It prompted anti-feudal, anti-absolutist, national liberation movements in European countries. A huge role in this belongs to the Napoleonic wars.
The French bourgeoisie, striving for a dominant position in the government of the country, was dissatisfied with the regime of the Directory and sought to establish a military dictatorship.
The young Corsican general Napoleon Bonaparte was the best fit for the role of military dictator. A talented and courageous military man from an impoverished noble family, he was an ardent supporter of the revolution, participated in the suppression of the counter-revolutionary actions of the royalists, and therefore the bourgeois leaders trusted him. Under the command of Napoleon, the French army in northern Italy defeated the Austrian invaders.
Having made a coup on November 9, 1799, the big bourgeoisie was supposed to have firm power, which it entrusted to the first consul, Napoleon Bonaparte. He begins to implement domestic and foreign policy with the help of authoritarian methods. Gradually, all the fullness of power is concentrated in his hands.
In 1804, Napoleon was proclaimed Emperor of France under the name. The dictatorship of imperial power strengthened the position of the bourgeoisie and opposed the return of the feudal order.
The foreign policy of Napoleon I is the world domination of France in the military-political and commercial-industrial field. The main rival and opponent of Napoleon was England, which did not want to disturb the balance of power in Europe, and it was necessary for it to preserve its colonial possessions. The task of England in the fight against Napoleon was to overthrow him and return the Bourbons.
The peace treaty concluded in Amiens in 1802 was a temporary respite and already in 1803 hostilities resumed. If in land battles the advantage was on the side of Napoleon, then the English fleet dominated the sea, which in 1805 dealt a crushing blow to the Franco-Spanish fleet at Cape Trafalgar.
In fact, the French fleet ceased to exist, after which France declared a continental blockade of England. This decision prompted the creation of an anti-French coalition, which included England, Russia, Austria and the Kingdom of Naples.
The first battle between France and the coalition troops took place at Austerlitz on November 20, 1805, called the Battle of the Three Emperors. Napoleon won, and the Holy Roman Empire ceased to exist, and France received Italy at its disposal.
In 1806, Napoleon invades Prussia, which contributed to the emergence of the fourth anti-French coalition from England, Russia, Prussia and Sweden. But Prussia is defeated at Jena and Auerstedt in 1806, and Napoleon occupies Berlin and occupies most of Prussia. On the occupied territory, he creates the Confederation of the Rhine from 16 German states under his auspices.
Russia continued to conduct military operations in East Prussia, which did not bring her success. On July 7, 1807, she was forced to sign the Peace of Tilsit, thereby recognizing all the conquests of France.
From the conquered Polish lands on the territory of Prussia, Napoleon creates the Duchy of Warsaw. At the end of 1807, Napoleon occupied Portugal and launched an invasion of Spain. The Spanish people opposed the French invaders. The residents of Zaragoza were especially distinguished, who withstood the blockade of Napoleon's fifty-thousandth army.
The Austrians tried to take revenge and in 1809 began hostilities, but in the battle of Wagram they were defeated and were forced to conclude a humiliating Schönbrun peace.
By 1810, Napoleon reaches the zenith of his dominance in Europe and begins to prepare for war with Russia, which remains the only power beyond his control.
In June 1812, he crosses the border of Russia, moves to Moscow and occupies it. But already in early October, he realizes that he lost the decisive battle, flees from Russia, leaving his army to the mercy of fate.
The European powers unite in the sixth coalition and inflict a crushing blow on the French near Leipzig. This battle, which threw Napoleon back into France, was called the Battle of the Nations.
Allied troops captured, and Napoleon I was exiled to about. Elbe. A peace treaty was signed on May 30, 1814, and France was deprived of all the occupied territories.
Napoleon managed to escape, raise an army and capture Paris. His revenge lasted 100 days and ended in full.

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

Spring-summer campaign 1800.

In Germany, the French army of General J.-V. Moreau crossed the Rhine on April 25, 1800 and on May 3 defeated the Swabian army of the Austrians under the command of Baron P. Kray at Stockach and Engen and threw it back to Ulm. Having lost the battles of Gochshtedt, Neuburg and Oberhausen, P. Kray concluded the Parsdorf truce with the French on July 15, in whose hands all of Bavaria west of the Isar river was in their hands.

In Italy, Genoa, the last fortress held by the French (General A. Massena), was blocked on April 25 by the Austrian army of Field Marshal M.-F. Melas and the English fleet of Admiral K. J. Keith and capitulated on June 4. At the same time, Napoleon, secretly concentrating a 40,000-strong Reserve Army near Geneva, crossed the Alps on May 15–23 through the Great St. Bernard and St. Gotthard passes and invaded Lombardy; On June 2, the French occupied Milan and cut off the Austrians' escape routes to the south and east. On June 14, near the village of Marengo near Alessandria, Napoleon defeated the twice superior forces of M.-F. Melas. On June 15, a five-month truce was signed, as a result of which the Austrians cleared Northern Italy to the river. Mincho; the French restored the vassal Cisalpine and Ligurian republics.

Winter campaign 1800/1801.

In November 1800 the French resumed hostilities in Bavaria. December 3 J.-V. Moreau won a brilliant victory over the army of Archduke Johann near the village of Hohenlinden east of Munich and moved on to Vienna. The Austrian emperor Franz II had to conclude the Steyer truce on December 25 and transfer Tyrol, part of Styria and Upper Austria to the Enns river to the French. At the same time, in Italy, the French General G.-M. Brun crossed the Mincio and the Adige, captured Verona and, joining the corps of E.-J. MacDonald, who broke through from Switzerland, drove the Austrian army of Field Marshal G.-J. Brent. According to the Treaty of Treviso signed on January 16, 1801, the Austrians surrendered to the French the fortresses of Manua, Peschiera and Legnano on the Lombard-Venetian border and left the territory of Italy. The Neapolitan army, which was going to the aid of the Austrians, was defeated by the French general F. de Miollis near Siena, after which the detachment of I. Murat made a throw to Naples and forced the King of the Two Sicilies Ferdinand IV to agree to a truce in Foligno. As a result, all of Italy fell under the control of the French.

Luneville world.

On February 9, 1801, the Treaty of Luneville was concluded between France and Austria, which on the whole repeated the terms of the Peace of Campoformia of 1797: it secured the left bank of the Rhine for France, and Venice, Istria, Dalmatia and Salzburg for Austria; the legitimacy of the Cisalpine (Lombardy), Ligurian (Genoa region), Batavian (Holland) and Helvetic (Switzerland) republics dependent on France was recognized; on the other hand, France abandoned its attempt to restore the Roman and Parthenopian (Neapolitan) republics; Rome was returned to the pope, but Romagna remained part of the Cisalpine Republic; the French maintained a military presence in Piedmont.

Anglo-French confrontation and the Peace of Amiens.

After the withdrawal of Austria from the war, Great Britain turned out to be the main enemy of France. On September 5, 1800, the English fleet took Malta from the French. The refusal of the British government to return the island to the Order of Malta displeased the Russian Emperor Paul I (he was the Grand Master of the Order). Russia officially left the Second Coalition and formed, together with Prussia, Sweden and Denmark, the anti-English League of Neutral States. However, the beginning of the Franco-Russian rapprochement was prevented by the assassination of Paul I in March 1801. On April 2, the English fleet bombarded Copenhagen and forced Denmark to withdraw from the League, which after that actually disintegrated. In the summer, the French troops in Egypt were forced to capitulate. At the same time, Great Britain lost its last allies. Under pressure from France and Spain, on June 6, Portugal broke off the alliance with it (Treaty of Badajoz). On October 10, the new Russian Emperor Alexander I concluded the Peace of Paris with France. Napoleon began preparations for an invasion of the British Isles; he formed in Boulogne a significant army and a huge transport flotilla (First Boulogne camp). Finding itself in diplomatic isolation and given the deep dissatisfaction with the war within the country, the British government entered into peace negotiations, which ended on March 27, 1802 with the signing of the Treaty of Amiens. According to its terms, Great Britain returned to France and its allies the colonies seized from them during the war (Haiti, the Lesser Antilles, the Mascarene Islands, French Guiana), retaining only Dutch Ceylon and Spanish Trinidad, pledged to withdraw troops from Malta, from Egypt and the former French possessions in India and not interfere in the internal affairs of Germany, Italy, Holland and Switzerland; for its part, France promised to evacuate Rome, Naples and Elba.

As a result of the wars with the Second Coalition, France managed to significantly weaken the influence of Austria in Germany and Italy and for a while to force Great Britain to recognize French hegemony on the European continent.

War with England (1803–1805).

The Peace of Amiens turned out to be only a short respite in the Anglo-French confrontation: Great Britain could not abandon its traditional interests in Europe, and France was not going to stop its foreign policy expansion. Napoleon continued to interfere in the internal affairs of Holland and Switzerland. On January 25, 1802, he achieved his election as president of the Italian Republic, created in place of the Tsezalpinskaya. On August 26, contrary to the terms of the Treaty of Amiens, France annexed the island of Elba, and on September 21, Piedmont. In response, Great Britain refused to leave the island of Malta and retained French possessions in India. The influence of France in Germany increased after the secularization of the German lands carried out under its control in February-April 1803, as a result of which most of the church principalities and free cities were liquidated; Prussia and French allies Baden, Hesse-Darmstadt, Württemberg and Bavaria received significant land additions. Napoleon refused to conclude a trade agreement with England and introduced restrictive measures that prevented the access of British goods to French ports. All this led to the rupture of diplomatic relations (May 12, 1803) and the resumption of hostilities.

The British began to seize French and Dutch commercial ships. In response, Napoleon ordered the arrest of all British subjects in France, banned trade with the island, occupied Hanover, which was in a personal union with Great Britain, and began to prepare for an invasion (the Second Camp of Boulogne). However, the defeat of the Franco-Spanish fleet by Admiral H. Nelson at Cape Trafalgar on October 21, 1805 ensured England's complete dominance at sea and made the invasion impossible.

War with the Third Coalition (1805–1806).

May 18, 1804 Napoleon was proclaimed emperor. Europe took the establishment of the Empire as evidence of the new aggressive intentions of France, and she was not mistaken. On March 17, 1805, the Italian Republic became the Kingdom of Italy; On May 26, Napoleon assumed the Italian crown; On June 4, he annexed the Ligurian Republic to France, and then transferred Lucca, which became a grand duchy, to his sister Elisa. On July 27, the importation of English goods into Italy was prohibited. In this situation, Austria. On August 5, 1805, Russia, Sweden, and the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies, together with Great Britain, formed the Third Anti-Napoleonic Coalition under the slogan of protecting the rights of Holland, Italy, and Switzerland. Prussia, although proclaiming neutrality, prepared to support it. Bavaria, Württemberg, Baden and Hesse-Darmstadt remained on the side of France.

The Austrians opened hostilities: on September 9, they invaded Bavaria and occupied it; the Russian army under the command of M.I. Kutuzov moved to join them. Napoleon concentrated his main forces in Germany. He managed to block the Austrian army of General K. Mack in Ulm and on October 20 to force it to surrender. Then he entered Austria, occupied Vienna on November 13, and on December 2 near Austerlitz inflicted a crushing defeat on the united Austro-Russian army (“battle of the three emperors”). In Italy, the French drove the Austrians out of the Venetian region and threw them back to Laibach (modern Ljubljana) and the Raab river (modern Raba). The failures of the coalition prevented the entry into the war of Prussia, which on December 16 concluded an agreement with France, receiving Hanover taken from the British in exchange for some of its possessions on the Rhine and in southern Germany. On December 26, Austria was forced to sign the humiliating Treaty of Pressburg: it recognized Napoleon as the king of Italy and the annexation of Piedmont and Liguria to France, ceded to the Italian kingdom the Venetian region, Istria (without Trieste) and Dalmatia, Bavaria - Tyrol, Vorarlberg and several bishoprics, Württemberg and Baden - Vstriyan Swabia; in return, she received Salzburg, the Austrian Archduke Ferdinand was allocated Würzburg, and Archduke Anton became Grand Master of the Teutonic Order.

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

War with the Fourth Coalition (1806–1807).

Napoleon's promise to return Hanover to Great Britain in the event of peace with her and his attempts to prevent the creation of an alliance of North German principalities led by Prussia led to a sharp deterioration in Franco-Prussian relations and the formation on September 15, 1806 of the Fourth Anti-Napoleonic Coalition consisting of Prussia, Russia, England, Sweden and Saxony . After Napoleon rejected an ultimatum from the Prussian king Friedrich Wilhelm III (1797–1840) to withdraw French troops from Germany and dissolve the Confederation of the Rhine, two Prussian armies marched on Hesse. However, Napoleon quickly concentrated significant forces in Franconia (between Würzburg and Bamberg) and invaded Saxony. The victory of Marshal J. Lann over the Prussians on October 9–10, 1806 at Saalefeld allowed the French to fortify themselves on the Saale River. On October 14, the Prussian army suffered a crushing defeat at Jena and Auerstedt. October 27 Napoleon entered Berlin; Lübeck capitulated on November 7, Magdeburg on November 8. November 21, 1806 he announced a continental blockade of Great Britain, seeking to completely interrupt its trade relations with European countries. On November 28, the French occupied Warsaw; almost all of Prussia was occupied. In December, Napoleon moved against the Russian troops stationed on the Narew River (a tributary of the Bug). After a series of local successes, the French laid siege to Danzig. An attempt by the Russian commander L.L. Bennigsen at the end of January 1807 to destroy the corps of Marshal J.B. Bernadotte with a sudden blow ended in failure. On February 7, Napoleon overtook the Russian army retreating to Koenigsberg, but could not defeat it in the bloody battle of Preussisch-Eylau (February 7-8). On April 25, Russia and Prussia concluded a new alliance treaty in Bartenstein, but England and Sweden did not provide them with effective assistance. French diplomacy managed to provoke the Ottoman Empire into declaring war on Russia. On June 14, the French defeated the Russian troops at Friedland (East Prussia). Alexander I was forced to enter into negotiations with Napoleon (the Tilsit meeting), which ended on July 7 with the signing of the Treaty of Tilsit and led to the creation of a Franco-Russian military-political alliance. Russia recognized all the French conquests in Europe and promised to join the continental blockade, while France pledged to support Russia's claims to Finland and the Danubian principalities (Moldavia and Wallachia). Alexander I achieved the preservation of Prussia as a state, but she lost the Polish lands that belonged to her, from which the Grand Duchy of Warsaw was formed, headed by the Saxon elector, and all her possessions west of the Elbe, which, together with Braunschweig, Hanover and Hesse-Kassel, made up the kingdom of Westphalia led by Napoleon's brother Jerome; the Bialystok district went to Russia; Danzig became a free city.

Continuation of the war with England (1807–1808).

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

War with the Fifth Coalition (1809).

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

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

In November 1808 - January 1809, Napoleon made a trip to the Iberian Peninsula, where he won a number of victories over the Spanish and English troops. At the same time, Great Britain managed to achieve peace with the Ottoman Empire (January 5, 1809). In April 1809, the Fifth Anti-Napoleonic Coalition was formed, which included Austria, Great Britain and Spain, represented by a provisional government (Supreme Junta). On April 10, the Austrians began hostilities; they invaded Bavaria, Italy and the Grand Duchy of Warsaw; Tyrol revolted against Bavarian rule. Napoleon moved into southern Germany against the main Austrian army of Archduke Karl and at the end of April, during five successful battles (at Tengen, Abensberg, Landsgut, Eckmuhl and Regensburg), he cut it into two parts: one had to retreat to the Czech Republic, the other - beyond the river. Inn. The French entered Austria and occupied Vienna on May 13. But after the bloody battles near Aspern and Essling on May 21-22, they were forced to stop the offensive and gain a foothold on the Danube island of Lobau; On May 29, the Tyroleans defeated the Bavarians on Mount Isel near Innsbruck. Nevertheless, Napoleon, having received reinforcements, crossed the Danube and on July 5-6 at Wagram defeated the Archduke Charles. In Italy and the Grand Duchy of Warsaw, the actions of the Austrians were also unsuccessful. Although the Austrian army was not destroyed, Franz II agreed to the conclusion of the Schönbrunn Peace (October 14), according to which Austria lost access to the Adriatic Sea; she ceded to France part of Carinthia and Croatia, Krajna, Istria, Trieste and Fiume (modern Rijeka), which made up the Illyrian provinces; Bavaria received Salzburg and part of Upper Austria; the Grand Duchy of Warsaw - Western Galicia; Russia - Tarnopol district.

Franco-Russian relations (1809–1812).

Russia did not provide effective assistance to Napoleon in the war with Austria, and her relations with France deteriorated sharply. The Petersburg court thwarted the project of Napoleon's marriage with Grand Duchess Anna, sister of Alexander I. On February 8, 1910, Napoleon married Marie-Louise, daughter of Franz II, and began to support Austria in the Balkans. The election on August 21, 1810 of French Marshal J.B. Bernatotte as heir to the Swedish throne increased the fears of the Russian government for the northern flank. In December 1810, Russia, which was suffering significant losses from the continental blockade of England, raised customs duties on French goods, which aroused Napoleon's open displeasure. Regardless of Russian interests, France continued its aggressive policy in Europe: on July 9, 1810, it annexed Holland, on December 12, the Swiss canton of Wallis, on February 18, 1811, several German free cities and principalities, including the Duchy of Oldenburg, whose ruling house was connected family ties with the Romanov dynasty; the accession of Lübeck provided France with access to the Baltic Sea. Alexander I was also worried about Napoleon's plans to restore a unified Polish state.

War with the Sixth Coalition (1813–1814).

The death of Napoleon's Great Army in Russia significantly changed the military-political situation in Europe and contributed to the growth of anti-French sentiment. Already on December 30, 1812, General J. von Wartenburg, commander of the Prussian auxiliary corps, which was part of the Great Army, concluded an agreement on neutrality with the Russians in Taurogi. As a result, all of East Prussia rose up against Napoleon. In January 1813, the Austrian commander K.F. Schwarzenberg, in accordance with a secret agreement with Russia, withdrew his troops from the Grand Duchy of Warsaw. On February 28, Prussia signed the Treaty of Kalisz on an alliance with Russia, which provided for the restoration of the Prussian state within the borders of 1806 and the restoration of Germany's independence; thus the Sixth Anti-Napoleonic Coalition came into being. On March 2, Russian troops crossed the Oder, on March 11 they occupied Berlin, on March 12 - Hamburg, on March 15 - Breslavl; On March 23, the Prussians entered Dresden, the capital of Napoleon's allied Saxony. All of Germany east of the Elbe was cleared of the French. On April 22, Sweden joined the coalition.

Spring-summer campaign of 1813.

Napoleon, having managed to raise a new army, in April 1813 moved it against the allies. On May 2, he defeated the combined forces of Russians and Prussians at Lützen near Leipzig and captured Saxony. The allies retreated across the river Spree to Bautzen, where on May 20 a bloody battle took place with an unclear result. The coalition army continued its retreat, leaving Breslau and part of Silesia to Napoleon. In the north, the French took back Hamburg. On June 4, with the mediation of Austria, the opposing sides concluded the Plesvitsky truce, which gave the Allies a respite and an opportunity to gather strength. On June 14, Great Britain joined the coalition. After the failure of the Allied peace talks with Napoleon in Prague, Austria joined them on 12 August.

Autumn campaign 1813.

At the end of August hostilities resumed. The Allied forces were reorganized into three armies - Northern (J.B. Bernadotte), Silesian (G.-L. Blucher) and Bohemian (K.F. Schwarzenberg). J.B. Bernadotte on August 23 pushed back the army of N.-Sh. Oudinot advancing on Berlin, and on September 6 defeated M. Ney's corps at Dennewitz. In Silesia, G.-L. Blucher on August 26 defeated the corps of E.-J. Macdonald at the Katzbach. K.F. Schwarzenberg, who invaded Saxony, was defeated on August 27 by Napoleon near Dresden and retreated to the Czech Republic, but on August 29-30, near Kulm, the allies surrounded and forced the corps of General D. Vandamm to surrender. On September 9, Austria, Russia, and Prussia signed the Treaty of Teplitz on the restoration of the German states within the borders of 1805. On October 8, Bavaria joined the coalition. The Allies decided to lock up the French army in Saxony and destroy it. Napoleon retreated first to Dresden, and then to Leipzig, where on October 16–19 he suffered a crushing defeat in the “battle of the nations”. The allies tried to eliminate the remnants of the French army, but Napoleon managed to defeat the Austro-Bavarian corps of K. Wrede on October 30 at Hanau and escape beyond the Rhine. All of Germany revolted: on October 28, the kingdom of Westphalia ceased to exist; On November 2, Württemberg and Hesse-Darmstadt went over to the side of the coalition, on November 20 - Baden, on November 23 - Nassau, on November 24 - Saxe-Coburg; The Confederation of the Rhine broke up. By the beginning of December, the French had left German territory, retaining only a number of important fortresses (Hamburg, Dresden, Magdeburg, Küstrin, Danzig). They were also forced out of Holland. In Italy, Viceroy Eugene Beauharnais could hardly hold back the onslaught of the Austrians, the British and the Neapolitan king I. Murat, who had betrayed Napoleon; in September 1813 he retreated from the Alps to the Isonzo River, and in November - to the Adige River. In Spain, the British pushed back the French over the Pyrenees in October.

The Allied invasion of France and the defeat of Napoleon.

At the very end of 1813, the Allies crossed the Rhine in three columns. By January 26, 1814, they concentrated their forces between the Marne and the sources of the Seine. On January 31, Napoleon successfully attacked the Prussians at Brienne, but on February 1 he was defeated by the combined Prussian-Austrian forces at La Rotierre and retreated to Troyes. The Silesian army of G.-L. Blucher moved to Paris along the Marne valley, and the Bohemian army of K.F. Schwarzenberg - to Troyes. The slowness of K.F. Schwarzenberg made it possible for Napoleon to direct the main forces against G.-L. Blucher. After victories at Champaubert on February 10, Montmirail on February 12, and Vauchan on February 14, he drove the Silesian army back to the right bank of the Marne. The threat to Paris from the Bohemian army forced Napoleon to stop the pursuit of G.-L. Blucher and move against K.F. Schwarzenberg. At the end of February, the Bohemian army left Troyes and retreated beyond the river. About to Chalon and Langre. In early March, Napoleon managed to thwart G.-L. Blucher's new attack on Paris, but on March 9 he was defeated by him at Laon and retreated to Soissons. Then he went to the Rhine, intending to strike at the rear of the Bohemian army. On March 20–21, K.F. Schwarzenberg attacked him at Arcy-sur-Aube, but could not achieve victory. Then, on March 25, the allies moved to Paris, broke the resistance of the few detachments of O.-F. Marmont and E.-A. Mortier, and on March 30 occupied the capital of France. Napoleon led the army to Fontainebleau. On the night of April 4-5, O.-F. Marmont's corps went over to the side of the coalition. On April 6, under pressure from the marshals, Napoleon abdicated. On April 11, he was granted lifelong possession of Fr. Elbe. The empire has fallen. In France, the power of the Bourbons was restored in the person of Louis XVIII.

In Italy, Eugene Beauharnais in February 1814, under pressure from the allies, withdrew to the Mincio River. After the abdication of Napoleon, he concluded an armistice with the Austrian command on April 16. The uprising of the Milanese against French rule on April 18–20 allowed the Austrians to occupy Mantua on April 23, and Milan on April 26. The Italian kingdom has fallen.

War with the Seventh Coalition (1815).

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

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

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

As a result of the Napoleonic Wars, France's military power was broken and she lost her dominant position in Europe. The main political force on the continent was the Holy Union of Monarchs, led by Russia; The UK has maintained its status as the world's leading maritime power.

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

Ivan Krivushin

Literature:

Manfred A.Z. Napoleon Bonaparte. M., 1986
Easdale C.J. Napoleonic Wars. Rostov-on-Don, 1997
Egorov A.A. Marshals of Napoleon. Rostov-on-Don, 1998
Shikanov V.N. Under the Banners of the Emperor: Little-Known Pages of the Napoleonic Wars. M., 1999
Chandler D. Military campaigns of Napoleon. Triumph and tragedy of the conqueror. M., 2000
Delderfield R.F. The collapse of Napoleon's empire. 1813–1814: Military Historical Chronicle. M., 2001

History [Crib] Fortunatov Vladimir Valentinovich

32. Napoleonic wars and the formation of a new Europe

Late 18th - early 19th century occupy a special place in European and world development. It was a peculiar period during which there was an acceleration in the process of transition from feudalism to capitalism. The old forms of organizing life seemed indispensable to many rulers of Europe. The monarchical forces in Russia, Austria, Germany, Spain, in other countries, in France itself, where the revolution had won, sought to restore the former state of affairs. A long confrontation between the old and the new, old traditions and new ambitions began. A long all-European war of Napoleonic France against various coalitions of European states began.

Napoleon Bonaparte(1769–1821) was a talented general. In 1804-1814 and in March-June 1815 he was Emperor of France. From 1792 to 1815, France in offensive wars tried to establish its hegemony in Europe. England organized a number of anti-French coalitions. The French were victorious in land battles, but at the Battle of Trafalgar (1805), the combined Franco-Spanish fleet was defeated by the English fleet, commanded by Admiral G. Nelson(mortally wounded).

Napoleon was an outstanding commander and theorist of military affairs, skillfully maneuvered huge armies, actively used artillery (100-200 guns each) in combination with cavalry, introduced a lot of new tactics, and perfectly used the features of the terrain chosen for battles. Under his leadership, the military talents of L. N. Davout, I. Murat, M. Ney, N. J. Soult, J. E. Macdonald, L. A. Berthier, J. V. Moreau, J. B. Bernadotte and other French marshals and generals. The wars contributed to the rapid enrichment of the French bourgeoisie and the military-political elite of Napoleonic society. French domination, requisitions and open robbery caused national liberation movement against the invaders, which acquired the largest scale in Spain and Germany. By 1812, the Napoleonic empire included France, northern Germany, northern and northwestern Italy, Corsica, and the northwestern Balkans. Dependent territories were Spain, Germany, Italy, Poland. Napoleon's allies were Denmark, Norway, Austria. Russia, England and some other states were not included in this conglomerate of states.

Napoleon also showed himself as an energetic statesman and administrator. Napoleon I introduced strict centralization of the administration, created an extensive police system (led by J. Fouche). In 1801, the rights of the Catholic Church, which it had lost during the revolution, were restored. Napoleonic Civil Code(1804) legalized property rights acquired by French peasants and other groups of the population during the revolution, became an example for similar legislative acts in other countries. A unified tax collection system was introduced on the conquered lands, French laws and civil institutions were spread, which often met with the support of the local population. After the defeat of France and the restoration of the independence of the previously conquered countries, part of the Napoleonic changes was preserved. If many of the decrees of Peter the Great survived until 1917, then many of the innovations of Napoleon Bonaparte are still preserved in various spheres of life in modern France.

Napoleon unsuccessfully tried to block the supply of England (continental blockade), which was disrupted by Russia. IN 1812 Napoleon's army was defeated in Russia. The emperor lost his throne, was exiled, tried to return to power. In 1815, after a crushing defeat at Waterloo by the Anglo-Prussian troops, Napoleon was exiled to a remote island, where he died.