Three Wars That Led To The Defeat
Of Napoleon Essay, Research Paper
Three wars that led to the licking of Napoleon
Essay submitted by Unknown
Napoleon Bonaparte was one of the most powerful work forces of all time to walk the face of the
Earth. Many believe him to be the first anti-christ, merely as Nostradamus predicted. To
the military personnels he commanded, he was known as the & # 8220 ; friendly small bodily & # 8221 ; , and to the
sovereigns and male monarchs that he overthrew, he was the & # 8220 ; Corsican Ogre & # 8221 ; ( & # 8221 ; Napoleon
Bonaparte & # 8221 ; ) . Some thought him to be a great reformist. Others thought that he was a
monster. However, friend and enemy likewise could both hold on one thing ; Napoleon I,
Emperor of France and leader of most of Europe for 16 old ages, was one of the
greatest and boldest military masterminds of all clip ( & # 8221 ; Napoleon Bonaparte & # 8221 ; ) . However, like
every great leader, Napoleon excessively had his ruin. Napoleon participated in three wars
that led to his ruin: & # 8220 ; The Attack on Russia & # 8221 ; , & # 8220 ; The War of Nations & # 8221 ; , and & # 8220 ; Waterloo & # 8221 ; .
Napoleon was one time quoted as stating,
& # 8220 ; A conflict is a dramatic action which has a beginning,
a center, and an terminal. The order of conflict which
the two ground forcess take, the first motions to come
to blows- this is the expounding ; the counter-
motion of the ground forces under onslaught signifier the
complication, which requires temperaments and
and brings on crisis from which springs the
consequence or Denouement ( Gray 6 ) & # 8221 ; .
Napoleon thought himself to be unbeatable and God-like. He felt that he had a fate to
be one of the greatest military leaders to of all time populate. The adult male thought that he could non
be killed on the conflict field, he was right. He went from a soldier to the Emperor of
France in merely ten short old ages ; he fell in less than three.
Napoleon led an ground forces of six-hundred-thousand work forces into Russia ( Reihn 159 ) . Bonaparte
was ever really concerned about his soldiers and made sure that they were good taken
attention of ( Segur 58 ) . Napoleon attacked Russia from the Neims River on June 24, 1812.
Equally shortly as they crossed the Neims, a Cossack surprised them and questioned them.
They said they were Gallic and that they had come to do war with Russia. Some of
the soldiers chased the Cossack into the wood and fired at him ( Segur 68 ) . This made
Napoleon really angry. They slept on the bank of the Neims with their arms in manus.
Napoleon besides issued a fire prohibition so that they would be undetected by their enemy.
There was a great thunder-storm and they took shelter. From there he traveled to
Kovno. From Kovno they pushed the Russians further into Russia. They kept on the
Russians trail for a month ( Segur 74 ) . The Russians kept withdrawing back into the
state, firing all supplies that Napoleon could utilize, be!
do the Russians knew that Napoleon & # 8217 ; s supplies would non last really long ( Reihn 159 ) .
After about a month they saw the enemy and instantly started firing their cannons
at the enemy.
The Gallic won the first conflict at Ostrovna. Napoleon & # 8217 ; s brother-in-law Murat drove the
staying Russians into the forests. The Russians took new places. The Russians
came out of the forests shouting and shriek. The Gallic round them down, and the
Russians retreated back into the forests. Napoleon ordered the combat to halt so he
could study the land and be after the following conflict ( Segur 89 ) .
By mid-summer the soldiers began to acquire worn out and the supplies broke down. The
cattle and Equus caballuss died and the soldiers had to marsh through the boggy dirt. The
Russians kept withdrawing and after a piece one-hundred and fifty-thousand Gallic
soldiers had died. He attacked a walled metropolis called Smolensk, trusting to coerce the
Russians to contend at that place, but his ground forces was beaten down. Napoleon had problem kiping
and he tried to invent a program to get the better of the Russians. The Russians lost a tierce of their
work forces. When Napoleon eventually reached Moscow, it was on fire. All supplies and shelter
were gone and he had no pick but to return back place with his staying 100,000
work forces ( Reihn 229 ) . The onslaught on Russia had failed.
Once Napoleon knew that he had lost in Russia he went back to France to raise a new
ground forces. He arrived before Christmas in 1812. He knew that Alexander would seek to oppress
him
( Corley 117 ) . Alexander wanted to settle the mark with France. In the spring of 1813
the combat began. Napoleon and the Tsar reached a external respiration point leting both to
construct up their ground forcess. Napoleon & # 8217 ; s ground forces grew to four-hundred-fifty-thousand. He said he
wou
ld lead as General, non a Emperor. Disease dealt a great trade of harm to
Napoleon is ground forces, Ninty thousand French soldiers were out at one time due to sickness. & # 8220 ; The
Battle of Nations & # 8221 ; began at Leipzig with 190,000 Gallic soldiers against 300,000 Alliess.
On the 3rd twenty-four hours, Napoleon started a retreat. Sixty thousand Gallic soldiers fell or
were captured in the retreat. All of his ground forcess broke up, and he returned to Paris in
hopes of acquiring more work forces and financess, but the Gallic had given their all ( Corley 124 ) .
The Tsar personally accepted the resignation of France. The understanding said that the old
dynasty of male monarchs would return. Napoleon thought he could throw out the enemy from Paris
but his protagonists ordered him to renounce. He was exiled to a little island called Elba
where he would be allowed to maintain the rubric of Emperor. Napoleon swallowed a vile of
toxicant in order to turn out his immortality. His organic structure did non absorb it, and the toxicant had
no consequence. He was destined to contend in one more conflict ( Corley 127 ) .
Well settled in Elba, Napoleon had accepted the alteration in his luck until visitants
started coming, stating him how unhappy France was under Louis the fifteenth & # 8217 ; s brother.
Napoleon was really funny about what happened at the Congress of Vienna, the
conference at which the Allies were puting Europe to rights after all the perturbations
over the past 25 old ages. Napoleon sailed back to France in a brig repainted like
a British war vessel. An chance had come ; the Allied officer that had been put on Elba
to supervise Napoleon had to travel to the mainland for a twenty-four hours or two. After Napoleon set
canvas, he was in good liquors. He instructed non one shooting should be fired because he
wanted to repossess his Crown without bloodshed. As he went inland, the country-folk
began to detect that their great Emperor was one time once more in their thick, and they
rushed in to welcome his return. Napoleon approached a battalion of royal military personnels. They
were ordered to fire at him, alternatively they yelled and cheered him and joined his ground forces
( Becke 174 ) . Many of his old officers rushed to his side.
However in Vienna the Allies decided to do the Duke of Wellington the Supreme
Commander, and Napoleon was named an criminal alternatively of a crowned head. As a consequence,
Bonaparte decided he would assail Wellington with speedy discourtesy. Wellington believed
that Napoleon would reiterate the same game that he played last twelvemonth in the run of
1814. The Gallic progress guards attacked the Allies a small inward of the frontier, but
Wellington was still diffident of Napoleon & # 8217 ; s programs. Wellington decided that he would fall in
with the Prussians ( Becke 213-227 ) . It was raining really strongly. Wellington & # 8217 ; s ground forces
along with the Prussians met Napoleon at morning. Napoleon boasted he would convey a
sound licking. It was mid-day before Napoleon & # 8217 ; s cannons opened fire. The Allies were
being pressed hard by the Gallic, but by the afternoon the Prussians were still coming
( Becke 2: 20-43 ) . Napoleon sent in the imperial guard as a concluding attempt to nail the
allied front line. When they were 20 paces off, Napoleon ordered them to open
fire. The Duke of Wellington ordered the line to counter-attack the tattered Gallic
ground forces.
Defeated, Napoleon rode toward the frontier ( Becke2: 70-97 ) . He planned to organize
another ground forces and get down a new run, but Napoleon was caught by the British ground forces
at Waterloo. He tried to carry them to allow him travel to America ( Becke 2: 132-189 ) .
Bonaparte said he would renounce merely if his boy were proclaimed Napoleon II Emperor of
the Gallic. This thought was brushed aside by the British, but Napoleon surrendered
anyhow. He had earned immortality and celebrity, but he could non go through that to his
boy ( Thompson 214 ) . Napoleon was exiled to a little island called St. Helena.
Bonaparte had this to state about Waterloo:
& # 8220 ; The program of the conflict will non, in the eyes of
historiographers, reflect any recognition on Lord Wellington
as a general. The glorification of such a triumph is a
great thing ; but in the oculus of the historiographer
his repute will derive nil by it ( Gray 100 ) . & # 8221 ;
Napoleon died on the island of St. Helena in the company of a few of his friends with
his secretary by his side. The immortal general had been brought to his decease on May
5, 1821 ( Chevalier 201 ) in a little chateau. Napoleon had gained immortality and
celebrity ( Thompson 214 ) . He died a hero. Despite his failures, he will ever be regarded as
one of the greatest military originators in the history of world.