(1) Napoleon was a brilliant leader. (2) France was the most populous nation
in Europe at the time. Levying a relatively large army required a smaller
proportion of the overall French population than levying a similar army in other
countries.
Napoleon had big dreams for empire in America. However, after putting down
Toussaint l'Ouverture insubordination in Haiti, Napoleon realized that
conflict in the Americas could be a huge resource drain. Plus, he knew his lines
of supply, trade, and communication with a New World colony would be threatened
by Britain's dominant Navy.
On one hand, many Enlightenment and French Revolution ideas, such as legal
equality for all classes, were spread to his empire via the Napoleonic Code.
Napoleon also caused reform in enemy nations: Prussia, for instance, realized
that it needed to reform if it wanted to compete with France. In Prussia,
reforms happened from the "top down" under Baron Stein and Hardenberg,
rather than bottom up as in a revolution by the masses.
In response to French rule, many Germans began to dream of a powerful nation of
Germany, even though Germany had always been a fragmented cluster of tiny
kingdoms in the past. This movement was called nationalism. German thinkers
also rebelled against French ideas, creating the intellectual movement known as
Romanticism. Certain Romantics, especially Herder and Fichte, tied
their anti-Enlightenment ideas into German nationalism, proclaiming a unique
German volksgeist that was at the core of the German people and nation-to-
be.
Not very. The various anti-Napoleonic coalitions were constantly breaking up.
During the Third Coalition, Prussia stayed neutral. Austria and Prussia were
often more afraid of Russia than of Napoleon. Under Metternich, Austria
moved towards better relations with France. Czar Alexander I, after opposing
Napoleon, signed the Treaty of Tilsit and allied with him, only to turn
against Napoleon again in 1810. In reality, only Britain was constant in its
opposition to Napoleon.
In 1812, instead of fighting, Alexander's army simply retreated and retreated
further back into Russia. When they left an area, they destroyed it in a
scorched-earth policy. When the Grand Army pursued Alexander's forces, it had
nothing to eat (it lived off the land, being to large and far from home for
supply trains). Eventually, occupying a ruined Moscow, the ragged and hungry
Grand Army had to return west through a horrible winter. The majority of the
600,000-700,000 men in the Grand Army died on this march.
Napoleon hoped to strangle Britain's economy by stopping British shipping to
European ports. In actuality, however, Britain managed to increase its
industrial growth even without European trade, while imposing a retaliatory
blockade on Napoleon's Europe. Napoleon thus could not ship goods from port to
port (important in the pre-railway days) and the European economy was
dramatically harmed. People became discontent with Napoleon's rule. Also, in
trying to bring the Continental System to Spain, Napoleon touched off the costly
Peninsular War.
Czar Alexander I had several (often conflicting) motivations. (1) He was jealous
of Napoleon's position. Alexander envisioned himself as an "enlightened
despot" as well, and considered the "upstart" Napoleon to be stealing the show.
(2) Alexander had a dream of European "collective security". In this (at the
time) fairly original idea, Alexander hoped that the nations could all agree to
make sure that none of them ever got too powerful. If that happened, war could
be prevented. (3) Alexander had his opposition to Napoleon sweetened by 1.25
million British pounds for every 100,000 troops he raised. (4) Alexander wanted
Poland, which Napoleon controlled under the name of the Grand Duchy of
Warsaw.
During the Congress of Vienna, Russia and Prussia made a deal. Prussia would
support Russia's bid for Poland if Russia would support Prussia's bid for
Saxony. Metternich (Austria) and Castlereagh (Britain) didn't know what
to do, but they feared Russia would become too powerful and wreck the balance of
power in Europe. Talleyrand, from defeated France, allied with Metternich
and Castlereagh in secret. When word of the British-Austrian-French alliance to
oppose Russian acquisition of Poland, Alexander backed down, accepting a small
share of Poland. With Alexander satisfied, Prussia lost its ally in
negotiations, and only was able to obtain a small area of Saxony. Both Russia
and Prussia shifted their influence westward into central Europe as a result;
however, the shift was not as dangerous as it might have been without the three-
way alliance. Talleyrand's participation in resolving this crisis shows the
power France had in the Congress of Vienna despite being the defeated power.
It's hard to say. France didn't lose very much; it just returned to the
way it had been in 1792. The rest of the countries of Europe had been wracked by
war, but they also emerged with new influences like the Napoleonic Code and
the seeds of nationalism and modernity. However, if there was one winner, it
was Britain. Britain emerged from the Napoleonic period as the unquestionable
lord of the seas. It had an even greater industrial base than it had before the
wars. And its colonial network was vast and vibrant under the shield of British
naval dominance and thriving commerce.