19 February, 2015

The Decline of Napoleon



Within the short nine years of Napoleons rule, he accumulated a great amount of prestige and success not only in France but in the greater European Empire context. However, his power was relatively short-lived. Much of the love he had gathered from French citizens was accumulated by his nationalistic approach to imperial thirst. He had conquested through eastern lands and grabbed up small states in Europe, but after these, his borders crashed into the beaches of greater empires. Britain, Russia, and Spain were fed up with Napoleon's conquests. Three huge military blunders can best be attributed to the decline of Napoleon and therefore his character in France. 

The first of these is the Continental System that was attempted to be imposed on Britain. This consisted of a naval blockade of all trade to continental Europe. However, this only caused the sinkage of the few French ships posted due to the Royal Navy's resilience (well proved by the Battle of Trafalgar) as well as the lack of participation from other European powers. 

The second blunder was the invasion from Russia which quite expansively wiped out a chunk of the Napoleonic Empire that he had recently achieved. Thirdly, was the Peninsular battles of Portugal and Spain, both nations fighting France and winning easily. 

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