Napoleon Bonaparte - biography. Great French Revolution and Napoleonic Wars

The Great French Revolution is the largest transformation of the social and political systems of France, which took place at the end of the 18th century, as a result of which the Old Order was destroyed, and France from a monarchy became a republic of free and equal citizens. The motto is Freedom, Equality, Brotherhood.

Napoleonic Wars 1799-1815

The beginning of the Napoleonic wars is considered the establishment in France during the coup of 18 Brumaire (November 9-10) in 1799, the military dictatorship of Napoleon Bonaparte, who declared himself first consul. At this time, the country was already at war with the 2nd anti-French coalition, which was formed in 1798-1799. Russia. England, Austria, Turkey and the Kingdom of Naples. (The 1st anti-French coalition consisting of Austria, Prussia, England and a number of other states fought against revolutionary France in 1792-1793).

1799-1801 - fight with Austria. Austria made peace with France and recognized the territory of Belgium and the left bank of the Rhine as its possessions.

1805 - 3rd coalition (England, Russia, Austria, Prussia)

1803-1805 - war with England, defeat of France at sea.

July 1806 - Creation of the Rhine Union on the territory of the South German states, under pressure from France.

September 1806 - the 4th coalition appeared (England, Russia, Prussia, Sweden)

February, June 1807 - Napoleon defeated Russian troops in East Prussia twice.

July 7, 1807 - Peace Treaty of Tilsit between Russia and France (Russia recognized all the conquests of the Napoleonic army in Europe and joined the "Continental blockade" of the British Isles proclaimed in 1806.)

In the spring of 1809 - the 5th coalition (England and Austria)

May 1809 - Austrians were defeated

1812 - Napoleon's campaign to Russia was defeated

1813 - 6th anti-French coalition (Russia, England, Prussia, Sweden, Austria, etc.)

March-June 1815 - the Battle of Waterloo was defeated

27. Domestic and foreign policy of Paul I.

Despot, hated his mother.

After the death of Catherine, her son, Paul I (1796 - 1801), came to power. He pursued a policy of infringing on noble privileges, canceled the letter of gratitude to the nobles, arrested and imprisoned many of the Catherine nobles. 1796 - recruitment was facilitated, the army was reduced from 500 thousand people to 350 thousand, a decree was adopted to replace the grain collection with a moderate monetary tax, food prices were lowered. In 1797 - 2 important decrees: a) the decree on succession to the throne was abolished, a decree on a three-day corvee was introduced, according to which it was forbidden to keep peasants on the land for more than 3 days a week. Banned study abroad, the policy of repression against the upper classes provoked retaliation. On the night of March 11-12, 1801 - the conspirators kill Paul I.

28. Domestic policy of Alexander I.

Alexander (1801 - 1825) was very critical of his father's policies. 2 periods of government: 1) liberal reforms 2) a period of departure from liberal politics. When he ascended the throne, he canceled all Pal's innovations, restored letters of gratitude, announced amnesty to all those who fled abroad, returned 12 thousand disgraced and repressed from exile. 1801 - "secret committee" (there were discussed plans for state transformation) included: Kochubei, Stroganov, Novosiltsev. An indispensable council is also created, a legislative body under the king, which has received the right to protest the actions and decrees of the king. 1803 - The decree on free farmers, allowing the peasants to redeem themselves at will by agreement with the landowners (the liberated peasants formed a separate class - free farmers). 1803-04 - reform of public education (all classes could study) from 1802 - state reforms - colleagues were replaced by ministries. January 1, 1810 - Council of State, replacing the indispensable council. At this time, Speransky proposes the transformation of Russia into a constitutional monarchy, as well as a number of reforms. But Alexander is experiencing strong pressure from his court entourage, who are trying to prevent radical reforms. Alexander begins to doubt the correctness of the chosen path, and in March 1812 he dismisses Speransky. In May 1815, Alexander announced the granting of a constitution to the Kingdom of Poland, which provided for the creation of a bicameral Diet, a system of local self-government and freedom of the press. In 1817-18, a number of Alexander's confidants were engaged in the development of projects - the phased elimination of serfdom in Russia. However, gradually Alexander begins to abandon planned transformations, becomes apathetic, and in fact trusts A.A. to rule the empire. Arkaev. 1822 - secret societies and Masonic lodges are banned. Dies in 1825.

29. Foreign policy of Alexander I. The Patriotic War of 1812

The main enemy of Russia was Napoleonic France. Until 1804 Russia remained a neutral state, but the growth of Napoleon's influence and his victories forced Russia to join the struggle. 1805 - the third coalition (England, Russia, Austria). After the Russian army was defeated at the Battle of Friedland, Alexander was forced to negotiate with Napoleon. In the summer of 1807, the Treaty of Tilsit was signed between Russia and France (according to which Russia pledged to enter a continental blockade against England, sever all political ties with her, it was very unprofitable - most of the Russian goods were exported to England). The objective reason for the war of 1812 was the clash of Napoleon's claims to world domination with the claim of Alexander I to direct European politics. By 1812, for complete domination, Napoleon had only to capture Russia - and at this time Russia was already waging a war with Turkey and Iran - could not oppose Napoleon with a large army. Napoleon entered Russia on June 22, 1812 (the French army consisted of more than 600 thousand people, with 1372 guns, the total number of Russian troops - 220-240 thousand with 942 guns) 3 armies: 1) under the leadership of Barclay de Tolly 2) Bagration 3) Tormasov. August 18 - the battle of Smolensk (Smolensk was taken, but Napoleon lost about 20 thousand soldiers) after this battle in St. Petersburg it was decided to appoint General Kutuzov to the post of commander-in-chief. Battle of Borodino on August 26, 1812. Continuous attacks by the French, counterattacks by the Russians, the struggle lasted 7 hours, only in the middle of the day the French took flushes, but the Russians did not surrender, but only retreated behind the ravine, in total, the battle lasted 15 hours and died down only late in the evening, Napoleon pushed back the Russian troops, but did not defeat them, and he himself suffered irreparable losses. September 1, 1812 Kutuzov decides to leave Moscow, for more than a month Napoleon was in Moscow destroyed by fire, on October 7 Napoleon begins to leave Moscow - the retreat of the French, disorderly flight. The Napoleonic army in conditions of hunger and cold, sabotage was almost completely demoralized and ceased to exist. At the end of November, the war of 1812 ended. The Patriotic War of 1812 showed the courage and patriotism of the Russian people, about 300 thousand people died, the western regions of the country were completely ruined.

30) Movement of the Decembrists.

After the war of 1812, the self-awareness of the people greatly increased, however, the despotism of power, serfdom, civil and political powerlessness disappointed the intelligentsia, especially the advanced nobility. Opposition regimes arose among the officers - secret societies, this is how the Decembrist movement began. Already in the first organizations (1818), the main ideas of the Decembrists were formulated: the overthrow or limitation of the autocracy, the constitution, the abolition of serfdom, the elimination of the estate system, the introduction of civil and political freedoms. In 1821, the Decembrist movement entered a new phase - a secret congress, where the "union of salvation" was dissolved, this was done in order to knock the police off the trail and weed out unreliable members of the organization. At this time there were southern (Ukraine): Tulchinsky, Vasikovsky, Pestal Kamensky and northern (Petrburg): Muravyov, Lunin, Trubetskoy, Ryleev secret societies. The constitutional projects of Muravyov (Constitution) and Pestel (Russkaya Pravda) had distinctive features and common features. General: the abolition of serfdom, the introduction of civil and political rights, the elimination of the estate and autocracy. Distinctive features: Muravyov is a coast monarchy, Pestel is a presidential republic, Pestel also considered a period of dictatorship necessary, and Pestel defended universal suffrage, while Muravyov limited it with a property qualification. According to the constitution, the peasants were freed without land (with a personal plot), while the Russian truth provided for the transfer to the peasants of half of the state, landlord, and monastic lands.

For some time, the Decembrists could not agree on the creation of a single constitutional project, but during 1825 all difficulties were resolved. The uprising was planned to begin in 1826, but the unexpected death of the king in November 1825 precipitated events. The Decembrists decided to set the day of the uprising on December 14, the day of the oath of Nicholas (brother of Alexander). The Decembrists were going to go to the square to prevent the senators from taking the oath, force them to declare the government deposed, and issue a roar manifesto to the Russian people. The uprising began on December 14, 1825. About 3 thousand people were withdrawn to Senate Square, at the beginning of the uprising it turned out that the Senate had sworn an oath, and the army gathered in front of the empty Senate. The rebels withstood several attacks from the Horse Guards and by the evening the uprising was suppressed. The Decembrist movement is the first revolutionary movement in Russia, their ideas largely determined the program of subsequent revolutionaries.

31) Internal policy of Nicholas 1.

Nikolai (1825-1855) felt fear of the revolution caused by the uprising of the Decembrists and the growth of the revolutionary movement in Russia, which forced him to evade reforms and pursue a protective policy. Nicholas 1 appreciated the uprising of the Decembrists as a result of Alexander's liberal policy, therefore, the main task of Nicholas was to prevent the spread of liberalism. The main obstacle to liberal reforms is the police apparatus. All cases of political crimes were transferred to the department of the imperial chancellery in 1826. This department, together with the gendarme corps, placed under strict control not only social activities, but also the state of mind. Another measure to combat liberalism is to tighten censorship. In 1826 - a new censorship charter (cast iron), the charter included 230 prohibitive articles, the following journals were closed: Moscow Telegraph, Telescope and many others. Writers of publicists holding different opinions were subjected to repression (arrest of Turgenev, exile of Saltykov Shchedrin). 1828 - the abolition of the education reform of Alexander 1, the principles of non-estate were eliminated, only children of noblemen and officials can study. 1835 the independence of universities (the largest breeding grounds for sedition) was abolished. In an effort to resist revolutionary and liberal ideas, the autocracy resorted to the formation of a new ideology (creator minister Uvarov), the main postulates: Orthodoxy - autocracy - people (Uvarov trinity). However, in the late 40s it became clear that it was not easy to resist the revolutionary threat and liberal ideas were increasingly penetrating the country (revolutions in Europe). During the reign of Nicholas 1, codification was carried out - the ordering of Russian legislation, the work on drawing up a code of laws was entrusted to Speransky, who returned from links. Serfdom remained a huge problem. Nikolai himself understood the need for modernization, but decided to carry out reforms, the government was looking for an opportunity to solve the peasant issue without touching on the issue of serfdom. Such measures did not solve the problem.

32. Foreign policy of Nicholas I. The Crimean War of 1853-1856.

An important aspect of foreign policy was the return to the principles of the Holy Alliance. The role of Russia in the fight against any manifestations of the “spirit of change” in European life has grown. It was during the reign of Nicholas I that Russia received the unflattering nickname "gendarme of Europe." Thus, at the request of the Austrian Empire, Russia took part in suppressing the Hungarian revolution by sending an army of 100,000 to Hungary, which was trying to free itself from national oppression from Austria. Only thanks to this the Austrian Empire was saved from collapse. This, however, did not prevent Austria, which feared an excessive strengthening of Russia's positions in the Balkans, from soon taking a position unfriendly to Russia during the Crimean War and even threatening it to enter the war on the side of the coalition hostile to Russia. Nicholas was outraged by the ingratitude of Austria, which Russia had considered its main European ally since the era of the Napoleonic wars. Previously, Russia has invariably supported Austria in all international conflicts. Now Russian-Austrian relations were hopelessly spoiled until the end of the existence of both monarchies. The Eastern question occupied a special place in Nikolai's foreign policy. Russia sought to secure its southern borders, secure its influence in the Balkans, and establish control over the Black Sea straits of the Bosphorus and Dardanelles. During the Russian-Turkish wars of 1806-1812. and 1828-1829 Russia managed to significantly weaken the Ottoman Empire At the request of Russia, which declared itself the patroness of all Christian subjects of the Sultan, the Ottoman Empire was forced to grant freedom and independence to Greece and broad autonomy to Serbia (1830). In the early 1850s. Nicholas I was preparing to deliver a decisive blow to the Ottoman Empire. The beginning of the war with Turkey in 1853 was marked by a brilliant victory of the Russian fleet under the command of PS Nakhimov, who defeated the enemy in the Sinop Bay. This was the last major battle of the sailing fleet. Russia's military successes provoked a negative reaction in the West. The leading world powers were not interested in strengthening Russia at the expense of the decrepit Ottoman Empire. This created the basis for a military alliance between England and France. Nicholas's miscalculation was supplemented by the extremely mediocre foreign diplomatic policy of Count Nesselrode and the country found itself in political isolation. In 1854 England and France entered the war on the side of Turkey. Due to its technical backwardness, Russia was unable to resist these European powers. The main hostilities took place in the Crimea. In October 1854, the allies laid siege to Sevastopol. At this time, the Russian army suffered a series of defeats from former allies and was unable to provide assistance to the besieged city-fortress. Therefore, despite the heroic defense of the city after an 11-month siege, in August 1856 the defenders of Sevastopol were forced to surrender the city. At the beginning of 1856, following the results of the Crimean War, the Paris Peace Treaty was signed. Its most difficult condition for Russia is the neutralization of the Black Sea, that is, the prohibition to have naval forces, arsenals and fortresses here. Russia became vulnerable from the sea and was deprived of the opportunity to conduct an active foreign policy in this region. 19 century.

33. Domestic policy of Alexander II and his liberal reforms.

Alexander (1855-1851) was a conservative by conviction, but life forced him to take the path of reform. 1. Serf reform. In 1856, at a meeting with the Moscow nobility, Alexander said that it was better to abolish "serfdom from above than to wait for reactions from below." 1861 On February 19, Alexander signs a manifesto on the emancipation of the peasants, the documents were made public after 2 weeks, 20 million peasants were released for ransom with land. The redemption value of the land ranged from 3 to 12 dessiatines (the rent was taken as the basis, which the peasants paid to the landowner). Since there was no big money - the state became an intermediary - it paid 75-80% of the redemption amount, the peasant paid the rest himself, the peasant had to reimburse the state's expenses by making a loan to the treasury for 49 years. Therefore, the peasants were forced to work to pay the loan, this could not be called true freedom, but still contributed to the formation of the labor market and the development of industry. 2. Zemskaya reform. January 1, 1864 - The reform consisted in the fact that the issues of local economy, primary education, medical and veterinary services were now entrusted to elective institutions - county and provincial zemstvo councils. The election of representatives from the population to the zemstvo (zemstvo vowels) was two-stage and ensured the numerical predominance of the nobles. The vowels of the peasants were in the minority. All affairs in the zemstvo, which concerned primarily the vital needs of the peasantry, were carried out by the landowners, which limited the interests of the other estates. In addition, local zemstvo institutions were subordinate to the tsarist administration, and primarily to the governors. 3. Judicial reform of 1864 - the most consistent, the old estate courts were replaced by magistrates and crown courts, they functioned on the basis of the principles of transparency and publicity, adversarial parties (lawyer), independence of judges, jury. 4. Military reform (1862 - 1874). The country was divided into military districts, the officer corps was qualitatively improved and updated, a military education system was created, the technical re-equipment of the army, and the transition to universal military service (all men over 20 years old, regardless of the estate - conscription). 5. Other liberal reforms. 1864 - the beginning of all-class education, 1863 - a new university charter - the return of autonomy to universities. 1865 - Pre-censorship abolished. The reforms of Alexander 1 were of paramount importance, they covered all spheres and strata of society, allowed Russia to get out of a protracted crisis, at the same time it was only the first step towards a new Russian statehood.

Thirty years passed, and the curtain rose in the great war, which was illuminated by the genius of Napoleon Bonaparte. Like a hundred years ago, France has become a threat against which the powers of Europe have united. But this time the course of the struggle changed. Revolutionary France could have many sympathizers, but they did not form the governments of states and did not command the armed forces of these states. And yet, starting this war alone, forcibly isolated as a "carrier of infection", France not only repelled the joint efforts of its opponents to strangle it, but, changing its form (becoming the empire of Napoleon), became an expanding military threat to the rest of Europe and, in ultimately, the mistress of most of it. The key to this achievement is to be found partly in natural and partly in personal circumstances. The first were generated by the national and revolutionary spirit, which inspired the armies of French citizens and, compensating for regular drill training, which was impossible in such conditions, gave freedom to tactical novelty and individual initiative. The new tactics, in particular the ability to maneuver actions, is confirmed, for example, by the simple but important fact that the French now marched and moved in battle at a brisk pace - 120 steps per minute, while their opponents (Prussians and Austrians) adhered to conservative 70 steps. This elementary difference of several days, before the development of technology endowed armies with vehicles faster than human legs, made it possible to quickly transfer and maneuver concentrated striking power, thanks to which the French could, in Napoleon's words, multiply "mass by speed" as in a strategic sense, and in solving tactical problems.

The second natural condition was the organization of the army in the form of permanent divisions - the division of the army into independent and separately operating units. The reform initiated by Broglie had its effect even before the revolution. But then Carnot initiated, and Bonaparte developed the idea that divisions and even corps, acting separately, should do everything in order to achieve a common goal.

The third condition, related to the previous one, was that the chaotic supply system of the army and the weak discipline of the revolutionary armies forced a return to the old practice of "subsistence at the expense of the provinces." And the division of the army into divisions (and corps) meant that this practice did not reduce the effectiveness of the army as much as in the old days. Whereas previously the fractional units had to be assembled together before they could carry out any operation, now they could carry out tasks on their own, while at the same time taking care of their own supplies.

Moreover, the effect of "moving light" should have accelerated their mobility and allowed them to move freely in mountainous or wooded areas. Likewise, the very fact that they could no longer depend on warehouses and quartermaster carts for food and equipment gave impetus to the hungry and poorly equipped troops and pushed them to attack the enemy rear, which had a direct form of supply and depended on it.

In addition to these conditions, the personality of the commander Napoleon Bonaparte was of decisive importance - whose spiritual abilities were fueled by intensive study and reflection on the events of military history. Having strengthened in this way, 011 was able to fully exploit the capabilities of the new "divisional" system. Hence, in developing a wider range of strategic combinations, perhaps Napoleon's main contribution to strategy lay.

The amazement caused by the frustration of the Prussians and Austrians in the battles of Valmy and Gemappes during their first shallow invasion of 1792 obscures the fact that France and the revolution were then in much greater danger. Only after the execution of Louis XVI was the First Coalition created - by England, Holland, Austria, Prussia, Spain and Sardinia - and only after that the dedication of spirit and human and material reserves were thrown by the French into the scales. And despite the fact that the conduct of the war on the part of the occupiers lacked meaningful and skillful management, the position of the French became more and more difficult, until in 1794 fortune changed dramatically and the wave of invasion swept back. From that moment on, France from the defending side became the aggressor. What caused this tide? Definitely not a strategic masterful strike, although the purpose of the war was unclear and limited. The significance of this event lay in the fact that it was the result of the use of, of course, indirect strategic actions. While the main armies fought each other at Lille, shedding much blood, but not achieving a final result, the far-backed army of Jourdan on the Moselle was ordered to concentrate its strike fist on the left flank and, moving west through the Ardennes, head to Liege and Namur. ... Reaching Namur after a march, during which the troops supported themselves only by what they could take away from the local peasants, Jourdan heard through a messenger and from the sounds of a distant firefight that the right flank of the main army was fighting unsuccessfully at the front at Charleroi. Therefore, instead of starting the siege of Namur as ordered, Jourdan moved south-west towards Charleroi and behind enemy lines. His arrival forced the fortress to surrender, but Jourdan did not seem to have any larger tasks in mind. Nevertheless, the psychological impact of such a blow on the enemy's rear gave him the result that Napoleon and other great generals strove for as a calculated result of exact combinations. The enemy commander-in-chief, the Prince of Coburg, hastily retreated to the east, gathering all the troops he could on his way. He threw them into an offensive on Jourdan, who dug in to cover Charleroi, and although this battle, known as the Battle of Fleurus (June 26, 1794), was fierce, the French (about 80 thousand) had an invaluable superiority in the absence of a strategic stability of the enemy (46 thousand), as well as the fact that he was forced to enter into battle only part of his forces. The defeat of this army was followed by a general withdrawal of the allies.

But when the French, in turn, took on the role of invaders, despite their superior numbers, they were unable to achieve any decisive results in the main campaign on the Raines. Indeed, this campaign was at the end not only empty, but also ruined - and because of the indirect actions of the enemy. In July 1796, Archduke Karl, finding himself face to face with the renewed offensive of the armies of Jourdan and Moreau, superior to him, decided, in his own words, “to withdraw both armies (his own and that of Wartsnsleben) step by step, without getting involved in battle, and the first opportunity to unite them, then to pounce with superior or at least equal power on one of the two enemy armies. " But their pressure did not give him a chance to implement this strategy of "internal lines" - the usual and direct, not to mention the idea of giving up territory - until it was replaced by a truly indirect impact on the initiative of the cavalry brigadier Nauendorf. Intense reconnaissance by this officer showed him that the French were withdrawing from the front to be transferred to unite and destroy the Wartensleben. He sent an exalted message "If Your Royal Highness sends or can send 12 thousand soldiers to the rear of Jourdan, he will be defeated." Although the execution of this plan by the Archduke was not as ingenious as the plan of his subordinate, it was enough for the French offensive to end in failure. Jourdan's indiscriminate retreat shook the rear of the army and beyond the Rhine forced Moreau to abandon his successful advance into Bavaria and similarly roll back.

But at a time when the main blow of the French on the Rhine failed, and then, being repeated, again failed, the fate of the war was decided in a secondary theater of operations - in Italy, where Napoleon Bonaparte turned a risky, unreliable defense into decisive indirect actions, deciding the outcome of the war. This plan matured in his mind two years ago, when he was a staff officer in this area, and then in Paris he took the form of a document - the "spine" of his general theory of war. Like other great prophets, he expressed his principled ideas in allegory, and as with other prophets, his disciples usually misinterpreted these allegories. Thus, in perhaps his most significant maxim, Napoleon said: “The principles of war are the same as those of a siege. The fire must be concentrated in one point, and as soon as a gap appears, the balance will be disturbed, and the rest is just trifles. " Subsequently, military theory emphasizes the first point instead of the last; in particular, the words "one point" instead of the word "balance". The first is just a physical metaphor, while the second expresses an actual psychological outcome that ensures "the rest is small." What Napoleon himself "emphasized" should be comprehended from the strategic course of his campaigns.

The word "point" has even been a source of great confusion and controversy. One school argues that Napoleon meant that a concentrated strike should be aimed at the strongest enemy point, on the grounds that this, and only this, guarantees the achievement of a decisive result. Because if the main enemy resistance is broken, its suppression will entail the elimination of any lesser enemy resistance. This argument overlooks the cost factor and the fact that the winner may be too exhausted to take advantage of his success - so that even a weak opponent may acquire a relatively higher capacity to resist than initially. Another school, more inspired by the idea of saving forces, but only in a limited sense of the cost in the first stage of the battle, argues that the target should be the weakest enemy point. But the point that remains weak is usually because it is located away from any vital arteries or nerve centers, or because it is deliberately made to lure the attacker into a trap.

And here again the insight comes from an analysis of the actual campaign in which Bonaparte put his principle into practice. It is clearly revealed that what he really meant was not a "point" but a "seam" and that at this stage in his career he was too keen on the idea of saving energy to spend his limited power on a blow to the very strong enemy point. The joint, however, is both vital and vulnerable.

At the same time, Bonaparte usually spoke another phrase, which was subsequently referred to to justify the most reckless concentration of forces against the main armed forces of the enemy. “Austria is the greatest enemy; if Austria is crushed, then Germany, Spain and Italy will collapse on their own. We must not scatter our forces, but, on the contrary, must concentrate our strikes. " But the embodiment of this idea by Napoleon shows that he did not mean a direct attack on Austria, but an indirect action through Italy, and even in this secondary theater he tried to knock out the junior partner - the army of Sardinia - from the game, before turning his forces against the senior partner.

Bonaparte was located on the Genoese Riviera, and the Austrians and Sardinians - over the mountains to the north. Both with the help of fortune and with the help of his design - which is no less important - Bonaparte won the initial advantage, managing to lure the Austrians to the east, and the Sardinians to the west, and then hit the weakened junction of the positions of the two enemy armies, and, forcing the Austrians again retreat east, won time and space for concentration in the west against the Sardinians. “The balance was disturbed,” and its psychological effect did more than physical destruction, and made the Sardinians beg for a truce that took them out of the war.

Now he had an advantage over the Austrians who remained alone (35 thousand against 25 thousand). But did he move them directly against the enemy? No. On the day following the armistice with Sardinia, Napoleon set out to capture Milan from the rear, making a roundabout maneuver through Tortona and Piacenza. After he managed to deceive the Austrians by concentrating his forces in Valenza in order to repel his anticipated offensive to the northeast, he went east along the Po river, and there, reaching Piacenza, bypassed all possible lines of Austrian resistance. But a shortage of ferry funds delayed Napoleon at Piacenza as he turned north, and the hasty retreat of the Austrians allowed them to retreat to a safe distance and take refuge in Mantua in the famous quadrangle of fortresses before Bonaparte could use the river Addu as a river obstacle in their path. withdrawal. But even so, he captured Milan and the rich lands of Lombardy for his hungry and ragged army without any loss.

But even after that, Napoleon refrained from a direct attack on the main enemy, Austria, as the orthodox military theorists assumed, and he also refused to set foot in Central Italy, as the Directory ordered him to do, driven by political motives. Instead, gracefully aligning his ends and means, he used Mantua as bait to pull the liberated Austrian forces from their bases, and they fell into his hands. It is very important that he did not dig in fortifications, according to the traditional custom of the generals, but kept his troops in a mobile state and had a light and mobile grouping that could be concentrated in any direction. At the first attempt by the Austrians to help Mantua, Bonaparte's method was threatened by his unwillingness to lift the siege of the city. Only when Bonaparte abandoned the siege of Mantua and thereby gained freedom to maneuver, he was able to use the mobility of his troops to defeat the Austrians at Castiglion (August 15, 1796). The Directory then ordered him to pass through Tyrol and join up with the main army of the Rhine. The Austrian took advantage of his direct offensive in order to descend through the mountain passes with most of their troops in the direction of Venice, and then move west to Mantua. However, Napoleon began to stubbornly pursue the tail of the column of Austrian troops, already when they passed through the mountains, thereby nullifying the enemy's maneuver with his counter-maneuver, carried out with a more decisive goal. He defeated the Austrian second echelon at Bassano (September 8, 1796), and when he descended to the lowlands near Venice, pursuing the remnants of the Austrian troops, it is worth noting that Napoleon sent his pursuers in such a way as to cut off the enemies from Trieste, thereby cutting off the escape routes to Austria. However, he did not interfere with the withdrawal of Austrian troops in the direction of Mantua. Thus, the troops of the Austrian army themselves fell into a trap set up for them by Bonaparte in Mantua. The fact that so much of Austria's "war capital" was locked up forced Austria to spend more. This time (and not the last), Bonaparte's direct tactics jeopardized his success in his indirect strategy. When the Austrians appeared near Verona, his stronghold for the defense of Mantua, Bonaparte rushed in the vanguard of his main columns and received a serious rebuff. But instead of retreating, he preferred a bold wide maneuver around the enemy's southern flank and into his rear. Delays on the way caused by crossings and river crossings increased the danger of this maneuver, but at least the direction of this march paralyzed the enemy, and when the scales of the battle hesitated at Arcole (November 15-17, 1796). ), Napoleon resorted to a decisive tactical deception, rare for this general, - he sent several buglers to the Austrian rear with the order to play an attack signal. A few minutes later, the staunchly fighting Austrian troops rushed to flee from their positions in a stream. (A very strange interpretation of the stubborn and bloody three-day battle at Arcole. On November 15 and 16, the French repeatedly stormed the bridge over the Alpone River, but did not achieve success. Not considering heavy losses, Bonaparte ordered on November 17 to storm the bridge and the village of Arcole beyond it with all his might. The attack was combined with Augereau's withdrawal maneuver, which, after a stubborn battle (!), knocked out the Austrians from positions south of Arcole, after which the Austrians (Alvinzi) were forced to start withdrawing, fearing for their communications. Ed.) Two months later, in January 1797, the Austrians made the fourth and last attempt to save Mantua, but were smashed to smithereens at Rivoli (January 13-15, 1797), where Bonaparte's light mobile military unit (Murat's troops, who landed across Lake Garda to the rear the advancing Austrian column of Lusignan) acted almost perfectly (however, before that, the Austrians put the French in a critical position. Ed.). In addition, in addition to the landing of Murat, Ray's division arrived in time to destroy the Lusignan column. Such actions were a consequence of Bonaparte's improvement of the new divisional system, according to which the army was constantly divided into independently acting (however, according to a single plan and with a single goal. - Ed.) detachments, instead of, as it was before, one military association, from which only temporary detachments were allocated. Such units in Bonaparte's army during the Italian campaigns turned into more highly developed battalion squares, and in his later wars, not divisions, but larger army corps, operated independently. It is important to note that the cessation of the onslaught of the main forces of the Austrians was due to the courage of Napoleon, who sent Murat's troops in boats across Lake Garda to go to the rear of the advancing Austrian column. Then Mantua surrendered (February 2, 1797), and the Austrians, who had lost their armies in Italy in an attempt to save the outer gates to their country, were now forced to respond to Bonaparte's rapid approach to the defenseless inner gates. (In March, the French invaded Austria and launched an offensive on Vienna .-- Ed.) This forced Austria to plead for peace, although the main French armies were still behind the Rhine.

In the fall of 1798, the Second Coalition was formed from Russia, Austria, England, Turkey, Portugal and the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies, as well as the Roman nobles, to throw off the shackles of the peace treaty. Bonaparte was in Egypt at that time, and when he returned, France's chances were sharply reduced. Field armies were drained of blood, the treasury was empty, and conscription was sharply reduced. (The author indirectly, in hints, described the result of the brilliant Italian campaign of AB Suvorov in 1799. Acting as he always acted (that is, decisively, quickly, in large masses of troops, trying to inflict complete defeat on the enemy in battle), Suvorov in April - August 1799 in several decisive battles (first of all at Adda on April 15-17 (26-28), Trebia June 6-8 (17-19) and at Novi on August 4 (15)) completely defeated the French (Moreau, MacDonald, Joubert) and cleared northern Italy of the enemy. Ed.) Bonaparte, who, on his return to France, overthrew the Directory and became the first consul, ordered the formation of a reserve army in Dijon, consisting of all the internal troops that could be scooped up. Did he use it to strengthen his positions in the central theater of operations and the main army on the Rhine? No. Instead, he planned the most audacious of all indirect actions - the most daring flanking maneuver - and made a swift dash in a giant arc, reaching into the rear of the Austrian army in Italy. The enemy at this time pushed a small French army in Italy back almost to the very French border and drove it into the north-western corner of Italy (MacDonald's French held only Genoa, which was blocked by the Austrians of Melas). Bonaparte intended to move through Switzerland to Lucerne or Zurich and reach Italy as far east as possible - passing through the Saint-Gotthard Pass or even through Tyrol. But the news that the French army in Italy is under strong pressure from the Austrians (Suvorov and other Russian troops were recalled by Emperor Paul I. - Ed.), forced him to take the shorter route "through St. Bernard. So when he, after passing the pass, left the Valle d'Aosta into the open country from the narrow Alps to Ivrsa in the last week of May 1800, he was still on the right flank of the Austrian Instead of advancing to the southeast to aid Massena, who was locked up in Genoa, Bonaparte sent his vanguard to Cherasco, while, under cover of this diversionary maneuver, he himself slipped east to Milan with his main forces. forward and meeting the enemy in his "natural position" facing west at Alessandria, he captured the "natural position » across the Austrian rear - this strategic barrier, which was the original target of his most deadly maneuvers behind enemy lines. Because such a position, strengthened by natural barriers, gave him a reliable foothold from which to prepare a "hard hug" for the enemy, whose "natural" tendency, when he was suddenly cut off from the path of retreat and supply, was to turn around and retreat back , usually in small groups, right at it. This idea of a "strategic barrier" was Napoleon's largest contribution to the strategy of indirect action.

In Milan, Bonaparte cut one of the two routes of withdrawal of the Austrians, and then, reaching the line south of the Po River, which extended to the gorge of the southern tributary Po of the Stradella River, he also intercepted the second route. However, Bonaparte's plan was somewhat not supported by the means available to him, since he had only 34 thousand (at the beginning of the campaign 42 thousand. - Ed.) people, and through the fault of Moreau, the arrival of reinforcements - a corps of 15 thousand people, which Bonaparte ordered to send at his disposal from the Rhine army through the Saint-Gotthard Pass - was late. Concern over the fact that the strategic line was occupied by insignificant forces began to increase. And at that moment Genoa surrendered. Uncertainty about the road the Austrians could take, and above all the fear that they might lock themselves up in Genoa, where the British fleet could deliver food for them, forced him to abandon much of the advantages he had won. Because, ascribing more initiative to his opponents than they showed, he abandoned his "natural position" at Stradella and moved west to scout his rivals and cut the road from Alessandria to Genoa. Thus, he found himself at a disadvantage, having only part of his army at hand, when the Austrian army suddenly left Alessandria and headed towards him for a rendezvous on the Marengo Plain (June 14, 1800). The outcome of the battle was in doubt for a long time, and even when Deset's division returned, sent on the road to Genoa, the Austrians were only repulsed, but not defeated. But then Bonaparte's strategic position began to play a role, and it allowed him to wrest from the demoralized Austrian commander (Melas) a request for an armistice, according to which the Austrians left Lombardy and retreated across the Mincio River. And although the war resumed in a chaotic manner outside Mincio, the moral consequences of Marengo manifested themselves in the Peace of Luneville, which Austria concluded on February 9, 1801. (The author did not mention the defeat of the Austrians at Gogeschnden in Bavaria on December 3, 1800, where the Rhine army of the French Moreau (56 thousand) defeated the Danube Austrian army of Archduke Charles. It was after this battle that the Austrians were forced to seek peace. Ed.)

After years of precarious peace, the curtain that fell over the French Revolutionary Wars rose to open a new act - the Napoleonic Wars. In 1805, Napoleon's army of 200 thousand people was assembled in Boulogne, threatening to attack the English coast (if this happened, the British would not have been helped by any "direct" and "indirect" actions. - Ed.), when she was suddenly sent on a forced march towards the Rhine. It is still unclear whether Napoleon intended to carry out a direct invasion of England in earnest, or whether his threat was just the first phase in his indirect impact on Austria. He hoped that the Austrians, as usual, would send one army to Bavaria to block the exits from the Black Forest, and on the basis of this assumption planned his wide maneuver around their northern flank across the Danube and on the Lech River (the right tributary of the Danube) - his planned a strategic barrier across the enemy rear. This was a repetition on a larger scale of the Stradella maneuver, and Napoleon himself emphasized this parallel to his troops. Moreover, his superiority in forces allowed him to carry out the intended maneuver. After intercepting the communications of the Makka army (80 thousand), the last (remnants), after several battles, surrendered in the Ulm region. Having swept aside this "weakest partner", Napoleon now had to deal with the Russian army under the command of Kutuzov (50 thousand), who, having passed through Austria and gathered small Austrian troops (15 thousand), only reached the Inn River. The return of other Austrian armies from Italy and Tyrol posed a lesser threat. Now the size of its troops for the first, but not the last time, caused inconvenience to Napoleon. With such a large army, the space between the Danube and the mountains to the southwest was too cramped for any indirect local action against the enemy, and there was no time for extensive movements of the scale of the Ulm maneuver. But since the Russians remained on the Inn, they remained in a "natural position", forming not only a shield for Austrian territory, but also a shield, under the cover of which other Austrian armies could approach from the south through Carinthia and join them, erecting a strong wall of resistance in front of Napoleon ... Faced with such a problem, Napoleon used the most elegant series of variations on the indirect approach. His first goal was to push the Russians as far east as possible in order to tear them away from the Austrian armies returning from Italy. Therefore, advancing directly east to Kutuzov and Vienna, he sent Mortier corps along the northern bank of the Danube. This threat to Kutuzov's communications was sufficient to force him to retreat in a roundabout way northeast to Krems on the Danube. Then Napoleon sent Murat with the task of a swift march to cut the new front of Kutuzov, with Vienna as his goal. From Vienna, Murat was ordered to march north to Hollabrunn. Thus, after the first threat to the right flank of the Russians, Napoleon now threatened their rear on the left. As a result of this operation, due to the temporary armistice agreement mistakenly concluded by Murat, it was not possible to cut off the Russians (Kutuzov, in the course of a brilliant march-maneuver, escaped from the trap, defeating Mortier corps near Krems (in front of Napoleon on the other bank of the Danube), and at Schengraben (near Hollabrunn), Bagration's barrier (5 thousand), holding back the onslaught of 30 thousand French, allowed the main forces of Kutuzov to withdraw (at night Bagration broke through the encirclement with bayonets.) Having lost almost half of the composition, but retaining the banners, Bagration's detachment caught up with Kutuzov's army a day later. - Ed.). But this, at least, forced them to hastily retreat even further northeast to Olomouc, finding themselves very close to their own border (from Olmutz (Olomouc) to the then Russian border was 650 km. - Ed.). But although the Russians were now far "distracted" from the Austrian reinforcements, they were closer to their own, and in Olomouc the Russians did receive reinforcements. If we continued to push them back further, it would only consolidate the power of the Russians. In addition, time was running out, and the entry of Prussia into the war was inevitable. And then Napoleon resorted to indirect influence, tempting the Russians to go on the offensive by a cunning display of his own seeming weakness. For a fight with 80 thousand enemy soldiers, he concentrated only 50 thousand of his own in Brunn (Brno), and from there squeezed isolated detachments to Olomouc. He added to this impression of weakness by offering peace to the Russian tsar and the Austrian emperor. When the enemy swallowed the bait, Napoleon appeared in front of them at a position near Austerlitz, by its very nature intended to be a trap, and in the ensuing battle used one of his rare tactical methods of indirect actions in order to compensate for an equally rare shortage for him in the number of troops on the battlefield ( Napoleon had 73 thousand, in the Russian-Austrian army 86 thousand). Seducing the enemy to stretch out his left flank in an attack on his retreating French troops, Napoleon turned his center against the weakened joint and thereby won a victory so decisive that within 24 hours the Emperor of Austria asked for peace.

When a few months later Napoleon occupied Prussia, he had a superiority of almost 2: 1 (False. Against the 150-thousandth Prussian army, Napoleon moved 170 thousand. - Ed.)- an army that was "great" both in quantitative and qualitative terms, against defective in military training and outdated in appearance. The influence of this guaranteed superiority on Napoleon's strategy is noticeable, and it increased as he waged subsequent military campaigns. In 1806, he is still striving and gaining the advantage of the initial surprise. To do this, he stationed his troops near the Danube, and then quickly concentrated them in the north behind the natural shield formed by the forests of Thuringia. Further, suddenly leaving the forest zone into open terrain, his battalion squares rushed straight into the heart of the enemy country. Thus, Napoleon found himself rather than positioned himself (more accidentally than intentionally) in the rear of the Prussian troops and, turning sharply to crush them at Jena and Auerstedt (October 14, 1806), apparently relied mainly on net weight rather than on the moral effect of their position, which was casual but important.

Likewise, in the war against the Russians in Poland and East Prussia that followed, Napoleon probably worried mainly about how to get the enemy into battle, confident that when it did, his war machine would overpower the enemy. He still used maneuver to break through to the rear of the enemy, but now it is more a means to firmly grab an opponent so as to drag him into his jaws (rather than a method of striking his morale) so that it is easier to chew on the victim.

Indirect action is more a distraction and physical "grip" than a distraction and undermining of morale.

So, with his maneuver at Pultusk, he seeks to divert the Russians to the west, so that if they move north from Poland, he could cut them off from Russia. The Russians slipped out of his pincers. In January 1807, the Russians moved westward of their own accord to the remnants of their Prussian allies in Danzig, and Napoleon quickly seized the opportunity to cut off their communications with Prussia. However, his order fell into the hands of the Cossacks, and the Russian army retreated in time. (The Cossacks became a nightmare for Napoleon (and the entire French army). In 1812, near Maloyaroslavets, they almost seized (or planted on a peak) the emperor conducting reconnaissance - this shocked him, who later retreated under the blows of Russian troops. And in March 1814 The Cossacks intercepted Napoleon's letter to his wife, where he described in detail his plan of action, as a result the plan was revealed, the Russians and the allies moved to Paris and took it, and after the fall of his capital, Napoleon was forced to abdicate. Ed.) Then Napoleon began to directly pursue them and, finding himself in front of the Russian troops, who had taken a frontal position at Preisim-Eylau and were ready to give battle, relied on a purely tactical maneuver against their rear. This maneuver was interrupted by a storm, and the Russians, though battered, did not fall into the jaws of the French. (On the contrary - according to the French Marshal Bernadotte (the future Swedish king Charles XIV Johan and the founder of the royal dynasty now ruling in Sweden), “happiness never again favored Napoleon, as at Eylau. Hit Bennigsen in the evening, he would have taken at least 150 guns, under which the horses were killed. ”The Russians (78 thousand, including 8 thousand Prussians, having 450 guns) lost 25 thousand killed and wounded, the French (70 thousand and 400 guns) from 23 to 30 thousand. Both sides considered themselves victors, although at night Bennigsen, who had every chance of defeating Napoleon, retreated. Ed.) Four months later, both sides regained their strength, and the Russians suddenly headed south to Hejlsberg (where the battle had taken place), at which point Napoleon threw his corps east to cut off the enemy from Konigsberg, the nearest base of the Russians. But this time he was clearly so obsessed with the idea of battle that when his cavalry, conducting reconnaissance on the flank, announced the presence of the Russians in a strong position near Friedland, he threw all his forces directly at this target. The tactical victory was won not by surprise or mobility, but by purely offensive power (60 thousand Russians opposed Napoleon's 85 thousand) - here it was expressed in Napoleon's artillery tactics: a massive concentration of artillery fire at a chosen point. He applied this technique throughout his career (starting with Toulon (1793) and the suppression of the royalists in Paris (1795). - Ed.) In Friedland, as often afterwards, this ensured victory. It is noteworthy that the massive use of human resources was typical in 1807-1914 and in 1914-1918. And it is noteworthy that in each case the greatest losses were associated with intense artillery fire.

The French Revolution became a kind of prologue to the beginning of the late modern era, serving as a kind of dividing line between the period of the Enlightenment and the 19th century, when the theoretical ideas of the previous century, having gained unprecedented strength, began to be actively implemented in practice. Those freedom-loving principles and ideals that, with an eye on the surrounding unsightly reality, were anxiously formulated by the philosophers-enlighteners of the outgoing era - ideals for which one could pay with freedom, prosperity, and sometimes life - suddenly turned into a powerful, socially significant ideological trend, which, like a mighty wave sweeping away everything in its path was washing away the last remnants of feudalism, class hierarchy and ossified socio-economic structure, inherited from Europe since the Middle Ages. The Great French Revolution and the Napoleonic Wars that followed it marked the birth of a new century, the hallmark of which was the awakening of national consciousness and the mass revolutionary liberation movement.

The reasons that gave rise to the grandiose revolutionary events in France had, of course, their own, national specifics, but to one degree or another they were applicable to almost every state in the European region, and that is why the idea of "freedom, equality and brotherhood", the concept of legal state and complete liberation from the bondage of the class-absolutist regime with enthusiasm and enthusiasm were received by the leading representatives of European society. The complete lack of rights of the majority of the French population (including representatives of the commercial and industrial bourgeoisie) in the face of two privileged estates - the nobility and the clergy; I am absolute isolation of the representatives of the highest nobility from the needs and requirements of the general population, which was expressed in artistic form in the phrase attributed to the Queen of France Marie Antoinette - "If they have no bread, let them eat cakes!" ; endless setbacks in foreign and domestic policy; brutal taxation and blatant impunity for royal officials; finally, the very personality of Louis XVI, who was a vivid example of the degradation of the Bourbon dynasty - all this, combined with the liberal ideas of the Enlightenment and the American War of Independence, became the historical prerequisite for the inevitability of the Great French Revolution. The brightest, most talented representatives of the French nation, side by side with the Americans who fought for the liberation of the United States from the domination of the British Empire (for example, the Marquis Gilbert de Lafayette), returning home after a brilliant victory, realized with horror that those vices of the socio-political and economic the regimes they fought on foreign soil reign supreme in their homes, and in an even more terrible and frightening form than on the American continent. However, representatives of the highest clan nobility were far from united in support of decrepit French absolutism: the case of Count Honoré de Mirabeau, the future leader of the first stage of the French Revolution, who spent more than three years in prison on the absurd accusation of kidnapping his own beloved, clearly demonstrated that in the face of even the highest representatives of the nobility can be absolutely deprived of rights in an absolutist hierarchical structure.

Self-study question

Do you think there was a possibility of preventing the French Revolution? What measures needed to be taken by French absolutism to reduce the severity of revolutionary sentiments? What would you do in this situation, being in the place of Louis XVI?

Perhaps it was the depth of the accumulated contradictions that predetermined the cruelty and bloodshed of the French Revolution, the apotheosis of which was the short but monstrous period of the Jacobin dictatorship led by Maximilian Robespierre - a dictatorship that gave rise to the mass terror of 1793-1794, the terrible personification of which was the invention of a special mechanism of the guillotine to quickly decapitate victims. At the same time, the revolution, despite the spilled rivers of blood and countless casualties, resolved the key issue of social development of the French state, eliminating class restrictions and privileges and proclaiming the equality of citizens before the law (Declaration of the Rights of Man and Citizen, 1789). Thus, the last obstacles to the free development of bourgeois-capitalist relations were removed and the foundation was laid for the subsequent transition of the French Republic (established after the abolition of the monarchy in 1792) from the defense and defense of the revolutionary property to open expansionism and the conquest of new territories and sales markets. This tendency was most clearly manifested after the coup of the 18th Brumaire (November 1799) and the coming to power Napoleon Bonaparte- an event that marked the official end of the Great French Revolution.

It is interesting!

Alexander Dumas (father) on the period of the Jacobin dictatorship (an excerpt from the book "The Daughter of the Marquis »):

“When you see how the heads of women and children are cut off, you stop being afraid of the guillotine.

In the newspaper Prudhomme, the only one that survived, the only one that, having ceased to be published, appeared again, a few days ago they wrote how a curious, seeing how the guillotine works, asked a neighbor:

What would I do? I really want to get on the guillotine!

In another issue there was a story about how the executioners, having come for the convict, found him reading. While they were preparing him for execution, he did not let go of the book and continued to read until the very scaffold; when the wagon drove up to the foot of the guillotine, he laid the required page with a bookmark, put the book on the bench, and held out his hands to tie them up.

Hyacinth told me that on the third day five prisoners escaped from the gendarmes; they were not going to run, they just wanted to go to Vaudeville one last time.

One in five returns to the tribunal that convicted him:

Can you tell me where my gendarmes are? I lost them.

A sleeping man was found on one of the stands of the Convention.

- What are you doing here? - they asked him.
"I came to kill Robespierre, but while he was making a speech, I fell asleep."

It is symbolic that Napoleon, himself being the product of the revolution, which raised the most talented, most active representatives of the French nation to as a result, he turned out to be her "strangler", who restored the monarchical form of government in France in 1804. A sincere adherent of Rousseau's freedom-loving ideas, one of the most gifted - if not to say brilliant - people of his era, a friend and ally of Augustin Robespierre, brother of Maximilian, Napoleon ironically reversed much of what had been done during the years of the revolution. According to the catch phrase of the revolutionary and representative of the Girondins' party Pierre Vergniot, "The revolution, like the god Saturn, devours its children." In fact, this is exactly what happened with M. Robespierre, J.-J. Danton, J.-P. Marat, J.-R. Eber and other Jacobin leaders. However, it also happens otherwise: the children of the revolution devour it itself - and this was just the case of Napoleon.

Alexander Sergeevich Pushkin about Napoleon (excerpts from the poem "Napoleon", 1821):

"Oh you, whose memory is the bloody World for a long time, for a long time will be POLY,

Suspended by your glory

Calm among the desolate wills ...

Magnificent grave!

Above the urn where your ashes lie

The hatred of the peoples has died down And the ray of immortality is burning. "

“You believed in your ruinous happiness with your soul,

You were captivated by the autocracy of Disappointed beauty. "

“Let the faint-hearted Togo be overshadowed by shame, who in this day will revolt the Mad with reproach His discredited shadow!

Praise! He showed the Russian people a high lot And bequeathed eternal freedom to the world From the darkness of exile. "

Rice. 45.

However, despite the defeat and all the tragedy of Napoleon's fate, his name will forever remain in history, and that was the name of not only the genius commander, politician and diplomat, but also the gifted writer and publicist, the creator of the Civil Code - a document far ahead of its time; it was the name of an ardent admirer of art and science, who formulated his own theorem in geometry; the name of a person of phenomenal willpower, erudition and talent. And this is exactly how this great, but unfortunate emperor will remain for centuries.

Apparently, this phrase did not belong to Marie Antoinette and, possibly, was the fruit of literary fiction, but the very fact of its appearance speaks about the state of minds of that era and how this catch phrase correlated with the theory and practice of absolutism in France.

Was Sulla before Spartacus or vice versa? Nero - Before or After Caligula? In which of the Punic Wars did Archimedes die and which side did he represent? What are the Habsburg and Hohenzollern dynasties, what role did they play in the founding of the Second Reich? How many tanks went into battle at Prokhorovka? When did the Yom Kippur War break out and who won? Why did the great USSR collapse? Let's remember everything that once touched us, let's look at the film of time, frame by frame, so as to make everything right today.

* * *

The given introductory fragment of the book History of Almost Everything. Time Eaters Practical Guide (Lim Ward) provided by our book partner - the company Liters.

The French Revolution. Napoleon Bonaparte

Liberty, Igality, Fraternity - Freedom, Equality, Brotherhood. The guillotine, approved by the king as the most humane instrument of justice, tested in the case by him, the Convention, the capture of the Bastille and the cult of the Supreme Being instead of Christianity. Jacobin Club with branches throughout France, law on the suspicious, Marat, Robespierre and Danton. Friends of the people become enemies, and vice versa, with kaleidoscopic speed.

A yawning social chasm is opening up between the countryside and the city. Recruiting in the province of Vendee sparks this powder keg. Twelve "infernal columns" of the Republic are tormenting the civilian population, unleashing a large-scale "Franco-French genocide". It seems that the goal of the revolutionary French is now the complete destruction of the peasants, the creation of agrarian towns from the "conscious", ready to participate in all the adventures of the Convention, not preventing the confiscation of grain, etc., citizens. In total, 30 thousand republican soldiers and 175 thousand peasants perish, every sixth or seventh inhabitant of the department. Thermidor, counter-revolutionary coup: the taken aback leaders are dragged from the rostrum during their next performance, and taken to a meeting with the guillotine

Directory - five elected all-powerful directors. Council of Five Hundred. Only exclamations from the audience, in chorus, in response to the proposal to intensify the terror: "Justice for all!", Stop the work of the guillotines.

…. To the officer Napoleon manages to pay off a considerable debt of his father, Carlo Bounaparte. Referring to illness, he avoids the dubious honor of a participant in the suppression of the uprising of the peasant Vendée. However, he manages to stand out. The field of major players has been cleared, the countries of the monarchical coalition are striving to impose peace on France with war, and any proactive and active person is now in great demand. Captain Napoleon shows himself during the execution of the insurgent Toulon, is promoted to divisional generals, and becomes a brigadier general (which rank is higher) after the use of artillery against the "golden youth", on the streets of Paris, with arms in his hands seeking the restoration of the monarchy. After the Italian and Egyptian companies, the last of which is designed to create a springboard for the invasion of the Indian possessions of England (ex-French), the general gains popular popularity, even though he leaves his wounded to the Turks for reprisal. The Council of Five Hundred, which once dispatched an ambitious officer on foreign campaigns, is also dispersed by it. The Code of Napoleon (Civil Code) was adopted, combining Roman law and revolutionary conquests, which is still valid throughout Europe.

In 1803, Napoleon made an unexpected proposal to the American government (President Jefferson); acquire Louisiana, a vast area of North America, officially transferred to France by Spain three weeks earlier. The point, if there is one here at all, is that, in the event of war, England can easily seize these overseas lands. Bonaparte himself is quite willing to fight Britain in Europe. One way or another, the idea of Greater France in the New World is not being realized. For a total of $ 15 million, on May 2, 1803, the Jeffersonian government purchases land equal to nearly a quarter of the area of the current United States. Further, for about the same amount (7 cents per hectare) step by step; beads, knives, canvas for tents, fire water, territories are bought from the leaders of the Indians.

In 1804, Napoleon is crowned by the Pope and suddenly ceases to be a revolutionary general. The First French Republic imperceptibly betrays itself and becomes an Empire; which, in general, is very close to the monarchy.

Bonaparte defeats the troops of the third monarchical coalition at Austerlitz and distributes the kingdoms of Europe to his relatives. The battle at Preussisch-Eylau (not far from Konigsberg) with the combined German and Russian troops of the fourth coalition terrifies the experienced military as well: losses of twenty-five thousand only killed, a draw, and a temporary lull.

Portugal refuses to take part in the blockade of England. Napoleon discusses with the Spanish king the transfer of troops to her, during the negotiation process he declares the monarch and his son prisoners. An attempt to send the king's young children to France leads to a general uprising and partisan war. The throne of Spain is occupied by Napoleon's brother Joseph.

Napoleonic troops enter Rome, annex the papal possessions. The Pope ousted from power, in turn, excommunicates Bonaparte from the church (1809), which does not contribute to the popularity of the emperor among Catholics.

Napoleon's Russian campaign, in addition to the desire for fame, booty and new territories, is a reaction to the participation of Alexander the First in all coalitions against republican and then imperial France. The exodus from Moscow along the already devastated path (while after the battle near Maloyaroslavets an alternative to it opened up) was marked by frequent cases of cannibalism. Of the six hundred thousandth army alive (excluding the prisoners, many of whom remained in Russia in the honorary position of tutors), twenty-three thousand survive, hiding in the still allied Poland. The emperor gathers a new army, wins a series of victories over the troops of the sixth coalition, which includes former German allies. But, soldiers, officers, even ambitious marshals get tired of fighting. After the unexpected surrender of Paris to the Russian troops, Napoleon signed an act of abdication and a moment later he was again named “General Bonaparte”.

The royal army, led by Louis the Eighteenth, returns to France, the place of heroic revolutionary officers is taken by nobles who have come from nowhere. And, the coat of arms of the Bourbons - a red lion surrounded by eight blue shells, flaunts on official documents for a very short time. Against the background of general discontent, Napoleon returned from the island of Elba, where he had, among other things, an artillery battery, battalions of devoted guardsmen and eight ships for pleasure trips. "The Emperor again" gathers an efficient army from the royal military units sent to capture him.

After the disaster at Waterloo(you cannot sleep during a general battle, and send the infantry to march on the cannons too) there is still hope for the continuation of this whole story. With the remnants of the army and young conscripts, only one hundred thousand people, Bonaparte wins a series of minor victories and arrives in Paris. The workers of the suburbs support Napoleon, the National Chamber under the leadership of Lafayette and the big bourgeoisie are gone. The emperor never sought to rely on the French working class or the Russian serf peasantry to consolidate the gains, at first truly revolutionary, bringing freedom and equality. In addition, having lost 1.2 million of its soldiers, 28 million France is simply drained of blood. More and more allied troops are striving for Paris, their number reaches a million. With two frigates, the emperor tries to leave for America, towards new adventures, but at sea he is blocked by an English squadron. This time Napoleon does not enter the battle, surrenders to the British on the "Bellerophon", and, according to the official history, ends his days on the island of St. Helena in 1821. When the body is reburied in the Parisian Les Invalides, many inconsistencies in the descriptions of the burial are revealed, supporting the mythology of the fugitive emperor. According to one version, the real Napoleon was mortally wounded by a sentry in 1832, in Vienna, when he incognito tries to visit his son, Napoleon François, alas, who is terminally ill.

1. Napoleon Bonaparte in his youth

2. Napoleon Bonaparte

3. Josephine Beauharnais

4. Maria Louise of Austria

5. Napoleon the Second "Eaglet"

6. Napoleon the Third

1, 2. Napoleon Bonaparte (1769 - 1821).

3. Josephine Beauharnais, first love and wife of the emperor. By modern standards, it is far from a model (1763 - 1814).

4. Louise-Maria of Austria, daughter of Franz II, relative of Marie-Antoinette (1791 - 1847). Some historians note that, after marrying her, in 1810, Napoleon in four years squandered the great empire that had been created before fifteen years, redirected energy into a sexual channel.

5. Napoleon Francois, aka "Eaglet", beloved (only) son of Napoleon, unloved child of Mary of Austria (1811 - 1832). De jure, he ruled for 14 days, so he is officially considered Napoleon II. Presumably poisoned by those monarchical circles (Bourbons), to whom he caused a lot of trouble just by his existence.

6. Napoleon III, Charles-Louis (1808 - 1873). This portrait is already a photograph. The first president of the French republic, then the emperor. Son of the brother of Napoleon the First and stepdaughter of Bonaparte. The last monarch (emperor of all French). The nominal idea is "one rules at the will of the people." In 1859, in a block with Sardinia and the Garibaldians, he took the territorial Italian provinces of Nice and Savoy from (fragmented) Austria. With allied England, he made two unsuccessful attempts to capture Mexico. He provoked a war with a unified Germany in 1870 - which led to the uprising of the Paris Commune and the occupation of the country by foreign troops. He died in England, after being in captivity, from kidney disease.

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Napoleon I Bonaparte, an outstanding French statesman, brilliant commander, emperor, was a native of Corsica. There he was born in 1769, on August 15, in the city of Ajaccio. Their noble family did not live well, raised eight children. When Napoleon was 10 years old, he was sent to the French Autun College, but in the same year he ended up at the Brienne Military School. In 1784 he became a student at the Paris Military Academy. Having received the rank of lieutenant upon graduation, from 1785 he began to serve in the artillery troops.

The French Revolution was greeted by Napoleon Bonaparte with great enthusiasm, in 1792 he became a member of the Jacobin Club. For the capture of Toulon, occupied by the British, Bonaparte, who was appointed chief of artillery and carried out a brilliant operation, was awarded the rank of brigadier general in 1793. This event became a turning point in his biography, becoming the starting point of a brilliant military career. In 1795, Napoleon distinguished himself during the dispersal of the Parisian revolt of the royalists, after which he was appointed commander of the Italian army. Undertaken under his leadership in 1796-1997. the Italian campaign demonstrated his military leadership talents in all their glory and glorified throughout the continent.

The very first victories Napoleon considered sufficient grounds to declare himself as an independent person. Therefore, the Directory willingly sent him on a military expedition to distant lands - Syria and Egypt (1798-1999). It ended in defeat, but it was not regarded as a personal failure of Napoleon, since he left the army without permission to fight in Italy with the army of Suvorov.

When Napoleon Bonaparte returned to Paris in October 1799, the Directory regime was in the midst of a crisis. The immensely popular general, who had a loyal army, did not find it difficult to carry out a coup d'état and proclaim a consular regime. In 1802 Napoleon seeks to be appointed consul for a life term, and in 1804 he is proclaimed emperor.

The internal policy pursued by him was aimed at the comprehensive strengthening of personal power, which he called the guarantor of the preservation of revolutionary gains. He undertook a number of important reforms in the legal and administrative spheres. Many Napoleonic innovations formed the basis of the functioning of modern states and are still valid.

When Napoleon came to power, his country was at war with England and Austria. Heading for a new Italian campaign, his army victoriously eliminated the threat to the borders of France. Moreover, as a result of hostilities, almost all the countries of Western Europe were subordinated to it. In those territories that were not directly part of France, Napoleon created kingdoms subject to him, where members of the imperial family were rulers. Austria, Prussia and Russia were forced to conclude an alliance with her.

The first years of being in power, Napoleon was perceived by the population as the savior of the homeland, a man born of the revolution; his entourage consisted largely of representatives of the lower social strata. The victories evoked a feeling of pride in the country, national upsurge. However, the war, which lasted for about 20 years, greatly tired the population, and in 1810 the economic crisis began again.

The bourgeoisie was dissatisfied with the need to spend money on wars, especially since external threats were long a thing of the past. It did not escape her attention that an important factor in foreign policy was Napoleon's desire to expand the framework of his power, to protect the interests of the dynasty. The emperor even divorced Josephine, his first wife (there were no children in their marriage), and in 1810 tied fate with Marie-Louise, the daughter of the Austrian emperor, which caused the discontent of many fellow citizens, although an heir was born from this union. napoleon revolution coup french

The collapse of the empire began in 1812 after the Russian troops defeated the Napoleonic army. Then the anti-French coalition, which, in addition to Russia, included Prussia, Sweden, Austria, defeated the imperial army in 1814 and, having entered Paris, forced Napoleon I to abdicate. Retaining the title of emperor, he ended up as an exile on a small Fr. Elba in the Mediterranean.

Meanwhile, French society and the army were discontent and fearful that the Bourbons and the emigrated nobility returned to the country, hoping for the return of their former privileges and property. Escaping from the Elbe, on March 1, 1815, Bonaparte moved to Paris, where he was greeted with enthusiastic cries of the townspeople, and resumed hostilities. This period of his biography remained in history under the name "One Hundred Days". The Battle of Waterloo on June 18, 1815 led to the final and irrevocable defeat of Napoleon's troops.

The deposed emperor was sent to the Atlantic Ocean on the island of St. Helena, where he was a prisoner of the British. The last 6 years of his life were spent there, filled with humiliation and suffering from cancer. It was from this disease that 51-year-old Napoleon was believed to have died on May 5, 1821. However, later French researchers came to the conclusion that the real cause of his death was arsenic poisoning.

Napoleon I Bonaparte went down in history as an outstanding personality, controversial, possessing brilliant military leadership, diplomatic, intellectual abilities, amazing efficiency and phenomenal memory. The results of the revolution, consolidated by this major statesman, proved beyond the power to destroy the restored monarchy of the Bourbons. An entire era was named after him; his fate was a real shock for his contemporaries, including people of art; military operations carried out under his leadership have become pages of military textbooks. The civil norms of democracy in Western countries are still largely based on the "Napoleonic Law".

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Napoleon Bonaparte - biography. Great French Revolution and Napoleonic Wars

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