Napoleon Man of Peace

Nepotism and the
Spain and Russia Campaigns

by Ben Weider, Canada

Nepotism

There is no doubt that it would have been better for Napoleon if he had not had brothers. His family spirit, his innate kindness, and his desire to make his mother Letizia happy drove him to make mistakes in his quest for peace. He believed that his brothers could, like himself, exercise proper command and assist him in the immense body of work he had undertaken to oppose England's relentless attack and free all the peoples of Europe from bondage. However! Joseph proved to be jealous and incompetent. With his brotherinlaw Bernadotte (they had married Julie and Désirée Clary respectively), he even went so far as to plot against Napoleon (the TeDeum affair of Notre-Dame in 1802).

Napoleon not only forgave both of them, but also made Joseph King of Naples and the King of Spain, and Bernadotte King of Sweden; the same King of Sweden he found among the ranks of the enemies of France at the Battle of Leipzig in 1813.

Lucien, the one with the most class, spent most of his time fighting him, before begging his pardon and offering him help . . . after Waterloo.

Louis, who he had raised and educated on his meagre lieutenant's salary, was a gutless, lethargic depressive whose only merit was to be the father of Napoleon Ill.

Jerome was sixteen years old in 1800; he was the last child, the spoiled baby. At first, he appeared interested only in honours, the fair sex and the high life, and it is only at the end of the Empire that he demonstrated a certain value.

Eugene of Beauharnais, his stepson, was the only member of the family to live up to Napoleon's expectations. Prince Eugene, Viceroy of Italy and Corps Commander of the Grande Armée was somebody. He is the ancestor of the Queen of Denmark and the Kings of Sweden, Norway and Belgium on the throne today.

The Spanish War

Admiral Villeneuve, a mediocre, incompetent and pusillanimous man, is the person most responsible for the final fall of the Empire. While at the Camp of Boulogne, Napoleon ordered him into the English Channel with his squadrons to secure free passage for only twenty-four hours ... and that would have been it for England. But Villeneuve, back from a disappointing expedition to the West Indies, took refuge in Cadiz, which he left only for the shameful defeat at Trafalgar.

England's mastery of the seas made invasion impossible and, to attempt to induce England to sign the peace anyway, Napoleon decided to blockade England from European ports. He also hoped, over time, that he would manage to assemble a fleet capable of rivalling the Royal Navy. For all these reasons, it was vital that Spain be a strong and reliable ally.

Yet Spain, governed by Manual Godoy, Queen Marie Louise's lover, was in a state of total degeneration. King Charles IV, whose weakness and physical ugliness is painted and portrayed by Goya, tended to let things go. To complete the picture, Prince Ferdinand, heir to the Crown, plotted against his father and Godoy, who he hated. After considerable hesitation, Napoleon came to the conclusion that this foursome had to overturn to give Spain a government capable of restoring the greatness and power it had enjoyed in previous centuries.

It was a mistake he recognised. He should have set Ferdinand on the throne, as was the wish of the Spanish people, rather than appointing his brother Joseph.

The Russian Campaign

Napoleon did not attack Russia. It was Tsar Alexander who, after violating the Tilsit agreements by opening his ports to England, triggered the hostilities.

Alerted by the Poles, France's only faithful ally, that the Tsar (who had solicited their support) was intensifying his preparations to attack him, Napoleon immediately asked Lauriston, now his Ambassador in Saint Petersburg, to make it known that he wished for a negotiation and not, above all, war.

Alexander appears deaf to all overtures of peace, and when Napoleon is compelled out of desperation to mobilise, he hopes until the last moment that the array of his forces - six hundred thousand men from everywhere in Europe will bring the Tsar to his senses.

When Alexander takes the initiative with an ultimatum that orders him to withdraw to the other side of the Elba, Napoleon makes one last effort at peace.

He writes to him:

"I wish to avoid war, I remain true to the feelings that united us at Tilsit and Erfurt . . ."

In the meantime, on the 17th of April 1812, he had sent a new offer of peace to England proposing the evacuation of English and French troops from Spain, Portugal and Sicily. Castlereagh did not even respond. Under the Domes of the "Invalides" rest the remains of the Emperor Napoleon.

On the 24th of June 1812, Napoleon crosses the Niemen and heads to Vilnius, where he remains for eighteen days awaiting the Tsar's reply to a new peace offer. On the 7th of September 1812, after the victory of Borodino - The Moskwa he refuses to exploit the success and annihilate the Russian army simply to prove to Alexander his desire to reach an understanding, his desire for humanity. He did not want to topple the Tsar, who he believed, like himself, to be sparing and considerate with regard to his soldiers' lives. He would soon find this army, that he could have so easily destroyed, facing him during the retreat. The French saying "your good heart will be your downfall" was never truer than when applied to Napoleon.

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