The Napoleonic Wars Essay

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Book Review for Napoleonic Wars

Glover, M., (1978). The Napoleonic Wars: New York: Hippocrene Books Publishing.
Introduction
The Napoleonic Wars were a series of wars under the leadership of Napoléon Bonaparte. The first campaign of the Napoleonic wars was the War of the second Coalition with the British and the French in 1798. The fighting took place mainly in Northern Italy and Switzerland, with the Russians and consisted of Russia, Great Britain, Austria, Portugal, The Ottoman Empire and the kingdom of Naples. In 1805 the War of the Third Coalition broke out, with Britain joined by Russia, Austria and Sweden. Napoleon defeated the Austrians at Ulm (1805) and finally at Austerlitz in 1805 (known as the battle of the three Emperors).
Battle of Italy Napoleon’s war of battles was simply won because he organized his forces to rapidly assemble in overwhelming numbers with skillful placing, and trained his troops to cover long distances at great speed. For example, the battle in Italy consisted of 25,000 men, nearly half of whom had to travel 24 kilometers uphill to reach their target and to attack frontally, while he diverted the enemy’s attention by a surprise attack on the flank. The Italy campaign was swift and almost unbroken line of successes. Therefore, Napoleon was received as a liberator for leading his soldiers across the bridge at Arcola in northern Italy in November 1796. After only six weeks, he negotiated his own treaty with Sardinia, driving an exceedingly hard bargain and then became the ruler of Italy.
Battle of Egypt Thereafter, Napoleon’s personal success gave him a reputation of someone with a unique power as a disposer of the fate of nations; which, contributed to Charles-Maurice de Talleyrand, complimenting him and pledging his support with an expedition to Egypt. Conquering Egypt would be a rich prize of possession. It could provide a gateway to India, which France had compelled to give almost everything to the British and to a generation earlier. Egypt also held a unique position on the world’s trade-routes. Occupying it would be a blow against Britain. With that being said, Napoleon was in-supportive of the plan to expedite Egypt. Napoleon was given a free hand in organizing the expedition. It was to be both a military and scholarly enterprise as Napoleon had an intellectual interest in exploring Egypt as well as a desire to seize it for strategic reasons. Therefore, this led many Frenchmen, a whole corps of scientists, architects, archaeologists and academics accompanied the expeditionary force that set sail for Egypt on May 19th, 1798. Landing on July 2nd, Napoleon quickly captures Alexandria, and then pressed on across the desire to Cairo. Expediting Egypt was not one of the best organized or most glorious episodes in Napoleon’s career. For such, the army marched under scotching sun, generally without food or water and frequently under attack. Many men died from their ordeal; some even committed suicide. Boots and clothing fell to pieces. Eventually, the army reached the Pyramids, where they were faced by a considerable force of Egypt’s military class, the Mamelukes. The French won the battle with having a do-or die attitude and continued to take Cairo without resistance, and giving Napoleon his first opportunity of proving himself as a lawgiver and as an administrator. For example, in Egypt he saw an opportunity to discover and share the magic of a new civilization. Meaning, the expeditions’ scholars were able to research Egypt’s past and open up the field of Egyptian studies which contributed to the finding of the Rosetta stone, making it possible for scholars to read other Egyptian inscriptions. The French also introduced Egypt to the many influences of Western Europe.
Battle of Nile On Aug 1, 1798, shortly after
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