Napoleon - Part 2

A few years after becoming a general, Napoleon was handed control of the Army of Italy – a division of the French Army. 

Napoleon took up his new post on March 26, 1796. His assignment was simple: to drive Austrian forces out of Italy. He was more than ready for the job. For three years he’d studied Italy, forming plans for how to advance through the landscape. 

He quickly worked out that if he pushed through the northern state of Piedmont he’d be able to mount an attack and capture several key fortresses. As though this wasn’t daring enough, he also planned to carry out this bold campaign while outnumbered. He would have just 50,000 French forces under his command. His Austrian and Piedmontese enemies had 80,000 troops. 

Despite the risk, Napoleon put his scheme into action – and it worked brilliantly. A string of victories followed.

The first came on May 10, 1796, outside Milan. Using just 3,500 French soldiers, Napoleon outflanked 9,500 enemies on a bridge outside the city. It was a stunning victory, but Napoleon wasn’t finished. One month later, he laid siege to Mantua until the city fell in February of 1797. From Mantua, Napoleon crossed the Alps. By March of 1797, he was in position to threaten the Austrian capital, Vienna. The Austrians were stunned and unable to counter. Outmaneuvered and outfought, they were forced to sign a peace agreement.

This stunning string of military wins was reported, in breathless detail, by the French press. Napoleon was becoming a household name and a hero to the French people.

Not everyone in France was happy with Napoleon’s successes. The French government was starting to worry about his military prowess and popularity. Might he become a threat? Might he launch himself against the government and take control himself? 

They had to get him out of the spotlight. So, in 1798, they gave Napoleon an unglamorous job in North Africa. On May 19, he set sail to Egypt with 38,000 soldiers in tow.

French forces landed in Egypt, and quickly captured the vital port city of Alexandria. But things went downhill quickly. As the army marched toward Cairo, the harsh desert conditions took their toll. Napoleon’s European army was unaccustomed to the rough terrain and extreme heat. Hundreds of soldiers were blinded by the intense sun, while scores more were struck with malaria and heat exhaustion. To make matters worse, any soldiers who fell behind were easily killed by small bands of Mamluks, Egypt’s cavalry soldiers.

It was the first of many defeats for Napoleon in North Africa and the Middle East over the next year. 

Victory was impossible, and Napoleon finally realized it. In May of 1799, unable to break through the enemy’s defenses, the general begrudgingly ended the campaign and returned to France.

It had been a costly defeat.

As we’ve discovered, Napoleon’s military career was filled with tumultuous ups and downs. The same can also be said for his personal life.

Back in 1795, Napoleon met and fell deeply in love with a young widow named Josephine de Beauharnais. Josephine’s first husband had been executed by revolutionaries, and she herself had been imprisoned. Her experience in a crowded, filthy jail cell, and the daily fear of the guillotine, probably affected her for the rest of her life. 

Josephine was politically savvy and by all accounts very beautiful. Apart from her teeth that is. She’d grown up on the sugar-producing island of Martinique, and, as a child, had busily chewed on sugar cane. This habit had left her with blackened, decaying teeth. But she didn’t let this stop her, even in the image-conscious times she lived in. She quickly learned how to smile without showing them, and was pursued by many high-ranking suitors after her first husband died.

Napoleon was infatuated with Josephine. And as he rose through the ranks, she began to see his strengths as a potential husband.

They finally married on March 9, 1796, just days before Napoleon left for Italy. While leading his military campaigns, he would write to her constantly. Many of these love letters still exist today; there is absolutely no doubt that he loved her dearly.

Unfortunately for Napoleon, Josephine’s devotion wasn’t as strong as his.

Despite her marriage to Napoleon, Josephine loved another man, Lieutenant Hippolyte Charles. 

The two carried on a secret affair for years, but eventually word got out. Rumors of Josephine's infidelity finally reached Napoleon on July 19, 1798, as he was marching his army through the Egyptian desert. The news was devastating. He stopped writing to her, and began an affair of his own. Though Napoleon and Josephine remained married for many more years, their relationship never recovered. 

Napoleon returned from his disastrous campaign in the Middle East on October 16, 1799. Yet despite the defeat, the crowds of Paris cheered the returning general as a hero. Masses of people gathered in the streets to celebrate as he processed through the city.  

To anyone living in Paris at the time, it was clear why the people loved Napoleon. While he had been away fighting, the French government had been crumbling. Corruption was rife, economic inflation was out of control, and pro-royalist uprisings were starting up across the country. What made things even worse was that, during Napoleon’s absence, the French military had suffered defeat after defeat from their enemies.

Napoleon couldn’t help but notice the worsening situation in France, and the public’s love for him. He made a plan, and began organizing men for a risky mission. The goal? Toppling France’s government.