Napoleonic Wars

http://filebox.vt.edu/users/bgilkers/digitaltimeline/napoleon.htm



Napoleon's Empire at it's greatest extent- controlled by France (blue) allied to France (pink)

SOL: WHII.7a

Date: 1805-1815

Synopsis: In 1804, Napoleon was crowned Emperor of the French. The next year, the Napoleonic Wars began as Napoleon planned an invasion of Britain. However, due to the superiority of the British navy, he was never able to mount this invasion force. Instead, he turned them against the Austrian and Russian Empires, crushing their armies at the Battle of Austerlitz. By 1810, when his empire was at its greatest extent, Napoleon held control from Spain to the Duchy of Warsaw, and had forced his former enemies of Prussia and Austria into allies. However, it was at this point that Napoleon made his grandest folly by invading Russia. The Russian forces implemented a scorched-earth policy and avoiding most military conflict with the French army. During the winter of 1812, Napoleon was forced to retreat from Russia, losing most of his forces along the way to starvation and the Russian winter. In 1813, Napoleon was defeated in the Battle of Leipzig ("the Battle of the Nations") and several months later forced into exile on the island of Elba. In 1815, he returned to France to resume power one more time. His reign would only last for a hundred days, as he would defeated for the final time at the Battle of Waterloo. Napoleon was sent into exile again, this time to the island of St. Helena. Meanwhile, the Congress of Vienna met to redraw the borders of Europe and achieve a balance of power between the various states.

Key Words:

Scorched-earth- a military tactic which involved destroying anything which might be useful to the enemy, including crops, livestock, shelter, weapons, and industrial resources.

Exile- a forced departure from one's home while being refused permission to return.

NCSS Standards Connection: III. People, Places, and Environment

The armies of Napoleon covered long distances, stretching from Spain to the Russian frontier. As they moved, they conquered many different groups and nations. Even though Napoleon held the title of Emperor of the French, his empire included Spanish, Italian, Swiss, Dutch, German, Polish, and other nationalities. In the end though, it was Napoleon's lack of knowledge of the Russian environment, in particular its winter, that led to his eventual downfall.

“The Wife is Obliged”

http://www.womeninworldhistory.com/TWR-07.html 

The French Civil Code (Napoleonic Code) 1800-1820

In post Revolution France, the ideas of female equality received a setback in a series of laws known as the Napoleonic Code. Through it, the legal right of men to control women was affirmed. Although most of the basic revolutionary gains - equality before the law, freedom of religion and the abolition of feudalism - remained, the Code ensured that married women in particular owed their husband obedience, and were forbidden from selling, giving, mortgaging or buying property.

This backlash to women’s rights had consequences throughout Europe. In military campaigns, Napoleon carried the Code throughout Europe, where it served as a model to legislators in countries from Italy to Poland. Within France itself, the Code survived basically unaltered for more than 150 years. Only in 1965 did French wives get the right to work without their husband’s permission. Only in 1970 did husbands forfeit the rights that came with their status as head of the family. In many ways, the Code was the most enduring legacy of the French Revolution.
Excerpt from Code Chapters:
Of the respective Rights and Duties of Married Persons.

• The husband owes protection to his wife, the wife obedience to her husband.
• The wife is obliged to live with her husband, and to follow him to every place where he may judge it convenient to reside: the husband is obliged to receive her, and to furnish her with everything necessary for the wants of life, according to his means and station.
• The wife cannot plead in her own name, without the authority of her husband, even though she should be a public trader, or non-communicant, or separate in property.
• The authority of the husband is not necessary when the wife is prosecuted in a criminal matter, or relating to police.
• A wife, although non-communicant or separate in property, cannot give, alienate, pledge, or acquire by free or chargeable title, without the concurrence of her husband in the act, or his consent in writing.
• When the husband is subjected to a condemnation, carrying with it an afflictive or infamous punishment,... the wife, though of age, cannot, during the continuance of such punishment, plead in her own name or contract, until after authority given by the judge...
• The wife may make a will without the authority of her husband.

Divorce:

• The wife may demand divorce on the ground of adultery in her husband, when he shall have brought his concubine into their common residence.
• The married parties may reciprocally demand divorce for outrageous conduct, ill-usage, or grievous injuries, exercised by one of them towards the other.
• A woman cannot contract a new marriage until ten months have elapsed from the dissolution of the preceding marriage.

Conditions required in order to be able to contract Marriage.

• The son who has not attained the full age of 25 years, the daughter who has not attained the full age of 21 years, cannot contract marriage without the consent of their father and mother; in case of disagreement, the consent of the father is sufficient.
• The father, and in default of the father, the mother, and in default of the father and mother, the grandfathers and grandmothers, may oppose the marriage of their children and descendants, although they have accomplished twenty-five years.
• There can be no marriage where consent is wanting.
• A marriage contracted in a foreign county between natives of France, and between a native of France and a foreigner, shall be valid, if celebrated according to the forms used in that country....
• A French woman, who shall espouse a foreigner, shall follow the condition of her husband. If she become a widow, she shall recover the quality of French woman, provided she already reside in France, or that she return thither under the sanction of government...

Of the Guardianship of Father and Mother.

The father is, during marriage, administrator of the personal effects of his Children being minors.
If at the time of the husband’s decease, his wife is with child, a curator for the unborn issue shall be named by a family council. At the birth of the child the mother shall become guardian thereof, and the curator shall be its deputy guardian in full right.
If a mother being guardian desires to marry again, she is required before the act of marriage to convoke a family-council, who shall decide whether the guardianship ought to be continued to her. In defect of such convocation she shall lose the guardianship entirely.

Discussion & Research

Napoleon, who personally helped elaborate the civil codes, reportedly proclaimed: “Women ought to obey us. Nature has made women our slaves!” Identify those laws in the Code which most reflect his beliefs.
Laws in many cultures, both historically and today, require that the husband owes protection and economic support to his wife. Can you give reasoned arguments for this idea? Against it?
According to the Code, what rights does a married woman have if:
- her husband dies and leaves children.
- she marries someone from a foreign country.
- she is twenty years old and wishes to marry.
- she wishes to work for some of the year in a city apart from her husband.
- she is in business and wishes to sign a contract in her own name.
- her husband is dead and she wishes to make a will.

Napoleon Bonaparte

http://www.sparknotes.com/biography/napoleon/timeline.html

Timeline

August 15, 1769: ·Napoleon Bonaparte born in Ajaccio, Corsica. 

May 17, 1779: ·Napoleon begins study at the royal military academy 

October 17, 1784: ·Enrolls in the Ecole Militaire 

October 28, 1785: ·Graduates from Ecole Militaire with the rank of second lieutenant in the artillery. 

November 3, 1785: ·Stationed in Valence 

July 14, 1789: ·Paris mob storms the Bastille 

May-October, 1792: ·While in Paris with his regiment, Napoleon witnesses the storming of the Tuileries Palace and the dethroning of the French King, Louis XVI. 

June 13, 1793: ·Accused of being too pro-French, Napoleon and his family flee their household in Corsica 

December 22, 1793: ·For his courage at an internal French battle at Toulon, Napoleon receives the new rank of brigadier general 

August 9-20, 1794: ·Napoleon is imprisoned under suspicion of being a Jacobin and a supporter of Robespierre 

June 13, 1795: ·Napoleon is promoted to General of the Army of the West 

October 5, 1795: ·The government assigns Napoleon the task of suppressing civil strife and rebellion against the Republic 

October 15, 1785: ·At the home of Paul Francois Barras, a Directory member, Napoleon meets Rose de Beauharnais (Josephine) 

October 16, 1785: ·Barras helps Napoleon win promotion to Commander of the Army of the Interior 

March 2, 1786: ·Napoleon is given command of the French army in Italy

March 9, 1796: ·Napoleon marries Josephine 

March 11, 1796: ·Italian campaign against Austria begins 

May 10, 1796: ·Napoleon wins the Battle of Lodi 

November 17, 1796: ·Napoleon wins the Battle of Arcole 

January 14, 1797: ·Napoleon wins the Battle of Rivoli 

October 17, 1797: ·Napoleon draws up the Treaty of Campo-Formio with Austria 

December 5, 1797: ·He returns to Paris a hero 

May 19, 1798: ·Napoleon begins his Egyptian campaign 

July 2, 1798: ·Fall of Alexandria 

July 21, 1798: ·Wins Battle of the Pyramids against Mamelukes in Egypt 

July 24, 1798: ·Fall of Cairo 

August 1, 1798: ·Under the command of Admiral Nelson, the British fleet destroys the French navy in the Battle of Aboukir 

August 23, 1799: ·Receiving news of turmoil in France, Napoleon returns to Paris 

November 9-10, 1799: ·Following a coup d'etat, Napoleon becomes First Consul of the new French government 

February 19, 1800: ·Sets up a household in Tuileries Palace 

May 20, 1800: ·Napoleon leads his army across the Alps in the Second Italian Campaign 

June 14, 1800: ·Wins Battle of Marengo against Austria 

February 9, 1800: ·Treaty with Austria signed at Luneville 

July 15, 1801: ·Signing of the Concordat between France and Rome ends schism between the French government and the Catholic Church 

December 24, 1801: ·Napoleon escapes an assassination attempt 

March 25, 1802: ·Treaty of Amiens signed with Britain 

May 1, 1802: ·Napoleon restructures French educational system 

August 4, 1802: ·New constitution adopted, making Napoleon First Consul for life 

May 3, 1803: ·France sells Louisiana territory to U.S. 

May 16, 1803: ·England violates Treaty of Amiens 

May 18, 1804: ·Senate proclaims Napoleon Emperor 

December 2, 1804: ·Napoleon crowns himself Emperor in Notre-Dame Cathedral, Paris 

March 17, 1805: ·Napoleon is crowned king of Italy in Milan 

October 21, 1805: ·The Battle of Trafalgar marks yet another naval defeat to the British under the command of Admiral Nelson 

December 2, 1805: ·Victory in the Battle of Austerlitz against Austria and Russia 

March 30, 1806: ·Napoleon names his brother, Joseph Bonaparte, king of Naples, and appoints other family members to various other posts 

June 14, 1807: ·Defeats the Russians at the Battle of Friedland 

July 7, 1807: ·Czar Alexander I makes peace with Napoleon in the Treaty of Tilsit 

July 22, 1807: ·Napoleon creates the Grand Duchy of Warsaw (Poland), to be overseen by France 

November 30, 1807: ·Beginning of French occupation of Portugal 

February 20, 1808: ·Napoleon sends the French marshal Joachim Murat to lead an army in Spain 

May 2, 1808: ·Unsuccessful Spanish revolt against French army under Murat 

June 4, 1808: ·Napoleon names Joseph Bonaparte King of Spain, and Murat King of Naples 

December 15, 1809: ·Divorces Josephine 

April 2, 1810: ·Marries Marie-Louise, Archduchess of Austria 

March 20, 1811: ·Napoleon's son born, referred to as the "King of Rome" 

June 24, 1812: ·Russian Campaign begins 

September 14, 1812: ·Grand Army enters Moscow to find the city abandoned and set aflame by the inhabitants; retreating in the midst of a frigid winter, the army suffers devastating losses 

December 18, 1812: ·Napoleon returns to Paris 

March 17, 1813: ·Prussia declares war on France 

June 21, 1813: ·The French fall to Spain in the Battle of Vitoria 

January 1814: ·Anti-French coalition army enters France 

March 30-31, 1814: ·Paris falls 

April 2, 1814: ·Senate proclaims end of the Empire; Napoleon's wife and son flee Paris. 

April 4, 1814: ·Napoleon abdicates his rule and Louis XVIII, a Bourbon, is restored to the French throne 

May 4, 1814: ·Napoleon is exiled to Elba; his wife and son take refuge in Vienna 

March 1, 1815: ·Escaping Elba, Napoleon returns in South France 

March 7, 1815: ·Napoleon rallies the French army 

March 20, 1815: ·Louis XVIII flees, Napoleon takes control, begins "Hundred Days" campaign 

June 18, 1815: ·Defeated in the Battle of Waterloo by the British and Prussians, led by Wellington and Blucher 

June 22, 1815: ·Abdicates for the second time 

October 16, 1815: ·Napoleon is exiled to Saint Helena 

March 5, 1821: ·Napoleon dies