hereafter. Vice-Adm. Lord Collingwood, just before his column engaged the Franco-Spanish line; G. L. Newnham Collingwood, ed., A Selection from the Correspondence, vol. 1 (1828), p. 168 It is a great drawback to the scenery of the Parana, that, from the soft nature of its banks, the water is very muddy. . . . In the evening, the wind not being quite fair, as usual we immediately moored, and the next day, as it blew rather freshly, though with a favouring current, the master was much too indolent to think of starting. At Bajada, he was described to me as "hombre muy aflicto,"—a man always miserable to get on; but certainly he bore all delays with admirable resignation. He was an old Spaniard, and had been many years in this country. He professed a great liking to the English, but stoutly maintained that the battle of Trafalgar was merely won by the Spanish captains having been all bought over; and that the only really gallant action on either side was performed by the Spanish admiral. It struck me as rather characteristic, that this man should prefer his countrymen being thought the worst of traitors, rather than unskilful or cowardly. Charles Darwin, The Voyage of the 'Beagle' (1839), p. 164–65 [18–19 Oct. 1833] War of the Fourth Coalition, 1806–1807 When Napoleon asked him, "How would you behave if I made you King of Poland?" he replied, "When a man has the honour to be a Frenchman, he must always be a Frenchman," but he added, "From the day on which I accepted the crown of Poland I would become entirely and solely a Pole, and I would act in complete contradiction to your Majesty if the interests of the people whose chief I was demanded that I should do so." Mar. Louis-Nicolas Davout, in R. P. Dunn-Pattison, Napoleon's Marshals (1909), p. 182. See also: Duchy of Warsaw · Polish Legions Peninsular War, 1808–1814 thumb|Battles of the Peninsular War Napoleon’s troops fought in bright fields, where every helmet caught some gleams of glory; but the British soldier conquered under the cool shade of aristocracy. No honours awaited his daring, no despatch gave his name to the applauses of his countrymen; his life of danger and hardship was uncheered by hope, his death unnoticed. W. F. P. Napier, The Peninsular War, vol. 2 (1810), b. 11, ch. 3 Battle of Corunna, 16 Jan. 1809 Not a drum was heard, not a funeral note, As his corse to the rampart we hurried. But he lay like a warrior taking his rest, With his martial cloak around him. Slowly and sadly we laid him down, From the field of his fame fresh and gory;We carved not a line, and we raised not a stone, But we left him alone with his glory. Charles Wolfe, "The Burial of Sir John Moore after Corunna", 16 Jan. 1809 (wr. 1816; pub. 1817) First Battle of Porto, 29 Mar. 1809 The main task which his [Soult's] master had set before him, the capture of Lisbon, he was never able to contemplate, much less to take in hand. Like so many other French generals in the Peninsula, he was soon to find that victory is not the same thing as conquest. Charles Oman, A History of the Peninsular War, vol. 2 (1903), p. 249 War of the Fifth Coalition, 1809 Battle of Wagram, 5–6 July 1809 Should another battle be unavoidable, I will strike one more blow against the French, though you may rest assured that I shall risk nothing or as little as possible. Archduke Charles, writing to his uncle and mentor Prince Albert, Duke of Teschen. G. Rothenberg, The Emperor's Last Victory (2004), p. 152 5 July The battle here at Marchfeld will decide the fate of our dynasty . . . I request that you march out here at once and join my left wing. Archduke Charles, writing to his younger brother, Archduke John, commander of a secondary Austrian army. G. Rothenberg, The Emperor's Last Victory (2004), p. 152 The army escaped all disorder, except that arising from a few detachments following corps to which they did not belong. Gen. Antoine-Henri Jomini, commenting on the French crossing operations. D. G. Chandler, The Campaigns of Napoleon (1966), p. 713 I had decided to seize the only means which could give any prospect of success against the superior enemy, namely to fall on them by surprise on all sides as day broke. Archduke Charles. Ian Castle, Aspern & Wagram (1990), p. 66 6 July Pourquoi n'avez-vous pas chargé l'ennemi au moment décisif? Why in the world didn't you charge the enemy when the decisive moment came? Gen. MacDonald to Gen. Walther, commander of the Guard cavalry. C. E. Guyot. Carnets de campagnes: 1792–1815 (1999), p. 102 Subsidiary wars War of 1812 The enemy fought with savage fury, and met death with all its horrours, without shrinking or complaining: not one asked to be spared, but fought as long as they could stand or sit. Brig.-Gen. John Coffee, describing American Indian fighters at the Battle of Tallushatchee, 3 November 1813, in an official report to Andrew Jackson (November 1813); in James Porton, Life of Andrew Jackson (1860) They wanted this iron fist to command them. Fd.-Mar. Lord Wellington (8 November 1840), recalling the fate of some of his best troops from Bordeaux, sent to the Canadian frontier during the War of 1812; in The Earl Stanhope, Notes of Conversations (1888), p. 252 In 1814 we took a little trip Along with Colonel Jackson down the mighty Mississip. We took a little bacon an' we took a little beans And we caught the bloody British at the town of New Orleans. Jimmy Driftwood, "The Battle of New Orleans" (1936) Invasion of Russia, 1812 Outside the gate Kutuzov was sitting in a droshky, buried in deep thought. Colonel Toll drove up to the Russian general and reported that the French had entered Moscow. "God be praised," answered Kutuzov. "That is their last triumph." Fd.-Mar. Mikhail Kutuzov, Speech to his men before withdrawing his forces to the southeast of Moscow, as recalled by Sergey Glinka. A. Brett-James, 1812: Eyewitness Accounts of Napoleon's Defeat in Russia (1966), p. 165 For myself, stationed...between the enemy and the fertile provinces, and at a short distance from Moscow, I watch his movements, and guard the resources of the empire: for, I must repeat, that as long as the army of your Imperial Majesty exists, (and it will exist as long as there is a Russian alive to defend his country!) the loss of Moscow is not the loss of the empire! The invader will be compelled to evacuate the capital of the Tzars. Its ruins will be repaired, and the glory of the empire brightened by the very attempts that have been made to extinguish its existence. Fd.-Mar. Mikhail Kutuzov, Letter to Tzar Alexander I, dated from the village of Gilino, 16 Sept. [O.S. 4 Sept.] 1812. R. K. Porter, A Narrative of the Campaign in Russia (1813), p. 105 Les hommes ordinaires ont succombé, disait-il; les hommes de fer ont été faits prisonniers; je ne ramène avec moi que les hommes de bronze. Ordinary men died, men of iron were taken prisoner: I only brought back with me men of bronze. Napoleon (1812). Col. Julien Combe, Mémoires du colonel Combe sur les campagnes de Russie 1812, de Saxe 1813, de France 1814 et 1815 (Paris, 1853), p. 184. David Johnson, Napoleon's Cavalry and Its Leaders (1978) War of the Sixth Coalition, 1812–1814 A year ago all Europe marched with us; today all Europe marches against us. Napoleon. J. T. Headley, The Imperial Guard of Napoleon (1851), p. 184 War of the Seventh Coalition, 1815 C'est le commencement de la fin. It is the beginning of the end. Ascribed to C.-M. de Talleyrand during the Hundred Days. Also attributed to Gen. Augereau. Hoyt's New Cyclopedia of Practical Quotations (1922), p. 66 Battle of Waterloo, 18 June 1815 When I awoke this morning, at day-light, I found myself drenched with rain. I had slept so long and so soundly that I had, at first, but a very confused notion of my situation; but having a bright idea that my horse had been my companion when I went to sleep, I was rather startled at finding that I was now alone; nor could I rub my eyes clear enough to procure a sight of him, which was vexatious enough; for, independent of his value as a horse, his services were indispensable; and an Adjutant might as well think of going into action without his arms as without such a supporter. But whatever my feelings might have been towards him, it was evident that he had none for me, from having drawn his sword and marched off. The chances of finding him again, amid ten thousand others, were about equal to the odds against the needle in a bundle of hay; but for once the single chance was gained, as, after a diligent search of an hour, he was discovered between two artillery horses, about half a mile from where he broke loose.   The weather cleared up as the morning advanced; and, though every thing remained quiet at the moment, we were confident that the day would not pass off without an engagement, and, therefore, proceeded to put our arms in order, as, also, to get ourselves dried and made as comfortable as circumstances would permit.   We made a fire against the wall of Sir Andrew Barnard's cottage, and boiled a huge camp-kettle full of tea, mixed up with a suitable quantity of milk and sugar for breakfast; and, as it stood on the edge of the high road, where all the big-wigs of the army had occasion to pass, in the early part of the morning, I believe almost every one of them, from the Duke downwards, claimed a cupful.   About nine o'clock, we received an order to retain a quantity of spare ammunition, in some secure place, and to send every thing in the shape of baggage and baggage-animals to the rear. It, therefore, became evident that the Duke meant to give battle in his present position; and it was, at the same time, generally understood that a corps of thirty thousand Prussians were moving to our support. Lt. John Kincaid, Adventures in the Rifle Brigade (1830), pp. 327–30 thumb|I gave the order to my Squadron, "Right shoulders forward, attack the Colour," leading direct on the point myself. I did not see the Eagle and Colour . . . until we had been probably five or six minutes engaged. It must, I should think, have been originally about the centre of the Column, and got uncovered from the change of direction. When I first saw it, it was perhaps about forty yards to my left and a little in my front. The Officer who carried it and his companions were moving...with their backs towards me, and endeavouring to force their way into the crowd.   I gave the order to my Squadron, "Right shoulders forward, attack the Colour," leading direct on the point myself. On reaching it, I ran my sword into the Officer's right side a little above the hip joint. He was a little to my left side, and he fell to that side with the Eagle across my horse's head. I tried to catch it with my left hand, but could only touch the fringe of the flag, and it is probable it would have fallen to the ground, had it not been prevented by the neck of Corporal Styles' horse, who came up close on my left at the instant, and against which it fell. Corporal Styles was Standard Coverer; his post was immediately behind me, and his duty to follow wherever I led. When I first saw the Eagle I gave the order, "Right shoulders forward, attack the Colour," and on running the Officer through the body I called out twice together, "Secure the Colour, secure the Colour, it belongs to me." This order was addressed to some men close to me, of whom Corporal Styles was one. On taking up the Eagle, I endeavoured to break the Eagle from off the pole with the intention of putting it into the breast of my coat; but I could not break it. Corporal Styles said, "Pray, sir, do not break it," on which I replied, Very well, carry it to the rear as fast as you can, it belongs to me." Capt. Alexander Clark-Kennedy, Letter written at Leeds (14 July 1839); H. T. Siborne, ed., Waterloo Letters: A Selection from Original and hitherto Unpublished Letters (1891), pp. 75-76 They came on in the same old way, and we sent them back in the same old way. Fd.-Mar. Lord Wellington, about the French columns; in Matthew Shaw, The Duke of Wellington (2005), p. 86 At the battle of Waterloo, when Napoleon's cavalry had charged again and again upon the unbroken squares of British infantry, at last they were giving up the attempt, and going off in disorder, when some of the officers in mere vexation and complete despair fired their pistols at those solid squares. Abraham Lincoln, Speech at New Haven, CT (6 March 1860) We wait, like war-horse chafing  To burst the fetters through,The word—"Up guards and at them"  Of the Duke at Waterloo. John Nichol, "Mulholland", st. 7. The Death of Themistocles, &c. (1881), p. 207 Congress of Vienna, 1814—1815 thumb|National boundaries within Europe set by the Congress of Vienna Le congrès ne marche pas, il danse. If the Congress does not march, at least it dances. Said of the Vienna Congress which assembled in Sept. 1814, and was made the occasion for a prolonged succession of festivities all through the winter, culminating in Prince Metternich's ball of 7 March, which was interrupted by the news of Bonaparte's successful landing in the South of France. The Correspondence of the Brothers Grimm (Weimar, 1881) gives under the date of 23 Nov. 1814, a reported saying of the day, attributed to Charles Joseph, Prince de Ligne: Le congrés danse beaucoup, mais il ne marche pas. Georg Büchmann, Geflügelte Worte, 19th ed. (1898), p. 528; Edouard Fournier, L'Esprit dans l'Histoire, 5th ed. (1883), pp. 427-8. W. F. H. King, Classical and Foreign Quotations, 3rd ed. (1904), p. 169, no. 1,311 Thénardier, seated beside a candle in the public room of the tavern, pen in hand, was making out the bill for the traveller with the yellow coat. His wife, standing beside him, and half bent over him, was following him with her eyes. . . . “Twenty-three francs!” cried the woman, with an enthusiasm which was mingled with some hesitation. Like all great artists, Thénardier was dissatisfied. “Peuh!” he exclaimed. It was the accent of Castlereagh auditing France’s bill at the Congress of Vienna. Victor Hugo, Les Misérables (1862), bk. 3, ch. 9 (tr. Isabel F. Hapgood, 1887) Aftermath May the pens of the diplomats not undo what we have won with the sword! Gen.-Feldm. Gebhard von Blücher, toast at Wellington's banquet in honour of the surrender of Paris (July 1815). E. Emerson, A History of the Nineteenth Century Year by Year, vol. 1 (1902), p. 589 What a great city to plunder! Attributed to Blücher in F. Bartosek, "Odell in the Character of Bluecher", The New York Times (29 March 1903), p. 27, col. 5: "It is said about the Prussian General, Blücher, that, while visiting the City of London after the battle of Waterloo, he ascended the dome of St. Paul's Cathedral to get a more extended view of the city. While gazing upon the immense and magnificent city spreading at his feet he was supposed to have exclaimed: 'What a great city to plunder!' or something to that effect." On being asked if he had any request to make, he said he wished to have a bath prepared for him and perfumed with a bottle of eau-de-Cologne, and, as a last request, that his eyes should not be bandaged. Both wishes were granted, and, by order sent by King Ferdinand, twelve of his own soldiers were selected to shoot him. When the fatal hour came, seeing the emotion of his men, Murat said, "My friends, if you wish to spare me, aim at my heart." Mar. Joachim Murat, last words. Hearing of Napoleon's final defeat, Murat fled to Corsica, from which he attempted an impossible invasion of Calabria. He was captured, sentenced to death, and shot in Pizzo Calabro on 13 October 1815. Caroline Laetitia Murat, My Memoirs (1910), p. 23 Les soldats, quand je donne l'ordre de tirer, tirent directement sur mon cœur. Attendez la commande. Ce sera mon dernier pour toi. Je proteste contre ma condamnation. J'ai combattu cent batailles pour la France, et pas une contre elle ... Soldats! Feu! Soldiers, when I give the command to fire, fire straight at my heart. Wait for the order. It will be my last to you. I protest against my condemnation. I have fought a hundred battles for France, and not one against her... Soldiers! Fire! Mar. Michel Ney, last words, before being executed by firing squad (7 Dec. 1815). He had been offered a last request, and had asked for the right to give the firing squad the order to fire. Trevor Royle, ed., A Dictionary of Military Quotations (1989), p. 47 Je n'ai point usurpé la couronne: je l'ai relevée dans le ruisseau. Le peuple l'a mise sur ma tête. Je voulais que le titre de Français fut le plus beau, le plus désirable de la terre. J'étais enfin le roi du peuple, comme les Bourbons sont les rois des nobles. I did not usurp the crown. I picked it up from the gutter; the people placed it on my head. I was king of the people as the Bourbons are kings of the nobles. Napoleon (3 Sept. 1816). C. T. de Montholon, Récits de la captivité de l'empereur Napoléon a Sainte-Hélène (1847), p. 384. J. S. C. Abbott, Napoleon at St Helena (1855), p. 375 Ah, how I loved them; I know full well I loved them! I led them all to death. Mar. Nicolas Oudinot, in R. P. Dunn-Pattison, Napoleon's Marshals (1909), p. 335 External links