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The Napoleonic Empire - Contenido educativo
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Hello class. Today we are going to explain the Napoleonic Empire from 1804 to 1815. If
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you remember in our last class, we explained that Napoleon decided to crown himself, because
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he was really, really ambitious, in front of the Pope Pius VII, in front of the Pope
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from the Catholic Church. This is the moment when Napoleon became an emperor and he began
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to develop his idea of an empire. So today let's start by looking at the main characteristics
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of this empire. We are in 1805 and this is the moment when Napoleon wanted to expand
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the ideas of the revolution. He wanted to give his stamp in history and for this reason
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he began to develop the ideas of his own empire. We are in 1805 and he has the characteristics
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to develop the empire, because Napoleon first of all had a huge army. For example, when he
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launched the campaign over Russia, at that moment Napoleon had an army of around, pay attention,
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around 450,000 soldiers. So he had a large army to develop his idea of an empire.
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And secondly, he was a revolutionary general. He learned many, many, many new tactics,
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new military tactics, in his school in Paris. He was considered to be a revolutionary
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general in terms of war. This is the disposition we are going to explain.
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We are going to explain some important characteristics of his troops. This is the
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disposition of the Napoleonic troops. We have here the reserve, which was composed of all
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soldiers. And we have here the young ones, the advance guard. And when Napoleon hit with his army
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the enemy, at the same time as well as that, he used the left wing and the right wing of his army,
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which was composed of the cavalry, to hit the center of the enemy. And with this tactic,
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when the advance guard imagined this situation was hitting the center of his enemy, the right
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wing and the left wing of the Napoleonic army encircled the enemy. And with this
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revolutionary tactic, he defeated, first of all, the Austrian Empire in the famous Battle of
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Austerlitz, in the middle of the center of Europe. We might see the location of Austerlitz,
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which was very famous because it provided Napoleon with all these lands in the center of Europe.
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And when Napoleon defeated the Austrian Empire, he put his eyes in another absolutist country.
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We are talking about Prussia. And he defeated Prussia in the Battle of Hena in 1806. So,
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in the Battle of Austerlitz in 1805, he defeated the Austrian Empire, which was an absolutist
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country. Remember that the idea of Napoleon was to develop the ideas of the revolution. That's why
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he wanted to take over an empire in Europe, to develop the ideas from the French Revolution.
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And he defeated first the Austrian Empire because it was an absolutist country. Then Napoleon put
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his eyes in Prussia because it was another absolutist country. And he defeated them in the
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Battle of Hena in 1806. He defeated Prussia in the Battle of Hena in 1806. And when he defeated
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Prussia, he put his eyes in Russia, in Russia. And Napoleon, again, in another important battle,
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after the Battle of Hellau and after the Battle of Friedland, he managed to defeat Prussia.
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So, to sum up, he defeated the Austrian Empire in the Battle of Austerlitz. He defeated Prussia
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in the Battle of Hena. And finally, he defeated Russia in the famous Battle of Hellau and
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Friedland. So, with all of these victories, Napoleon managed to put Europe under his knees
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because he had an objective in mind. With all of these victories in Austerlitz, Hena, and also
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Friedland against the Russians, Napoleon had the objective in mind of imposing the economic
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blockade. What was the economic blockade? The economic blockade was a tactic from Napoleon
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that he had the objective in mind, he had the goal in mind of isolating Great Britain. Napoleon
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wanted to isolate Great Britain from abroad. He wanted to cut off Great Britain from abroad with
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this tactic of the economic blockade. And as a consequence of this tactic, Great Britain did not
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receive supplies such as food or weaponry from abroad. And if Great Britain did not receive
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supplies in terms of food and weaponry, it would be defeated, which was the objective of Napoleon.
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Napoleon was at that moment at the peak of his power because he had defeated the Austrian Empire,
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he had defeated Prussia together with Russia, and the last goal was to take over Great Britain.
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That's why he wanted to impose the economic blockade, to cut off, to isolate Great Britain.
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But to be honest, he wasn't able to do that. Napoleon wasn't able to do that because he had
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the best army, but Great Britain had the best navy. And Napoleon was defeated very close from
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here, from Gibraltar, very close from Cadiz, in Trafalgar Cape, in El Cabo, Trafalgar.
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In Trafalgar Cape, Napoleon had a strong defeat, basically because the British had better ships,
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they can move better and faster than the French ships, and also the British had better training,
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they spent more time in training than the French navy, and for this reason the British had a better
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navy than the French. This is the plan of the battle, of the Battle of Trafalgar,
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Trafalgar, which took place in 1805. This is the disposition of the French navy from north to south,
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and this is also, we might see here, the disposition of the British navy. And in two
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different columns, Nelson, who was the general of the British, together with his ship, the Victory,
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managed to hit the column from north to south of the French and Spanish ships, because the
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Spaniards and the French made a coalition to fight against the British in Trafalgar.
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You know that the French and the Spaniards were together during the time of the American
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Revolution, and they carried on with this coalition in the Battle of Trafalgar against
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the British, because what was in place at that moment, all of these countries wanted to dominate
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Europe, they wanted to call the shots in Europe, and that's why the British were fighting against
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the French and the Spaniards to be the most important empire in Europe. As I said before,
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in this battle in Trafalgar, Nelson managed to hit the center of the French navy, and when he
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crossed the center, it was very bad for Nelson, because one bullet took him, hit him, and as a
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result of this bullet, Nelson died. But his ship, the Victory, managed to cross the center of the
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French and Spanish navy, and when he crossed the center, he attacked one of the wings of the French
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navy and the other wing. So, as a consequence, the British were the winners in Trafalgar,
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and for this reason, as a consequence of that, in commemoration for the victory in this battle,
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we might see here the construction of Trafalgar Square. Trafalgar Square in London was built in
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honor of this battle. We might see here the sculpture of Nelson in the main square of
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Trafalgar Square in London. So, as a consequence of this battle, Napoleon was not able to implement,
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to consolidate completely the economic blockade. He wasn't able to do that,
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and for this reason, he took two important decisions. He decided to launch a campaign
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against Russia, to defeat completely Russia, and he also launched his troops over Spain and Portugal.
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As I said before, Napoleon was not able to implement completely his tactic of the
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economic blockade in Spain, Portugal, and above all, also in Russia. For this reason,
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Napoleon decided to launch a campaign against Russia in 1812, and also in 1812 in Spain.
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But this is the beginning of his fall, that we will explain in another lesson.
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Before finishing, I would like to think about the governments that Napoleon imposed in the
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territories that he had conquered, because Napoleon managed to impose, he set up governments
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in all of these territories that Napoleon had conquered. Napoleon imposed, he set up
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governments which were composed of his own family and his favorite generals. They were
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liberal governments. So, for example, when he conquered Austria, when he conquered Prussia
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or Poland, Napoleon imposed in all of these territories that he had conquered,
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he imposed liberal governments, which followed the ideas from the revolution.
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Also, he set up in all of these territories constitutions based on the Napoleonic Code,
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which was a liberal code. For this reason, for example, as well as that, when he conquered
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Spain and his brother Jose was in Spain, he imposed the Napoleonic Code. As well as that,
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when Murat was in Italy, he imposed also Murat, who got married to his sister, and he was ruling
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in Italy. Murat also imposed the Napoleonic Code, and both of them, Jose in Spain and Murat
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in Italy, set up the Napoleonic Code and they abolished the feudal system. This is true,
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on the one hand, but on the other hand, we need to remember that Napoleon invaded all those
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countries with a foreign army, and due to the violence of his soldiers, it provoked a strong
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reaction, a nationalist reaction in Russia and, for example, in Spain, which led to his own fall.
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But we will explain that in the following class, so please,
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class, don't skip the following lesson. Bye-bye and have a good day!
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- Autor/es:
- Luis Horrillo Sánchez
- Subido por:
- Luis H.
- Licencia:
- Dominio público
- Visualizaciones:
- 126
- Fecha:
- 6 de noviembre de 2023 - 9:39
- Visibilidad:
- Público
- Centro:
- IES CERVANTES
- Duración:
- 14′ 56″
- Relación de aspecto:
- 1.69:1
- Resolución:
- 1656x978 píxeles
- Tamaño:
- 17.29 MBytes
