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Y213: The French Revolution and the Rule of Napoleon 1774–1815

Napoleon Bonaparte to 1807: career of Bonaparte to 1799, military leadership and reasons for success

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Overview

Recall questions on the career of Bonaparte to 1799: early life and character, his military leadership and reasons for success to 1799 including Toulon.

What you need to know

Answer each one before you reveal it.

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Key term

Summarise the terms of the Concordat of 1801.

Questions from this subtopic

Each one with the model answer underneath.

  1. 1

    Describe Bonaparte's background and early career.

    Model answer

    He was born in Corsica in 1769 to minor nobility, was educated at Brienne and the École Militaire in Paris, and was commissioned into the artillery, the one arm where technical skill outweighed birth.

  2. 2

    How did Toulon and the Vendémiaire rising launch Bonaparte's career?

    Model answer

    At Toulon in 1793 he sited the battery that drove the British fleet from the harbour and was made brigadier-general at twenty-four; dispersing the royalist crowds in Paris in 1795 then won him the gratitude of Barras and command of the Army of Italy.

  3. 3

    State what the Italian campaign of 1796–97 achieved.

    Model answer

    It knocked Piedmont out of the war, beat the Austrians at Lodi, Arcola and Rivoli, and ended in the Treaty of Campo Formio, by which Austria surrendered Belgium and Lombardy and accepted the Cisalpine Republic.

  4. 4

    Why was Bonaparte so successful as a commander before 1799?

    Model answer

    He moved faster than his opponents, concentrated superior force at the decisive point, made full use of massed artillery, lived off the country rather than waiting on supply trains, and inspired troops who were paid out of conquered territory.

  5. 5

    How did Bonaparte make himself politically indispensable before 1799?

    Model answer

    He controlled his own bulletins and army newspapers, negotiated the peace with Austria on his own authority, and sent money and art treasures back to a bankrupt Directory that could not afford to discipline him.

  6. 6

    What happened to the Egyptian expedition of 1798–99?

    Model answer

    He beat the Mamluks at the Pyramids but Nelson destroyed the French fleet at Aboukir Bay, the siege of Acre failed, and Bonaparte slipped home in 1799 leaving his army stranded.

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