"What they want is glory, and the satisfaction of their vanity. As for liberty, of that they have no idea. The nation must have a head—a head which is rendered illustrious by glory."
Napoleon gave glory to France in fullest measure. In the next few years, he overran the greater part of Europe, and fought battle after battle, nearly always winning brilliant victories. He more than doubled the territory over which France ruled, and both the government of France, and the geography and governments of all Europe, bear the impress of his influence to this day. But, with all his power, and all his genius, he could not conquer the "nation of shopkeepers," as he called the English. In 1802, a peace was made between England and France. It was in this treaty that the English King finally gave up the title "King of France," which had been used by the English sovereigns since Edward III.
Within a little more than a year, the two countries were again at war. Napoleon established a camp at Boulogne, on the English Channel, and gathered together a great fleet of boats, to invade England. But soon he was obliged to break up his camp, and march his armies against other enemies. A few weeks later, all hope of invading England was taken away by the destruction of the last French fleet, at Cape Trafalgar.
British Soldier
The battle of Trafalgar was Nelson's last and greatest victory. The French fleet had slipped to sea, and joined what remained of the Spanish fleet; then the combined fleet had sailed for the West Indies. Nelson followed after it, and when he could not find it in American waters, he rightly guessed that the move was a blind to draw him away from Europe. Hastily he retraced his course, and found the missing fleet in the harbor of Cadiz. By keeping some of his ships out of sight, he tempted the French admiral to come out and give battle. Nelson had twenty-seven ships, and the French thirty three, but Nelson sunk or captured all but thirteen of the enemy's vessels. Nelson himself was killed, by a bullet fired from a French ship, alongside which his flag-ship, the Victory, was lying. The last signal which he gave to his fleet shows the spirit of his life. It was this: "England expects every man to do his duty."
These victories, won by Nelson, led a British poet of that time to sing:
"Britannia needs no bulwarks,
No towers along the steep;
Her march is o'er the mountain waves,
Her home is on the deep.
With thunders from her native oak
She quells the floods below,
As they roar on the shore,
When the stormy winds do blow!
When the battle rages loud and long,
And the stormy winds do blow."
The Prime Minister of Great Britain, during the greater part of this period, was William Pitt, a younger son of the great Earl of Chatham who had saved England during the Seven Years' War. Pitt, the younger, became Prime Minister before the war began, when he was only twenty-four years of age. For a time, his position was very difficult, for he was opposed in the House of commons, not only by the Whigs under Fox, but by the Tories under Lord North. But his good sense and ability brought the people over to his side. After a new election was held, in 1784, a majority of the House of Commons supported his policies. He was not so great an orator as his father, but he was a sound and energetic statesman, and his services were of the highest value.
William Pitt, the Younger
"England has saved herself by her exertions," he said at one time in this war, "and she will save Europe by her example."
Under Pitt's guidance, Great Britain contributed much more than her example. Her money, in large part, paid the armies of Napoleon's enemies, and her fleets interfered to spoil French plans of conquest. He died in 1806, but his death brought no slackening of efforts in the great war.
When Napoleon found that he could not invade England, he tried to conquer her by striking a blow at her commerce. By his "Continental System" he closed all the sea-ports of Europe against English goods, and he punished with war the countries which would not adopt to his system. Up to this time, the peoples of Europe had sympathized with France, although their governments fought against her. Now, Napoleon's tyranny turned the people against him, and from this time on his efforts began to fail.
The Spanish peninsula was the region where national resistance to Napoleon first broke out on a large scale. The kingdom of Spain had been seized by Napoleon, and his brother Joseph set up as King; and the royal family of Portugal escaped capture, at Napoleon's hands, only through the aid of a British warship, which took them to their South American colony of Brazil. When the Spanish people rose in revolt against French rule, the British government aided them, by sending, for the first time, a British army to fight against Napoleon. England's sea power enabled her to land troops freely in Portugal, and this became their base of operations in the six years' "Peninsular War" which followed (1808-1814).
In this war, the Duke of Wellington, who was the British commander, proved more than a match for Napoleon's generals. It would take too long to tell of the wavering fortune which he encountered, and the battles which he fought. In the end, he was successful, for Napoleon was too busily engaged elsewhere to give this war his personal attention. By 1811, he succeeded in driving the French from Portugal; and he then advanced into Spain. In 1812, the south of Spain was recovered from the French. In 1813-14, the north was freed, and the defeated French were driven headlong across the Pyrenees Mountains. Then Wellington prepared to follow them into France itself.
This was made possible by Napoleon's folly in going to war with Russia, in 1812, and marching upon her capital, Moscow. His army numbered half a million men, drawn from "twenty nations." The Russians wisely refused to fight pitched battles, and retreated as he advanced. Moscow was captured, but next day a fire broke out—probably started by the Russians—which burned nine-tenths of the city, and made it impossible for the French to hold it.
Then began Napoleon's retreat. The Russians followed after, cutting off stragglers. Zero weather came on, and scores of thousands perished—from cold, hunger, wounds, and sickness. Of the mighty host which had set out, only a handful crossed the Russian frontier on the return.
This great disaster to Napoleon encouraged the oppressed states of Germany to revolt against his rule. Throughout the year 1813, the terrific contest was fought. In spite of all his desperate efforts, Napoleon was slowly but surely forced back to the river Rhine, and across it into France itself. Then, in 1814, while Wellington invaded France from the south, the Russians, Austrians, Prussians, and Swedes invaded it from the east and north.
Against such odds, Napoleon could not hope to succeed. After desperate battles, and most brilliant generalship, he was obliged to make peace. He had rejected earlier and more liberal offers, so the allies obliged him to give up his crown and go into exile. He kept the title of "Emperor," and was given the little island of Elba (between Corsica and Italy) to rule over, and was to receive an annual pension. On the whole, they did not treat him badly.
But it was not in Napoleon's nature to be content with a tiny kingdom. Louis XVIII., who had been placed on the French throne, had learned nothing from the misfortunes of his family, and the French people began to long for the return of Napoleon. The allies, too, were quarreling over the division of the territories taken from Napoleon, and he hoped that their union would be broken. So, in March, 1815, Napoleon slipped through the guard ships placed about his island, and soon all Europe was startled to hear that he was again in France.