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The Extent of Napoleon’s Empire
Between 1809 and 1811, Napoleon’s empire stretched its furthest. In 1809, Napoleon turned 40, and became concerned at his lack of an heir. Hoping that a younger woman would conceive more readily, he had his marriage to Josephine annulled and started looking for a suitably aristocratic second wife. Alexander I turned Napoleon’s inquiries about his sister down, and Klemens von Metternich, the Austrian Ambassador to France, instead offered Archduchess Marie Louise of Austria as a wife. In 1811, the new empress gave birth to a son, Napoleon II, known as the “King of Rome.”
By 1810 to 1811, Napoleon’s empire included nearly all of Europe except for the Balkans. It was comprised of an enlarged France (which had swallowed Belgium, Holland, parts of Germany, and the Italian coast all the way to Rome) and various puppet nations which were ruled either by Napoleon himself or by a Bonaparte subservient to Napoleon. In addition, Napoleon held alliances with Austria, Russia, Denmark, Sweden, and a greatly reduced Prussia. Essentially all of Europe was now “at war” with Britain, their resources, industry, and populations being used to serve the French Empire. All of these states, from the Empire to the Napoleonic allies, participated in the Continental System.
Napoleon’s Methods of Conquest
Napoleon made good use of his large family, appointing his brothers and sisters as royalty throughout Europe. When he ran out of family, he switched to more distant relatives and the servants he believed most faithful. For instance, when Napoleon had to transfer his brother Joseph from Naples to rule over Spain, he made one of his leading generals, Murat, into the King of Naples. He also made his stepson, Josephine's son, into the viceroy of the Kingdom of Italy.
Napoleon’s takeovers all followed a similar script. First, his army would take a region over. Then, Napoleon would impose his powerful influence on a collaborationist government made up of locals friendly to France as they drafted a new constitution. Napoleon then might impose his direct rule, or the rule of a family member, or leave the collaborationist government in place so long as it remained loyal to him. From this position of power, Napoleon would encourage numerous reforms, spreading the ideals of the revolution throughout Europe.
The organization of Napoleon’s empire was complex. Each of the dependent states existed under various regimes that gave a poor illusion of self-government. This included a Swiss Federation, the Italian Republic, and the Confederation of the Rhine. Though Czar Alexander I was vocal that Napoleon should not recreate the old state of Poland, Napoleon did it anyway, giving it a new name: The Grand Duchy of Warsaw.
The Rebirth of French Aristocracy
Ironically, Napoleon’s marriage to Marie Louise of Austria, a Hapsburg, made him the nephew-in-law of Louis XVI, the king executed during the French Revolution. With Napoleon now related to the king the Revolution overthrew, it seemed that France was moving full circle. This appearance was not merely symbolic, however. Seeking loyal allies in France, Napoleon started making people who served him well into nobles. Within two decades of the French Revolution directed against aristocracy, a new aristocracy was coming into existence.
The Spread of the French Revolution in Europe
Though Napoleon had begun to grant nobility in France, his dominance of the European continent continued to spread the liberal ideal of the French Revolution. Napoleon did not believe that every country was a special situation that deserved unique treatment. Instead, he was a “universalist,” believing that the same fundamental truths and laws applied exactly the same everywhere. As such, his system of laws, “the Napoleonic Code,” spread to all the territories he controlled with only minor changes from place to place. Under these laws, he spread the idea of societies in which everyone was equal before the law, and where legal privileges for certain classes did not exist. It was overall a dramatically modernizing force, bringing about social reform everywhere, from producing a meritocracy in Prussia to its creation of the idea of the totally secular state.
Bit by bit, Napoleon’s armies carried aspects of the French Revolution throughout Europe, provoking a kind of “revolution without revolution” on the continent. Compared to the attempts of others to take over Europe, Napoleon’s can be seen as a fairly positive event in many ways. Napoleon and many French saw the Napoleonic Empire as a recreation of the once great and heavily romanticized Roman Empire, with Neoclassical French artists like Jacques-Louis David doing their best to associate France with glories of Imperial Rome. Napoleon also encouraged a monument-building campaign, constructing the Arc De Triomphe in the style of the Romans. From 1807-1811, other than the continued threat posed by Britain, Napoleon’s dream of a unified Europe appeared to be a distinct possibility.
