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The Napoleonic Wars began with the War of the Third Coalition, which was the first of the Coalition Wars against the First French Republic after Napoleon's accession as leader of France. Britain ended the Treaty of Amiens , declaring war on France in May 1803.
- Overview
- The defeat of Austria, 1800–01
The Napoleonic Wars were a series of conflicts between Napoleon’s France and a shifting web of alliances among other European powers. The wars lasted from about 1800 to 1815, and for a brief time they made Napoleon the master of Europe.
When did the Napoleonic Wars take place?
The Napoleonic Wars took place from about 1800 to 1815. They were a continuation of the French Revolutionary wars, which ran from 1792 to 1799. Together these conflicts represented 23 years of nearly uninterrupted war in Europe.
Why were the Napoleonic Wars important?
The Congress of Vienna, which was the settlement that followed the Napoleonic Wars, remade the map of Europe and set the stage for the emergence of Germany and Italy as unified states. The pressures of the Napoleonic Wars also likely prompted Napoleon to sell the Louisiana Territory to the United States.
How did the Napoleonic Wars end?
Though Bonaparte had to embark on the campaigns of 1800 with inadequate forces and funds, the weaknesses of allied strategy went far to offset the disadvantages under which he laboured. Austria had decided on an equal division of its strength by maintaining armies of approximately 100,000 men in both the German and Italian theatres. Instead of reinforcing Austrian strength in northern Italy, where there was most hope of success, the British government spent its efforts in limited and isolated enterprises, among them an expedition of 6,000 men to capture Belle-Île off the Brittany coast and another of 5,000 to join the 6,000 already on the Balearic Island of Minorca. When in June these two forces were diverted to cooperate with the Austrians they arrived off the Italian coast too late to be of use.
Bonaparte’s plan was to treat Italy as a secondary theatre and to seek a decisive victory in Germany. It proved impossible to increase Victor Moreau’s Army of the Rhine to more than 120,000—too small a margin of superiority to guarantee the success required. Nevertheless, Bonaparte was busy with the creation of an army of reserve which was to be concentrated around Dijon and was destined to act under his command in Italy. Until he had engaged this force in the south, Bonaparte would be able, should the need arise, to take it to Moreau’s assistance. In Italy André Masséna’s 30,000–40,000 outnumbered troops were to face the Austrians in the Apennines and in the Maritime Alps until the army of reserve, marching to the south of the Army of the Rhine, should cross the Alps, fall upon the Austrians’ lines of communication, cut off their retreat from Piedmont, and bring them to battle. Bonaparte had hoped that Moreau would mass the Army of the Rhine in Switzerland and cross the river at Schaffhausen to turn the Austrian left in strength and obtain a decisive victory before dispatching some of his army to join the force descending on the rear of the Austrians in Italy. Moreau, however, preferred to cross the Rhine at intervals over a distance of 60 miles (approximately 100 km) and to encounter the Austrians before concentrating his own forces.
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Timeline. 18 May 1803. Britain declares war on France, beginning the Napoleonic Wars. Jun 1803 - Aug 1805. Napoleon gathers a massive army at Boulogne for a planned invasion of England; this is the origin of Napoleon's famous Grande Armée. 21 Mar 1804.
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Learn more about Napoleon’s spectacular rise—and eventual fall—through this timeline of his life. Napoleon Bonaparte rose from the ranks of the French Revolutionary army to become first consul (1799–1804) and emperor of the French (1804–1814/15).
Oct 17, 2023 · Period. Georgian. Napoleonic Wars timeline: the key dates you need to know. Jeremy Black charts Napoleon’s rise to power in Revolutionary France and the dramatic chain of events leading up to his final defeat at Waterloo. Published: October 17, 2023 at 7:22 AM. 20 April 1792 – Start of the French Revolutionary Wars.
The Napoleonic era. greatest extent of Napoleon I's empire, 1812. Napoleon ruled for 15 years, closing out the quarter-century so dominated by the French Revolution. His own ambitions were to establish a solid dynasty within France and to create a French-dominated empire in Europe. To this end he moved steadily to consolidate his personal power ...
October 31: End of the Siege of Pamplona; December 7: Battle of Bornhöved; December 9–13: Battles of the Nive; December 10: Battle of Sehested; 1814. February 10–14: Six Days Campaign; February 15: Battle of Garris; February 27: Battle of Orthez; April 10: Battle of Toulouse; March 30–31: Battle of Paris
