From the excitement caused by these conspiracies came the movement which led to the inauguration of the empire. Petitions were drawn up asking that the consulate should be made hereditary in the Bonaparte family; there was considerable reluctance in using explicitly the word “empire,” and there was much wavering and intrigue before a member of the Tribunate, Curie, offered a resolution on the 23rd of April, 1804, according to the terms of which Napoleon Bonaparte, the then First Consul, should be declared Emperor of the French, and the imperial dignity should remain hereditary in his family. Carnot was the only member who argued against the change, but his plea in behalf of a régime of liberty found no supporters, though he pointed out in frank language that the movement in favor of hereditary monarchy was fictitious, because freedom of the press no longer existed. The Senate acted quickly on the motion from the one popular body that now was in session, for the Legislative Body was adjourned. A decree establishing the imperial constitution was passed on May 18, 1804. The measure was to be submitted to popular approval, but from the date of its passage Bonaparte received the title of Emperor of the French, and the empire actually came into existence. The international situation played a considerable part in forcing the abandonment of the few remaining vestiges of a republican system. Bonaparte had no desire to maintain for any length of time the pose of an apostle of peace, which for the sake of popularity he had assumed, while the negotiations at Amiens were in progress. England, too, had no wish to fulfil the engagements of that treaty, by which her power would be diminished. She was interested in keeping both Malta and Alexandria, and her promise of non-intervention on the Continent was very liberally interpreted by her government.
In the light of Bonaparte’s own policy a strict interpretation of engagements would have been indeed a counsel of perfection, for his plans for the expansion of France were not modeled on the traditions of the eighteenth-century system of balance of power. He had schemes for controlling the Mississippi valley, and he also elaborated a revival of French colonial policy in which the possession of San Domingo was the chief factor. When the revolted slaves of that island made it impossible for the French troops to keep French administration intact, Bonaparte gave up the enterprise, and sold Louisiana to the United States for 80,000,000 francs. French agents and officers were sent to the east of the Mediterranean and to India, with instructions obviously intended to work for the downfall of British power and influence. Only a month after the treaty of Amiens was signed, General Decaen, notorious for his Anglophobia, was despatched to India, with secret instructions to get into touch with the Indian princes who were hostile to England’s rule, with the object of forming an alliance among them. Moreover, the official government paper, the Moniteur, took no pains to disguise the intention of the First Consul to organize, on the first opportunity, a second expedition for the conquest of Egypt.
On the continent of Europe, too, French aggression proceeded without any disguise. Holland had virtually become a French dependency; and it was now endowed with a consular régime. In Italy, Victor Emmanuel, the King of Sardinia, was deposed, and his territories were annexed to France. Not contented with being president of the Cisalpine Republic, Bonaparte treated the rest of the peninsula as a subject territory and sent garrisons to the south to important points in the Kingdom of Naples. Just as plain was his attitude towards Switzerland, where he made use of the internal dissensions in the cantons to increase French influence. He told the Swiss delegates, when he had selected himself to act as mediator in their disputes, that Europe recognized Italy, Holland, and Switzerland as being under French control. “I will never tolerate,” he added, “any other influence in Switzerland but mine, if it is to cost me 100,000 men.”
As to Germany, the rôle of protector and disposer of the smaller German states was ostentatiously assumed. Russia, which had been given by the treaty of Lunéville conjoint power with France in the rearrangement of the petty German principalities, was treated with small consideration. The work was done by Bonaparte, and its drastic character can be measured by the statistics of the changes carried out under French direction. In the eighteenth century there were from eighteen to nineteen hundred autonomous sovereignties in Germany; only thirty-nine survived in Bonaparte’s “New Model,” among them being six free cities and one ecclesiastical domain. By these changes Prussia profited considerably, but even more so Bavaria, because of its well-known friendship for France.
Under the cover of the Peace of Amiens, Bonaparte had become dictator of a large part of Europe. Accordingly, when Lord Whitworth, the English ambassador, protested in the name of the existing treaties, Bonaparte replied, “I suppose you refer to Piedmont and Switzerland; they are trifles; this could have been foreseen during the negotiations.” The German publicist, Gentz, summarized the situation, without exaggerating it. “France,” he said, “has no longer any frontiers, since all that surrounds it is in fact, if not yet in name, its property and domain, or will become so at the first opportunity.”
On its side, England was far from scrupulous in observing the terms of the Amiens convention, and showed notorious unfriendliness to France in encouraging the various royalist plots against Bonaparte’s life. Besides, the terms of the treaty were not carried out as regards the evacuation of Malta or as to the conditions made for restoring to the French certain towns in India. What was especially irritating to the British government and people was Bonaparte’s plan to develop French industry by adopting a protective system. He not only refused to sign any treaty of commerce with England, but took active measures to close the ports of France and of the states dependent on her to the products of English industry. A violent press campaign was inaugurated in London against the policy of the Consulate, couched in unsparing language against Bonaparte’s character and ambitions. He, on his side, took up a truculent attitude, saying in so many words that England’s effort to secure new allies would force him to conquer Europe and to revive the Empire of the West.
In the spring of 1803, the final rupture came with a message from George III that the security of England was menaced by France. The outbreak of hostilities was marked by the seizure on England’s side, without any declaration of war, of 1200 French and Dutch merchant ships. Bonaparte replied to this act of piracy by another in kind, though a more original violation of international justice; he arrested all the subjects of England who were to be found on French territory, and prohibited the purchase of any article of British manufacture. The next step was to prepare for an invasion of England from the Channel ports and for the military occupation of Hanover, an appanage of the British crown. On the Continent, Pitt formed an alliance against the aggressions of France, known as the Third Coalition. Austria, Prussia, Sweden, and Naples prepared to act together, the chief military contingents being supplied by Austria with three armies amounting in all to 130,000 men, and by Russia, which promised four armies.
As England controlled the sea power, Bonaparte’s preparations to invade it were futile, though 2343 transports were collected, and for many months an army of 120,000 were kept in training for the passage over the Channel. But there was no adequate protecting fleet, and the French officers showed no ability in using the vessels under their command. The entrance to the Channel was guarded by English ships; all the French ports were blockaded, and Villeneuve, the French admiral, in an engagement off Trafalgar, was decisively beaten by Nelson, with a loss of twenty men-of-war, out of a combined French and Spanish fleet of thirty-five. Villeneuve was made the scapegoat for the failure of the plan to invade England, but the scheme was a chimerical one from the start, viewed in the light of the experiences of French armies in San Domingo and in Egypt, where they were cut off from their base. Many critics are, therefore, willing to believe that Napoleon was not sorry to have been relieved by the loss of his fleet from undertaking a spectacular but most hazardous adventure.
Before the battle of Trafalgar, October 20, 1805, while Napoleon was at Boulogne, he dictated a plan evidently the result of long consideration, containing the most exact details for the march of his army to the Danube. In the meantime, the Austrians had invaded Bavaria, had taken possession of Ulm, and were awaiting the French in the defiles of the Black Forest. With wonderful speed, precision, and secrecy enveloping operations were carried out, by which Mack, the Austrian general, who supposed the French army was near Strassburg, when it had already cut his communications far to the east of his forces, was surrounded and forced to capitulate. In this short campaign of three weeks, 100,000 Austrians had been dispersed by remarkable strategical movements, extending over a stretch of country several hundred miles wide. Not an error had been committed, not a combination had failed. The soldiers truly said, “The Emperor has beaten the enemy by our legs.”
Now that the Austrians were destroyed as a military entity, the Russian armies in Austria remained to be attacked. By a series of forced marches Vienna was reached by the middle of November without any general engagement. The plan of the Austrian and Russian generals was to cut off Napoleon, when he advanced farther into the heart of the empire, in much the same way as he had treated Mack. They had the advantage in numbers, for the French army now was only 68,000, while the allies had 90,000. The co-operation of Prussia was expected by the allies, if the Russians could win a victory, and with this additional strength it was hoped that the whole French army would ultimately be forced to capitulate.
But Napoleon moved from Vienna with great rapidity and brought on a decisive engagement at Austerlitz. Everything was done to increase the confidence of the allies. They knew that the French were reduced, by the detaching of thousands of men, needed to occupy Vienna and to keep in check various divisions of the Austrian forces. In some skirmishes the Austro-Russians were allowed to win small advantages, to put them off their guard, and to induce them to offer battle on unfavorable terms. Their two wings were adroitly separated from the center by the French troops giving way at an opportune moment. Napoleon took advantage of this weakness of the enemy’s center, while his commanders were preventing the detached portion of the enemy’s forces from returning to the main body, to drive the Russians, opposite him, on the frozen surfaces of various ponds in the battlefield. He then used his artillery to break the surface of the ice and so drowned several thousand of the enemy.
This brilliant engagement, fought on December 2, 1805, cost the allies 15,000 men in killed and wounded, 20,000 prisoners, 45 standards, and 140 cannon. Napoleon, delighted that the allies had walked into the trap prepared for them, commended in the order of the day following the battle, the conduct of his men. “I am contented with you,” he said. “You have, on the great day of Austerlitz, justified what I expected from your valor. When I lead you back to France, my people will see you again with joy. It will only be necessary for you to say ‘I was at the battle of Austerlitz’ for the reply to be made, ‘There is a brave man.’” The Emperor might well be satisfied, for the renewal of warfare had not been popular in France, where the defeat at Trafalgar had caused depression and anxiety. Now all was forgotten in the glorious victory which again placed the Austrian Empire at the mercy of the conqueror.
As the Austrians had been equally unlucky in defending their Italian territories, the Treaty of Pressburg, December 20, 1805, showed how greatly the traditional balance of power was altered, giving place to Napoleon’s scheme for dominating the whole of Europe. Austria lost the territories of Venice, Istria except Trieste, Dalmatia; she recognized Napoleon as King of Italy and was forced to surrender valuable possessions to the German princes who were allies of the French. There was also a titular diminution of power, because Francis II now surrendered the title of Emperor of the Holy Roman Empire, which gave him a theoretical sovereignty over the German states, and accepted the territorial title of hereditary Emperor of Austria. To these extreme measures of humiliation Napoleon obstinately adhered, though his foreign minister, Talleyrand, wisely preached moderation to him, urging with unique diplomatic vision that if Austria were to be deprived of so much territory in the west, there should be compensation made for her losses by handing over to her Turkish provinces in the lower valley of the Danube. France, he pointed out, would profit by this act of generosity, for Austria would give up looking to England for support, and, as a power in the East, would be certain to excite the jealousy of Russia, because Russia had always looked to inherit the Ottoman domains. But Napoleon’s plans would tolerate no scheme by which any European state would be helped to preserve more than a fictitious independent existence.
After Austerlitz the Confederation of the Rhine was created, a league of sixteen dependent German princes, of which the French Emperor was the head. Bavaria and Wurtemburg were especially favored, receiving the title of kingdoms, while their royal houses were drawn close into the orbit of French influence by marriages with members of the Bonaparte and Beauharnais families. Italy being now absorbed, Napoleon’s sisters were rewarded with Italian principalities, while his brother Joseph took the place of one of the Bourbons on the throne of Naples. Only the Pope was left as an independent sovereign in the much reduced temporal dominions of the Church. Holland, in accordance with the fully developed imperial system, became a kingdom, in place of a republic, with Louis, the Emperor’s brother, as its sovereign. Only one member of the family proved recalcitrant to Napoleon’s plans, and, therefore, was not rewarded in this division of the spoils of conquest. This was Lucien, who had saved the day on the 19th Brumaire and had made it possible for his brother to climb into absolute power. He refused to divorce his wife and marry a princess, and, therefore, he shared none of the favors that were being distributed. Napoleon’s mother, Letitia Bonaparte, who took Lucien’s side in this quarrel, was never declared a princess, and had to be satisfied with the honorary title of Madame Mère. Napoleon had conferred upon himself officially the title of Great (1806). His birthday was kept as a national and imperial holiday on which was celebrated a quasi-religious feast of apotheosis, modeled after the precedents of the Roman Empire.
Although Austerlitz called forth a new distribution of the map of Europe, and elevated, as if by a miracle, the members of the house of Bonaparte, it did not give peace to France. Russia had not shared in the Treaty of Pressburg, and even the English government, which, after the death of Pitt, was headed by the liberal pro-French statesman Fox, could make no satisfactory peace terms with the Emperor of the French. Prussia, whose neutrality was suspected, was treated with little consideration and no frankness by Napoleon’s government. It is true that he handed Hanover to it, but he made no secret of the fact that he would withdraw his gift provided that, if he restored Hanover to England, that power would consent to make peace. There was an active war party in Prussia who were anxious to try conclusions with the French army, because they relied on the traditions of the perfect military machine established by Frederick the Great. They boasted of their ability to destroy Napoleon’s army which had only conquered Austrians and Russians. Alexander of Russia was also anxious to renew the conflict, and England poured out its treasures to the extent of 6,000,000 pounds.
The result was the Fourth Coalition against France, made up of England, Prussia, Russia, and Sweden. Hostilities began with an inflated ultimatum from the King of Prussia, ordering Napoleon to evacuate Germany and to give up the Confederation of the Rhine. The declaration of war on the part of Prussia was most ill-timed, for the Austrians had not yet recovered from the defeat of Austerlitz, and the Russians were not prepared to act the part of effective allies at the beginning of the campaign. To this carelessness in selecting the time for commencing hostilities was added over-confidence in the military superiority of the Prussian army. As a machine, it presented the outward semblance of the creation of Frederick the Great; but there was an absence of intelligent direction. The soldiers were badly treated under a régime of poor diet and strict discipline, while the officers were a privileged class, who remained in active service long after they had passed the prime of life. This artificial system collapsed like a pack of cards; as Heine said, “Napoleon breathed on Prussia and Prussia ceased to exist.”
In preparing for this new campaign, Napoleon repeated the strategy of the Austerlitz campaign. He disguised, by feigned hostile movements and by ostentatiously remaining in Paris, his intention of striking one of his rapid, certain strokes at the enemy’s weakest spot. Led into a false self-confidence, the Prussians took the offensive with 150,000 men. By means of quick concentration, Napoleon’s army was brought up to a strength of 175,000. With this force, instead of coming into contact with the Prussians on the northwest, as had been expected, he turned their army on the southeast and threatened their communications with Berlin. The victory was won by two skilfully conducted pitched battles, at Jena and also at Auerstadt (the 14th of October, 1806), where Davout, with an army much inferior to that opposed to him, specially distinguished himself. The Prussian armies were reduced to a mass of fugitives; there were 20,000 killed and wounded and 18,000 prisoners, but the victory cost the French 12,000 men, for the Prussians had fought bravely, though their generalship was poor.
There was later a spectacular entrance into Berlin by the victorious army, arranged after the manner of a Roman triumph, with the Prussian regiment of the guards disarmed and following their conquerors. Napoleon interpreted his victory as giving him a chance to show his power of wreaking a personal vengeance on those who had so rashly questioned his power. “I will render this court nobility so small,” he said, “that they will be obliged to beg their bread.” He acted in the spirit of these words, and outraged public sentiment by carrying off, as part of the booty of Berlin, the sword of Frederick the Great. Over the conquered country was extended a network of officials, intrusted with the duty of collecting large money contributions. No community was allowed to escape the imposition, and all were made to feel their responsibility for the war. There was also a rearrangement of German territories, under which Jerome, the Emperor’s youngest and least competent brother, was provided with a throne under the title of King of Westphalia.
After the defeat of Prussia, the Russians, who had been slowly drawing together great masses of men, kept up an obstinate struggle against Napoleon’s generals, and little progress was made by the French. Marbot describes the campaign in all its hardships; the weather, he says, was terribly cold, but the troops seem to have suffered even more in their marches from the thaws which rendered the bad roads impassable. While the French army was encamped for the winter, Benningsen, the Russian general, tried, early in February, to force his way between the two divisions of the French army under Ney and Bernadotte. The plan failed because Bernadotte was not taken by surprise; his defense was a brilliant one, and gave Napoleon an opportunity for attempting a turning movement on Benningsen’s army. This purpose could not be carried out because the despatch announcing it to the French subordinate commanders fell into the hands of the Russians, who got away in time. In the pursuit, the Russians turned on the French, and the result was a “soldiers’ battle,” fought at Eylau, February 8, 1807, in which for a time the Emperor’s position was most critical, for his army was half encircled and suffered terribly from the enemy’s artillery fire. The day was finally saved by a remarkable cavalry charge, led by Murat, who passed through three Russian lines and broke up their attack. But despite this terrible massacre of men at Eylau,—10,000 French and 30,000 Russians,—no final result was attained by it. Neither side could claim to be victorious; it was something, however, to prove that Napoleon was not invincible, and, as Eylau was not a Russian defeat, the Russians interpreted it as a victory. The two powers, Prussia and Russia, agreed not to make a permanent treaty with France until the banks of the Rhine were accepted as her frontiers.
During the spring each side remained inactive, for both were in need of reinforcements. Benningsen with 100,000 men took the offensive, but after some preliminary hard fighting, placed himself, still on the offensive, in an unfavorable position near Friedland. He had brought his army into a narrow ravine with the river Alle behind him, so that in case of a check he had only the bridges to depend upon for withdrawing his men. These bridges were cut in a turning movement, made by Ney, while Lannes, with 26,000 French against 82,000 Russians, kept Benningsen from leaving his position, during a space of thirteen hours. By the evening the Russian army had but 25,000 men under arms and was hopelessly demoralized.
After this defeat the Fourth Coalition was at an end. The Peace of Tilsit was drawn up as the result of a personal interview between Alexander of Russia and Napoleon on a raft anchored in the river Niemen. After several private meetings Napoleon succeeded in attracting to himself the enthusiastic sympathy of his obstinate opponent. There was outlined a common plan of action by which both sides were to benefit, Russia was to gain territory in Finland, at the expense of Sweden, and in the East, at the expense of Turkey. Even more important was the winning over of Alexander to agree to Napoleon’s continental blockade against England, by which all English goods were to be kept out of continental ports.
But even by making this volteface in Russian policy, Alexander could secure no favorable terms for his late ally, Prussia. That power was denuded of territory to the east which it had originally acquired in the partition of Poland; for of this was constructed one of Napoleon’s new creations, the grand duchy of Warsaw, of which the elector of Saxony, approved by Napoleon for his pro-French policy, became sovereign with the title of King. On the west, all lands beyond the Elbe were taken, to be added to the new kingdom of Westphalia. Frederick of Prussia had besides to accede to the anti-British economic measures of Napoleon, to pay a war indemnity of $20,000,000, and to be humbly grateful for the return of four provinces in the northeast that had been detached from Prussia after the battle of Jena.