Jeri Freedman - Strategic Inventions of the Napoleonic Wars

This portrait shows Napoleon Bonaparte, aged about thirty-five, in the uniform of the first consul.

INTRODUCTION

The Napoleonic Age

T he Napoleonic age occured at the border of two eras. The first was the end of the Enlightenment in the late eighteenth centurya period that marked the flowering of scientific exploration and the discovery of many scientific principles. Understanding these principles enabled unprecedented feats of engineering and invention. The second era was the beginning of the Industrial Revolution of the early nineteenth century. This time was marked by the development of machines and the rise of factories. Early industrialization signaled the beginning of the modern era, a migration from farms to cities, and a change from manual to mechanized labor. It also saw the start of the mechanization of warthe switch to standard rather than custom parts for weapons and the creation of workshops where enormous numbers of weapons were produced to supply the vast armies of the time. These developments evolved in the latter part of the nineteenth century into factories that mass-produced goods. In the Napoleonic era, for the first time, sailing ships and horse-drawn artillery were supplemented by vehicles that flew above the battlefield and sailed beneath the sea.

NAPOLEON IN THE NAPOLEONIC AGE

In many ways, the most remarkable element of the Napoleonic age was its namesake, Napoleon Bonaparte. Napoleon was small of stature but heroicand often ruthlessin his ambition. He dominated from 1799 to 1815. From the rank of a captain of artillery, he rose to become an emperor who conquered most of Europe. He was a master of military strategy and a politician adept at public relations. A student of history, he wished to create an empire like that of ancient Rome. A man of enormous ambition who refused to acknowledge any limitations, he would overreach himself in the end, and his attempt would lead to failurebut not before he had changed the world and the nature of warfare.

Napoleon was a man of contradictions. On one hand, he embraced the ideals of the French Revolution (17891799), especially that a man could make anything of himself if he had the will and intelligence. He believed in meritocracyin the doctrine that the best and most capable should rise to the top. On the other hand, he raised his brothers and sisters to the status of monarchs throughout Europe. He assumed the position of dictator yet spread many of the ideals of the French Revolution across the world. His attitude toward innovation was similarly contradictory. He avidly supported inventions he thought would give him military advantage, yet he viewed scientists and inventors as dreamers and charlatans who were out to extract funds from him.

VYING FOR POWER

The Napoleonic Wars (18031815) were, to a large extent, a continuation of the French Revolutionary Wars. From 1792 until Napoleons defeat at Waterloo in 1815, France was continuously at war with a series of coalitions composed of various European nations. In all, there were seven coalitions. During the French Revolutionary Wars, France fought the first two. During the Napoleonic Wars, the country faced the other five.

At this time in history, the primary nation in the coalitions against France was Britain. Napoleon saw Britain as Frances chief challenger for the role of the worlds most dominant country. At that time, Britain had an empire and was master of trade routes that stretched not only across Europe but also throughout North Africa, the Middle East, and the Far East. This was exactly the type of dominance that Napoleon aspired to. He knew that the key to making France the preeminent power in Europe was weakening Britains empire and damaging her trade. Although he never succeeded in significantly reducing Britains power, this goal influenced his political decisions and choices of targets.