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Was Napoleon’s success in creating a large empire by 1807 mainly due to his military skills?
There is little doubt that Napoleon’s military skill and genus is unparalleled. Although not an innovator (he refused to replace the musket with a better weapon), he used speed and soldier’s courage to plough through the early campaigns securing more land for France’s expanding empire. The charismatic quality of his leadership made him a hero with his troops. He was often seen to be going through the troops, addressing them by name and recalling when they had fought with him previously. Wellington said, “the morale effect of his presence in the field is worth an additional 40,000 men.” Napoleon’s ability to motivate his troops made them eager to serve him in the battlefield, and win great victories.
Napoleon was wise when it came to dividing his troops effectively to surround the enemy and crush them (Ulm-1805.) Napoleon organised his troops into separate divisions under Marshals such as Ney and Soult. Each division marched a mile apart when approaching the enemy. The divisions would have individual orders but, when the enemy attacked one division, they could all be called to assist.
Napoleon as I said earlier was not an innovative leader. He used old tactics, but the difference was, he used them differently and more effectively. His tactic was always to force the enemy into a situation that they didn’t want to be in. From there he would exploit their weaknesses and eventually crush them. The greatest example of this was at Austerlitz in 1805. Here, Napoleon defeated a numerically superior force of Austrians and Russians purely by clever trickery. French losses were minimal compared to the enemy, and Napoleon was a hero. In Other battles like Jena and Auerstadt, Napoleon used the rapid movement or his large army to cover wide distances and attack the enemy from all sides. From his early military days, Napoleon showed an intense flair for improvisation. He would always plan his battles (geography of the landscape was his forte) well in advance but, would change them in the heat of the moment, providing on how the battle was going.
When Napoleon was winning battles, he had the support of his men and, the empire was expanding. When he wasn’t winning battles, the empire was not. It is true to say that without Napoleon’s military successes the empire would not have grown to its size in 1808. The proposition is supported that, when Napoleon was loosing, the empire was not expanding. This suggests Napoleon’s military victories were fundamental in the growth and maintenance of the empire. However, there were faults in Napoleon’s military ability. Napoleon was only a good general on the battlefield, he knew nothing about the sea or its ways, and even admitting his knowledge of naval matters was rudimentary. His inability to recognise new innovations that would aid his troops was also detrimental. He ignored a new gun, in place of the musket, which had poor accuracy and was slow [next page]