1806: A Precis
Napoleon, France
and the Building of an Empire
by James Gaite, UK
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Restructuring France The France Napoleon returned to after Austerlitz was in crisis; mass unemployment caused discontent throughout the country and, financially, France was almost bankrupt. Napoleon set about attacking these problems with his usual vigour and energy - he dismissed his Finance Minister, Barbé Marbois, under charges of embezzlement and fraud; restructured the French financial system; established the Bank of France; and stationed his victorious Grand Armée in cantonments in Southern Germany, so that the financial burden for their upkeep was borne by his German allies rather than the coffers of France. As to unemployment, Napoleon initiated numerous employment-boosting schemes across the country including the l’Ourcq canal project, and passed legislation favouring the employer and suppressing trade union organisations, denying the French worker the right to strike. Napoleon’s problems were not just those he found in France. In Italy, the system established by the Revolutionary Directory for extracting tributes for the French Treasury had collapsed and corruption was rife; even the commander of the Army of Italy, Marshal André Masséna himself, was implicated. Upon being informed of the alleged level of fraud and extortion prevalent in that state, the Emperor flew into a rage. Francois Massena, a cousin of the famous Marshal was recalled and rebuked for his behaviour and forced to repay all funds he had obtained illegally; General Solignac, one of Massena’s divisional commanders, was also found guilty and was dismissed from the army after refusing to repay what it was calculated he had extorted from the Italian principalities. The case against Marshal Massena was not so clear-cut; it was argued that funds he had acquired had been in the form of a gift and he was “unaware” of their illicit source - nevertheless, Napoleon made him repay the full £80,000 he had received. As a final measure, Napoleon appointed his unimpeachable stepson, Eugene de Beauharnais, to compile a report outlining all offences committed and to administer the system of collection from that point forward. In addition to the measures needed to solve the immediate economic crises facing his empire, Napoleon also found time to continue his work on his civil code for France, the Code de Napoleon, aided by a committee of key political and legal figures. He also set about establishing his dream of a German Confederation under French control, which was to occupy much of his time in the coming months. Shoring up the Empire Before Napoleon could embark upon his ambitious plans for a German confederation, he needed to consolidate the territories already under French control. To this end, he lavished provinces and riches upon his loyal generals, friends and family - he reasoned that he would be safer with his dominions under the control of people he trusted as well as ensuring that these new dukes, princes and kings were as committed to the security of Empire as he was himself. Hence, his brothers Louis and Joseph received the kingdoms of Holland and Naples respectively, while Marshal Murat was awarded the newly acquired Grand Duchy of Cleve-Berg and the “French Major-General”, Berthier, received the Principality of Neuchatel. Many others benefited from this fete of titular awards. Along with securing his provinces by what has been described by later historians as favouritism and nepotism, Napoleon attempted to secure the loyalty of his existing German allies. Bavaria was raised in status to a kingdom, as was Württemberg, and both these nations received ex-Austrian territory through the Treaty of Pressburg. To strengthen ties further, Napoleon also arranged marriages between Amelia-Louise of Bavaria and his stepson, Eugene de Beauharnais, and between his younger brother Jerome Bonaparte and the daughter of the King of Württemberg. The Confederation of the Rhine Many reasons have been given for Napoleon’s formation of the Confederation of the Rhine; the additional manpower the area could provide for his armies; a method of enticing Prussia to declare war; the formation of a buffer to defend French territory from Prussian and Russian aggression; or simple megalomania. Whatever the true reason, the German Confederation had far reaching effects on the development of the German nation as a whole, combining small, politically dislocated states into one political union and giving them a sense of national identity. Napoleon’s first step on the road to a Confederation of German States began with the alliances of 1804 with the larger Southern German nations of Bavaria, Württemberg, Wurzburg and Baden. In 1806, he consolidated these states’ allegiance with grants of territory, promotion of status and ties through marriage to the ruling family of France. His next step was to try to persuade or coerce the northern states to follow suit but for numerous reasons, this was not going to be as easy. The Northern German States usually came under the aegis of Prussia, to whom they looked for protection in times of danger; however, with the passing to French control of the previously Prussian-held territories of Ansbach, Bayreuth, Cleves and Berg, this unity was disrupted. In late 1805, Napoleon also sent Marshal Augereau to occupy the states of Hesse-Darmstadt and Frankfurt while the allies, and the Prussians in particular, were reeling from the collapse of the Third Coalition. Hence, by the beginning of 1806, Napoleon had attained hegemony over many of the small German principalities and Duchies and to these he added Liechtenstein, Nassau-Usingen and Nassau-Weiburg during the first half of 1806. Napoleon also sent entreaties to Saxony and Hesse-Cassel to join this new political union; but Saxony came under heavy pressure from Prussia to refuse; while the Landgrave of Hesse-Cassel, an avaricious and ambitious man, decided to refrain from making any commitment - he decided instead to wait and see who offered him the most for his loyalty, either Napoleon or Frederick William III. On 12th July 1806, the Confederation of the Rhine came into existence, replacing the politically decrepit and rotten thousand-year-old Holy Roman Empire. The Act of Confederation stated that the Rhenish states were to provide France with an
annual “subsidy” while also providing an armed body of men between 60-80,000 men [4] for both domestic and
foreign service. In return, France was committed to provide 200,000 men to protect the Confederation against outside aggression.
Europe on the Verge of Peace
By the beginning of May, the Third Coalition had truly ceased to exist. Russia was moving towards the peace table; Britain was already there; Austria had signed the Treaty of Pressburg, Prussia the Treaty of Paris, while the Kingdom of Two Sicilies had lost its
mainland territories and what little remained of its armed forces was holed up on the island of Sicily. Domestically, France was
experiencing an economic revival; unemployment was on the decline, subsidies flowed once again from its Italian and German allies and, through Napoleon’s financial reforms, France would never again come so close to economic ruin.
Napoleon’s imperial aspirations had also achieved a new zenith. His Italian and German possessions had been enlarged by concessions from Austria and Prussia and, in May 1806, he was now only two months away from the Act of Confederation that
would realise his ambitions in Germany.
Hence, Revolutionary France was now both militarily and economically stronger than ever before. Peace looked imminent and with peace would come renewed trade with Britain, further boosting the economy, as well as the possibility of colonial conquests abroad. However, the next few months would see a dramatic change in the course of events in Europe, events that had started back in January with the “Cattaro affair."
1806: A Precis
Prussians in 1806
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