France > French History > Napoleonic Wars

The Napoleonic Wars

From 1799 to 1815 France was at war with much of the rest of Europe. The French military leader Napoleon Bonaparte was at the heart of the conflicts and caused an end to what was later known as the ‘second hundred years war’ between Britain and France (1689 to 1815).

The trial and execution of King Louis XVI in 1792 caused an escalation of tension between Europe and France, already having suffered the French Revolution of 1789. Before the wars began, Napoleon had been campaigning in Egypt, and upon his return to France on November 9th 1799, he clinched the French government and replaced its executive directory with three consuls, known as ‘the consulate’. These consuls were Napoleon himself, Jean Jacques Regis de Cambaceres and Charles-Francois Lebrun who together completely overhauled the French military by mass conscription.

Napoleon’s army won three battles against the Austrians, leaving a second coalition in tatters. However, the United Kingdom remained a force to be reckoned with as it had influential power throughout the world, and France would need to either defeat the UK, or sign a treaty with it if there were to ever be peace. A treaty known as the ‘Treaty of Amiens’ was initially signed, although neither party stuck to its legislation. Conflict between Britain and France resumed in 1803 and another war began.

Napoleon’s formation of the ‘Berlin Decrees’ minimised the threat of the British Army, as it eliminated the UK from French trade. It was at this time that Napoleon made France an Empire, crowning himself as Emperor.

In 1805 a third coalition was established and Napoleon succeeded in fending off Austria and Britain. However, Russia had also joined the coalition and their power was yet to be unleashed. It was ultimately Napoleon's forays into Russia that were to bring his downfall. After the fourth, fifth and sixth coalitions consisting collectively of Russia, Prussia, Saxony, Sweden, Britain, Austria, selected German states and the Netherlands failed to defeat Napoleon; a seventh was formed in 1815, which would see his demise.

The Battle of Waterloo marked the end of Napoleonic wars, after which Napoleon was deported to Saint Helena and died in 1821 of unconfirmed circumstances. His post-mortem examination certificate states that he died of stomach cancer, although a popular conspiracy theory claims he was poisoned with arsenic.

The defeat of Napoleon resulted in an era named the ‘Restoration’, whereby Napoleon’s allies restored the Bourbon Dynasty as the French monarchy. This event had been strongly desired since 1803 in close conjunction with the death of Napoleon.