Napoleonic Wars

The Napoleonic Wars were a series of wars fought during Napoleon Bonaparte's rule of France. They were partly an extension of conflicts sparked by the French Revolution, and continued during the regime of the First French Empire. These wars revolutionized European army and artillery systems. French power rose quickly, conquering most of Europe; the fall was also rapid, beginning with the disastrous invasion of Russia, and Napoleon's empire ultimately suffered complete military defeat, resulting in the restoration of the Bourbon monarchy in France.

Political effects of the wars

The Napoleonic Wars wrought three great changes upon the face of Europe:

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• France was no longer a dominant power in Europe, as it had been since the times of Louis XIV.
• Great Britain emerged as the most powerful nation in the world. The Royal Navy held unquestioned naval superiority throughout the world, and Britain's industrial economy made it the most powerful commercial nation as well.
• In most European countries, the importation of the ideals of the French Revolution (democracy, due process in courts, abolition of privileges, etc.) had left a mark. Even though Napoleonic rule was authoritarian, it was often less authoritarian and arbitrary than that of previous monarchs (or for that matter the Jacobin and Directory regimes of France during the Revolution). European monarchs found it difficult to reinstate pre-revolutionary absolutism, and were forced to keep some of the reforms induced by the occupation. Institutional legacies have remained: for instance, many European countries have a Civil law legal system, with clearly redacted codes compiling the basic laws.
• A new and potentially powerful movement had been sprung: Nationalism. Nationalism was to re-shape the course of European History, forever. It was the force that spelled the beginning of some nations, and the end of others. The map of Europe was to be re-drawn in the next hundred years following Napoleon's wars, not based on fiefs and aristocracy, but on the basis of human culture, origin, and ideology.
• On the other hand, another concept had been brought about - that of Europe. Napoleon mentioned on several occasions his intention to create a single European state, and, although Napoleon's defeat set this internationalism back over one and a half centuries, the European identity was rediscovered following the Second World War.