Napoleon, 1812: Hubris, The March on Moscow, and The Destruction of The Grande Armee

In 1812, the European Continent lay prostrate at the feet of the French Emperor Napoleon Bonaparte. He bestrode it like a colossus. Where he had not conquered he had forced those who opposed him to accept treaties favourable to France. He had defeated his enemies Austria, Prussia and Russia time and time again. He had captured both Vienna and Berlin and had created puppet States in Italy, the Netherlands and Poland. He appeared invincible but one thorn continued to stick in his side, the Island of Great Britain.

Napoleon Bonaparte, by Jacques- Louis David, 1812

Napoleon Bonaparte, the Corsican of Italian descent had long been a young man on the make. He had established his reputation as an artillery officer at the siege of Toulon in July, 1793, during the French Revolutionary War. His mastery of the situation and his effective use of artillery and the high ground had forced the British fleet to withdraw and abandon the city. As a result he was promoted to the rank of Brigadier-General. Although, following the fall of the Revolutionary Government in July 1794, he was arrested and temporarily imprisoned, he was soon released and continued to enhance his reputation. On 5 October, 1795, he put down a counter-revolutionary royalist insurrection in Paris that left 1,400 of the insurrectionists dead, it was said with a “whiff of grapeshot.” In March, 1796, he led a brilliant lightning campaign in Italy against the Austrians that left that country effectively under French control. It seemed that nothing could stop Napoleon’s rise to power, and he had big plans. He believed that an invasion of Egypt would provide a route to India and present the opportunity for a French army to advance on that country and displace the British as the ruling power there. It was a bold and ambitious plan, even so he received the go-ahead from the ruling Consulate in Paris and he was provided with an army that would be supported by the French fleet. On 1 July, 1798, he landed at Alexandria unopposed. A few weeks later he defeated the Egyptian Mameluk Cavalry at the nightime Battle of the Pyramids. It was a short-lived success. On 1 August, his dreams of a French Middle-East Empire and a march on India were shattered by the British Navy under Admiral Horatio Nelson who utterly destroyed the French fleet at the Battle of the Nile, only 3 French ships escaped the annihilation. Despite this catastrophe, Napoleon was forced by constant harassment from Egyptian forces to continue his campaign, even though his army had been stricken by an outbreak of the bubonic plague. At the siege of Jaffa his frustration boiled over when he had 1,400 prisoners taken to a nearby beach and bayonet to death or drowned in the sea to save on bullets. This action displayed a capricious and cruel streak to Napoleon’s character hitherto not seen. Aware that political events were moving fast in Paris, Napoleon boarded ship and returned to France. It would not be the last time that he would abandon his army to its fate to secure his position at home. Despite the failure of his campaign in Egypt he had managed to present it as a glorious triumph, and by early 1800, he had manouevred to make himself First Consul and the most powerful man in France. Later that year he again campaigned in Italy and defeated the Austrian army at the Battle of Marengo. He was a national hero, and within four years on 2 December, 1804, in a ceremony at Notre Dame Cathedral, he would snatch the crown from the Pope’s hands and declare himself Emperor.