Many scholars say that Napoleon is one of the best military leaders in history; however Napoleon Bonaparte is the best military leader. Napoleon was able to expand the French territory, with a goal to create one of the largest European empires because he was a military genius and a tactician. If Napoleon were not a genius tactician, he would not have been as successful in battles. Being a tactician was an important trait for Napoleon because it allowed him to continue fighting and winning battles because his army suffered minimum casualties. Following the denouement of the French Revolution, France was in ruins and the citizens were in desperate need of a leader. Napoleon not only stabilized the government in France, but also contributed
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Napoleon is the best military leader in history because of the way he used his troops. The tactics he used and the troop movement he reinvented allowed him to suffer minimum casualties in all of his victorious battles. On May 10, 1796 the battle of Lodi began. This battle marked to commencement of the Napoleon’s Italian campaign and the victory, “helped to create the Bonaparte legend” (Nicholls 149). During the Battle of Lodi, Napoleon demonstrated his genius on the battlefield. The map (see figure 1) shows the troop movement of Napoleon during his Italian campaign. Napoleon pushed the Italian army all the way to the beach, leaving them nowhere to go. Napoleon surrounded the Italian army in such a way that the army could not escape on either side. Throughout the battle Napoleon kept a regime of troops, skirmishers and light infantry, on both sides of his line infantry. The purpose of the skirmishers and light infantry was to prevent flanking maneuvers by the …show more content…
In the book, The Age of Napoleon by J. Christopher Herold, Herold discussed the ideas that Napoleon had during conflict. “Despite his contempt for idéologues Napoleon had an ideology of his own” (Herold 97). Napoleon learned from the tactics used in the past by great generals. He analyzed the common tactics used in the past and made slight changes to these tactics to make them effective. Napoleon respected the ideas of previous leaders, but thought that the ideas needed to be perfected. Napoleon perfected the idea of infantry. Napoleon used the infantry to shock the enemy and cause mass casualties at the commencement of the battle. He did so by dividing his infantry into four groups: skirmishers, infantry on the line, grenadiers, and light infantry. The grenadiers were responsible for initially wreaking the enemy by throwing grenades into the enemy’s line combat formation. Napoleon was a genius compared to the other generals because he used each regime of his infantry to complete certain tasks. The military leaders that opposed Napoleon did not assign each portion of the infantry different roles. For example, the grenadiers in the British army threw their grenades at the same time as the riflemen on the line shot their bullets. Napoleon used his grenadiers before anyone on the line shot; to weaken the enemies combat line. In addition, the line combat formation was vulnerable to
Napoleon is the best military leader in history because of the way he used his troops. The tactics he used and the troop movement he reinvented allowed him to suffer minimum casualties in all of his victorious battles. On May 10, 1796 the battle of Lodi began. This battle marked to commencement of the Napoleon’s Italian campaign and the victory, “helped to create the Bonaparte legend” (Nicholls 149). During the Battle of Lodi, Napoleon demonstrated his genius on the battlefield. The map (see figure 1) shows the troop movement of Napoleon during his Italian campaign. Napoleon pushed the Italian army all the way to the beach, leaving them nowhere to go. Napoleon surrounded the Italian army in such a way that the army could not escape on either side. Throughout the battle Napoleon kept a regime of troops, skirmishers and light infantry, on both sides of his line infantry. The purpose of the skirmishers and light infantry was to prevent flanking maneuvers by the …show more content…
In the book, The Age of Napoleon by J. Christopher Herold, Herold discussed the ideas that Napoleon had during conflict. “Despite his contempt for idéologues Napoleon had an ideology of his own” (Herold 97). Napoleon learned from the tactics used in the past by great generals. He analyzed the common tactics used in the past and made slight changes to these tactics to make them effective. Napoleon respected the ideas of previous leaders, but thought that the ideas needed to be perfected. Napoleon perfected the idea of infantry. Napoleon used the infantry to shock the enemy and cause mass casualties at the commencement of the battle. He did so by dividing his infantry into four groups: skirmishers, infantry on the line, grenadiers, and light infantry. The grenadiers were responsible for initially wreaking the enemy by throwing grenades into the enemy’s line combat formation. Napoleon was a genius compared to the other generals because he used each regime of his infantry to complete certain tasks. The military leaders that opposed Napoleon did not assign each portion of the infantry different roles. For example, the grenadiers in the British army threw their grenades at the same time as the riflemen on the line shot their bullets. Napoleon used his grenadiers before anyone on the line shot; to weaken the enemies combat line. In addition, the line combat formation was vulnerable to