Napoleon Bonaparte Case Study

Register to read the introduction… Under pressure from important nobles who were losing money, the Tzar withdrew from the Continental System. Napoleon determined to invade Russia in 1812 so as to force Russia back in. possibly due to his inflated ego in becoming the superior leader and incessant wanting of more land, he was convinced that Moscow was the heart of Russia and was determined to march there directly and take control. Napoleon was overconfident in that he allowed himself only nine weeks to defeat Russia and return to Italy and so did not provide cold weather gear for his soldiers nor frost nails for his horses. At the point of his expedition he was initially unlucky that the Russian army did not decide to fight face to face, although their initial retreat and the Russian Autumn inticed Napoleon too much, and he was lured deeper into Russia. The Russians instead implemented a scorched earth policy, destroying and burning anything worthy of supply and nourishment for Napoleon’s men, stretching the French emperor’s supply lines still further and demoralising his army. When the French and Russians finally met head on at the Battle of Borodino on 7 September, it was the largest and bloodiest single-day action of the Napoleonic Wars; it involved more than 250,000 soldiers and resulted in at least 70,000 casualties. The French captured the battlefield, but failed to destroy the Russian army. Moreover, the French could not replace their losses whereas the Russians could replace theirs. Napoleon was caught out by the Russian tactics, but could not adapt to them effectively due to his overreliance on previous tried and tested techniques, thinking he could still win the war on his standard strategy, he was badly …show more content…
The great French military leader Napoleon Bonaparte had initially capitalized on the reforms of the French Revolution to improve the lives of French citizens. However his focus on conquering Europe had eventually overridden his economic and military accomplishments. His previous successes exacerbated his ego to the point at which he became complacent with his standard tactics both on the battlefield and in the council. A sequence of poor diplomacy and belief that he could hold the European countries together by sheer force led to European countries rising in vengeance, such as the Spanish ulcer. Napoleon’s failure to deal with these threats and subsequent failing to enforce the ill fated continental system meant his empire was being dismantled piece by piece. Another reason for his downfall was his war tactic of constant Napoleonic Warfare. His main goal was to completely destroy the enemies army to the point where they no longer had the men to fight. But, this also caused heavy causualities on his side. Also, during his Invasion of Russia, he was hurt by the infamous Russian winters. When he retreated from Russia, almost all of his men got left behind (along with Michael Ney) and were completely annihilated by the enemy forces. After this, he suffered because of his army, or lack thereof. The resultant strain of fighting a multi front war against the united European forces was more failure of effective leadership than simple bad luck. Although he successfully returned from exile in the Hundred Days, his military defeat at Waterloo was the final nail in his