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Napolean
Nationalism is the devotion of people to the interests of its nation or
the love of one’s country to stay independent. Nationalism played a major
role in the downfall of Napoleon in that he wanted an empire and his
opponent’s wanted independence.
As Napoleon was conquering lands and creating a vast empire his troops
stressed in the far lands that they conquered life, liberty and equality.
Even though Napoleon did not realize it triggered nationalistic feelings
among the conquered nations.
Spain who was an ally of France, disobeyed Napoleon’s decree. Then in
1808 Napoleon overthrew the Spanish royal family and made his brother
Joseph king of Spain. But everything that Napoleon did such as put in a
foreign ruler, take away noble privileges offended Spanish pride and
created nationalistic feelings. The people of Spain revolted in 1808. The
French troops stopped the riots, but the nationalistic spirit was not
lost. For the next five years there was warfare in Spain. British troops
came to aid Spain. This led to the defeat of Joseph, death of thousands
of French troops and it inspired patriots and nationalists of other lands
to resist Napoleon. This war between 1808 and 1813 is called The
Peninsular War.
In Germany, anti-French feelings broke out. But the French invasions
carried German nationalism beyond the small ranks of writers. In 1807
writers attacked French occupation of Germany. This nationalistic feeling
spread to the Prussians. In 1806 the Prussians were defeated by the French
troops. To drive the French out of Prussia there would have to be a spirit
of cooperation and loyalty. To accomplish this there would have to be
social and political reforms. A reformer said that if social abuses were
eliminated the Prussians could fight with national honor. Military reforms
improved the Prussian army. In the War of Liberation(1813), the soldiers
showed great feelings of patriotism and nationalism. And the French were
driven out of Prussia.
Russia, who was an ally of France went against the word of Napoleon. So
Napoleon decided to invade Russia. Napoleon’s Grand Army had 700,000
people in it. Most of soldiers were not French and didn’t care for the war.
In 1812 when Napoleon began the invasion, Russia retreated. As they were
retreating they burned all crops which were valuable. When Napoleon
reached Moscow, the Russians burned the city. Even worse the winter was
in a few months. The Russians also destroyed the food supply to Napoleon.
Many soldiers starved to death. Napoleon decided to retreat back to France.
On the way back Russian Cossacks slaughtered the soldiers who fell behind.
Napoleon abandoned his army and went back to France.
In 1813 almost every nation in Europe joined in the final coalition
against France. Napoleon raised a new army but couldn’t replace the
equipment lost in Russia. In October 1813 allied forces from Russia,
Austria, Prussia, and Sweden defeated Napoleon at Leipzig. By April 1814
the coalition occupied Paris, Napoleon was exiled to the island of Elba.
The coalition made peace with France. They restores Bourbon monarchy to
throne in the person of Louis.
However Napoleon escaped Elba and returned to France in march of 1815.
Louis ordered his troops to stop Napoleon, but no one did. As Napoleon
entered Paris he got a cheer. He raised a new army and on June 18 1815 he
moved against the allies in Belgium. There the Prussians and the British
defeated Napoleon at the Battle of Waterloo. These days of Napoleon trying
to regain power are called the Hundred Days. This time they sent him to St.
Helena a lonely island near Africa. There he died in 1821.
Nationalism was an enemy to Napoleon because it led to the decline of
his empire. And the nationalistic feeling that was felt between his
opponent’s eventually destroyed him.
Word Count: 603
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