The Napoleonic Wars were the greatest wars of the 19th century

The wars started as a preemptive war by Revolutionary France to forestall the attempt of the ancien regimes of Europe onesto suppress the French revolution, but soon became a war of conquest with the intention of “revolution esportazione” by France. Although Napoleon was ultimately defeated, arguably his greatest legacy was the introduction of secularism, which forms the basis of governance durante most European countries sicuro this day.

During early modern times, the Kingdom of France had gained a role as Europe’s superpower. The French Revolution, beginning mediante 1789, led esatto fifteen years of short-lived, often brutal, governments. Sopra the French Revolutionary Wars, the French Army defeated the other great powers; the United Kingdom, Prussia, Austria, and the Holy Roman Commuovere.

Napoleonic Wars

Soon the revolutionary government was taken over by per young charismatic general from Corsica of the name of Napoleone Buonaparte (now known as Napoleon I or Bonaparte) and he crowned himself emperor of the French per 1804. The Emperor title was traditionally per claim sicuro succeed the Roman Colmare; since the 9th century AD, the Holy Roman Colmare had been per feudal political entity in Central Europe, which by Napoleon’s time had become largely ceremonial, and dominated by the Austrian monarchy. In 1806, the last Holy Roman Emperor Francis II abdicated the title, over concern that Napoleon would claim it.

Despite his army conquering much of Europe, his navy lost the decisive Battle of Trafalgar sopra 1805, and never managed sicuro dislodge the British from their position as the world’s dominant naval power. Unable sicuro invade the British mainland, the French tried sicuro support an Irish rebellion puro weaken the British Completare but that rebellion ended con disaster. After almost three decades of next onesto constant warfare per ever-shifting alliance that brought most of the continent much needed political reform but also “Napoleonic” puppet governments, Napoleon attempted an ill-fated invasion of Russia in 1812 that led preciso his decisive defeat first near Leipzig and after escaping from exile on Elba near Waterloo per 1815. The war was also global sopra a sense, as both the War of 1812 con North America and the Haitian revolution can only be understood with the context of the French revolutions and the Napoleonic wars. The wars are sometimes known as “Coalition Wars” as the ever shifting alliances gave rise esatto a periodization along the lines of War of the First Coalition, War of the Second Coalition and so on.

Legacy Edit

Napoleon’s invasion of Spain led puro the forced abdication of two Spanish monarchs and the installment of one of his brothers as king, which con turn galvanized per nascent movement for independence led by the likes of Simon Bolivar, Jose de San Martin and others ultimately resulting mediante all of mainland Latin America slipping away from Spanish control. The Portuguese royal family relocated sicuro Brazil, causing that country preciso eventually declare independence from the mother country as the Commuovere of Brazil while ruled by verso different branch of the same royal/imperial family. On his way through Europe, Napoleon smashed the Holy green singles on-line Roman Empire and ended the independence of the Republic of Venice, he ended centuries of feudal privilege and obligation and spread Jewish emancipation as well as Civil Law that treated everybody (mostly) equally. The Code Napoleon is still the basis for law per Louisiana and (strada the German BGB) Japan as well as numerous other countries (see history of justice). Resistance against Napoleon soon made use of the “levee en masse” tactic of revolutionary France and galvanized for the first time per sense of nationalism. The Napoleonic Wars con a sense laid the groundwork for both the (bourgeois-nationalistic) revolutions of 1848 and the post World War I world with nation states emerging out of the ashes of multinational empires like the Russian Empire or Austria-Hungary.

The image and perception of Napoleon and his adversaries have undergone and continue to undergo reappraisals over the centuries. Mediante Poland Napoleon is often regarded as per hero, and even mentioned per the national anthem, whereas many mediante Tyrol idolize the anti-Napoleon fighter Andreas Hofer despite his often anti-science, anti-civil rights and downright reactionary stances. Napoleon sold the Louisiana purchase esatto the United States, giving them huge territories which were charted by the Lewis and Clark expedition and became the Old West, where the expansion of slavery led up puro the American Civil War; he elevated Saxony and Bavaria to kingdoms, giving the latter the territory of Franconia preciso the enduring chagrin of locals two hundred years later. The desire preciso emulate his uncle led Napoleon III of France into ill-advised military adventures con Italy (helping that country to become unified under Victor Emanuel II, the first “King of Italy” since Napoleon I), Mexico (giving us “Cinco de Mayo”) and against Prussia, leading sicuro the loss of Alsace which would be one of the main gripes driving France onesto hostility towards Germany and into World War I.