Napoleonic Era

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- The Battle of Hohenlinden was fought on December 3, 1800, and was part of the War of the Second Coalition (1799-1802), which was in turn part of the Wars of the French Revolution/Napoleonic Wars. The Battle of Hohenlinden, along with Napoleon's victory at Marengo (June 14, 1800) effectively ended the War of the Second Coalition and led to the Treaty of Luneville (February 1801) and the Treaty of Amiens.

- In 1802 Napoleon was preparing the basis to strengthen his hold over France.

- 1799 (Coup de Brumaire) -> 1802 (Treaty of Amiens) -> 1807 (Treaties of Tilsit)

- With the Treaty of Amiens peace with Britain was kept till 1803.

- Treaty of Amiens, (March 27, 1802), an agreement signed at Amiens, by Britain, France, Spain, and the Batavian Republic (the Netherlands), achieving a peace in Europe for 14 months during the Napoleonic Wars. It ignored some questions that divided Britain and France, such as the fate of the Belgian provinces, Savoy, and Switzerland and the trade relations between Britain and the French-controlled European continent. Notwithstanding military reverses overseas, France and its allies recovered most of their colonies, though Britain retained Trinidad (taken from Spain) and Ceylon (taken from the Dutch). France recognized the Republic of the Seven Ionian Islands and agreed to evacuate Naples and the Papal States. The British were to restore Egypt (evacuated by the French) to the Ottoman Empire and Malta to the Knights of St. John within three months. The rights and territories of the Ottoman Empire and of Portugal were to be respected, with the exception that France would keep Portuguese Guinea.

- Napoleon's technique was to create alliances and distribute territory that wasn't his, such as the smaller states of Germany, then destroying the Holy Roman Empire. He distributed territory belonging to princes and bishops and thus extinguished sovereignties. He marked a number of princes who were ready to be traitors of the Empire so as to gain territory.

- Napoleon crowned himself emperor in 1804, then crowning himself King of Italy, which resulted in the declaration of war by Austria. Napoleon, as emperor, opted for dynasticism in 1804 with the idea of setting up a hereditary system (effectively negating all that had been achieved with the French Revolution). However, the foundations of his power were different from other European emperors. Napoleon's power depended on success on the battlefield, which had never happened in France before, as, while Napoleon focused on promoting nationalism in France, in Europe he asserted himself and strengthened a power base. He played with nationalism but the states he created were not actually like nations. Napoleon was popular with right-wings but not with left-wings. The French started patching up the financial problems present by means of exploitation of the territory gained, which on a long term basis was detrimental.

- Napoleon set up in the subject territories, where he eliminated the previous rulers, subject kingdoms ruled by his brothers. The subject kingdoms had quotas of soldiers they had to provide. He eventually created his own elite "Napoleonic aristocracy".

- One of the most important periods in the Napoleonic age was the 1805-1807 campaign during which France had many successes.

- Napoleon's main intention was to invade Britain. However, Britain was the strongest naval power in the world and in fact, in the Battle of Trafalgar (1805), Napoleon was defeated by the British navy led by Nelson.

- In one of the most decisive naval battles in history, a British fleet under Admiral Lord Nelson defeats a combined French and Spanish fleet at the Battle of Trafalgar, fought off the coast of Spain. At sea, Lord Nelson and the Royal Navy consistently thwarted Napoleon Bonaparte, who led France to preeminence on the European mainland. Nelson’s last and greatest victory against the French was the Battle of Trafalgar, which began after Nelson caught sight of a Franco-Spanish force of 33 ships. Preparing to engage the enemy force on October 21, Nelson divided his 27 ships into two divisions and signaled a famous message from the flagship Victory: “England expects that every man will do his duty.” In five hours of fighting, the British devastated the enemy fleet, destroying 19 enemy ships. No British ships were lost, but 1,500 British seamen were killed or wounded in the heavy fighting. The battle raged at its fiercest around the Victory,and a French sniper shot Nelson in the shoulder and chest. The admiral was taken below and died about 30 minutes before the end of the battle. Nelson’s last words, after being informed that victory was imminent, were “Now I am satisfied. Thank God I have done my duty.”Victory at the Battle of Trafalgar ensured that Napoleon would never invade Britain.

- Despite Napoleon's crushing defeat at the Battle of Trafalgar, on land he would eventually win a considerable amount of victories that would lead to the peak of his power (1807). Given the impossibility of defeating Great Britain in the high seas and having had a 2nd large navy destroyed at Trafalgar following the disaster of Abukir, Napoleon tried to force Great Britain to an agreement by disrupting/hindering British trade - The Continental System - involving an embargo of the market to British products, merchants, imports, exports.

- Important Battles

- Battle of Austerlitz 1805 against Austria and Russia

- Battle of Austerlitz, also called Battle of the Three Emperors, (Dec. 2, 1805), the first engagement of the War of the Third Coalition and one of Napoleon’s greatest victories. His 68,000 troops defeated almost 90,000 Russians and Austrians nominally under General M.I. Kutuzov, forcing Austria to make peace with France (Treaty of Pressburg) and keeping Prussia temporarily out of the anti-French alliance.

- Treaty of Pressburg, (Dec. 26, 1805), agreement signed by Austria and France at Pressburg (now Bratislava, Slovakia) after Napoleon’s victories at Ulm and Austerlitz; it imposed severe terms on Austria. Austria gave up the following: all that it had received of Venetian territory at the Treaty of Campo Formio to Napoleon’s kingdom of Italy; the Tirol, Vorarlberg, and several smaller territories to Bavaria; and other western lands of the Habsburg monarchy to Württemberg and Baden. Austria agreed to admit the electors of Bavaria and Württemberg, who were allied to Napoleon, to the rank of kings, and to release them, as well as Baden, from all feudal ties with the defunct Holy Roman Empire, thus sharply