There is this observation:
Generals are always preparing for the last war

In the 19th century there were two world wars: the Napoleonic Wars, which ended with the Patriotic War of 1812 and the Russian entry into Paris in 1814, and the Crimean War of 1853-1856.

There were also two world wars in the 20th century: the First (1911 - 1914) and the Second (1938 - 1945).

Thus, in current history we have four large-scale world wars, which are the subject of four parts of this material.

The Napoleonic Wars are one of the stages in the development of the Western project, during which the era of the “gold standard” was opened, Switzerland became eternally neutral and another attempt was made to resolve the “Russian question”. About this in our material.

THE FRENCH AS A MEDIUM

DESTRUCTION OF EMPIRES

Anti-French coalitions are temporary military-political alliances of European states that sought to restore in France the monarchical Bourbon dynasty, which fell during the French Revolution of 1789-1799. A total of 7 coalitions were created. Essentially, the Napoleonic Wars are the First World War of the 19th century, which ended in Paris in 1814. Waterloo is a more internal police operation of the West against Napoleon, who has already “gained his way back.”

In the scientific literature, the first two coalitions are called “anti-revolutionary”, which were the reaction of European monarchies to changes in global politics, which were marked by the bourgeois revolution in France. However, during the actions of these supposedly “anti-revolutionary” coalitions in Europe, they disintegrated and disappeared from the political map:

• Holy Roman Empire,


• Kingdom of Prussia


• French Empire of Napoleon,


• In addition, there was a palace coup in Russia, which abruptly changed its course (it came to the Decembrists in 1825).

And the stage of spreading the ideology of liberalism at the global level began. However, starting from the third, these coalitions were called “anti-Napoleonic”. Why? Let's see further.

I anti-French coalition (1791-1797)

It included: England, Prussia, Naples, Tuscany, Austria, Spain, Holland, Russia.

In 1789, a bourgeois revolution took place in France. On July 14, the rebels noisily captured the Bastille. A bourgeois system was established in the country. In St. Petersburg, the outbreak of the revolution was initially considered an everyday rebellion caused by temporary financial difficulties and the personal qualities of King Louis XVI. With the growth of the revolution in St. Petersburg, they began to fear the spread of the revolution to all the feudal-absolutist countries of Europe. The fears of the Russian court were shared by the kings of Prussia and Austria.

In 1790, an alliance between Austria and Prussia was concluded with the aim of military intervention in the internal affairs of France, but they limited themselves to developing intervention plans and providing material assistance to the French emigration and the counter-revolutionary nobility within the country (Catherine loaned 2 million rubles to create a mercenary army).

In March 1793, a convention was signed between Russia and England on a mutual obligation to assist each other in the fight against France: to close their ports to French ships and impede French trade with neutral countries (Catherine II sent Russian warships to England to blockade the French coast).

At the end of 1795, a counter-revolutionary triple alliance was concluded between Russia, England and Austria (in Russia, preparations began for a 60,000-strong expeditionary force for action against France).

Paul I did not send the corps equipped in August 1796 to help Austria, and declared to his allies (Austria, England and Prussia) that Russia was exhausted by previous wars. Russia left the coalition. Paul I at the diplomatic level tried to limit the military successes of France.

In 1797, Napoleon captured Malta, an island under the personal protection of Paul I, which prompted Paul to declare war. The history of the capture of Malta is very interesting in itself, so we recommend reading - https://www.proza.ru/2013/03/30/2371.

French landing on Malta

Napoleon himself later wrote in his memoirs that

“decisive for the fate of the Order was that it surrendered under the protection of Emperor Paul, the enemy of France... Russia sought domination over this island, which was of such great importance due to its position, the convenience and safety of its port and the power of its fortifications. Seeking patronage in the North, the Order did not take into account and endangered the interests of the powers of the South...”

The capture of Malta was fatal for Napoleon, since it thereby involved Paul in the Napoleonic wars and predetermined Russia's participation in anti-French coalitions. But these events were also fatal for Paul, since during the Napoleonic wars he began to get closer to Napoleon, dooming himself to death.

II anti-French coalition (1798-1800)

It included: Great Britain, the Ottoman Empire, the Holy Roman Empire, the Kingdom of Naples.

The II anti-French coalition was created in 1798 consisting of Austria, the Ottoman Empire, England and the Kingdom of Naples. Russian military forces participated in military operations at sea (in alliance with the Ottoman fleet) and on land (together with Austria).

Black Sea squadron under the command of F.F. In the fall of 1798, Ushakova entered the Mediterranean Sea through the Bosporus and the Dardanelles, and then into the Adriatic, where, together with the Turkish fleet, she captured the Ionian Islands and stormed the fortress of Corfu.

The capture of the Corfu fortress by a united Russian-Turkish squadron under the command of F.F. Ushakova

By the end of August 1799, as a result of Suvorov's Italian campaign of 1799 and Ushakov's Mediterranean campaign of 1799-1800, during which Russian troops liberated Naples in June 1799, and Rome in September, almost all of Italy was liberated from French troops. The remnants of the 35,000-strong French army of General Jean Moreau (about 18 thousand people) defeated at Novi retreated to Genoa, which remained the last region of Italy under French control.

The offensive of the Russian-Austrian army under the command of Suvorov (about 43 thousand people) on Genoa, followed by the complete displacement of the French army from Italy, seemed to be the natural next step. The command of the combined Russian-Austrian troops was entrusted to A.V. Suvorov.

On April 15-17, 1799, Suvorov defeated the French at the Adda River. After this, in 5 weeks they managed to expel the French from Northern Italy. Milan and Turin were liberated without a fight.

The Austrians did not provide Suvorov's troops with food, provided incorrect maps of the area and, without waiting for the troops to arrive in Switzerland, left Rimsky-Korsakov's corps alone in front of superior enemy forces.

Rushing to the rescue, Suvorov chose the shortest and most dangerous route - through the Alps, the Saint Gotthard Pass (September 24, 1799 - the Battle of the Devil's Bridge).

Suvorov's crossing of the Devil's Bridge. Artist A. E. Kotzebue

But help for Rimsky-Korsakov was too late - he was defeated.

15 thousand grenadiers descend from the Alps and Pavel returns them to Russia.

England and Austria took advantage of the Russian victories. Due to the fact that England, like Austria, did not show due care for the Russian auxiliary corps located in Holland and operating against the French, and due to the fact that the British occupied after the liberation of Fr. Malta, and the Austrians occupied Northern Italy abandoned by Suvorov, Paul I breaks off relations with them and enters into new alliances.

Peace is concluded with France and an alliance is signed with Prussia against Austria and at the same time with Prussia, Sweden and Denmark against England.

On December 4-6, 1800, on the initiative of Paul I, a convention on armed neutrality was concluded between Russia, Prussia, Sweden and Denmark.

On January 12, 1801, Paul I gave an order according to which 22.5 thousand Cossacks with 24 guns under the command of Vasily Petrovich Orlov (1745-1801), the military ataman of the Don Cossack army, were to carry out the Indian campaign - reach Khiva and Bukhara and capture the British India. The Cossacks set out on the campaign on February 28.

February 9 and March 11, 1801- decrees were issued prohibiting the release of Russian goods from British ports and along the entire western border, not only to England, but also to Prussia. An embargo was imposed on British merchant ships in Russian ports.

The conspirators wanted to time the denouement to coincide with March 15 - the “Ides of March”, which brought the death of the tyrant Caesar, but external events accelerated the decision, since the emperor, by the evening or night of March 8, came to the conclusion that “they wanted to repeat the year 1762.” The conspirators began to fuss.

Fonvizin in his notes describes the reaction of his subjects as follows:

“In the midst of the multitude of assembled courtiers, the conspirators and murderers of Paul walked insolently. They, who had not slept at night, half-drunk, disheveled, as if proud of their crime, dreamed that they would reign with Alexander.

Decent people in Russia, not approving the means by which they got rid of Paul's tyranny, rejoiced at his fall. Historiographer Karamzin says that the news of this event was a message of redemption throughout the whole state: in houses, on the streets, people cried, hugged each other, as on the day of the Holy Resurrection. However, only the nobility expressed this delight; other classes accepted this news rather indifferently».

Alexander I ascended the throne, as a result of which the general atmosphere in the country immediately changed. Nevertheless, for Alexander himself, the murder caused deep psychological trauma, which may have caused him to turn to mysticism late in life. Fonvizin describes his reaction to the news of the murder:

“When it was all over and he learned the terrible truth, his grief was inexpressible and reached the point of despair. The memory of this terrible night haunted him all his life and poisoned him with secret sadness.”

On the eve of Paul's death, Napoleon came close to concluding an alliance with Russia. The assassination of Paul I in March 1801 postponed this possibility for a long time - until the Peace of Tilsit in 1807. Relations with England, on the contrary, were renewed.

III anti-French coalition (1805)

Unlike the first two, it was exclusively defensive in nature. Its members included: Russia, England, Austria, Sweden. Russian diplomacy took part in the formation of a coalition consisting of England, Austria, Sweden and Sicily.

There were no goals of restoring the Bourbons. The coalition was created to stop the further spread of French expansion in Europe and protect the rights of Prussia, Switzerland, Holland and Italy. England was especially interested in creating a coalition, because 200,000 French soldiers stood on the banks of the English Channel, ready to land on Foggy Albion.

September 9, 1805 - The Austrian army invaded Bavaria. However, already on September 25-26, it was defeated by the French army and began to retreat, suffering heavy losses. And on October 20, the Austrian army capitulated. And on November 13, Vienna was taken.

On November 10, 1805, Russian troops united with Austrian reinforcements and occupied the Olsha positions.

On November 20, 1805, in the “Battle of the Three Emperors” - Napoleon, Alexander I and Franz II - near Austerlitz, the combined Russian-Austrian troops were defeated by the French.

Cuadro de François Gérard, 1810, neoclasicismo. Batalla de Austerlitz

On December 26, 1805, Austria signed a peace treaty with France at Pressburg, emerging from the war with major territorial and political losses. The Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation ceased to exist.

IV anti-French coalition (1806-1807)

Its members included: Great Britain, Russia, Prussia, Saxony, Sweden.

On June 19 and July 12, secret union declarations were signed between Russia and Prussia. In the autumn of 1806, a coalition was formed consisting of England, Sweden, Prussia, Saxony and Russia.

October 14, 1806 - the Battle of Jena and Auerstedt, in which the Prussian army was completely defeated by the French. The army as an organized force of Prussia ceased to exist overnight. Following this the collapse of the Kingdom of Prussia occurred, which was conquered by the French army within three weeks.

On November 21, 1806, in Berlin, Napoleon signed a decree on the “blockade of the British Isles.” In 1807, Italy, Spain, and the Netherlands joined the continental blockade, after Tilsit - Russia and Prussia, and in 1809 - Austria.

On January 26 - 27, 1807, the battle of Preussisch-Eylau took place, where an army of Russian and Prussian soldiers repulsed all French attacks.

On June 9 (21), 1807, a truce was signed and 2 days later it was ratified by Alexander I. On June 13 (25), the two emperors met on a raft in the middle of the Neman River opposite the city of Tilsit.

Meeting of Alexander I and Napoleon on the Neman. Engraving by Lamo and Misbach. 1st quarter 19th century

V anti-French coalition (1809)

The anti-French coalition emerged after the destruction of Napoleon's Grand Army in Russia during the Russian Campaign of 1812.

The coalition included: Russia, Sweden, Great Britain, Austria and Prussia (the last two were allies of France until the beginning of 1813).

April 5, 1812 The St. Petersburg Union Treaty was concluded between Russia and Sweden. After Napoleon's invasion of Russia began, on July 6 (18), 1812, the Peace of Orebro was signed between Russia and Great Britain, eliminating the state of war between the two powers that had existed since 1807. On December 18 (30), 1812 in Taurogen, the Prussian General York signed a neutrality convention with the Russians and withdrew troops to Prussia.

FIRST PATRIOTIC WAR

Russia's participation in the continental blockade, established by Napoleon by a special decree of November 21, 1806 and directed against England, had a detrimental effect on the Russian economy. In particular, the volume of Russian foreign trade between 1808 and 1812 decreased by 43%. And France, Russia's new ally under the Treaty of Tilsit, could not compensate for this damage, since Russia's economic ties with France were insignificant.

The continental blockade completely upset Russian finances. Already in 1809, the budget deficit increased 12.9 times compared to 1801 (from 12.2 million to 157.5 million rubles).

Therefore, the reasons for the Patriotic War of 1812 were Russia’s refusal to actively support the continental blockade, in which Napoleon saw the main weapon against Great Britain, as well as Napoleon’s policy towards European states, carried out without taking into account the interests of Russia, or rather, how Alexander, who ascended the throne, saw them I.

No matter what some historians say about Napoleon’s aggression in 1812, on the eve of the war Russia itself was preparing for an attack. And Alexander I, back in the fall of 1811, proposed that Prussia “defeat the monster” with a preemptive strike. The Russian army even began to prepare for the next campaign against Napoleon, and only the treachery of Prussia prevented Alexander from starting the war first - Napoleon was ahead of him.

The Russian monarch did not favor Napoleon. For Alexander, the war with him was

“...an act of struggle of his personal pride, regardless of the political reasons that caused it,” writes historian M.V. Dovnar-Zapolski. — Despite the appearance of friendly relations, the “Byzantine Greek,” as Napoleon characterized his Tilsit friend, could never bear the humiliation he experienced.

Alexander never forgot anything and never forgave anything, although he was remarkably good at hiding his true feelings. Moreover, Alexander, like his opponent, loved to indulge in dreams of activities that would pursue world interests.

It is not surprising that the war acquired a double meaning in the eyes of Alexander: firstly, a sense of pride prompted him to take revenge on his rival, and ambitious dreams took Alexander far beyond the borders of Russia, and the good of Europe took first place in them. Despite the failures - and even moreover, as the failures grew, Alexander became more determined to continue the war until the enemy was completely destroyed. The very first significant failures exacerbated Alexander’s sense of revenge.”

Paul I, in our opinion, would have conducted his policy differently and, most likely, would have supported the blockade of Great Britain and then, most likely, there would have been no Patriotic War of 1812, and Great Britain could have joined the number of empires that disappeared during the Napoleonic Wars.

It is clear that this development of events did not suit some groups in the West (it is clear that most of them were in Great Britain), so the English ambassador was an accomplice in the conspiracy against Paul I.

It must be said that British intelligence acted farsightedly. Delayed the fall of colonial Britain by almost a hundred years! The story eventually followed the course of events in which Napoleon invades Russia.

June 22 - 24, 1812. Troops of Napoleon's Grand Army cross the Neman, invading Russian territory

According to the calculations of the military historian Clausewitz, the army of the invasion of Russia, together with reinforcements during the war, numbered 610 thousand soldiers, including 50 thousand soldiers from Austria and Prussia. That is, we can talk about a united European army. With the support or at least non-interference of the rest of Europe, until March 1813.

On January 18 (30), 1813, a treaty similar to the Taurogen Treaty was signed by the commander of the Austrian corps, General Schwarzenberg (Seichen Truce), after which he surrendered Warsaw without a fight and went to Austria.

The official act that formalized the 6th coalition was the Kalisz Union Treaty between Russia and Prussia, signed on February 15 (27), 1813 in Breslau and February 16 (28), 1813 in Kalisz.

At the beginning of 1813, only Russia waged the war against Napoleon in central Europe.. Prussia entered the coalition with Russia in March 1813, then in the summer of the same year England, Austria and Sweden joined, and after the defeat of Napoleon in the Battle of the Nations near Leipzig in October 1813, the German states of Württemberg and Bavaria joined the coalition. Doesn't remind you of anything, does it?

Spain, Portugal and England fought independently with Napoleon on the Iberian Peninsula. Active hostilities lasted for a year from May 1813 to April 1814, with a 2-month truce in the summer of 1813.

In 1813, the war against Napoleon was fought with varying success in Germany, mainly in Prussia and Saxony. In 1814, the fighting moved to French territory and ended by April 1814 with the capture of Paris and Napoleon's abdication of power.

Treaty of Paris 1814- a peace treaty between the participants of the sixth anti-French coalition (Russia, Great Britain, Austria and Prussia), on the one hand, and Louis XVIII, on the other. Signed in Paris on May 30 (May 18, old style). Sweden, Spain and Portugal later joined the treaty. The treaty provided for France to retain the borders that existed on January 1, 1792, with the addition of only part of the Duchy of Savoy, the former papal possessions of Avignon and Venescens, and small strips of land on the northern and eastern borders that previously belonged to the Austrian Netherlands and various German states (including purely the German town of Saarbrücken with rich coal mines), only about 5 thousand km² and more than one million inhabitants.

France returned most of the colonial possessions it had lost during the Napoleonic Wars. Sweden and Portugal returned to France all the colonies taken from it; England retained only Tobago and St. Lucia in the West Indies and the island of St. Mauritius in Africa, but returned the island of Haiti to Spain. France was given the option of keeping all the art objects it had seized, with the exception of trophies taken from the Brandenburg Gate in Berlin and the thefts made from the Vienna library. She was not obliged to pay the indemnity.

The Netherlands regained independence and was returned to the House of Orange. Switzerland was declared independent. Italy, with the exception of the Austrian provinces, was to consist of independent states. The German principalities united into a union. Freedom of navigation on the Rhine and Scheldt was declared. France, by special agreement with England, pledged to abolish the slave trade in its colonies. Finally, it was decided that representatives of all the powers that took part in the war would gather, within two months, for a congress in Vienna to resolve still unclear issues.

As for the war with Russia, which became inevitable, after losing it, Napoleon spoke like this:

“I did not want this famous war, this bold enterprise, I had no desire to fight. Alexander didn’t have such a desire either, but the prevailing circumstances pushed us towards each other: fate did the rest.”

But did “rock” do it?

THE ROLE OF FREEMASONRY IN THE ASSECTION AND

THE FALL OF NAPOLEON

Once upon a time, the arbitrariness of would-be revolutionaries brought Napoleon Bonaparte to power. Why? Yes, because the Freemasons, who saw that the revolution was not going at all where they wanted, needed a strong hand to suppress the raging revolutionary fanatics and extremists. The famous Austrian statesman and diplomat Prince Clemens von Metternich remarked on this matter:

“Napoleon, who was himself a Freemason when he was a young officer, was allowed and even supported by this secret force in order to protect himself from a great evil, namely, from the return of the Bourbons.”

On top of that, Masons considered Napoleon an effective weapon for the destruction of European monarchies, and after such a gigantic purge they hoped that it would be easier for them to carry out their plan for building a world republic.

“Freemasonry itself decided to follow Napoleon, and therefore on the day of the 18th Brumaire the most influential revolutionaries helped him,” says the author of the book “The Secret Power of Freemasonry” A.A. Selyaninov explains: “They thought that Napoleon would rule France by proxy.”

Napoleon with a Masonically hidden hand

But Napoleon, nominated by the Freemasons, gradually began to crush Freemasonry under himself. First he became consul, then first consul, then consul for life, and then emperor. Finally, the moment came when it became clear to everyone that the interests of Napoleon, who used the Freemasons for his rise, and the Freemasons, who had high hopes for him, diverged.

The revolutionary dictator turned into an autocratic despot, and the Freemasons changed their attitude towards him.

"The secret societies turned sharply against him when he discovered a desire to restore to his own interests a staunch, conservative autocracy,"

- Montaigne de Poncins testified. By the winter of 1812, it became abundantly clear that Napoleon had lost the campaign utterly.

On October 23, 1812, a rather strange coup attempt took place in Paris, organized by General Malet. Of course, the conspirators were arrested and shot, but the behavior of the capital’s authorities that day turned out to be extremely passive. Moreover, one gets the impression that the news, inspired by the conspirators, that Napoleon died in Russia, made many very happy.

In 1813, a series of defeats that began in Russia followed, and in January 1814, the allied armies crossed the Rhine and entered French territory. Louis d'Estampes and Claudio Jeannet in their book "Freemasonry and the Revolution" write about this:

“From February 1814, realizing that it was impossible to resist the royalist tendencies, the strength of which was growing every day, Freemasonry decided that it was necessary to abandon Napoleon and begin to curry favor with the new regime in order to save at least what was left of the revolution.”

On March 31, 1814, Paris capitulated. When the Allied troops entered France, the Parisian Masons decided to open the doors to their brothers - the Masonic officers of the hostile armies.

And already on May 4, 1814, a banquet was held dedicated to the restoration of the Bourbons. The further events of Napoleon’s “hundred days” and the Battle of Waterloo are essentially a police operation of the West, and not a continuation of the Napoleonic Wars, which by that time had solved some European problems without, however, solving the “Russian question”.

Napoleon leads the battle

The Napoleonic Wars (1796-1815) are an era in the history of Europe when France, having taken the capitalist path of development, tried to impose the principles of freedom, equality, and fraternity, with which its people made their Great Revolution, on surrounding states.

The soul of this grandiose enterprise, its driving force, was the French commander, politician, who eventually became Emperor Napoleon Bonaparte. That is why numerous European wars of the early 19th century are called Napoleonic.

“Bonaparte is short and not very slender: his body is too long. Hair is dark brown, eyes are blue-gray; complexion, at first, with youthful thinness, yellow, and then, with age, white, matte, without any blush. His features are beautiful, reminiscent of antique medals. The mouth, a little flat, becomes pleasant when he smiles; The chin is a little short. The lower jaw is heavy and square. His legs and arms are graceful, he is proud of them. The eyes, usually dull, give the face, when it is calm, a melancholy, thoughtful expression; when he gets angry, his gaze suddenly becomes stern and threatening. A smile suits him very well, suddenly makes him look very kind and young; It’s hard to resist him then, as he becomes all prettier and transformed” (from the memoirs of Madame Remusat, a lady-in-waiting at Josephine’s court)

Biography of Napoleon. Briefly

• 1769, August 15 - born in Corsica
• 1779, May-1785, October - training at military schools in Brienne and Paris.
• 1789-1795 - participation in one capacity or another in the events of the Great French Revolution
• 1795, June 13 - appointment as general of the Western Army
• 1795, October 5 - by order of the Convention, the royalist putsch was dispersed.
• 1795, October 26 - appointment as general of the Internal Army.
• 1796, March 9 - marriage to Josephine Beauharnais.
• 1796-1797 - Italian company
• 1798-1799 - Egyptian Company
• 1799, November 9-10 - coup d'etat. Napoleon becomes consul along with Sieyes and Roger-Ducos
• 1802, August 2 - Napoleon was presented with a lifelong consulate
• 1804, May 16 - proclaimed Emperor of the French
• 1807, January 1 - proclamation of the continental blockade of Great Britain
• 1809, December 15 - divorce from Josephine
• 1810, April 2 - marriage to Maria Louise
• 1812, June 24 - the beginning of the war with Russia
• 1814, March 30–31 - the army of the anti-French coalition entered Paris
• 1814, April 4–6 - Napoleon's abdication of power
• 1814, May 4 - Napoleon on the island of Elba.
• 1815, February 26 - Napoleon left Elba
• 1815, March 1 - Napoleon's landing in France
• 1815, March 20 - Napoleon's army entered Paris in triumph
• 1815, June 18 - Napoleon's defeat at the Battle of Waterloo.
• 1815, June 22 - second abdication
• 1815, October 16 - Napoleon imprisoned on the island of St. Helena
• 1821, May 5 - death of Napoleon

Napoleon is considered by experts to be the greatest military genius in world history.(Academician Tarle)

Napoleonic Wars

Napoleon waged wars not so much with individual states, but with alliances of states. There were seven of these alliances or coalitions in total.
First Coalition (1791-1797): Austria and Prussia. The war of this coalition with France is not included in the list of Napoleonic wars

Second Coalition (1798-1802): Russia, England, Austria, Turkey, the Kingdom of Naples, several German principalities, Sweden. The main battles took place in the regions of Italy, Switzerland, Austria, and Holland.
—

• 1799, April 27 - at the Adda River, the victory of Russian-Austrian troops under the command of Suvorov over the French army under the command of J. V. Moreau
• 1799, June 17 - near the Trebbia River in Italy, the victory of the Russian-Austrian troops of Suvorov over the French army of MacDonald
• 1799, August 15 - at Novi (Italy) victory of the Russian-Austrian troops of Suvorov over the French army of Joubert
• 1799, September 25-26 - at Zurich, the defeat of the coalition troops from the French under the command of Massena
• 1800, June 14 - at Marengo, Napoleon's French army defeated the Austrians
• 1800, December 3 - Moreau's French army defeated the Austrians at Hohenlinden

• 1801, February 9 - Peace of Luneville between France and Austria
• 1801, October 8 - peace treaty in Paris between France and Russia
• 1802, March 25 - Peace of Amiens between France, Spain and the Batavian Republic on the one hand and England on the other

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France established control over the left bank of the Rhine. The Cisalpine (in Northern Italy), Batavian (Holland) and Helvetic (Switzerland) republics are recognized as independent

Third Coalition (1805-1806): England, Russia, Austria, Sweden. The main fighting took place on land in Austria, Bavaria and at sea
—

• 1805, October 19 - Napoleon's victory over the Austrians at Ulm
• 1805, October 21 - Defeat of the Franco-Spanish fleet from the British at Trafalgar
• 1805, December 2 - Napoleon's victory over Austerlitz over the Russian-Austrian army (“Battle of the Three Emperors”)

• 1805, December 26 - Peace of Presburg (Presburg - present-day Bratislava) between France and Austria

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Austria ceded to Napoleon the Venetian region, Istria (a peninsula in the Adriatic Sea) and Dalmatia (today mainly belongs to Croatia) and recognized all French conquests in Italy, and also lost its possessions west of Carinthia (today a federal state within Austria)

Fourth Coalition (1806-1807): Russia, Prussia, England. The main events took place in Poland and East Prussia
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• 1806, October 14 - Napoleon's victory at Jena over the Prussian army
• 1806, October 12 Napoleon occupied Berlin
• 1806, December - entry into the war of the Russian army
• 1806, December 24-26 - battles at Charnovo, Golymin, Pultusk, ending in a draw
• 1807, February 7-8 (New Style) - Napoleon’s victory in the Battle of Preussisch-Eylau
• 1807, June 14 - Napoleon's victory in the Battle of Friedland

• 1807, June 25 - Peace of Tilsit between Russia and France

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Russia recognized all the conquests of France and promised to join the continental blockade of England

Napoleon's Peninsular Wars: Napoleon's attempt to conquer the countries of the Iberian Peninsula.
From October 17, 1807 to April 14, 1814, the fighting between Napoleonic marshals and the Spanish-Portuguese-English forces continued, then fading, then resuming with new ferocity. France never managed to completely subjugate Spain and Portugal, on the one hand because the theater of war was on the periphery of Europe, on the other hand, because of opposition to the occupation of the peoples of these countries

Fifth Coalition (April 9–October 14, 1809): Austria, England. France acted in alliance with Poland, Bavaria, and Russia. main events took place in Central Europe
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• 1809, April 19-22 - the battles of Teugen-Hausen, Abensberg, Landshut, and Eckmühl in Bavaria were victorious for the French.
• The Austrian army suffered one setback after another, things did not work out for the allies in Italy, Dalmatia, Tyrol, Northern Germany, Poland and Holland

• 1809, July 12 - a truce was concluded between Austria and France
• 1809, October 14 - Treaty of Schönbrunn between France and Austria

—
Austria lost access to the Adriatic Sea. France - Istria and Trieste. Western Galicia passed to the Duchy of Warsaw, Bavaria received the Tyrol and Salzburg region, Russia - the Tarnopol district (as compensation for its participation in the war on the side of France)

Sixth Coalition (1813-1814): Russia, Prussia, England, Austria and Sweden, and after the defeat of Napoleon in the Battle of the Nations near Leipzig in October 1813, the German states of Württemberg and Bavaria joined the coalition. Spain, Portugal and England fought independently with Napoleon on the Iberian Peninsula

The main events of the war of the sixth coalition with Napoleon took place in Central Europe
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• 1813 - Battle of Lutzen. The allies retreated, but in the rear the battle was considered victorious
• 1813, October 16-19 - Napoleon’s defeat from the allied forces in the Battle of Leipzig (Battle of the Nations)
• 1813, October 30-31 - the battle of Hanau, in which the Austro-Bavarian corps unsuccessfully tried to block the retreat of the French army, defeated in the Battle of the Nations
• 1814, January 29 - Napoleon’s victorious battle near Brienne with Russian-Prussian-Austrian forces
• 1814, February 10-14 - victorious battles for Napoleon at Champaubert, Montmiral, Chateau-Thierry, Vauchamps, in which the Russians and Austrians lost 16,000 people
• 1814, March 9 - the battle of the city of Laon (northern France) was successful for the coalition army, in which Napoleon was still able to preserve the army
• 1814, March 20-21 - the battle of Napoleon and the Main Allied Army on the Au River (center of France), in which the coalition army threw back Napoleon’s small army and marched on Paris, which they entered on March 31

• 1814, May 30 - Treaty of Paris, ending Napoleon's war with the countries of the sixth coalition

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France returned to the borders that existed on January 1, 1792, and most of the colonial possessions it had lost during the Napoleonic Wars were returned to it. The monarchy was restored in the country

Seventh Coalition (1815): Russia, Sweden, England, Austria, Prussia, Spain, Portugal. The main events of Napoleon's war with the countries of the seventh coalition took place in France and Belgium.
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• 1815, March 1, Napoleon, who fled from the island, landed in France
• 1815, March 20 Napoleon occupied Paris without resistance

  How the headlines of French newspapers changed as Napoleon approached the French capital:
  “The Corsican monster landed in the Bay of Juan”, “The cannibal goes to the Route”, “The usurper entered Grenoble”, “Bonaparte occupied Lyon”, “Napoleon is approaching Fontainebleau”, “His Imperial Majesty enters his faithful Paris”

• 1815, March 13, England, Austria, Prussia and Russia outlawed Napoleon, and on March 25 formed the Seventh Coalition against him.
• 1815, mid-June - Napoleon's army entered Belgium
• 1815, June 16, the French defeated the British at Quatre Bras and the Prussians at Ligny
• 1815, June 18 - defeat of Napoleon

Outcome of the Napoleonic Wars

“The defeat of feudal-absolutist Europe by Napoleon had a positive, progressive historical significance... Napoleon inflicted such irreparable blows on feudalism from which it could never recover, and this is the progressive significance of the historical epic of the Napoleonic wars”(Academician E.V. Tarle)

Second coalition existed in 1798 - October 10, 1799 as part of Russia, England, Austria, Turkey, Kingdom of Naples. 14 June 1800 near the village of Marengo, French troops defeated the Austrians. After Russia left it, the coalition ceased to exist.

WITH 11 April 1805-1806 existed third coalition consisting of England, Russia, Austria, Sweden. IN 1805 The British were defeated by the combined Franco-Spanish forces at the Battle of Trafalgar fleet. But on the continent 1805 Napoleon defeated the Austrian army in the Battle of Ulm, then defeated Russian and Austrian troops under Austerlitz.

IN 1806-1807 acted fourth coalition consisting of England, Russia, Prussia, Sweden. IN 1806 Napoleon defeated the Prussian army at the Battle of Jena-Auerstedt, June 2, 1807 at Friedland- Russian. Russia was forced to sign with France World of Tilsit . Spring-October 1809- lifetime fifth coalition within England and Austria.

After Russia and Sweden joined it, a sixth coalition (1813-1814 ). 16 October 1813-19 October 1813 V Battle of Leipzig French troops were defeated. March 18, 1814 The Allies entered Paris. Napoleon was forced to abdicate the throne and was exiled on Elba Island. But 1 MR 1815 he suddenly landed on the southern coast of France and, having reached Paris, restored his power. Participants of the Vienna Congress formed seventh coalition. June 6, 1815 at d. Waterloo the French army was defeated. After the conclusion of the Paris Peace Treaty November 1, 1815 The seventh anti-French coalition collapsed.

Napoleonic Wars- under this name are known mainly the wars waged by Napoleon I with various European states when he was First Consul and Emperor (November 1799 - June 1815). In a broader sense, this includes Napoleon's Italian campaign (1796-1797) and his Egyptian expedition (1798-1799), although they (especially the Italian campaign) are usually classified as so-called revolutionary wars.

The coup of the 18th Brumaire (November 9, 1799) placed power over France in the hands of a man distinguished by his boundless ambition and brilliant abilities as a commander. This happened just at a time when old Europe was in complete disorganization: governments were completely incapable of joint action and were ready to betray the common cause for private benefits; The old order reigned everywhere, in the administration, in finance, and in the army - an order whose ineffectiveness was revealed at the very first serious clash with France.

All this made Napoleon the ruler of mainland Europe. Even before the 18th Brumaire, as commander-in-chief of the Italian army, Napoleon began redistributing the political map of Europe, and during the era of his expedition to Egypt and Syria he made grandiose plans for the East. Having become First Consul, he dreamed of being in alliance with the Russian Emperor to dislodge the British from the position they occupied in India.

War with the Second Coalition: final stage (1800-1802)

At the time of the coup d'etat of the 18th Brumaire (November 9, 1799), which led to the establishment of the Consulate regime, France was at war with the Second Coalition (Russia, Great Britain, Austria, the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies). In 1799, she suffered a number of failures, and her position was quite difficult, although Russia actually dropped out of the number of her opponents. Napoleon, proclaimed the first consul of the Republic, was faced with the task of achieving a radical turning point in the war. He decided to deliver the main blow to Austria on the Italian and German fronts.

War with England (1803-1805)

Peace of Amiens (According to its terms, Great Britain returned to France and its allies the colonies seized from them during the war (Haiti, Lesser Antilles, Mascarene Islands, French Guiana; for its part, France promised to evacuate Rome, Naples and the island. Elba) turned out to be only a short respite in the Anglo-French confrontation: Great Britain could not give up its traditional interests in Europe, and France was not going to stop its foreign policy expansion. Napoleon continued to interfere in the internal affairs of Holland and Switzerland. On January 25, 1802, he achieved his election as President of the Italian Republic On August 26, contrary to the terms of the Treaty of Amiens, France annexed the island of Elba, and on September 21 - Piedmont.

In response, Great Britain refused to leave Malta and retained French possessions in India. The influence of France in Germany increased after the secularization of the German lands carried out under its control in February-April 1803, as a result of which most of the church principalities and free cities were liquidated; Prussia and France's allies Baden, Hesse-Darmstadt, Württemberg and Bavaria received significant land increases. Napoleon refused to conclude a trade agreement in England and introduced restrictive measures that prevented British goods from entering French ports. All this led to the severance of diplomatic relations (May 12, 1803) and the resumption of hostilities.

War with the Third Coalition (1805-1806)

As a result of the war Austria was completely driven out of Germany and Italy, and France asserted its hegemony on the European continent. On March 15, 1806, Napoleon transferred the Grand Duchy of Cleves and Berg into the possession of his brother-in-law I. Murat. He expelled the local Bourbon dynasty from Naples, which fled to Sicily under the protection of the English fleet, and on March 30 placed his brother Joseph on the Neapolitan throne. On May 24, he transformed the Batavian Republic into the Kingdom of Holland, placing his other brother Louis at its head. In Germany, on June 12, the Confederation of the Rhine was formed from 17 states under the protectorate of Napoleon; On August 6, the Austrian Emperor Franz II renounced the German crown - the Holy Roman Empire ceased to exist.

War with the Fourth Coalition (1806-1807)

Napoleon's promise to return Hanover to Great Britain if peace was concluded with it and his attempts to prevent the creation of a union of North German principalities led by Prussia led to a sharp deterioration in Franco-Prussian relations and the formation on September 15, 1806 of the Fourth Anti-Napoleonic Coalition consisting of Prussia, Russia, England, Sweden and Saxony . After Napoleon rejected the ultimatum of the Prussian king Frederick William III (1797-1840) to withdraw French troops from Germany and dissolve the Confederation of the Rhine, two Prussian armies marched on Hesse. However, Napoleon quickly concentrated significant forces in Franconia (between Würzburg and Bamberg) and invaded Saxony.

The victory of Marshal J. Lannes over the Prussians on October 9-10, 1806 at Saalefeld allowed the French to strengthen their position on the Saale River. On October 14, the Prussian army suffered a crushing defeat at Jena and Auerstedt. On October 27, Napoleon entered Berlin; Lubeck capitulated on November 7, Magdeburg on November 8. On November 21, 1806, he declared a continental blockade of Great Britain, seeking to completely interrupt its trade ties with European countries. On November 28, the French occupied Warsaw; almost all of Prussia was occupied. In December, Napoleon moved against Russian troops stationed on the Narev River (a tributary of the Bug). After a number of local successes, the French laid siege to Danzig.

The attempt of the Russian commander L.L. Bennigsen at the end of January 1807 with a sudden blow to destroy the corps of Marshal J.B. Bernadotte ended in failure. On February 7, Napoleon overtook the Russian army retreating to Königsberg, but was unable to defeat it in the bloody battle of Preussisch-Eylau (February 7-8). On April 25, Russia and Prussia concluded a new alliance treaty in Bartenstein, but England and Sweden did not provide them with effective assistance. French diplomacy managed to provoke the Ottoman Empire to declare war on Russia. On June 14, the French defeated Russian troops at Friedland (East Prussia). Alexander I was forced to enter into negotiations with Napoleon (Tilsit Meeting), which ended on July 7 with the signing of the Peace of Tilsit and led to the creation of a Franco-Russian military-political alliance.

Russia recognized all French conquests in Europe and promised to join the continental blockade, and France pledged to support Russia’s claims to Finland and the Danube principalities (Moldova and Wallachia). Alexander I achieved the preservation of Prussia as a state, but it lost the Polish lands that belonged to it, of which there were the Grand Duchy of Warsaw was formed, headed by the Saxon Elector, and all its possessions west of the Elbe, which together with Brunswick, Hanover and Hesse-Kassel formed the Kingdom of Westphalia, led by Napoleon's brother Jerome; The Bialystok district went to Russia; Danzig became a free city.

Continuation of the war with England (1807-1808)

Fearing the emergence of an anti-English league of northern neutral countries led by Russia, Great Britain launched a preemptive strike on Denmark: September 1-5, 1807, an English squadron bombarded Copenhagen and captured the Danish fleet. This caused general indignation in Europe: Denmark entered into an alliance with Napoleon, Austria, under pressure from France, broke off diplomatic relations with Great Britain, and Russia declared war on it on November 7. At the end of November, the French army of Marshal A. Junot occupied Portugal, allied with England; The Portuguese prince regent fled to Brazil. In February 1808, Russia began a war with Sweden. Napoleon and Alexander I entered into negotiations on the division of the Ottoman Empire. In May, France annexed the Kingdom of Etruria (Tuscany) and the Papal State, which maintained trade relations with Great Britain.

War with the Fifth Coalition (1809)

Spain became the next target of Napoleonic expansion. During the Portuguese expedition, French troops were stationed with the consent of King Charles IV (1788-1808) in many Spanish cities. In May 1808, Napoleon forced Charles IV and the heir to the throne, Ferdinand, to renounce their rights (Treaty of Bayonne). On June 6, he proclaimed his brother Joseph king of Spain. The establishment of French domination caused a general uprising in the country. On July 20-23, the rebels surrounded and forced two French corps to surrender near Bailen (Bailen Surrender). The uprising also spread to Portugal; On August 6, English troops landed there under the command of A. Wellesley (the future Duke of Wellington). On August 21, he defeated the French at Vimeiro; On August 30, A. Junot signed an act of surrender in Sintra; his army was evacuated to France.

The loss of Spain and Portugal led to a sharp deterioration in the foreign policy situation of the Napoleonic Empire. In Germany, patriotic anti-French sentiment increased significantly. Austria began to actively prepare for revenge and reorganize its armed forces. On September 27 - October 14, a meeting between Napoleon and Alexander I took place in Erfurt: although their military-political alliance was renewed, although Russia recognized Joseph Bonaparte as the king of Spain, and France recognized the accession of Finland to Russia, and although the Russian Tsar undertook to act on the side of France in the event of Austria attacked her, nevertheless, the Erfurt meeting marked a cooling of Franco-Russian relations.

In November 1808 - January 1809, Napoleon made a campaign against the Iberian Peninsula, where he won a number of victories over Spanish and English troops. At the same time, Great Britain managed to achieve peace with the Ottoman Empire (5 January 1809). In April 1809, the Fifth Anti-Napoleonic Coalition was formed, which included Austria, Great Britain and Spain, represented by a provisional government (the Supreme Junta).

On April 10, the Austrians began military operations; they invaded Bavaria, Italy and the Grand Duchy of Warsaw; Tyrol rebelled against Bavarian rule. Napoleon moved to Southern Germany against the main Austrian army of Archduke Charles and at the end of April, during five successful battles (at Tengen, Abensberg, Landsgut, Eckmühl and Regensburg), he cut it into two parts: one had to retreat to the Czech Republic, the other across the river. Inn. The French entered Austria and occupied Vienna on May 13. But after the bloody battles of Aspern and Essling on May 21-22, they were forced to stop the offensive and gain a foothold on the Danube island of Lobau; On May 29, the Tyroleans defeated the Bavarians on Mount Isel near Innsbruck.

Nevertheless, Napoleon, having received reinforcements, crossed the Danube and on July 5-6 at Wagram defeated Archduke Charles. In Italy and the Grand Duchy of Warsaw, the actions of the Austrians were also unsuccessful. Although the Austrian army was not destroyed, Francis II agreed to conclude the Peace of Schönbrunn (October 14), according to which Austria lost access to the Adriatic Sea; she ceded to France part of Carinthia and Croatia, Carniola, Istria, Trieste and Fiume (modern Rijeka), which made up the Illyrian provinces; Bavaria received Salzburg and part of Upper Austria; to the Grand Duchy of Warsaw - Western Galicia; Russia - Tarnopol district.

Franco-Russian relations (1809-1812)

Russia did not provide effective assistance to Napoleon in the war with Austria, and its relations with France deteriorated sharply. The St. Petersburg court thwarted the project of Napoleon's marriage with Grand Duchess Anna, sister of Alexander I. On February 8, 1910, Napoleon married Marie-Louise, daughter of Franz II, and began to support Austria in the Balkans. The election on August 21, 1810 of the French Marshal J.B. Bernatott as heir to the Swedish throne increased the Russian government's fears for the northern flank.

In December 1810, Russia, which was suffering significant losses from the continental blockade of England, increased customs duties on French goods, which caused Napoleon's open discontent. Regardless of Russian interests, France continued its aggressive policy in Europe: on July 9, 1810 it annexed Holland, on December 12 - the Swiss canton of Wallis, on February 18, 1811 - several German free cities and principalities, including the Duchy of Oldenburg, whose ruling house was associated family ties with the Romanov dynasty; the annexation of Lübeck provided France with access to the Baltic Sea. Alexander I was also concerned about Napoleon's plans to restore a unified Polish state.

In the face of an inevitable military clash, France and Russia began to look for allies. On February 24, Prussia entered into a military alliance with Napoleon, and on March 14, Austria. At the same time, the French occupation of Swedish Pomerania on January 12, 1812 prompted Sweden to conclude an agreement with Russia on April 5 on a joint fight against France. On April 27, Napoleon rejected Alexander I’s ultimatum to withdraw French troops from Prussia and Pomerania and allow Russia to trade with neutral countries. On May 3, Great Britain joined the Russian-Swedish one. On June 22, France declared war on Russia.

War with the Sixth Coalition (1813-1814)

The death of Napoleon's Grand Army in Russia significantly changed the military-political situation in Europe and contributed to the growth of anti-French sentiment. Already on December 30, 1812, General J. von Wartenburg, commander of the Prussian auxiliary corps, which was part of the Great Army, concluded a neutrality agreement with the Russians in Taurog. As a result, all of East Prussia rebelled against Napoleon. In January 1813, the Austrian commander K.F. Schwarzenberg, under a secret agreement with Russia, withdrew his troops from the Grand Duchy of Warsaw.

On February 28, Prussia signed the Treaty of Kalisz on an alliance with Russia, which provided for the restoration of the Prussian state within the borders of 1806 and the restoration of German independence; thus, the Sixth Anti-Napoleonic Coalition arose. Russian troops crossed the Oder on March 2, occupied Berlin on March 11, Hamburg on March 12, Breslau on March 15; On March 23, the Prussians entered Dresden, the capital of Napoleon's allied Saxony. All of Germany east of the Elbe was cleared of the French. On April 22, Sweden joined the coalition.

War with the Seventh Coalition (1815)

On February 26, 1815, Napoleon left Elba and on March 1, with an escort of 1,100 guards, landed in Juan Bay near Cannes. The army went over to his side, and on March 20 he entered Paris. Louis XVIII fled. The Empire was restored.

On March 13, England, Austria, Prussia and Russia outlawed Napoleon, and on March 25 they formed the Seventh Coalition against him. In an effort to defeat the allies piecemeal, Napoleon invaded Belgium in mid-June, where the English (Wellington) and Prussian (G.-L. Blucher) armies were located. On June 16, the French defeated the British at Quatre Bras and the Prussians at Ligny, but on June 18 they lost the general battle of Waterloo. The remnants of the French troops retreated to Laon. On June 22, Napoleon abdicated the throne for the second time. At the end of June, the coalition armies approached Paris and occupied it on June 6-8. Napoleon was exiled to Fr. St. Helena. The Bourbons returned to power.

Under the terms of the Peace of Paris on November 20, 1815, France was reduced to the borders of 1790; an indemnity of 700 million francs was imposed on her; The allies occupied a number of northeastern French fortresses for 3-5 years. The political map of post-Napoleonic Europe was determined at the Congress of Vienna 1814-1815.

As a result of the Napoleonic Wars, France's military power was broken and it lost its dominant position in Europe. The main political force on the continent became the Holy Alliance of Monarchs led by Russia; Great Britain retained its status as the world's leading maritime power.

Wars of conquest of Napoleonic France threatened the national independence of many European nations; at the same time, they contributed to the destruction of the feudal-monarchical order on the continent - the French army brought on its bayonets the principles of a new civil society (Civil Code) and the abolition of feudal relations; Napoleon's liquidation of many small feudal states in Germany facilitated the process of its future unification.

Napoleon declared: “Victory will give me the opportunity, as a master, to accomplish everything I want.”

Napoleonic Wars 1799-1815- were waged by France and its allies during the years of the Consulate (1799-1804) and the empire of Napoleon I (1804-1815) against coalitions of European states.

The nature of wars:

1) aggressive

2) revolutionary (undermining feudal orders, development of capitalist relations in Europe, dissemination of revolutionary ideas)

3) bourgeois (conducted in the interests of the French bourgeoisie, which sought to consolidate its military-political, commercial and industrial dominance on the continent, pushing the English bourgeoisie into the background)

Main opponents: England, Russia, Austria

Wars:

1) fight against the 2nd anti-French coalition

2 anti-French coalition was formed in 1798-99 . participants: England, Russia, Austria, Türkiye and the Kingdom of Naples

18 Brumaire (November 9) 1799 - establishment of the military dictatorship of Napoleon Bonaparte, who became first consul - conditional date for the start of the Napoleonic wars

May 1800 - Napoleon, at the head of an army, moved through the Alps to Italy and defeated Austrian troops at the Battle of Marengo (June 14, 1800).

Bottom line: 1) France received Belgium, the left bank of the Rhine and control over all of Northern Italy, where the Italian Republic was created (Treaty of Luneville)

2) the 2nd anti-French coalition virtually ceased to exist,

Russia withdrew due to disagreements; Only Great Britain continued the war.

After the resignation of W. Pitt the Younger (1801), the new English government entered into negotiations with France

Result of negotiations:

1802 - signing Treaty of Amiens. France withdrew its troops from Rome, Naples and Egypt, and England - from the island of Malta.

BUT 1803 – resumption of war between France and Great Britain.

1805 – Battle of Trafalgar. The English fleet under the command of Admiral G. Nelson defeated and destroyed the combined Franco-Spanish fleet. This defeat thwarted the strategic plan of Napoleon I to organize a landing in Great Britain of the French expeditionary army, concentrated in the Boulogne camp.

1805 - creation 3 anti-French coalition(Great Britain, Austria, Russia, Sweden).

Military operations along the Danube. Within three weeks, Napoleon defeated the 100,000-strong Austrian army in Bavaria, forcing the main Austrian forces to capitulate on October 20 in Ulm.

December 2, 1805 - the Battle of Austerlitz, in which Napoleon inflicted a crushing defeat on Russian and Austrian troops.

December 26, 1805 - Peace of Presburg. Austria pays indemnity; it has lost a huge part of its lands. From the southern German states, Napoleon created the Confederation of the Rhine and appointed himself its head. In turn, Russian Emperor Alexander I did not accept defeat and did not sign peace with Napoleon.

September 1806 - was concluded between Russia and Prussia new anti-French alliance, which England and Sweden joined

October 14, 1806 In two battles of Jena and Auerstadt, the French defeated the Prussian army, and thirteen days later Napoleon's army entered Berlin.

Bottom line:

surrender of Prussia, all possessions west of the Elbe went to Napoleon, where he formed the Kingdom of Westphalia

The Duchy of Warsaw was created on Polish territory

A 100 million indemnity was imposed on Prussia, until payment of which it was occupied by French troops.

2 battles with the Russian army:

French troops threw back the Russian army and approached the Neman. Both Napoleon, who by this time had conquered all of Europe, and Alexander I, who had lost all allies, considered further continuation of the war pointless.

July 7, 1807 – World of Tilsit. A meeting between the two emperors took place on a specially placed raft in the middle of the Neman River. Result:

Russia recognized all the conquests of the French Empire

Russia received freedom of action against Sweden and Turkey.

According to a secret clause of the agreement, Alexander promised to stop trade with England, that is, to join the continental blockade, shortly before announced by Napoleon.

May 1808 - popular uprisings in Madrid, Cartagena, Zaragoza, Murcia, Asturias, Grenada, Balajos, Valencia.

A series of heavy defeats for the French. Portugal rebelled, and British troops landed on its territory. The defeats of Napoleonic troops in Spain undermined France's international position.

Napoleon sought support in Russia.

Napoleon managed to achieve an extension Franco-Russian union, but only at the cost of recognizing Russia's rights to Moldova, Wallachia and Finland, which then still belonged to Sweden. However, on the most important issue for Napoleon, about Russia’s attitude towards Austria, Alexander I showed persistence. He was well aware of Napoleon's difficulties and was completely in no mood to help him pacify Austria. The discussion on the Austrian problem took place in a tense atmosphere. Having failed to achieve concessions, Napoleon screamed, threw his cocked hat on the floor, and began to trample on it with his feet. Alexander I, remaining calm, told him: “You are a hot-tempered person, but I am stubborn: anger has no effect on me. Let’s talk, reason, otherwise I will leave” - and headed for the exit. Napoleon had to hold him back and calm down. The discussion resumed in a more moderate, even friendly tone.

Bottom line: October 12, 1808 signing union convention, but no real strengthening of the Franco-Russian alliance occurred.

The conclusion of a new convention with Russia allowed Napoleon to throw his forces against Spain and recapture Madrid.

April 1809 - Austria began military operations on the Upper Danube with support from England, which formed the 5th coalition against France.

a heavy defeat for the Austrians, after which Franz I was forced to begin peace negotiations.1

Napoleon annexed almost all of Western Galicia to the Duchy of Warsaw

The Tarnopol district was ceded to Russia.

Austria lost Western Galicia, the provinces of Salzburg, parts of Upper Austria and Carniola, Carinthia, Croatia, as well as lands on the Adriatic coast (Trieste, Fiume, etc., which became the Illyrian departments of the French Empire). The Treaty of Schönbrunn in 1809 was the greatest success of Napoleon's diplomacy.

Russian-French relations began to deteriorate rapidly due to:

conclusion of the Treaty of Schönbrunn and significant expansion of the Duchy of Warsaw at the expense of Western Galicia

Napoleon's reluctance to delimit spheres of influence in the Middle East. He tried with all his might to subjugate the Balkan Peninsula to his influence.

July 1810 - The Kingdom of Holland was annexed to France

December 1810 - Swiss territory of Wallis near France

February 1811 - the Duchy of Oldenburg, parts of the Duchy of Berg and the Kingdom of Hanover were ceded to France.

Hamburg, Bremen and Lubeck also belong to France, which was becoming a Baltic power

Napoleon’s unsuccessful attempt to woo Alexander 1’s sister Anna Pavlovna (of course, this is not the main thing)

Napoleon's support for the Poles' desire for independence, which did not suit Russia

Napoleon's failure to fulfill his promise to support Russia against Turkey

Russia's violation of the agreement on the continental blockade.

This was the cause of the War of 1812.

Both countries violated the terms of the Tilsit Peace. War was being prepared. Napoleon sought, first of all, to tie Prussia and Austria more tightly to France.

February 24, 1812 - Frederick William III concluded a secret convention with France, according to which Prussia pledged to send a 20,000-strong corps to participate in the war against Russia.

March 14, 1812 - Austria also pledged to take part in the war against Russia, sending a 30,000-strong corps for action in Ukraine. But both of these agreements were signed under brutal pressure from French diplomats.

Napoleon demanded that Russia fulfill the terms of the Tilsit Peace.

On April 27, Kurakin, on behalf of the Tsar, informed Napoleon that a precondition for this could be:

withdrawal of French troops from Prussia beyond the Elbe

liberation of Swedish Pomerania and Danzig

consent to Russia's trade with neutral countries.

Napoleon refused. He stationed armed forces in Prussia and the Duchy of Warsaw, near the very borders of Russia.

Alexander I's representative Balashov tried to convince Napoleon to stop the invasion. The latter responded to the royal envoy with a rude and arrogant refusal. After Balashov's departure from Vilna, diplomatic relations between the Russian and French governments ceased.

The first failures of Napoleon, who failed to defeat the troops of General Barclay de Tolly in border battles, forced him to seek an honorable peace.

August 4-5 – Battle of Smolensk. Retreat of Russian troops. After Smolensk, Bonaparte first tried to start negotiations with the Russian government, but the negotiations did not take place.

November 14-16 – Battle of the Berezina. The retreat towards the Berezina and Vilna led Napoleon's army to almost complete destruction. The already catastrophic situation of the French troops was further worsened by the transition of Prussian troops to the side of Russia. Thus, a new, 6th coalition against France was created. In addition to England and Russia, Prussia and then Sweden also opposed Napoleon.

On August 10, Austria joined the 6th coalition at a time when a huge army consisting of Russian, Prussian, Swedish and English contingents was concentrated in Germany against Napoleon.

October 16-19, 1813 - “Battle of the Nations” near Leipzig. Napoleon's defeated armies were forced to retreat across the Rhine, and soon hostilities were transferred to the territory of France itself.

March 31 - Alexander I and Frederick William III, at the head of their troops, solemnly entered the streets of the French capital. Located in Fontainebleau, 90 kilometers from Paris, Napoleon was forced to abandon the continuation of the fight

April 6 – Napoleon abdicated the throne in favor of his son; Later, he dutifully headed to the south of France to continue by sea to the island of Elba, which was given to him by the allies for lifelong possession.

May 30, 1814 – Treaty of Paris between France and the Sixth Coalition (Russia, Great Britain, Austria, Prussia), which was later joined by Spain, Portugal and Sweden:

restoration of the independence of Holland, Switzerland, German principalities (united in a union) and Italian states (except for the lands that went to Austria).

Freedom of navigation on the Rhine and Scheldt was declared.

Most of the colonial possessions it had lost during the Napoleonic Wars were returned to France.

September 1814 – June 1815 – Congress of Vienna. Convened under the terms of the Treaty of Paris. Representatives of all European countries (except Turkey) participated

Tasks:

the elimination of political changes and transformations that took place in Europe as a result of the French bourgeois revolution and the Napoleonic wars.

the principle of “legitimism,” i.e., the restoration of the “legitimate” rights of former monarchs who had lost their possessions. In reality, the principle of “legitimism” was only a cover for the arbitrariness of reaction

creation of guarantees against the return to power of Napoleon and the resumption of wars of conquest by France

redistribution of Europe in the interests of the victorious powers

Solutions:

France is deprived of all conquests, its borders remain the same as in 1792.

Transfer of Malta and the Ionian Islands to England

Austrian power over northern Italy and some Balkan provinces

Division of the Duchy of Warsaw between Austria, Russia and Prussia. The lands that became part of the Russian Empire were called the Kingdom of Poland, and the Russian Emperor Alexander I became the Polish king.

inclusion of the territory of the Austrian Netherlands into the new Kingdom of the Netherlands

Prussia got part of Saxony, a significant territory of Westphalia and the Rhineland

Formation of the German Confederation

Significance of the Congress:

determined the new balance of power in Europe that had developed towards the end of the Napoleonic wars, long denoting the leading role of the victorious countries - Russia, Austria and Great Britain - in international relations.

The Vienna system of international relations was formed

the creation of the Holy Alliance of European States, which aimed to ensure the inviolability of European monarchies.

« 100 days» Napoleon – March-June 1815

Napoleon's return to power

June 18, 1815 – Battle of Waterloo. Defeat of the French army. Napoleon's exile to Saint Helena.

We know that in the history of the world, there have been various great commanders and conquerors of all times and peoples. They changed the entire course of history and also influenced the political map of the world.

One such great commander we wanted to write about was Napoleon Bonaparte. He was a talented general of the French artillery and the ruler of France with the monarchical title of Emperor under the name Napoleon the First.

His activities were based on strengthening the power and greatness of France. He changed the territory of France, expanding its borders and annexing other European lands to the country's possessions. These were a kind of territorial claims of the French Empire during the reign of Napoleon.

This famous short man in a gray frock coat influenced all European countries. Bonaparte's expansionist policy helped the French bourgeoisie to gain enormous benefits from the results of victorious military campaigns.

General Bonaparte received his high military rank, as you know if you have studied history, my dear readers, after defeating the royalist supporters of the Bourbon monarchy in 1793 with volleys of grapeshot from cannons. These were the so-called cannonballs. Cannons were also used on masted sailing ships of the time.

Conquests of territories by the French army

In 1796, after his previous military achievements, Napoleon Bonaparte led a military expedition and set off on an Italian campaign. As a result of this campaign, the entire territory of Italy came under French rule. The Kingdom of Naples was created on this territory, where Napoleon sent his Marshal Marat as King of Naples.

In 1798, Napoleon prepared and equipped a new military expedition to Egypt. This military campaign was a success until the commander himself left his army. French troops sailed across the entire Mediterranean Sea and went to Egypt, capturing the capital there - Alexandria. Unfortunately, Napoleon's army was unable to fully complete its military mission in Egypt, as the British destroyed the French ships. Because of this, Napoleon had to quickly leave and abandon his army. French troops were finally defeated in Egypt by 1801, also suffering defeat at Aboukir.

In 1799, as a result of the coup of 9 Thermidor, Napoleon became the first consul of the French Republic, although formally there were two more consuls in power after him. His rule was called a military-bureaucratic dictatorship.

In 1800 he won the Battle of Marengo. For some time in 1801, Napoleon concluded a truce with England.

In 1804, Bonaparte was crowned Emperor of France. And the following year, 1805, he won a brilliant victory in the Battle of Austerlitz against the Austrian and Russian allied army.

In 1806-1807, he captured the territory of Germany, which at that time in turn consisted of small states (principalities). One of the influential German states of that time was the Kingdom of Prussia. Napoleon and his troops entered the city of Jena, and also reached Berlin and defeated the Prussian army in a matter of minutes. He then advanced to Poland, which he turned into the Duchy of Warsaw.

In 1807, Napoleon concluded the Treaty of Tilsit with the Russian Emperor Alexander the First.

Consistently studying the chronology of the Napoleonic wars, we see that already in 1808 Napoleon captured Spain, subjugating the Spanish capital, Madrid. He overthrew the Bourbon rule there and installed his brother Joseph Bonaparte as the new king of Spain.

Napoleon Bonaparte's military campaign against Russia (the map of the campaign can be enlarged)

However, the collapse of Napoleon's empire began in 1812, when he suffered a crushing military defeat in his campaign against Russia. The Emperor had to abdicate twice, that is, give up his power, both in 1814 and in 1815 after his first exile on the island of Elba.