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Napoleon And Europe

French's peace with the other European did not last long and before long Britain, Austria, and Russia created another coalition to fight the French army.

Napoleon Conquers Europe
 * Napoleon defeated the coalition in a series of battles and he smashed the Russian, Austrian, and Prussian forces and was free to enlarge his empire.
 * In 1807 Napoleon made Tuscany and Parma French provinces and in 1809n he took over the Illyrian provinces and the Papal states.
 * Napoleon forced many German states to join land with his empire and while there were 300 states, only 30 were not with Napoleon.
 * In 1806 Napoleon brought the rulers of Germany together in a union called Confederations Of The Rhine and this formed a barrier from France and the enemy states.

The Ruler Of Bonapartes
 * Since there were too many land for Napoleon to rule himself he gave portions of his land to his family members.
 * The Bonapartes family changed how the states were ruled and modernized it.

The Cost Of French Rule
 * While the Bonapartes family tried to improve the states, it did not necessarily mean life was better for everyone.
 * Napoleon's war had required every Bonapartes state to supply troops for the army and many young people were forced to join.
 * Another problem was that Napoleon's war was funded by taxes and he raised taxes in all the states since half of his funding comes from taxes.
 * Since the French army does not carry its own supplies, peasants and farmers were forced to supply the French army if they are in the way of their route and they had to put up with the French soldiers digging up their crops, killing their animals, and eating and sleeping in their homes.

Resistance And Rebellion
 * Many European countries and states hated the rule of the French, especially the Spanish. They launched their own war of independence against the French.

The Opposition Of Napoleon

Napoleon And Britain
 * One of Napoleon's main priority was to attack Britain and he had 2443 boats ready but needed control of the Channel for at least 4 days.
 * Napoleon's admirals tried distracting the British navy away from the Channel and it succeeded but Napoleon decided to postpone the attack on Britain.
 * Napoleon decided to postpone the attack because he heard the Austrian army was marching towards France and so he sent his army to defend France.
 * In the Battle Of Trafalgar on October 21st 1805 only 9 out of 93 of the French ships made it unharmed and so an attack on Britain was impossible because they could not control the Channel anymore.

The Continental System
 * In 1806 Napoleon ordered a Berlin Decree where none of the states he controlled can trade with Britain. The plan was to make Britain surrender because they do not have enough goods imported and exported.
 * In 1807 Napoleon attacked Portugal because much of Britain's trade was with Portugal. This started many problems because like the Spanish, the people of Portugal hated the French and declared a war of independence against them. This became a problem for Napoleon because he spent a ton of money on the war against Portugal and had a quarter of a million of his men stuck in Spain. It only got worst when Britain joined the Portuguese and the Spanish.
 * Soon Russia decided to leave the continental system because it was damaging Russian trade and so it began trading again with Britain. This led Napoleon to lead an attack on Russia.

The Russian Campaign
 * Napoleon gathered 655,000 men to assault Russia in the summer of 1812. The army entered Moscow by September 1812 but soon the army was on retreat with only 50,000 men left in the army.
 * The main problem was that since the French army did not pack their own supplies, they had to starve because the houses the Russians left behind were burned down and did not have anything in them.
 * Then the French army had to endure the cold weather which struck hard and many of the men froze.

The Fall Of Napoleon
 * Due to the disaster in Russia, Napoleon faced many problems like when another coalition with many of the other European countries against France and by 1813 the French army was driven out of central Europe. By 1814 the coalition had driven Napoleon and his army right back to France.
 * By April 1814 Napoleon surrendered due to the fact that the coalition had basically every single European country. King Louis's brother was given the head of the government.

Elba
 * The coalition exiled Napoleon to a small island in Elba, and he tried to control and run the city but he was very unhappy.
 * When Napoleon heard that the new king was unpopular he decided to return to France.
 * When Napoleon returned to France the new King Louis fled and people cheered as Napoleon retook his place in the empire.

The Hundred Days
 * Napoleon's rule only lasted 95 days. As soon as news of him returning reached the other countries, another coalition started to overthrow him and Napoleon fought back with 122,000 men but was crushed.
 * The assembly wanted peace while Napoleon wanted war so he abdicated. Napoleon wanted to live in Britain but he was forced to be taken to Saint Helena in the South Atlantic and he eventually died in 1821.

Summary: Napoleon conquers Europe and attempts to defeat Britain by blocking the import and exports of goods to Britain and from Britain. Many countries rebelled against this and Russia split from Napoleon rule because it was damaging their economy. Napoleon created a grand army to take over Russia but the army was defeated by the Russian winter and had to retreat. By the time Napoleon went back he lost control of all that he held and he surrendered to Britain and was sent to Elba. He went back to France when he heard that King Louis the eighteen was becoming unpopular and decided to rule France again. He ruled France for 95 days but another coalition was created to remove him and though he tried to fight back with an army of 122,00 men he was crushed. Napoleon abdicated and was sent to Saint helena to be exiled.

Question: Why did Napoleon lose the war against Russia?