Napoleon and the Transformation of Europe European History in Perspective General Editor: Jeremy Black
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Napoleon and the Transformation of Europe European History in Perspective General Editor: Jeremy Black Benjamin Arnold Medieval Germany Ronald Asch The Thirty Years’ War Christopher Bartlett Peace, War and the European Powers, 1814–1914 Robert Bireley The Refashioning of Catholicism, 1450–1700 Donna Bohanan Crown and Nobility in Early Modern France Arden Bucholz Moltke and the German Wars, 1864–1871 Patricia Clavin The Great Depression, 1929–1939 Paula Sutter Fichtner The Habsburg Monarchy, 1490–1848 Mark Galeotti Gorbachev and his Revolution David Gates Warfare in the Nineteenth Century Alexander Grab Napoleon and the Transformation of Europe Martin P. Johnson The Dreyfus Affair Peter Musgrave The Early Modern European Economy J. L. Price The Dutch Republic in the Seventeenth Century A. W. Purdue The Second World War Christopher Read The Making and Breaking of the Soviet System Francisco J. Romero-Salvado Twentieth-Century Spain Matthew S. Seligmann and Roderick R. McLean Germany from Reich to Republic, 1871–1918 Brendan Simms The Struggle for Mastery in Germany, 1779–1850 David Sturdy Louis XIV Hunt Tooley The Western Front Peter Waldron The End of Imperial Russia, 1855–1917 Peter G. Wallace The Long European Reformation James D. White Lenin Patrick Williams Philip II European History in Perspective Series Standing Order ISBN 978-0-333-71694-6 hardcover ISBN 978-0-333-69336-0 paperback (outside North America only) You can receive future titles in this series as they are published by placing a standing order. Please contact your bookseller or, in the case of difficulty, write to us at the address below with your name and address, the title of the series and the ISBN quoted above. Customer Services Department, Palgrave Ltd Houndmills, Basingstoke, Hampshire RG21 6XS, England Napoleon and the Transformation of Europe Alexander Grab © Alexander Grab 2003 All rights reserved. No reproduction, copy or transmission of this publication may be made without written permission. No paragraph of this publication may be reproduced, copied or transmitted save with written permission or in accordance with the provisions of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988, or under the terms of any licence permitting limited copying issued by the Copyright Licensing Agency, 90 Tottenham Court Road, London W1T 4LP. Any person who does any unauthorized act in relation to this publication may be liable to criminal prosecution and civil claims for damages. The author has asserted his right to be identified as the author of this work in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. First published 2003 by PALGRAVE MACMILLAN Houndmills, Basingstoke, Hampshire RG21 6XS and 175 Fifth Avenue, New York, N.Y. 10010 Companies and representatives throughout the world PALGRAVE MACMILLAN is the global academic imprint of the Palgrave Macmillan division of St. Martin’s Press, LLC and of Palgrave Macmillan Ltd. Macmillan® is a registered trademark in the United States, United Kingdom and other countries. Palgrave is a registered trademark in the European Union and other countries. ISBN 978-0-333-68274-6 hardback ISBN 978-0-333-68275-3 ISBN 978-1-4039-3757-5 (eBook) DOI 10.1007/978-1-4039-3757-5 This book is printed on paper suitable for recycling and made from fully managed and sustained forest sources. A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Grab, Alexander I., 1946– Napoleon and the transformation of Europe / Alexander Grab. p. cm.—(European history in perspective) Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 978-0-333-68274-6—ISBN 978-0-333-68275-3 (pbk.) 1. Napoleon I, Emperor of the French, 1769–1821—Influence. 2. France—History—Consulate and First Empire, 1799–1815. 3. France— Foreign relations—1789–1815. 4. Europe—History—1789–1815. 5. Napoleonic Wars, 1800–1815—Influence. I. Title. II. European history in perspective (Macmillan Press) DC202.5.G74 2003 940.2Ј7—dc21 2003042907 10987654321 12 11 10 09 08 07 06 05 04 03 Contents List of Maps vii Acknowledgments viii Introduction ix 1 The Formation of the Napoleonic Empire 1 2 The Janus Face of Napoleon’s Rule: Reform and Exploitation 19 3 France 34 4 The Netherlands 60 5 Belgium 75 6 Germany 85 7Switzerland 112 8 Spain 123 9 Portugal 144 10 The Italian Peninsula 152 11 The Grand Duchy of Warsaw 176 12 The Illyrian Provinces 188 v vi Contents 13 The Collapse of the Napoleonic Empire 197 Conclusion: The Legacy of Napoleon 204 Notes 212 Selected Bibliography 228 Index 234 List of Maps 1 Europe, 1812 17 2 Germany, 1812 91 3 Italy, 1812 158 vii Acknowledgments This work has benefited from the generous help of several colleagues and friends. A number of colleagues deserve my gratitude for reading parts of the manuscript and providing me with useful comments: Don Horward, Carlo Capra, Geoffrey Symcox, Bill Baker and Massimiliano Ferri. Special thanks go to Richard Blanke, who very kindly agreed to read the entire manuscript and made many invaluable suggestions that helped me produce a better book. I owe a special debt to Suzanne Moulton, the Assistant Administrator of the Department of History at the University of Maine, who, very patiently and meticulously, read through several drafts of my manuscript and made numerous corrections and stylistic improvements. I am indebted to my wife Julie, who has always been ready with advice and encouragement, without which completing the work would have been much more difficult. I dedicate the work to her and my daughter Sonali. Lastly, I would like to mention my father, Walter Grab, a scholar of German history, who taught for many years at Tel Aviv University. He read the early versions of some of the chapters but, regrettably, will not be able to read the final product as he died in December 2000. We did not always agree about everything, but his encouragement, assistance, and stimula- tion over many years have been highly instrumental in making me the historian that I am today. viii Introduction Ever since his fall from power in 1815, Napoleon has aroused enormous interest among historians. More has been written about him than any other French – possibly even European – historical figure (by the latest reckoning more than 220,000 volumes). A major reason for this huge interest is Napoleon’s meteoric rise to prominence from relatively obscure origins in peripheral Corsica. Bonaparte was only 26 years old when he was appointed commander of the Italian front, 30 when he became First Consul, and 35 when he crowned himself Emperor. Napoleon’s numerous military victories and the important legacies that he left to France, includ- ing Code Napoleon and the lycées, also explain the considerable interest in him. Although the literature on Napoleon in the English language is exten- sive, it is rather uneven.1 There is a vast bibliography on Napoleon’s mil- itary campaigns and his diplomacy, as well as on his private life, but much less attention has been devoted to the economic, social, administrative, and cultural aspects of the Napoleonic years. Although nobody doubts the importance of Napoleon’s battles and military policy for understand- ing the Napoleonic period, it is equally important to investigate the tax system that paid for these campaigns and the policy that conscripted the soldiers for his army. The biographies of Napoleon’s generals are important, yet so are the less-explored biographies of his ministers and prominent officials in France and his satellite states. A second shortcoming of the Napoleonic bibliography is its Franco- centric nature.2 Until recently, most English-language books on Napoleon have focused on France, devoting relatively limited space – a chapter or two – to developments in his annexed and satellite states.3 Yet one must insist that Napoleon was as much a part of European history as he was of French history. Indeed, to fully understand Napoleonic policies, we need to study them in a European context. Clearly, a critical component of Napoleon’s ix x Introduction historical role was his effort to consolidate French hegemony throughout Europe and establish himself as its dominant ruler. To achieve these goals, Napoleon incessantly intervened in other countries and reshaped the map of Europe. He annexed foreign territories, created new satellite states, altered borders, toppled dynasties, and imposed new govern- ments. He also exploited the human and financial resources of occupied Europe, conscripted young men into his Grande Armée, and imposed taxes and war contributions. Since French resources were inadequate for his military campaigns, his ability to tap European resources was indispensa- ble in sustaining and expanding his Empire. To put it bluntly, without drafting European conscripts and extracting financial support from other countries, Napoleon would have been unable to create his Grande Armée and wage his many campaigns. Likewise, Napoleonic economic policies must also be studied within a European setting. The Continental Blockade, his most significant policy after 1806, required the collabora- tion of the rest of Europe, and French economic domination in Europe meant that his satellite states had to grant French industry and com- merce favorable conditions without reciprocity. But a discussion of Napoleon’s European policies cannot be limited to military operations, conquests, and exploitation. Reform programs that transformed and modernized the internal structures of various countries constituted a highly significant component of Napoleon’s continental impact. Indeed, the Napoleonic regime possessed a Janus face: reform and innovation combined with subordination and exploitation. In fact, the two aspects were linked. To maximize revenues and recruit men more efficiently, Napoleon and his officials initiated broad reforms in the subject states, designed to create a central state apparatus consist- ing of a centralized bureaucracy, a uniform tax system, a conscripted army, a uniform court system, and an effective police force.