French Revolution; session viii- Directoire

Saturday, September 18, 2010

DirectoireFrench Revolution

session viiiThe Directory


DirectoireFrench Revolution

session viiiThe Directory

Exit libertè a la Francois!—or—Buonaparte closing the farce of Egalitè, at St. Cloud near Paris Novr. 10th. 1799 / Js. Gillray


Major topics for this session

• The Directory at Work

• Napoleon’s First Italian Campaign

• America’s Quasi-war with France

• The Tiger and the Shark

• 18 Brumaire, l’an viii


The Directory at Work


The Directory at Work


The stereotypes of corruption and cynicism were greatly exaggerated. It has been concluded by one scholar that, of all the men in the higher positions under the Directory, that is, the thirteen who served as Directors and the others who acted as ministers, only three are known to have been financially corrupt: Barras, Talleyrand, and Fouché; and it is added (as if in defense of the French bourgeoisie) that the two former were ex-nobles by origin, and Fouché an ex-priest. A number of contractors and generals, including Bonaparte, made fortunes in the occupied countries….the British were doing the same by by not wholly dissimilar methods in their conquests...without incurring the shocked indignation of Europeans.

Palmer, Democratic Revolution, vol. ii, p. 212


Fructidor and Floréal

These poetic words refer to two unseemly maneuvers, by which the Directory struck out in turn against the Right and the Left. By the coup d’état of Fructidor of the Year V (September 1797) it put down the royalists. By the coup d’état of Floréal of the Year VI (May 1798) it did the same to the democrats….

It will be recalled that by the two-thirds rule of 1795 two-thirds of the legislative chambers...were until the election of March 1797 former members of the Convention….The election of 1797 proved to be a humiliating defeat for the Directory. The newly elected third of the Elders and Five Hundred...gave a majority of royalists of various kinds, or at least of persons not well affected to the Republic….At least two generals in the army, Pichegru and Moreau, were carrying on secret discussions looking to a royalist restoration.

Palmer, pp. 255-256


The coup of 18 Fructidor l’an V

• 4 September 1797-Barras, Reubell, and la Révellière staged a coup, supported by the military, against the moderates and royalists in the Councils

• Hoche, then in command of the Army of Sambre-et-Meuse, visited Paris and sent troops, while Bonaparte sent General Augereau

• the two conservative directors, Carnot and Barthélemy were ousted. Barthélemy was deported to Cayenne, while Carnot escaped

• the elections of 49 departments were annulled and many of the deputies charged with royalist conspiracy were also exiled to Cayenne

• the two vacant places in the Directory were filled by Merlin de Douai and François de Neufchâteau.

• the government frankly returned to Jacobin methods. The law against the relatives of émigrés was reenacted, and military tribunals were established to condemn émigrés who should return to France.


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philippe_Antoine,_comte_Merlin

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philippe_Antoine,_comte_Merlin

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nicolas-Louis_Fran%C3%A7ois_de_Neufch%C3%A2teau

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nicolas-Louis_Fran%C3%A7ois_de_Neufch%C3%A2teau

The coup of 22 Floréal l’an VI• spring,1798- not only a new third of the legislature had to be chosen, but the places of the

members expelled by the revolution of Fructidor had to be filled

• the constitutional party (moderate monarchists on the Right) had been rendered helpless, and the mass of the electors were indifferent. However, among the Jacobins themselves, there had arisen an extreme party hostile to the directors

• with the support of many who were not Jacobins but detested the government, it bade fair to gain a majority

• before the new deputies could take their seats, the directors forced through the councils the law of 22 Floréal, annulling or perverting the elections in thirty departments and excluding forty-eight deputies by name

• even this coup d'état did not secure harmony between the executive and the legislature. In the councils, the directors were loudly charged with corruption and misgovernment

• while France was thus inwardly convulsed, its rulers were doubly bound to husband the national strength and practice moderation towards other states. Since December 1797, a congress had been sitting at Rastatt to regulate the future of Germany. That it should be brought to a successful conclusion was of the utmost importance for France


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rastatt

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rastatt

Instead, foreign adventurism


Chasseur, 1er Légion des Francs, 1797Preparing for the expedition to Ireland in 1796, General Hoche formed the Prémier Légion des Francs by taking selected men from existing units. Described as “true devils incarnate” the légionaires were dressed in captured British coats which had been recut like light infantry uniforms and dyed dark brown (hence the name ‘the Black Legion’)…Caught in a storm, the expedition never landed, but still lost some 500 dead from drowning.


Charles James Fox

“Pittthe

Younger”

BRITISH REPUBLICAN SYMPATHY

Richard Sheridan


Fox

Pitt

Pitt

other British “Jacobins”

Pitt’s cabinet


Fox

Pitt

Pitt


Pitt’s cabinet


Fox

Pitt

Pitt


Pitt’s cabinet


Chasseur, 2e Légion des Francs; Wales, 179722 February 1797 a French force landed on the Welsh coast...to divert attention from the planned expedition to Ireland. They intended to march on Liverpool, raise an insurrection, plunder public stores and mansions as they went. Commanded by the Irish-American Col. Tate (who couldn’t speak French) the expedition was ill-fated from the start and surrendered to the militia after two days, causing little damage.

The 1,200 troops were ex-soldiers condemned to prisons and galleys: ‘The men ought to be young, robust and daring, with minds open to the lure of booty….They should know how to carry terror and death into the midst of their enemies….’


The Spithead and Nore mutinies were two major mutinies by sailors of the Royal Navy in [April]1797. There was also discontent and minor incidents on ships in other locations in the same year. They were not violent insurrections, being more in the nature of strikes, demanding better pay and conditions. The mutinies were potentially dangerous for Britain, because at the time the country was at war with the Revolutionary government of France. There were also concerns among some members of the British ruling class that the mutinies might be the trigger to a wider uprising similar to the French Revolution.

Wikipedia


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mutiny

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mutiny

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Royal_Navy

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Royal_Navy

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Strike_action

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Strike_action

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kingdom_of_Great_Britain

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kingdom_of_Great_Britain

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/French_Revolutionary_Wars




The Spithead and Nore mutinies were two major mutinies by sailors of the Royal Navy in [April]1797. There was also discontent and minor incidents on ships in other locations in the same year. They were not violent insurrections, being more in the nature of strikes, demanding better pay and conditions. The mutinies were potentially dangerous for Britain, because at the time the country was at war with the Revolutionary government of France. There were also concerns among some members of the British ruling class that the mutinies might be the trigger to a wider uprising similar to the French Revolution.

Wikipedia

Fox

Aye, Aye, We’re at the bottom of it

Tell him we intend to be

Masters. I’ll read hima lecture

Admiral Lord Howecoming to negotiate

“hat in hand”


FoxSheridan

Duke ofNorfolk

SheridanErskine

ArthurO’Connor


The United Irishmen of 1798

• symbol of the United Irishmen (founded 1791)




• winter 1796-97-Gillray’s caricature of Hoche’s failed invasion





• 21 June 1798-Cruikshank’s “Defense of the Rebels at Vinegar Hill”






• Wolfe Tone (19 November 1798), charismatic leader and martyr







• his grave with Pearce (1879-1916) tribute

….THINKER AND DOER, DREAMER OF THE IMMORTAL DREAM AND DOER OF THE IMMORTAL DEED, WE OWE MORE THAN WE CAN EVER REPAY HIM….TO HIS TEACHING WE OWE IT THAT THERE IS SUCH A THING AS IRISH NATIONALISM AND TO THE MEMORY OF THE DEED HE NERVED HIS GENERATION TO DO, TO THE MEMORY OF ’98, WE OWE IT THAT THERE IS ANY MANHOOD LEFT IN IRELAND.”








• half-hanging of a rebel









• guerilla warfare continues till 1804









• guerilla warfare continues till 1804


Further Foreign Adventurism

• However, the directors were driven by self-interest to new adventures abroad. Bonaparte was resolved not to sink into obscurity, and the directors were anxious to keep him as far as possible from Paris

• they, therefore, sanctioned the expedition to Egypt which deprived the Republic of its best army and most renowned captain

• coveting the treasures of Bern, the Directors sent Brune to invade Switzerland and remodel its constitution

• they sent Berthier to invade the Papal States and erect the Roman Republic. They also occupied and virtually annexed Piedmont. In all these countries, they organized such an effective pillage that the French became universally hated

• as the armies were far below the strength required by the policy of unbounded conquest and rapine, the first permanent law of conscription was passed in the summer of 1798. The attempt to enforce it caused a revolt of the peasants in the Belgian departments

• the priests were held responsible and some eight thousand were condemned to deportation en masse, although the much greater part escaped by the goodwill of the people. Few soldiers were obtained by the conscription, for the government was as weak as it was tyrannical


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Egypt

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Egypt

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bern

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bern

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guillaume_Marie_Anne_Brune

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guillaume_Marie_Anne_Brune

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Louis_Alexandre_Berthier

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Louis_Alexandre_Berthier

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Papal_States

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Papal_States

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roman_Republic_(18th_century)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roman_Republic_(18th_century)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Piedmont_(Italy)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Piedmont_(Italy)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conscription

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conscription

However, the reaction [of 22 Floreal (1798)] did not go very far, because the notables [the haut bourgeois, upper middle-class] were divided. They were divided by...the aggressive anticlericalism which brought most of the Directorials close to the sans-culottes….the notables considered that the common people had to have a religion and that the clergy was indispensable to social order; they also believed that the civil war would never really be brought to an end until peace had been made with the clergy. The Directory, on the other hand, especially after 18 Fructidor, pursued a policy of hostility….

Lefebvre, pp. 404-405


Some Directorials, moreover, like the “tyrant Robespierre,” considered that the Republic could not live without a metaphysical doctrine, and would have liked to set up a civil religion in competition with Christianity. Such were La Revellière and his friend Leclerc. In January, 1797, [they] inaugurated Theophilanthropy, a moralizing, idealistic deism which brought together, in the churches of Paris, a fair number of Republicans of all shades of opinion...it never reached the common people. Freemasonry, whose philosophical principles were very similar, was likewise unable to do so….

Lefebvre, pp. 404-405

Civil Religion, Again


It seems likely that the chances for a moderate and constitutional settlement in France, in the years after 1795, were virtually nil. For one thing, the war was still going on….Even with governments well established, the needs and atmosphere of war are unfavorable to constitutional experimentation and personal and political liberties. The Revolution--or rather the last years of the Old Regime of which the Revolution itself was merely the outcome--had left the country too divided, with too many memories, hopes and fears, hates and attachments, disillusionments and expectations, for men to accept each other with mutual trust or political tolerance.

Palmer, Democratic Revolution, vol. ii p. 260

Dim Prospects


Napoleon’s First Italian Campaign


Bonaparte at the Bridge of Arcole, by Baron Antoine-Jean Gros, (ca. 1801), Louvre, Paris


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_the_Bridge_of_Arcole




http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antoine-Jean_Gros

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antoine-Jean_Gros

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Circa

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Circa

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Louvre

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Louvre

Soldiers! You are naked, i%-fed; the government owes you much, it can give you nothing. Your patience, the courage you exhibit in the midst of these rocks, are admirable, but they bring you no glory; no luster is reflected on you. I wi% lead you into the most fertile plains of the world. Rich provinces, great cities wi% be in your power; there you wi% find honor, fame and riches. Soldiers of Italy, sha% courage or constancy fail you?

Napoleon, 27 March 1796


FRSAVOY

NICE

BATAVIANREPUBLIC



0 10 20 3010

Always beginwith the

KEY1st-the date/dates

2nd-the scale


Bonaparte’s first offensive

The French army was strung out along the Riviera for 50 miles, holding the coastal highway and the Ligurian spur of the Apennines. From the summits could be seen Bonaparte’s promised land--the historical amphitheater of the Lombard Plain, bounded on three sides by mountains. The Kingdom of Piedmont and the hereditary Austrian possession of Milan occupied the western half of this region, with their combined armies facing the French along the northern slope of the Ligurian hills.

Montross, War through the Ages, p. 462


DEGO

CARCARE

TO TURIN

(capital of Piedmont)

CEVAMONDOVI

MONTENOTTE

the first action occurs as Laharpe’s division (7,500) attacks a much smaller Austrian force in Montenotte and drives it out, inflicting losses of 2,500

the San Giacomo road was actuallya 15 mi mule trail, alternately mud & sharp rocks over a half-mile-high pass

Note change of scale 05 5


DEGO

CARCARE

TO TURIN

(capital of Piedmont)

CEVAMONDOVI

MONTENOTTE

the first action occurs as Laharpe’s division (7,500) attacks a much smaller Austrian force in Montenotte and drives it out, inflicting losses of 2,500

the San Giacomo road was actuallya 15 mi mule trail, alternately mud & sharp rocks over a half-mile-high pass

Note change of scale 05 5


Undoubtedly, Bonaparte, lacking previous service as an infantry commander, had failed to appreciate the difficulties of such a night march. It was a fault that would affect many of his future operations. On the other hand, in this the first of his campaigns, he displayed some of the attributes that were to make him a great captain: the ability to assess rapidly and clearly the advantages and hazards inherent in an existing situation, directness of purpose, vigorous execution, and simplicity and flexibility of planning.

Esposito & Elting, A Military History and Atlas of the Napoleonic Wars, commentary on MAP 4


DEGO

CEVA

On 13 April, Bonaparte was certain that he had wedged his army between Colli & Beaulieu. His problem now was to drive his wedge deeper and to separate them completely before they could react effectively.

5 0 5 10

A u g e r e a u s k i r m i s h e s westward to keep Col l i occupied

M a s s e n a c a p t u r e s Dego and takes 4,000 Austrian and S a r d i n i a n prisoners

The Austrians sent to relieve Dego fall back in confusion


After extensive reconnaissance on 16 April, deciding that Beaulieu now would be definitely out of action long enough to permit the destruction of Colli’s army, Bonaparte began swiftly shifting his strength westward.

The fact remained that Vukassovich had stalled the French offensive throughout 15-16 April; but Beaulieu was not the man to take advantage of this opportunity

The fact remained that Vukassovich had stalled the French offensive throughout 15-16 April; but Beaulieu was not the man to take advantage of this opportunity

Colli took up the new position as shown. Here he hoped to ho ld out unt i l Beaulieu recovered.


Much of 22 April had to be spent cuffing the French army--reveling in the fat, unforaged country around it--back into its ranks; local procurement of supplies had to be organized.

King Victor Amadeus o f Sard in ia , considering his situation hopeless, told Colli to ask for an armistice.

On 26 April he accepted Bonaparte’s terms


"Soldiers, You have descended like a torrent from the summit of the Apennines,you have overthrown, scattered everything that opposed your progress. . . . . .your fellow-citizens will point to you and say: "He was of the Army of Italy !"

- Bonaparte, 1796



The Battle of LodiLouis-François, Baron Lejeune, c. 1804

Musée National des Châteaux de Versailles


The French artillery suddenly doubled its rate of fire. Out of the smoke, straight across the bridge, roared Dallemagne’s column (3,000). With men dropping at each stride, it got to the center of the bridge (some 200 yards long) before Austrian infantry fire smashed its head into a tangle of dead and wounded. Somehow untouched, red-bearded Major Dupas, commanding the leading battalion, shouted his men on. The column staggered, but Berthier seized a flag and went forward. Massena, Lannes, Dallemagne--a crowd of officers and men mixed together--followed. Some carabiniers, dropping from the bridge onto a sand bank in the river, gave the rush fire support….

Later, Bonaparte would say that it was Lodi that made him certain he could be a man of high destiny.

Esposito & Elting, commentary on maps 10 & 11


Reproduction of a painting by Felicien de Myrbach-RheinfeldCaption: Where after seizing the bridge over the Adda, the French defeated the Austrians and proceeded to occupy Milan.Source: Life of Napoleon Bonaparte by William M. Sloane. New York: Century, vol. 1 (1906)


...a few days after the Battle of Lodi [10 May 1796] he confided to Marmont, "They [the Directory] have seen nothing yet....In our days no one has conceived anything great; it is for me to set the example."

Napoleon, age 26


“Every soldier carries a marshal’s baton in his knapsack”-- Napoleon

• one of the maxims of the Revolution was: les carrières s'ouvrent au talent (careers are open to talent)

• nowhere did this seem to be so true as in the military

• 1793-in the chaos and crisis atmosphere which produced the Terror, promotions were sudden and depended on only two things: political reliability & ability

• although the officer class in the Ancien Regime had been predominently noble, now it was almost entirely non-aristocratic

• Napoleon’s officers make a study in social mobility

André Massénal'Enfant chéri de la Victoire

1758-1817


Andre Massena

Pierre Augereau1757-1816

Michel Ney1769-1815

son of a Parisian fruit seller, en l i s ted a t 1 7, noted swordsman & duelist. Killed an officer in a duel, f led France. Served in the Russian, Prussian & Neapolitan armies. Back to France after the Revolution. Fought in the Vendée

born in Saarlouis, son of a master barrel cooper & Seven Years War veteran, Co%ege des August ins , then notar y and overseer of mines & forges. 1787 enlisted in a hussar regiment. Oct, 1792, commissioned,

born in Nice, son of a shop keeper, orphaned at 13, became cabin boy for 4 years. 1775-89 private, then warrant officer in the Royal Italian Regt. Brief stint as a smuggler in Fr West Indies. 1791 enlisted as a private, by 1792 made colonel

Alexandre Berthier1753-1815

bor n in Versa i l l e s , son o f military engineer, entered the army at 17, went to North America with Rochambeau, returning as a colonel. During the Rev, Chief of Staff of the Versailles Natl Guard, 1792, served with Dumouriez

Joachim Murat1767-1815

born in Guyenne, son of an innkeeper, joined the cavalry at 20, 1792 made officer, brought Napo leon’s cannon on 1 3 Vendémiare. Began the Italian campaign as an aide-de-camp, later commander of cavalry

Louis Gabriel Suchet1770-1826

born in Lyons, son of an silk manufacturer, jo ined the national guard cavalry at 22, 1793, at the siege of Toulon made chef de batai%on. There he took Genera l O ’Hara pr i soner. Severely wounded in the Italian Campaign, 1796


!


The campaign [against Beaulieu] ended when Bonaparte again entered Milan, to be hailed as a liberator by crowds which had not yet fully experienced French looting and indiscipline. The city had been taken just after Lodi, and now the victor laid siege to the citadel to capture the heavy artillery needed for the investment of Mantua. Thus in each operation he made “war nourish war,” while never neglecting to send the impoverished Directory his regular offerings of jewels and Italian art treasures to be turned into cash.

Montross, p. 466



PESCHIERA

LEGNAGO

The Quadrilateral


If more was expected of the French soldier and officer than their counterparts in other armies, so also were the rewards greater. Already the army of Italy had won booty such as had been gained by no European conqueror in generations. Personal violence to noncombatants was rare [this would not hold true in Spain, where both sides committed atrocities, jbp], but all ranks thieved like gypsies, with Bonaparte and the Directory setting the example…. Milan, Turin, Pavia and Bologna were stripped of gold, jewels and objects of art in addition to the usual requisitions of provisions. Even the pope, on making his peace, had to deliver 12,500,000 francs, 500 ancient manuscripts and 100 precious statues, paintings and vases.

Montross, p. 467


La batai%e de Castiglione (1-5 August 1796)by Victor Adam

Musée national du Château de Versai%es,1836here Bonaparte defeats Austria’s second general,

Dagobert Sigmund von WurmserSaturday, September 18, 2010


Austria 61,100France 41,500 Austria sends her third

army with a new general


With the defeat of the French armies in Germany, a new major Austrian offensive in Italy was certain. Not having the strength for a major offensive of his own, Bonaparte would have to take full advantage of the terrain and try to wage a war of l imi ted de fens ive -of fens ive operations.

Alvintzy had been given command of the Austrian forces in Italy. The quality of the troops was very mixed. Most of Davidovich’s were probably veterans from Germany; part of Alvintzy’s were unwilling Poles and poorly trained conscripts and part exceptionally good Hungarian and Croat regiments

DAVIDOVICH(off map to the north)

(18,400)

The Third AttemptNOVEMBER 1796

0 55 10

The Quadrilateral


Situation 9 November & MovementsSince 2 November 1796

Davidovich, with superior numbers, pushes Vaubois south of Trent (3-4 November) then, threatening to outflank them, sends them in disarray even farther south (6-7 November) Bonaparte brings Massena (his mountain-warfare expert) to advise. From the 2nd to the 6th the French had lost 5,000 men and their morale was beginning to falter. Fortunately for Bonaparte, Davidovich did not advance aggressively to exploit his initial successes.

Bonaparte, confident in the quality of his troops, decides to strike Alvintzy’s advance guards. He is unpleasantly surprised at the good quality of the unseasoned heterogeneous Aust r i ans . Alvintzy--whose skill, flexibility and moral courage were limited--had lumbered as far as Vicenza and showed little inclination to push beyond.


A great general must say several times a day to himself, ‘What should I do if the enemy appeared at my &ont, on my right, or on my le' flank?’ If he finds it difficult to answer such questions, he is not in a good position, or a% is not as it should be, and he must alter it.

At about 1400 the Austrian artillery--well posted and well-handled--shot Augereau back out of Caldiero.

Greatly outnumbered, the French were gradually forced back. In the evening Bonaparte broke contact and withdrew into Verona.Two thousand French had been lost, and the survivors were badly discouraged by this new reverse--suffered by Bonaparte himself.

He who wishes to make quite sure of everything in war, and never ventures, wi% always be at a disadvantage. Boldness is the acme of wisdom.


BATTLE OF ARCOLASituation at Dark, 15 Nov 1796

Bonaparte had completed his plans by the morning of 13 November. He had decided to make a main crossing at Ronco. There, the approaches of a former French pontoon bridge were still intact, and another bridge over the Adige could be constructed readily. Also, by keeping west of the Alpone, he would be in closer contact with Verona and better able to keep between Alvintzy and Davidovich. According to Bonaparte’s latest information, there were no large Austrian units around Arcola...

Adige River

Alpone R

iver

Swamp

MarshMarsh

Augereau’s column, encountering only a few scattered shots, had almost reached the Arcola bridge when it was suddenly taken in flank and pinned down by the musketry and cannon fire of Brigido’s troops from the other bank--at less than 100-yard range. Augereau, flag in hand, led his men in a rush, but could not get them within 200 yards of the bridge.




Adige River

Alpone R

iver

Swamp

MarshMarsh

RONCO





Adige River

Alpone R

iver

Swamp

MarshMarsh

RONCO

ARCOLA






Adige River

Alpone R

iver

Swamp

MarshMarsh

RONCO

ARCOLA



Bonaparte himself then took charge. Guieu (3,000) was ordered to cross by boat below, near Albaredo, and outflank Arcola. As this would take time, Bonaparte seized the flag, harangued the troops, and led them on a new charge. They got almost to the bridge, then were broken up by two Austrian guns, which swept the crossing. Lannes was badly wounded covering Bonaparte with his body. The column was thrown back in considerable disorder, and Bonaparte’s horse pitched him into the marsh.




Adige River

Alpone R

iver

Swamp

MarshMarsh

RONCO

ARCOLA



Bonaparte himself then took charge. Guieu (3,000) was ordered to cross by boat below, near Albaredo, and outflank Arcola. As this would take time, Bonaparte seized the flag, harangued the troops, and led them on a new charge. They got almost to the bridge, then were broken up by two Austrian guns, which swept the crossing. Lannes was badly wounded covering Bonaparte with his body. The column was thrown back in considerable disorder, and Bonaparte’s horse pitched him into the marsh.

The Austrians counterattacked furiously, almost capturing Bonaparte, but a staff officer rallied a party of grenadiers and broke the charge. Augereau’s division then fell back on Ronco.


fanciful depictions


fanciful depictions


fanciful depictions


fanciful depictions


• Bonaparte had already detected a slowness in Alvintzy; it had not escaped his keen battle- wise eye that the Austrian forces were full of raw recruits

• in the early hours Alvintzy put Provera and Mitrowsky forward, but Massena and Augereau pushed them both back

• Alvintzy was discouraged and sent his supply trains back toward Montebello

• Bonaparte now felt the battle was ripe. Engineers worked all night building a bridge across the Alpone, just above its mouth

• a detachment crossed the Adige against little opposition--by boat at Albaredo to cover this bridge construction and Augereau’s crossing the next morning

3 2 1 50


• the plan was for first Massena, then Augereau, to recross the Adige at Ronco early on the 17th

• Massena would then threaten Arcola from the west and block Provera at Porcile, while Augereau would cross the new bridge and attack from the south

• Massena lured Mitrowsky into an ambush capturing 3,000

• Augereau was initially blocked, but Napoleon sent 25 guides with 4 trumpeters as a ruse. It worked

• the Legnano detachment was the final blow

It w a s n o w n i g h t . B o t h armies, utterly worn out, slept on their arms. French losses for the past three days, 4,600; Au s t r i a n l os s e s e x ce e d e d 6,000


Bonaparte must have thought of Arcola when he wrote: “The fate of a battle is a question of a single moment, a single thought;...the decisive moment arrives, the moral spark is kindled and the smallest reserve force settles the matter.”

And again: “There is a moment in engagements where the least maneuver is decisive and gives the victory; it is the one drop of water which makes the vessel run over.”

The Austrian commander and his men, exhausted, discouraged and harassed, had been psychologically vulnerable to the “one drop of water”--that tiny, but noisy and energetic, detachment of Guides and trumpeters that had set off a chain reaction of fear and despair among the Austrians.

Bonaparte overcame Alvintzy and Davidovich through determination, superior energy, impetuosity, tenacity, and the ability to analyze situations and calculate the chances under the most difficult conditions.

In the words of General Patton: “Weapons change, but man changes not at all. To win battles, you do not beat weapons--you beat the soul of the enemy man.”


In his report to the Directoire from Milan on December 7, 1796, General Henri Jacques Guillaume Clarke, then chief of the Topographical Bureau in the Ministry of War, wrote of Napoleon Bonaparte: 'The General-In-Chief has rendered the most important services….The fate of Italy has several times depended on his learned combinations. There is nobody here who does not look upon him as a man of genius, and he is effectively that. He is feared, loved, and respected in Italy….A healthy judgment, enlightened ideas, put him abreast of distinguishing the true from the false….His manner of execution is learned and well calculated. Bonaparte can bear himself with success in more than one career. His superior talents and his knowledge give him the means….Do not think, Citizen Directors, that I am speaking of him from enthusiasm. It is with calm that I write, and no interest guides me except that of making you know the truth. Bonaparte will be put by posterity in the rank of the greatest men.'

Jeremy Green, “General Napoleon Bonaparte’s Italian Campaign” in Military History, (Apr, 1997)


Now, at last, the issue was to be staked on a single decisive battle.

The clash promised to be a final test of the tactical merits of concentric columns as opposed to French grand tactics. The very terrain of Rivoli--a lakeside plateau approached by good roads from three directions--made it inevitable that the Austrians would rely on their favorite converging attack. Quite as inevitably, Bonaparte planned to make use of his interior lines in the hope of bringing up a local superiority of numbers at each threatened point.

At Rivoli, however, Bonaparte’s greater skill was balanced by an enemy numerical advantage of more than two to one at the beginning of the battle.

Montross, p. 473

Rivoli; 14-15 January 1797


Napoleon at the Battle of RivoliFelix Philipoteaux, 1845

Palace of Versailles, Ga%erie des Batai%es


ALVINTZYʼS SECOND ADVANCESituation 11 January 1797

Adi

ge R

iver

RIVOLI

It now became clear to Bonaparte that Alvintzy’s was the main attack force. Orders were promptly issued for a maximum concentration against him. Victor would move up to Villafranca; Rey to Castelnuovo; Murat would use the gunboat flotilla to ferry troops at Salo to Torri, then march to join Joubert. Massena would leave minimum garrisons in the Verona area and march for Rivoli. Augereau would defend the Adige from Verona south. Bonaparte himself arrived at Rivoli at 0200 on the 14th. When his concentration was complete, he would have approximately 23,000 men and some 30 to 40 guns to engage Alvintzy.

SALO

VILLAFRANCA

TORRI

For the fifth time in nine months, the Austrian state, displaying amazing vitality, rebuilt its army in Italy. Reinforcement poured in--new levies of conscripts, the Vienna garrison, and volunteers. National spirit was high. The new army numbered 46,200 infantry and 2,800 cavalry. But it had two weaknesses. Its quality was uneven. Worse, Alvintzy was left in command. It probably was not appreciated in Vienna that it was Alvintzy, more than his army, who had lost Arcola.


Alvintzy originally advanced in five columns:

1

2 3 4

5This advance had been designed to bring major weight on Joubert, then at La Corona.

Liptay

11 3/4 1/2 1/4 0



1

2 3 4

5LA CORONA

Liptay

11 3/4 1/2 1/4 0



1

2 3 4

5

Liptay

Joubert, afraid of being enveloped, fell back to the town of Rivoli during the night of 13-14 January.

11 3/4 1/2 1/4 0



1

2 3 4

5

RIVOLI

Liptay

Joubert, afraid of being enveloped, fell back to the town of Rivoli during the night of 13-14 January.

11 3/4 1/2 1/4 0



1

2 3 4

5

TROMBALORAHEIGHTS

RIVOLI

Liptay

That same night, the Austrian columns moved to the positions indicated by the open red symbols

Napoleon, arriving at Rivoli at 0200 14 Jan surveyed the situation. By now he had great situational awareness. The night was clear, the Austrian campfires lit up the mountains. He ordered Joubert to seize the key feature, the Trombalora Heights.

11 3/4 1/2 1/4 0



1

2 3 4

5

TROMBALORAHEIGHTS

RIVOLI

Liptay

That same night, the Austrian columns moved to the positions indicated by the open red symbols

11 3/4 1/2 1/4 0


panorama of Rivoli

The views were taken from Monte Ceredello, roughly in the centre of the French positions. The compass directions given for each photograph are only approximate.

West (W)


panorama of Rivoli

The views were taken from Monte Ceredello, roughly in the centre of the French positions. The compass directions given for each photograph are only approximate.

West (W)

View along the Trombalora Heights, the main French defensive position.


panorama of Rivoli

WNW

Looking towards Caprino.


panorama of Rivoli

NW

View towards southern end of Monte Baldo.


panorama of Rivoli

NNW

The area where the 14th Line infantr y regiment must have placed its guns.


panorama of Rivoli

N

Looking towards La Corona


panorama of Rivoli

NNE

The ridge along which Joubert's troops retreated, and where they fought for most of the battle.


panorama of Rivoli

E

Looking directly towards San Marco. The higher peaks are on the far side of the River Adige.


panorama of Rivoli

ESE

The ridge continues


panorama of Rivoli

SE

The terrain between Monte Ceredello and the route down into the Adige valley.


LA CORONA

RIVOLI

Liptay

Between 0600 and 0700 Liptay attacked vigorously, slightly overlapping the French left flank. Immediately, the 85th and 29th Demi-brigades, on Joubert’s left, broke and started a stampede.


LA CORONA

RIVOLI

Liptay

Fortunately, the 14th Demi-brigade, at Joubert’s center, steadied by Berthier, drew back its left flank and held firm.


LA CORONA

RIVOLI

Liptay

Now (at 1000) Massena’s two leading demi-brigades came panting up through Rivoli, and were quickly put in with the bayonet to clear Trombalora Heights. This they did with dispatch….Most of Joubert’s retreating left wing apparently rallied to join them.


LA CORONA

RIVOLI

Liptay

Meanwhile Joubert had trouble on his right

In this crisis, with the French rear seriously threatened, someone (apparently Berthier again) hastily massed 15 guns to sma sh the head o f Quasdanovich’s column.

Amid this growing jumble of fleeing troops and of artillery still trying to go forward, some ammunition wagons suddenly exploded. The retreat became a headlong flight.


LA CORONA

RIVOLI

Liptay

Meanwhile Joubert had trouble on his right

In this crisis, with the French rear seriously threatened, someone (apparently Berthier again) hastily massed 15 guns to sma sh the head o f Quasdanovich’s column.

Amid this growing jumble of fleeing troops and of artillery still trying to go forward, some ammunition wagons suddenly exploded. The retreat became a headlong flight.


The Battle of RivoliBaron Louis Albert Bacler d'Albe.


http://www.1st-art-gallery.com/Baron-Louis-Albert-Bacler-D%27albe/Baron-Louis-Albert-Bacler-D%27albe-oil-paintings.html

http://www.1st-art-gallery.com/Baron-Louis-Albert-Bacler-D%27albe/Baron-Louis-Albert-Bacler-D%27albe-oil-paintings.html

Vue de Bassin de Rivoli entre les monts Corona et Pipolo. 25 Nivose An Vdetail from a watercolor done by combat painter Giuseppi Pietro Bagetti

99.5cm x 59cm


closeup of Bagetti’s watercolor








Some 28,000 men had advanced with Alvintzy from Austria as the new year began; on the 16th, a bare 7,000 streamed frantically back towards the Brenner pass. Of the remainder, 13,000 were prisoners in French hands; the others were stragglers, deserters or dead.

BATTLE OF RIVOLIOperations afternoon of 14 January 1797and Pursuit after the Battle, 15 January


ALVINTZY’S SECOND ADVANCESituation Morning of 16 January


ALVINTZY’S SECOND ADVANCESituation Morning of 16 January

Würmser’s fate in Mantua was now sealed. He still held out, but it was obvious that he could hardly do so much longer. It would be spring before Austria could assemble and dispatch another army of relief; hunger and disease, Würmsers' immediate foes, would triumph before then.

On 2 February, in desperate straits, he finally surrendered to Serurier.

During late January, February and ear l y March , the promised reinforcements began to reach Bonaparte, giving him a field army of at least 40,000. He was now ready to se ize the s t ra teg ic offensive.


Bonaparte had won Rivoli at a moment when the Directory, shaking under new defeats along the Rhine and growing political opposition at home, had been willing to make peace on bargain terms. Now, its members saw unlimited prospects of further conquests and loot, and all thoughts of peace were discarded. The main French effort would be shifted from the Rhine to northern Italy; Bonaparte would be reinforced and given a free hand for an advance on Vienna; Moreau would advance into southern Germany to clear the Tyrol and cover Bonaparte’s left flank.

Believing that a decisive victory over Bonaparte would completely capsize the reeling French war effort, the Austrians decided to stand on the defensive in Germany and concentrate an army of 90,000 in northern Italy. The Archduke Charles, conqueror of Jourdan and Moreau, was placed in command.

Esposito & Elting, commentary on MAP 30


ITALIAN CAMPAIGNS,1796-97

CAMPAIGN AGAINST THE ARCHDUKE CHARLES

Situation 11 March 1797, andOperations 11-25 March

GRAZ

When Charles reached Italy in February, he found some 44,000 regulars and militia on hand--mostly survivors of recent defeats, too disorganized and demoralized for another offensive. As the promised reinforcements slowly trickled in, the Archduke, forced on the defensive, disposed his troops as shown by the open dashed symbols to cover the routes leading to the heart of Austria.


ITALIAN CAMPAIGNS,1796-97

CAMPAIGN AGAINST THE ARCHDUKE CHARLES

Situation 11 March 1797, andOperations 11-25 March

GRAZ

When Charles reached Italy in February, he found some 44,000 regulars and militia on hand--mostly survivors of recent defeats, too disorganized and demoralized for another offensive. As the promised reinforcements slowly trickled in, the Archduke, forced on the defensive, disposed his troops as shown by the open dashed symbols to cover the routes leading to the heart of Austria.

Of the 50,000 reinforcements promised by the Directory, 23,000, mostly seasoned troops, had arrived by early March. A series of skirmishes soon gave Bonaparte a clear picture of the Austrian positions and their low state of morale. He decided to attack at once with the troops on hand. On 11 March he moved forward in an effort to cut the Austrians off from the Tarviso Pass.

TARVISO


Though the forces confronting Bonaparte were weak, there were sti l l 80,000 Austrians along the Rhine. If the French there remained motionless, the Austrians could easily shift troops from the Rhine, overwhelm Joubert, and drive down the Adige to cut the Army of Italy from its roots.To gain time Bonaparte requested an armistice.



Massena, the wily mountain f i g h t e r, l e d t h e Fre n c h advance, utilizing his superior numbers to maneuver and batter the Archduke back through Neumarkt (1 Apr) to Leoben (7 Apr)



Massena, the wily mountain f i g h t e r, l e d t h e Fre n c h advance, utilizing his superior numbers to maneuver and batter the Archduke back through Neumarkt (1 Apr) to Leoben (7 Apr)

News that Bonaparte might bring France peace having a ro u s e d p o t e n t p o p u l a r f e e l i n g i n h i s f a v o r, t h e Directory reluctantly gave him full powers to treat.


Dagobert Sigmund von Wurmser1724-1797

Jozsef Alvinczi von Borberek1735-1810

Johann Peter Beaulieu de Marconnay1725-1819

Archduke Charles von Habsburg1771-1847


"Soldiers: The campaign just ended has given you imperishable renown. You have been victorious in

fourteen pitched battles and seventy actions. You have taken more than a hundred thousand prisoners,

five hundred field-pieces, two thousand heavy guns, and four pontoon trains. You have maintained the

army during the whole campaign. In addition to this, you have sent six mi%ions of do%ars to the public

treasury, and have enriched the National Museum with three hundred masterpieces of the arts of

ancient and modern Italy, which it has required thirty centuries to produce. You have conquered the

finest countries in Europe. The French flag waves for the first time upon the Adriatic opposite to

Macedon, the native country of Alexander [the Great]. Sti% higher destinies await you. I know that you

wi% not prove unworthy of them. Of a% the foes that conspired to stifle the Republic in its birth, The

Austrian Emperor alone remains before you. To obtain peace we must seek it in the heart of his

hereditary State. You wi% there find a brave people, whose religion and customs you wi% respect, and

whose prosperity you wi% hold sacred. Remember that it is liberty you carry to the brave Hungarian

nation."

Address to the Troops on the Conclusion of the First Italian Campaign, March, 1797


• 17 October 1797-the Treaty of Campo Formio cemented Bonaparte’s Italian triumph

• Nice and Savoy are ceded by Sardinia-Piedmont

• the rest of the Riviera and the Republic of Genoa become the Ligurian Republic

• the Cisalpine Republic contains Lombardy (formerly Austrian), the western territory of the Venetian Republic and several smaller states

• both republics are French satellites

• the former Republic of Venice, including Istria and Dalmatia, becomes an Austrian territory

• Austria cedes the Austrian Netherlands and the Rhine becomes the eastern border of France


The Cisalpine RepublicThe Cisalpine Republic was for many years under the domination of the Empire of Austria.The French Republic acquired it by right of conquest. She renounces dominion over it on this day, and the Cisalpine Republic is now &ee and independent. Recognized by France and by the Emperor, as it wi% soon be likewise by a% of Europe.The Executive Directory of the French Republic, not content with having expended its influence and the victories of the republican armies to ensure the political existence of the Cisalpine Republic, pushes more faraway its promptnesses; and being convinced that, if liberty is first among a% good things, a revolution leaves behind itself the worst of a% scourges, now gives to the Cisalpine people its Constitution, which is the result of the knowledge of the most enlightened nation.From a military regime, the Cisalpine people must therefore pass to a constitutional regime.In order that this passage sha% be effected without disruption, without anarchy, the Executive Directory has decided only this once to appoint the members of the government and of the legislative branch, so that the people sha% not, until one year, appoint officials to fi% vacant offices according to the Constitution.In reality, no republics have existed in Italy for many years. The holy fire of liberty was stifled, and the most beautiful part of Europe lived under the yoke of foreigners. It is up to the Cisalpine Republic to show to the world with its wisdom and energy, and with the good organization of its armies, that modern Italy has not degenerated, and that it is sti% worthy of &eedom.

Signed, Bonaparte.—Preamble to the Constitution of the Cisalpine Republic, Messidor 20, l’an V (July 7, 1797).


The Cisalpine Republic


The Cisalpine Republic


before the conquest

VENETIANREPUBLIC


after

CEDED TO AUSTRIA


America’s Quasi-war with France


America’s Quasi-war with France

USS Constellation vs Insurgente; 9 February 1799


The U.S. Naval Academy, Memorial Hall(the heart of Bancroft Hall, built 1901-1906)














British economic-diplomatic-military-naval strategy

...the British blockade. The English refused to allow neutral flags [ships flying the flag of a neutral country] to cover enemy merchandise, and, in order to seize the merchandise as well as contraband of war, arrogated to themselves the right of search on the high seas. In reality, they granted all sorts of licenses which considerably attenuated the harshness of these rules, because they were aimed much less at ruining the enemy’s military power than at enabling the English merchants to earn money in his place. From this point of view, there was no objection to even selling to the enemy in order to obtain his currency; the blockade was mercantile rather than warlike.

Lefebvre, p. 358


British economic-diplomatic-military-naval strategy

...the British blockade. The English refused to allow neutral flags [ships flying the flag of a neutral country] to cover enemy merchandise, and, in order to seize the merchandise as well as contraband of war, arrogated to themselves the right of search on the high seas. In reality, they granted all sorts of licenses which considerably attenuated the harshness of these rules, because they were aimed much less at ruining the enemy’s military power than at enabling the English merchants to earn money in his place. From this point of view, there was no objection to even selling to the enemy in order to obtain his currency; the blockade was mercantile rather than warlike.

Lefebvre, p. 358

For twenty-three years, almost without interruption, the RoyalNavy maintained a blockade off the French coast


The three-legged stool of British Foreign Policy

1 Maintain the Balance of Power

in Europe

2 Keep the mouth of Scheldt (the Netherlands) in weak/friendly

hands

3 Seapower

1

3

2


French retaliation• 1793- the beginning of war with Britain, the French navy had ventured out to

protect their trade as best they could and commissioned privateers to seize enemy merchant ships

• 1795-America signed the Jay Treaty to resolve disputes remaining from the war for independence. France interpreted as British-American alliance and soon began seizing American merchant ships, over 300 in the first two years

• December 1796-Hoche was ordered to embark ships for Ireland to aid a rebellion there by the United Irishmen. Only a storm brought ruin the next year, as we have seen











• 1796-97-the XYZ Affair involved three American diplomats, CC Pinckney, Elbridge Gerry and John Marshall sent by President Adams to gain satisfaction for the seizures. They were told by French agents, the mysterious monsieurs “X,” “Y” and “Z,” that a bribe to Foreign Minister Talleyrand of $250,000 was a necessary preliminary. Then a $10 million loan to the French government

• “Not one sixpence, sir! Millions for defense, but not one cent for tribute!” -Charles Cotesworth Pinckney



Quasi-war with France7 July 1798-30 September 1800

• April 1798-Adams reported the XYZ Affair to Congress. A wave of anti-French (and anti-Jeffersonian Republican) fury ensued nationwide

• 7 July-Congress rescinded the Treaty of Alliance and US naval vessels were ordered to seek out and destroy French privateers and warships

• Consisting of approximately thirty ships, the US Navy began patrols along the southern coast and throughout the Caribbean. Success came quickly, with USS Delaware capturing the privateer La Croyable off New Jersey

• 9 February 1799-Commanded by Thomas Truxtun, Conste%ation, 38 sighted the 36-gun French frigate L'Insurgente

• The French ship closed to board, but Truxtun used Conste%ation's superior speed to maneuver away, raking L'Insurgente with fire. After a brief fight, Capt. M. Barreaut surrendered his ship to Truxtun

• 2 February 1800-Conste%ation encountered the 52-gun frigate La Vengeance. Fighting a five-hour battle at night, the French ship was pummeled, but was able to escape in the darkness

• During the course of the fighting, the new US Navy captured 85 French privateers, while losing approximately 2,000 merchant vessels


The Tiger and the SharkNapoleon vs Nelson



Battle of the Pyramids, 21 July 1798



Battle of the Nile, 1-3 August 1798


Napoleon’s Egyptian Expedition

Approved on 15 Ventôse, Year VI (5 March 1798), and prepared with the greatest secrecy, the Egyptian expedition comprised thirteen ships of the line, seventeen frigates, thirty-five other warships, 280 transport craft, 16,000 sailors, 38,000 officers and troops, and also a commission of 187 scientists, writers and artists…

Lefebvre, p. 415


Napoleon’s Egyptian Expedition


Only the Royal Navy stood between him and this ambitious stroke.


• certainly the most famous British admiral, possibly the most famous admiral, period

• born to a moderately prosperous Norfolk family

• rose rapidly through the ranks, serving with leading commanders

• 1778-age twenty, his first command, Master and Commander of the brig HMS Badger

• after the American War he went on half pay, begging for a command until

• 1793- HMS Agamemnon-64; service in the Med

• 1797-battles of Cape St Vincent and Santa Cruz de Tenerife, where he lost his right arm

Horatio Nelson, 1st Viscount Nelson, 1st Duke of Bronté, KB

1758 – 21 October 1805


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Order_of_the_Bath

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Order_of_the_Bath

AboukirBay


AboukirBay


AboukirBay


AboukirBay



"Forward! Remember that from those monuments yonder forty centuries look down upon you."


• 1 August-after chasing the French fleet for almost two months (!) and just missing them twice, Nelson discovered the French fleet at Aboukir Bay

• Admiral Brueys had planned to fight his ships at anchor but had left just enough space between them and the shoals to allow Nelson to double his line

• 1820 (6:20 p.m.)-as the lead British ship HMS Goliath came within range of Guerrier both ships opened fire

• 2000-the French van was surrounded and each ship had to fight two or three British ships. Many of the French crews were short-handed and ship after ship struck her colors (surrendered)

• 2100-the French flagship, L’Orient was seen to be afire and at 2200 the magazine exploded. For ten minutes both sides fell silent and were engaged in fighting fires from the rain of burning debris from this amazing event. Aproximately 70 survivors were picked up by British boats


The boy stood on the burning deck Whence a% but he had fled;The flame that lit the battle's wreck Shone round him o'er the dead.

Yet beautiful and bright he stood, As born to rule the storm;A creature of heroic blood, A proud, though childlike form.

The flames ro%ed on—he would not go Without his Father's word;That father, faint in death below, His voice no longer heard.

He ca%ed aloud–'say, Father, say If yet my task is done?'He knew not that the chie1ain lay Unconscious of his son….

Felicia Dorothea Hemans, “Casabianca,”

Monthly Magazine (August 1826)

Luc-Julien-Joseph Casabianca

Captain of Orient

Vescovato (Corsica)1762 – Abukir 1 August 1798


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Felicia_Hemans

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Felicia_Hemans

The boy stood on the burning deck Whence a% but he had fled;The flame that lit the battle's wreck Shone round him o'er the dead.

Yet beautiful and bright he stood, As born to rule the storm;A creature of heroic blood, A proud, though childlike form.

The flames ro%ed on—he would not go Without his Father's word;That father, faint in death below, His voice no longer heard.

He ca%ed aloud–'say, Father, say If yet my task is done?'He knew not that the chie1ain lay Unconscious of his son….

Felicia Dorothea Hemans, “Casabianca,”

Monthly Magazine (August 1826)

Luc-Julien-Joseph Casabianca

Captain of Orient

Vescovato (Corsica)1762 – Abukir 1 August 1798










Aye, Aye whatHoratio has got un at last,

why there be the Old Both (?) I thought as how he would not go

so far for nothing

Come along you Hypocritical dog! I dare say you’re Dam’d sorry now

for what you’ve done, no, no, I shall bring you to my

Master


The Battle of the Nile has been called "arguably, the most decisive naval engagement of the great age of sail", and "the most splendid and glorious success which the British Navy gained." Historian and novelist C. S. Forester, writing in 1929, compared the Nile to the great naval actions in history and concluded that "it still only stands rivaled by Tsu-Shima as an example of the annihilation of one fleet by another of approximately equal material force". The effect on the strategic situation in the Mediterranean was immediate, reversing the balance of the conflict and giving the British control at sea that they maintained for the remainder of the war.

Wikipedia

Another immediate effect of what seemed like Napoleon’s army being trapped in Egypt was the formation of the Second Coalition. Catherine the Great of Russia, along with the Turks, Austria and Prussia now re-joined the British, who had been fighting alone since the Peace of Campo Formio. Naples invaded the Roman Republic to restore the pope. France fought to retain her Rhineland conquests.

jbp


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/C._S._Forester




http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Tsushima

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Tsushima

Napoleon’s Plans for Egypt• “In spite of all this, Bonaparte went on organizing his conquest as if it were to be lasting…

• “His policy consisted in leaving the native administration in place, but under supervision; in other words, he established a protectorate.

• “At the same time he inaugurated an embryonic representative government...al composed of notables chosen by himself…

• “...since the population was almost entirely Moslem...he displayed a profound respect for Islam

• “...undertook the relentless modernization of the country:

• sanitary measures against the plague

• creating the first postal service, printing press, windmills & plans to substitute irrigation for inundation by the Nile

• plans to link the Nile to the Red Sea

• “...the commission he had brought with him became the Cairo Institute and prepared that famous Description de l’Égypte...the most lasting result of the expedition.” --Lefebvre, p. 417


Napoleon’s Plans for Egypt• “In spite of all this, Bonaparte went on organizing his conquest as if it were to be lasting…

• “His policy consisted in leaving the native administration in place, but under supervision; in other words, he established a protectorate.

• “At the same time he inaugurated an embryonic representative government...al composed of notables chosen by himself…

• “...since the population was almost entirely Moslem...he displayed a profound respect for Islam

• “...undertook the relentless modernization of the country:

• sanitary measures against the plague

• creating the first postal service, printing press, windmills & plans to substitute irrigation for inundation by the Nile

• plans to link the Nile to the Red Sea

• “...the commission he had brought with him became the Cairo Institute and prepared that famous Description de l’Égypte...the most lasting result of the expedition.” --Lefebvre, p. 417







August1799


August1799


August1799

Turkish losses: 2,000 KIA, 10-11,000 drowned, & 3,000 POWs; possibly 1,200 escapedFrench losses: 150 KIA, 750 WIABonaparte said later that the Turks were brave, but lacked proper organization, could not maneuver easily, and had no idea of tactics.


August1799

Bonaparte’s venture in Egypt and Syria was strategically meaningless and costly in military resources. It pulled some of France’s best troops and gen-erals away from the Continent when they were needed most, and brought on the destruction of the French Mediterranean fleet. The work of the scientists---such as the discovery of the Rosetta Stone and the subsequent deciphering of Egyptian hieroglyphics---proved to be the only enduring value of the expedition.


...on 9 October 1799...Bonaparte landed at Toulon. He reached Paris on the 16th, where, with his stunning victory at Aboukir fresh in the public mind, he was greeted as a returning hero. By now, France was in a state of near-anarchy and collapse. To the country, already war-weary, the war seemed endless…[and they were facing] an ultimate invasion by the overwhelming forces of the Second Coalition.

Esposito & Elting, Atlas of the Napoleonic Wars, commentary after MAP 34


18 Brumaire, l’an viii(9 November 1799)


18 Brumaire, l’an viii(9 November 1799)

General Napoleon during the coup d'état of 18 Brumaire in Saint-Cloud, detail


The Crisis of Year VII• beginning of Germinal (late March 1799)-- the up-coming elections appeared to be

unfavorable toward the Directory. It was blamed for the stagnation of business, the increase of taxation, above all, for the renewed war and the conscription

• with British gold and Russian soldiers in Western Europe, the counter-revolution was closer to success than it had ever been since 1789. General Suvorov in Italy toppled the Cisalpine Republic. The republics in Naples and Rome fell next. The military debacle in Italy produced panic. 25,000 Russian soldiers landed in the Batavian Republic. The French feared imminent invasion

• April-after the Left won a near-majority in the Councils, a coalition of democrats and generals formed against the Directory

• May-the lot for retirement fell to Reubell. Sieyès replaced him and began to plot a coup. The Councils now challenged the legality of three more Directors and removed them

• summer-in the Councils,”a kind of revival of international revolutionism…”-Palmer

• all annual classes of conscripts were called up, as in the levée en masse of 1793

• a progressive income tax was levied on “the rich,” as much as three-quarters of their income


The crisis therefore took place in three stages: 1) the fall of the Second Directory 2) the apparent triumph of the Left 3) and a violent and vigorous anti-Jacobin reaction[numbers added, jbp]….

Barras had contributed to Sieyès’ success--possibly because he was not opposed to the idea of [constitutional] revision, more probably to ensure his own survival now that the fall of the Second Directory seemed likely. The Trojan horse was in position, but probably few people imagined that Sieyès, the theoretician of the liberal representative system, was going to dig its grave.

Lefebvre, pp. 429 & 431


“Social” fear [of the lower classes] dominated the history of the Directory and served as a pretext for the eighteenth of Brumaire [1799 of Napoleon I] just as it later dominated the history of the Second Republic [1848-1852] and served as a pretext for the second of December [of Napoleon III].

Lefebvre, p. 242


Enough happened in the summer of 1799 to raise a specter of social revolution,...division of property, and confiscatory taxation of the rich. All this made it easier for Bonaparte a few months later to present himself not only as the defender of the New Order against the Coalition and the Bourbons, but as the savior of society itself from dissolution and anarchy.

Palmer, p. 566


Enough happened in the summer of 1799 to raise a specter of social revolution,...division of property, and confiscatory taxation of the rich. All this made it easier for Bonaparte a few months later to present himself not only as the defender of the New Order against the Coalition and the Bourbons, but as the savior of society itself from dissolution and anarchy.

Palmer, p. 566


"A shabby compound of brute force and imposture”1911 Encyclopedia Britannica

• 18 Brumaire morning-members of the Council of Ancients sympathetic to the coup warned their colleagues of a “Jacobin conspiracy” and persuaded them to remove to the Château de Saint-Cloud, west of Paris

• General Bonaparte was charged with the safety of the two Councils

• later that morning Sieyès and Ducos resigned as Directors. Talleyrand persuaded Barras to do the same with help from troops in the garden outside

• the resignation of three of the five Directors prevented a quorum and thus practically abolished the Directory

• but the two Jacobin Directors refused to resign. One was taken prisoner, the other escaped

• now all that remained was to intimidate the Councils


"A shabby compound of brute force and imposture”1911 Encyclopedia Britannica

• 19 Brumaire-the conspirators, it seems, expected the Councils to proclaim the overthrow of the constitution of their own accord. Nothing of the sort occurred

• Bonaparte intervened, addressed the Ancients: “The Constitution? You have violated it; it no longer exists!” Still, they were not persuaded

• with the Five Hundred it was worse. Cries of “Outlaw him!” He turned pale and left the hall. His brother Lucien, the Council President, to save matters refused to debate the motion to outlaw and called in some grenadiers

• a false charge was made to the soldiers that some deputies had attacked Napoleon with daggers. At that, the soldiers, commanded by General Murat, entered the hall and expelled the deputies

• finally, the Ancients passed a decree which adjourned the Councils for three months, appointed Napoleon, Sieyès, and Ducos provisional consuls, and named the Legislative Commission. Some tractable members of the Five Hundred, rounded up afterwards, served to give these measures the confirmation of their House. Thus the Directory and the Councils came to an end


http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=French_Legislative_Commission&action=edit&redlink=1




A later, suf f ic ient l y hero ic , pa int ing by François Bouchot, 1840.



It is known, that armies have hitherto yielded a very precarious and uncertain obedience to any senate, or popular authority; and they will least of all yield it to an assembly which is only to have a continuance of two years. The officers must totally lose the characteristic disposition of military men, if they see with perfect submission and due admiration the domination of pleaders [lawyers, jbp]; especially when they find that they have a new court to pay to an endless succession of those pleaders; whose military policy, and the genius of whose command (if they should have any), must be as uncertain as their duration is transient. In the weakness of one kind of authority, and in the fluctuation of all, the officers of any army will remain for some time mutinous and full of faction, until some popular general, who understands the art of conciliating the soldiery, and who possesses the true spirit of command, shall draw the eyes of all men upon himself. Armies will obey him on his personal account. There is no other way of securing military obedience in this state of things. But the moment in which that event shall happen, the person who really commands the army is your master; the master (that is little) of your king, the master of your assembly, the master of your whole republic….

Edmund Burke, Reflections on the Present Revolution, 1790


It is known, that armies have hitherto yielded a very precarious and uncertain obedience to any senate, or popular authority; and they will least of all yield it to an assembly which is only to have a continuance of two years. The officers must totally lose the characteristic disposition of military men, if they see with perfect submission and due admiration the domination of pleaders [lawyers, jbp]; especially when they find that they have a new court to pay to an endless succession of those pleaders; whose military policy, and the genius of whose command (if they should have any), must be as uncertain as their duration is transient. In the weakness of one kind of authority, and in the fluctuation of all, the officers of any army will remain for some time mutinous and full of faction, until some popular general, who understands the art of conciliating the soldiery, and who possesses the true spirit of command, shall draw the eyes of all men upon himself. Armies will obey him on his personal account. There is no other way of securing military obedience in this state of things. But the moment in which that event shall happen, the person who really commands the army is your master; the master (that is little) of your king, the master of your assembly, the master of your whole republic….

Edmund Burke, Reflections on the Present Revolution, 1790

Once again, Gillray mocks the national enemy


First ConsulBonaparte

Antoine-Jean Gros, oil on canvas, c. 1802 (Detail)

...Bonaparte, as First Consul, would declare bluntly: “There must be no opposition.”

Lefebvre, p. 378

“The French can no longer be governed except by me.”

Bonaparte, quoted in Palmer, p. 569


“Hegel remarks somewhere that all great world-historic facts and personages appear, so to speak, twice. He

forgot to add:the first time as tragedy, the second time as farce."--Marx

in the The Eighteenth Brumaire of Louis Napoleon (Der achtzehnte Brumaire des Louis Bonaparte, 1852), an account of the 2 December 1851 coup by Napoleon's nephew


“Hegel remarks somewhere that all great world-historic facts and personages appear, so to speak, twice. He

forgot to add:the first time as tragedy, the second time as farce."--Marx

in the The Eighteenth Brumaire of Louis Napoleon (Der achtzehnte Brumaire des Louis Bonaparte, 1852), an account of the 2 December 1851 coup by Napoleon's nephew


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hegel

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hegel

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Eighteenth_Brumaire_of_Louis_Napoleon

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Eighteenth_Brumaire_of_Louis_Napoleon

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Napoleon_III_of_France

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Napoleon_III_of_France

Education

French Revolution; session viii- Directoire