The Downfall of Napoleon's empire.

[Roy]

I'm a little unsure as to what happned to Napolean's Empire. I know the basics about the French dictator but I want to know what do you think brought about the end of Napolean and his Empire.

[DAv]

Roughly speaking, the fall of the First Napoleonic Empire can be traced to his invasion of Spain and Portugal. Although it wasn't a devestating shock like Russia was, it was a slow cancer that constantly drained the Empire of its strength as the French troops had to contend with the guerillas, the Spanish Army and the British/Portuguese Army constantly attacking them. It was also a major propoganda boost for anti-Napoleonic sentiments as each loss the French suffered caused even greater discontent against the Emperor. Wikipedia gives a rather god analysis of the War:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peninsula_War

[Roy]

Thank you this is a great help.

[Antiochus]

As a leader, Napoleon also seems to have become more and more conservative. He stopped to favor his main advantage, which was mobility, to favor power.

During his last campaings, he used a formation comparable to the macedonian squares, which overexposed and slowed his troops. He stopped relying on his key officers (best exemple would be Davoust) and favored his relatives or officers of meager talents (Jerome Bonaparte would be the best exemple there).

A man who believes himself invinsible is only so until he stops to win...

[Ranbir]

He decided to go against the British Empire. That was the death warrant right there!

I think it's crazy he got captured yet managed to escape.

[Antiochus]

He decided to go against the British Empire. That was the death warrant right there!

Not really. Although the British army was always among his main opponents, their role was always overshadowed by Russia and Austria, who fought more actively against him. Their part in the Napoleonian wars only became central during the Waterloo campaign (where Napoleon had no chances to win anyway), while the other allied nations had a much more dominant role during the second, third, fourth, fift and sixt coalition.

(dont take me wrong though, they are also responsible for his downfall, but to take them on was never a death warrant for the French Emperor).

[Vanman]

Let us not forget that Napoleon's Continental System was also a great failure that contributed to his downfall. To quote David Chandler's "The Illustrated Napoleon":

"The blockade aganst England was difficult to enforce and was bitterly resented by the European powers. Even Napoleon's own brother, Louis of Holland, defied the ruling and in 1810 was forced to abdicate because of it. Above all, the administration of the system forced Napoleon-who gained purely nominal advantages-into a number of decisions that seriously affected his European grand strategy"

In response, Britian blockaded European ports and seized ships carrying goods going into Europe. With Britan's superior navy, trade from French colonies in the East Indies and America was more or less halted, other than the odd blockade runner. Meanwhile Britain could still import goods from her far-flung empire with impunity.

The Continental System is one of the main reasons for the split between France and Russia after the Treaty of Tilsit. With the Russians continuing to violate the blockade Napoleon felt he had an excuse to invade, thereby showing the rest of Europe who the master of the continent was.

Another major reason for Napoleon's downfall would be his need for all control in millitary and government matters coming to him. This form of highly centralized government could not work effectivly while the Emperor was on campaign. Since he never gave his ministers enough leeway to deal with internal or foregn affairs on their own, he took too much on his sholders and could not deal with problems as they arose, for example, in Paris while he was in Moscow. This is not to say that Napoleon was not good at multi-tasking, far from it as we all know, but one man can do only so much himself before the problems compound into unmanigable proportions.

[Jslade]

I once emailed the popular historian Niall Ferguson about the issue, and this is his reply:

"Napoleonic defeat eventually. France simply didn't have the money and
manpower to dominate C19th Europe, let alone the world."


But your original question asked what happened to his Empire. I personally believe Napoleon to be one of the greatest visionary statesmen of European history. Napoleon, for his time, was very progressive in regard to human rights. (Excluding the affairs of the Caribbean). He dreamed of a United Europe, similar to what exists today. And his ability to balance and accomplish so much work, which was mentioned by a previous poster, was titanic.

I agree with the previous poster who said that he became more conservative in his age, and trusted his family. It would seem that his Corsican upbringing was an essential part of his mindset, with the family held in very high esteem. He genuinely believed that because he married the daughter of the Austrian Emperor, he had forever gained Austria as an ally for France. Which of course, was was not true.

Simply though, Napoleon's intervention in Spain tied up too many resources, so is invasion of Russia was lacking. And the brilliant, magnificent army that conquered Europe, was utterly wiped out by the invasion of Russia, and he never could raise an army of that caliber afterwards.

[Duke Cao]

Roughly speaking, the fall of the First Napoleonic Empire can be traced to his invasion of Spain and Portugal. Although it wasn't a devestating shock like Russia was, it was a slow cancer that constantly drained the Empire of its strength as the French troops had to contend with the guerillas, the Spanish Army and the British/Portuguese Army constantly attacking them. It was also a major propoganda boost for anti-Napoleonic sentiments as each loss the French suffered caused even greater discontent against the Emperor. Wikipedia gives a rather god analysis of the War:

Thanks for saying that alot of people say it was Russia. Like you said it was the invasion of Sapin plus in 5 years of war in Spain

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peninsula_War