Lefebvre Georges. Napoleon
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the fall of napoleon (1812–1815)
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sixty-seven thousand men, his right strongly protected by the Château de
Hougoumont and the Haye Sainte farm, and his centre well covered. His left
was more exposed, but he expected Prussian support on this side. Napoleon
turned back against him in the course of the seventeenth with seventy-four
thousand men; but rain impeded operations, and he did not launch an
attack against him till about midday on 18 June, with the result that by one
o’clock Bülow had appeared on the French fl ank. The frontal attack on the
English positions, which had been left to Ney, was deplorably carried out.
Launched to begin with against the enemy’s right, it was held up at the
Château de Hougoumont; then it was transferred to the centre, where it was
caught up until three-thirty in front of La Haye Sainte. After this, the infantry
advanced in deep column and were mown down by grapeshot, then charged
and thoroughly mauled. The cavalry, charging in its turn at the English
squares, was repulsed; then in a fi nal rally the infantry came back to the
assault and shook the enemy line. Ney called for the Guards to deal a fi nal
blow. But Napoleon had been obliged to use a large part of them to support
Lobau, who had slowly been thrust back by Bülow’s growing forces, and
was only able to send fi ve battalions of the Old Guard, whose attack was
held by the English Guards – Wellington’s last reserves. At this moment
Ziethen appeared on the extreme right of the French, and the English took
up the offensive. The whole of Napoleon’s army wavered, and then broke
and fl ed in panic, losing thirty thousand men and 7,500 prisoners. Grouchy,
who had been treated with some circumspection at Wavre, was able to
disengage his forces; then the remnants of the army gathered together at
Laon and retired behind the Seine.
Returning to Paris on the twenty-fi rst, Napoleon wanted to organise
further resistance. But the Chamber showed its hostility, and he abdicated
the next day. An executive commission was elected, with Fouché as its
moving spirit, and he succeeded in inducing Napoleon to leave Malmaison
on the twenty-ninth. The Chamber declared against the Bourbons and sent
a delegation to Wellington, who arrived outside the capital on 30 June. The
general inclination was to substitute the duc d’Orléans for Louis XVIII, and
Talleyrand (who had remained in Vienna) was inclined to assent. The allies
had some diffi culty in agreeing to restore the fallen king, and Alexander
remained strongly opposed to him. But Alexander was not there: the unex-
pected disaster to Napoleon left the solution largely in the hands of Louis
XVIII and Wellington. The king had set out at once, and from Cambrai on the
twenty-eighth he promised to proclaim an amnesty. Wellington’s reply to
the deputies was that a change of dynasty would be a revolutionary act
entailing the dismemberment of France, whereupon the Chambers and the
545
the restoration and the hundred days
commission broke up. Davout, who had been put in command of the army,
signed the capitulation of Paris on 2 July, and then retired behind the Loire.
Louis XVIII took possession once more on the eighth.
Meanwhile, Napoleon had arrived at Rochefort on the third. He had
asked for frigates to take him to the United States; but the executive commis-
sion, intimating that there was an English cruiser in waiting, directed that
he should go on board, and in fact held him as a prisoner. On the fi fteenth,
he surrendered to the captain on board the Bellerophon .
The English government, the Prussians and even Metternich were in
favour of taking several provinces away from France. But Castlereagh, with
Wellington’s and Alexander’s support, was fi rmly against this course. In the
end, he won over Liverpool, while the tsar persuaded Austria to change her
mind. The Prussians found themselves alone, and had to give way. The draft
treaty, produced on 26 September, was rejected by Talleyrand; but Louis
XVIII dismissed him and on 20 November signed the second Treaty of Paris,
which took away from France Philippeville and Marienbourg, Sarrelouis,
Landau and the Saar and all that was left of Savoy. An indemnity of seven
hundred million francs was imposed upon her, in addition to 240 million
in private claims; she was to be occupied by the allies for from three to fi ve
years; and this time she was also obliged to give back the art treasures she
had taken from other countries. On the same day the allies confi rmed their
alliance and excluded the Bonapartes from the French throne in perpetuity.
Castlereagh inserted the additional proviso that the congress should meet
together from time to time to examine the situation in Europe. As from 26
September Alexander had concluded a mystical pact with Prussia and Austria,
the Holy Alliance, to preserve peace and ensure good government in Europe
according to the principles of Christianity.
Meanwhile, Napoleon was sailing towards St Helena, where the allies had
decided that he should be interned. This tragic exile in a distant island, lost
in the ocean, beneath a tropical sun, put the fi nishing touches to that
romantic prestige which will always exercise such a fascination on the
minds of men. It also helped to give birth to the legend which transformed
the role he had played in history. In French eyes he became a victim of the
kings, and was once again looked upon as the hero of a revolutionary nation.
His captivity was not only due to the terrifying effects of his very name; it
was also an expression of vengeance against the upstart soldier who had
presumed to take an archduchess to wife.
With the last but by no means the least of his strokes of genius, he
succeeded in dictating his memoirs with a complete forgetfulness of every-
thing personal in his policies, seeing himself simply and solely as the leader
the fall of napoleon (1812–1815)
546
of a revolutionary army come to set mankind and all the nations free, an
army which he had in the end persuaded to throw away its sword.
CONCLUDING REMARKS
The great Napoleonic achievement – the establishment of a new dynasty and
the building of a universal empire – ended in failure. Hence the imagination
of the poet has tended to see the emperor as a second Prometheus whose
daring was punished by the heavenly powers, and as a symbol of human
genius at grips with Fate. On the other hand, some have seen him as the
sport of historical determinism, on the pretext that the Revolution was
bound to lead to a dictatorship, and that the acquisition of her natural fron-
tiers was bound to lead France on to perpetual war. Without rashly launching
into metaphysical speculation, the historian would be inclined to agree with
the former thesis. It would seem to him a fact that an authoritarian govern-
ment was indispensable to save the Revolution as long as its enemies were
in league with the foreigner, and that the middle classes needed Napoleon
to give this authority. It would also seem at least probable that the annexa-
tion of Belgium and the left bank of the Rhine would expose France to new
attacks. But a military dictatorship did not in itself necessitate the re-
establishment of a hereditary monarchy, still less an aristocratic nobility. Nor
was the best means of defending the natural frontiers to be found in
expanding beyond them and so giving rise to coalitions in self-defence. Yet
this was what Napoleon was personally responsible for setting in train.
Circumstances were certainly favourable to his efforts, but they nonetheless
arose from the depths of his own essential nature. Moreover, there is a
widely held view that Napoleon’s work was doomed to fail; and it would
perhaps be salutary for all would-be Caesars and for the good of the human
race if this judgement could be held beyond a doubt. But this cannot for one
moment be admitted: Alexander’s will-power might well have failed at
Moscow, and the allied army might have been destroyed at Lützen. The only
solid certainty is that the risks were tremendous, and that France, hazarding
her all, lost all that the Revolution had conquered in her name.
Although Napoleon’s individual ambitions were not realised, his actions
have nevertheless left the deepest impress on society. In France, the new state
had not yet taken defi nite shape, and it was Napoleon who gave it an admin-
istrative framework that bore the marks of a master hand. The Revolution of
1789 had thrust the middle classes forward into power, but this power had
then been disputed by a rising democracy. Under the protection of the
emperor, the notables succeeded in recovering it, and grew in wealth and
547
the restoration and the hundred days
infl uence. Once they had got rid of the menace of the common people, they
were prepared to govern and to restore liberalism. In Europe, the spread of
French ideas, the infl uence of England, the advance of capitalism and the
consequent rise of the middle classes, all tended in the same direction and
resulted in a marked speeding up of evolution and the introduction of the
modern order. The expansion of culture, the proclamation of the sover-
eignty of the people and the spread of Romanticism foreshadowed the
awakening of nationalism, and Napoleon’s territorial rearrangements and
reforms encouraged these trends. Capitalism was taking root in the West,
and the blockade provided protection for its early stages. Romanticism had
long been fermenting in Europe, and Napoleon provided its poets with the
perfect hero. But though Napoleon’s infl uence was considerable, this was
only in so far as it followed the currents that were already carrying European
civilisation along with them. If historical determinism is to be brought into
the picture, this is where its effects may be observed.
Since he was, in this respect, a man of his century, one can understand the
swift growth of the Napoleonic legend, and the deep roots that it struck.
Nevertheless, there is a glaring contradiction between his personal tenden-
cies and the durable elements in his achievement, which only legend
preserved. He had in fact become more and more hostile to the Revolution,
to such a degree that if he had had the time he would in the end have partly
repudiated even civil equality; yet in the popular imagination, he was the
hero of the Revolution. He who dreamed of universal empire remained in
the eyes of Frenchmen the defender of his country’s ‘natural frontiers’ while
the European liberals saw him as the defender of nationality against the
kings of the Holy Alliance. He had instituted the most rigorous despotism;
yet it was in his name that the constitutional reign of the Bourbons was
opposed. The Romantics had idolised him, yet his methods of thought and
his literary and artistic tastes ranged him on the side of the purest classicism.
From the political and national point of view, this ambivalence was to lead
in the end to Napoleon III.
Yet the Romantics were not wholly wrong about him, for his classicism
was only one of culture and cast of mind. His springs of action, his uncon-
querable energy of temperament, arose from the depths of his imagination.
Here lay the secret of the fascination that he will exercise for evermore on
the individual person. For men will always be haunted by romantic dreams
of power, even if only in the passing fi res and disturbances of youth; and
there will thus never be wanting those who will come, like Barrès’s heroes,
to stand in ecstasy before the tomb.
C HRONOLOGY
1789 14 July Fall of the Bastille; start of the French
Revolution
1792–5 The National Convention; start of
Revolutionary Wars
1792 22 Sept. France becomes a republic
1793–4 Dictatorship of the Committee of Public
Safety; Reign of Terror
1794 27 July Thermidor (fall of Robespierre)
1795–9 The Directory – fi rst phase of revolutionary
imperialism
1796 9 Mar. Napoleon Bonaparte marries Josephine de
Beauharnais
1796–7 Napoleon’s fi rst Italian campaign
1798–1801 Napoleon’s Egyptian campaign
1799–1804 The Consulate – Napoleon comes to power;
second phase of imperialism
1799 9–10 Nov.
Coup d’état of Brumaire
25 Dec. Constitution of Year VIII – Napoleon
appointed First Consul; reorganisation of
administration (préfectures), taxes, civil
service
549
chronology
1800 14–23
May
Start of Napoleon’s second Italian campaign
– French army crosses the Alps
14 June Battle of Marengo – French defeat Austrians
3 Dec. Battle of Hohenlinden – French defeat
Austrians
24 Dec. Attempt to assassinate Napoleon by bomb in
the rue Saint-Nicaise
1801 9 Feb. Treaty of Lunéville between France and the
Holy Roman Empire
16 July Concordat signed with Pope Pius VII
1802 24 Jan. Napoleon accepts presidency of Italian
Republic
25 Mar. Treaty of Amiens between France and Britain
8 Apr. Law implementing Concordat with Pope Pius
VII passed
1 May Restructure of the French educational system
– establishment of lycées
2 Aug. Napoleon made Consul for Life
1803 19 Feb. Act of Mediation in Switzerland
3 May Louisiana Purchase Treaty – Napoleon sells
Louisiana territory to the United States
18 May Rupture of the Treaty of Amiens leads to the
resumption of war with Britain
1804–15 The Empire – French conquest and loss of
Europe
1804 Feb.–Mar. Royalist plot to kidnap Napoleon leads to
arrest of Generals Moreau, Pichegru and
Cadoudal
21 Mar. The Civil Code of the French People, also
known as the Code Napoléon, promulgated
18 May Proclamation of Napoleon as emperor
2 Dec. Coronation of Napoleon as emperor at
Notre-Dame
1805 18 May Napoleon crowns himself king of Italy in
Milan
9 Aug. Third Coalition formed – Austria joins
Anglo-Russian alliance against France
chronology
550
21 Oct. Battle of Trafalgar – British fl eet defeats
French and Spanish
2 Dec. Battle of Austerlitz – French defeat Austrians
and Russians
15 Dec. Treaty of Schönbrunn between France and
Prussia
26 Dec. Treaty of Pressburg between France and
Austria
1806 30 Mar. Napoleon appoints his brother Joseph king of
Naples
5 June Napoleon appoints his brother Louis king of
Holland
12 July Napoleon establishes the Confederation of the
Rhine, effectively ending the Holy Roman
Empire
14 Oct. Battles of Jena and Auerstädt – French defeat
Prussians
21 Nov. Berlin decree initiates the Continental System
1807 8 Feb. Battle of Eylau – French defeat Russians
14 June Battle of Friedland – French defeat Russians
7–9 July Treaty of Tilsit between France, Russia and
Prussia
27 Oct. Treaty of Fontainebleau between France and
Spain
30 Nov. Napoleon begins French occupation of
Portugal with General Junot occupying
Lisbon – the start of the Peninsular War
17 Dec. Milan decree strengthens the Berlin decree
1808 1 Mar.
Organisation of the imperial noblesse
23 Mar. French troops occupy Madrid
17 Apr. Napoleon announces the Bayonne decree
2 May Revolt in Madrid against French troops
7 July Joseph Bonaparte appointed king of Spain;
succeeded in Naples by Joachim Murat
16–19
July
Battle of Baylen – French surrender to
Spanish
551
chronology
17 Aug. Battle of Roliça – British defeat French in
their fi rst battle of the Peninsular War
21 Aug. Battle of Vimeiro – British defeat French
30 Aug. Convention of Cintra
27 Sept.–
14 Oct.
Congress of Erfurt between Napoleon and
Tsar Alexander
4 Dec. Napoleon recaptures Madrid
1809 16 Jan. Battle of Corunna – French held off by British
17 Jan. Napoleon leaves Spain
29 Mar. Battle of Oporto – French defeat Portuguese
and capture city
12 May Anglo-Portuguese army retakes Oporto
17 May Napoleon annexes the Papal States
21–2 May Battle of Aspern-Essling – Austrians defeat
French
6 July Battle of Wagram – French defeat Austrians
28 July Battle of Talavera – inconclusive battle
between Anglo-Spanish and French
14 Oct. Treaty of Schönbrunn between France and
Austria
16 Dec. Napoleon divorces Josephine
1810 17 Feb. Annexation of Rome confi rmed by senatus
consultum
2 Apr. Napoleon marries Marie-Louise of Austria
2 July Louis abdicates as king and fl ees from
Holland
9 July Holland annexed to France
25 July French Empire’s maritime trade put under
state control
27 Sept. Battle of Busaco – British defeat French
13 Dec. North German territories annexed to French
Empire
31 Dec. Napoleon reopens his ports to neutral states
1811 20 Mar. Birth of the ‘king of Rome’ (‘Napoleon II’)
5 May Battle of Fuentes de Onoro – Anglo-
Portuguese defeat French
chronology
552
16 May Battle of Albuera – British, Spanish and
Portuguese defeat French
1812 19 Jan. British seize Ciudad Rodrigo
16 Mar.–
6 Apr.
Battle of Badajoz – Anglo-Portuguese defeat
French
24–5 June Grande Armée crosses the River Niemen,
beginning the Russian campaign
22 July Battle of Salamanca – British, Spanish and
Portuguese defeat French
7 Sept. Battle of Borodino – heavy losses on both
French and Russian sides
14 Sept. Grande Armée enters Moscow
Oct.–Dec. Grande Armée retreats from Moscow,
suffering huge losses
1813 28 Feb. Treaty of Kalisch between Prussia and Russia
16 Mar. Prussia declares war on France
2 May Battle of Lützen – French defeat Prussians and
Russians
20–1 May Battle of Bautzen – French defeat Prussians
and Russians
21 June Battle of Vitoria – British, Spanish and
Portuguese defeat French, who start to
withdraw from Spain
6 Sept. Battle of Dennewitz – Russians and Prussians
defeat French
9 Sept. Alliance of Prussia, Russia and Austria
16–19
Oct.
Battle of Leipzig – Austrians, Prussians,
Russians, Swedish and Bohemians defeat
French
1814 Jan.–Mar. Campaign of France – allies enter France
12 Mar. Mayor of Bordeaux hands city over to the
British
31 Mar. Paris surrenders to the allies
2–3 Apr. The Senate and Corps Législatif proclaim the
deposition of Napoleon
6 Apr. Napoleon abdicates
10 Apr. Battle of Toulouse – French troops surrender;
fi nal battle of the Peninsular War
553
chronology
11 Apr. Treaty of Fontainebleau exiles Napoleon
to Elba
24 Apr. King Louis XVIII returns to France
30 May Treaty of Paris – Louis XVIII proclaimed king
of France, restoring the Bourbon monarchy
1815 1 Mar. Napoleon lands in France after escaping
from Elba
13 Mar. Congress of Vienna declares Napoleon an
outlaw
19 Mar. Louis XVIII fl ees from Paris
20 Mar. Napoleon arrives in Paris and takes control,
marking the start of the Hundred Days
16 June Battles of Ligny and Quatre Bras – French
force Prussians and British to retreat
18 June Battle of Waterloo – British and Prussian
forces led by Wellington defeat French
22 June Napoleon forced to abdicate and leave Paris
3 July Paris surrenders to the allies
8 July Louis XVIII returns to Paris
7 Aug. Napoleon exiled to St Helena
20 Nov. Second Treaty of Paris, between France and
the allies