Why Were Napoleon’s Enemies Able to Defeat Him Between 1812-1815?

Why were Napoleon’s enemies able to defeat him between 1812-1815?

Napoleon’s primary strategic aim was the quickest conceivable destruction of his enemy forces. To achieve this, it was important for him to create a decisive battle to break the enemy army and to remove any further resistance. Napoleon stated that… ‘There are in Europe many good generals, but they see too many things at once. I see only one thing, namely the enemy’s main body. I try to crush it’[1]. Napoleon’s confidence stemmed from the very large nature if his armies.

Up until 1807, the grande armee of France was very successful. They defeated the Austrians and Prussians at Austerlitz in 1805, and the Russians in 1807. The reasons for the French defeat lies in the exhaustion of resources the Iberian campaign, Napoleon’s enemies looking at the grand French army were modernizing their own military. There was also better communication between Napoleon’s enemies which meant that he was now bombarded with isolation. This lead to the defeat at Leipzig in ‘The Battle of Nations’ in 1813 and then again in Waterloo in 1815. In Russia Alexander I kept a watchful eye on Napoleon ever since he insulted the Czar by recreating Poland and calling it Grand Duchy of Warsaw. Napoleon soon began to lose his own self determination and tried to negotiate with Alexander I in the Russian campaign who simply refused. However, it is clear that the fundamental cause of Napoleon’s numerous defeats was indeed his manner and style of generalship. Napoleon was Head of State and commander in chief of the grande armee; this gave him total control allowing him to do anything. A, you need to write about how this total control led to his defeat – say he had too much responsibility & couldn’t concentrate on everything at once or something.

Napoleon desired to achieve the momentous battles by sending his strongest and biggest army down to the enemy territories. Napoleon would then threaten the enemies main focus point and...