Warfare in the Napoleonic Era

Warfare in the Napoleonic Era

The Gunpowder Revolution

• Early gunpowder weapons were:– Simple in design– Unreliable– Inaccurate

• Why they stuck:– Potential– Shock factor– Used w/ other weapons

Timeline: Build up to Napoleonic Era• 1618-48: The Thirty Years’ War– Gustavus Adolphus develops • the concept of “combined arms”

– Attaching field artillery to cavalry & infantry units• Idea of spreading out infantrymen over a wider area

– Countered older deeper formations (50 ranks)– Reduced cannon’s potential for devastation

• 1700-21: The Great Northern War– Peter the Great modernizes Russian

military– Start of Russia as a Eurasian power

• 1756-63: The Seven Years’ War– Includes French & Indian War fought in N. America– Volleys of flintlock muskets in two ranks led to carnage– Prussia becomes a power in Europe– Britain’s victory, and war’s costs, led to A. Rev.– France’s loss led to Fr. Rev.

• 1775-83: The American Revolution– Ideals influenced French Revolution– Britain loses dominance in N. America

• Holds on to Canada

• 1792-1802: The French Revolutionary Wars– Overthrew French monarchy– Allowed for the rise of Napoleon

• 1803-15: The Napoleonic Wars– Allowed for Napoleon’s conquest of most of

Europe

The Napoleonic Wars: 1803-1815

• France vs.– Austria– Prussia– Russia– Sweden– Britain– And others…

• Where?– Europe– Russia– Spain– Atlantic– West Indies

• Casualties– Estimated 2.5 million

total war dead

Effect of Napoleonic Wars• Reshaped Europe• Saw warfare on a massive scale• Word “guerilla” coined for irregularSpaniards who rebelled against French• Napoleonic Code– Basis for

• Most modern western law codes• “innocent until proven guilty”

• Led to nationalist movements

Austerlitz (Sept. 1805)

• Napoleon’s most brilliant tactical victory– French vs. Russians & Austrians– Destroyed Third Coalition

• Let right wing get pushed back– Drew Russians & Austrians from their center– “Feigned retreat” on a larger scale

• French launched massive counterattack at right moment

Any day is fine!

Borodino (Sept. 1812)

• Kutuzov withdrew into Russian interior– Kutuzov adopted a fabian strategy (Punic Wars)– Initially refused to engage Napoleon in decisive battle

• Napoleon wanted decisive victory– Both sides evenly matched– Russians slowly retreated– Napoleon denied decisive victory

• Borodino was largest and bloodiest single-day battle in Napoleonic Wars

Napoleon’s Invasion of Russia 1812

• Grand Army of 600,000* troops (est. vary)• Russians employed a scorched-earth policy– Retreat, use geography to advantage– destroy everything to deny French supplies

• French capture Moscow– Russians set it on fire

• French retreat after spending winter in Moscow– Napoleon leaves troops in Lithuania– Hurries to France

War & Peace

End of Napoleon

• Napoleon defeated and imprisoned• Escapes and returns to France on 3/1/1815• Napoleon fights a coalition of Prussia, GB &

the Netherlands• Defeated at the Battle of Waterloo, end of

Napoleon• Dies in prison in 1821

Technology

• Flintlock Musket– “Brown Bess” musket

• Congreve Rocket• Shrapnel– Developed by British• Lt. Henry Shrapnel

– Hollow shell filled w/musket balls and explosives• Maximized damage

• Man of War

Logistics

• French army lived off land as much as possible– Could move quickly– Did not depend on supply lines as much– Alienated civilians

• Start of canned food