Some historical generals were untalented political appointments. Some were forgettable, or only good under the right conditions. Others were forces to be reckoned with. But some elite commanders will never be forgotten. You can debate who would get their faced chiseled into the stone of a Mount Rushmore of military geniuses. Maybe Hannibal. Maybe Alexander the Great. Maybe Julius Caesar. But there’s no debate that Napoleon Bonaparte would get a slot. This Corsican-born French emperor wasn’t just one of the most significant legal modernizers and reformers in history, but one of the greatest military masterminds of all time. It’s no wonder it took several decades, and almost as many coalitions of European rivals, to take him down. Let’s take a look at ten of the most important battles of the Napoleonic wars.
10. The Italian Campaign
After making a name for himself at the Siege of Toulon, a young artillery officer named Napoleon Bonaparte was promoted to Brigadier General and placed in charge of the French army in northern Italy, during the War of the First Coalition. It was an honor on paper, but this force was widely considered to be France’s weakest.
But with hard discipline, innovative tactics, and magnetic leadership, the young general quickly whipped his army into shape. His forces faced off against Austrian and Sardinian armies in a series of battles and campaigns. To everyone’s shock – the French Directory included – Napoleon dominated his foes and secured French dominance in northern Italy.
The humiliated Austrians signed the treaty of Campo Formio in October 1797, marking the end of the campaign. The political map of Europe was overhauled, and Napoleon’s successes in Italy propelled him to political prominence in France. After more victories in Egypt and a triumphant return home, he would soon find himself First Consul of France. Not long after, in 1804, he appointed himself Emperor of the French.
9. Battle of Austerlitz
Fought on December 2, 1805, Napoleon’s first major battle as Emperor of the French might just be his greatest. At Austerlitz, also known as the Battle of the Three Emperors, Napoleon’s Grande Armée fought against Russian and Austrian forces commanded by Tsar Alexander I and Holy Roman Emperor Francis II.
Napoleon lured the Allies into a trap by letting them seize high ground and deliberately weakening his right flank. Overconfident, the Allies marched forward to engage the French right. It was exactly what Napoleon wanted – he attacked their center and drove them off before swinging around and nearly encircling the troops engaged on his right.
It was a crushing victory for Napoleon that extended French influence deep into central Europe, shattered the British-financed Third Coalition, led to the dissolution of the Holy Roman Empire, which had lasted 1,000 years, and solidified his reputation as the preeminent military mind of his age.
8. Battle of Trafalgar
Fought off the southwestern Spanish coast on October 21, 1805, the Battle of Trafalgar was one of the Napoleonic War’s only major naval clashes. That was where Napoleon’s Franco-Spanish armada under Admiral Pierre-Charles Villeneuve was assembling for a planned invasion of Britain itself. But a British fleet, commanded by Admiral Horatio Nelson, made sure they never got there.
The French and Spanish arrayed themselves into a traditional line. Nelson, on the other hand, divided his fleet into two columns, charged at the enemy line perpendicularly, and broke through at multiple points. Although outnumbered, the British chopped the Franco-Spanish fleet into three parts and engaged them in detail.
Although Nelson himself was mortally wounded during the battle, the British fleet decisively defeated the enemy, capturing over 20 enemy ships and destroying several more for minimal losses. After Austerlitz, Napoleon was the undisputed master of continental Europe. But after Trafalgar, the British were unbeatable at sea. It was a dominating victory that established British naval dominance for nearly a century, until the First World War.
7. Battle of Jena-Auerstedt
Trafalgar aside, the War of the Third Coalition was a decisive French victory that saw Napoleon emerge as the military master of Europe. But British money was meant that a Fourth Coalition soon arose to stop the French. On October 14, 1806, Napoleon clashed with the Prussians at the battle of Jena-Auerstedt, in the Duchies of Saxony and Saxe-Weimar.
Despite being outnumbered, the French forces, numbering around 50,000, outflanked 80,000 Prussians on both sides. The Battle of Jena, fought primarily by the French under Napoleon, saw the Prussian forces overwhelmed and forced into a retreat. Meanwhile, at Auerstedt, Marshal Louis Davout led a smaller French corps against the main Prussian army. Despite being outnumbered, Davout’s disciplined troops fought managed to defeat the Prussians under Duke Charles William Ferdinand of Brunswick.
The defeat shattered the Prussian military and political structure, and Napoleon’s triumph opened the way for the French to occupy Berlin. The subsequent Treaty of Tilsit in 1807 resulted in a peace agreement between France and Russia. Napoleon remained dominant – but Britain wasn’t finished with him yet.
6. Battle of Wagram
Fought on July 5-6, 1809, near Vienna, Austria, was a pivotal engagement in the War of the Fifth Coalition that saw Napoleon’s French troops engaging an Austrian force under Archduke Charles. Notably, the battle took place on the same ground where the Battle of Austerlitz had occurred four years before.
The Battle of Wagram was one of the largest and bloodiest engagements of the Napoleonic Wars, involving hundreds of thousands of troops on both sides. Napoleon’s skillful use of artillery and coordinated infantry attacks, managed to break the Austrian lines after several setbacks and much bloodshed.
The consequences of the Battle of Wagram were far-reaching. The victory solidified Napoleon’s dominance in Europe and led to the Treaty of Schönbrunn in October 1809, in which Austria ceded significant territories to France. The defeat at Wagram also marked a turning point for Archduke Charles, who faced criticism for his leadership and later sought a ceasefire.
However, Napoleon struggled more here than he had in previous battles. It was an ominous sign for France: they had won numerous victories, but their enemies were learning. And they never stayed down for long.
5. The War in Spain
Napoleon’s Continental system demanded that the nations of Europe cut off all trade with his eternal enemy, Britain. But not everyone obeyed this directive. Soon, Napoleon’s armies were marching into Spain to force them into compliance. The French dominated every open battle and overthrew the Spanish government. Napoleon soon appointed his own brother, Josef, as king of Spain. But the Peninsular War was far from over.
Although the French found victory wherever they went, they couldn’t be everywhere at once, and were never able to pacify the Spanish countryside. French troops were regularly ambushed by irregular partisans who would soon be known by a brand new name – Guerilla (“little war”) fighters. In response, the French committed numerous atrocities and seized more ground. But they could never take it all. Eventually, the British landed an army under the Duke of Wellington to help the Spanish. Although they were eventually forced to retreat, they fought brilliantly, temporarily took back large parts of Spain, and gave Napoleon more trouble than he’d ever faced before. The French never fully subdued Spain, and the unending, unwinnable quagmire there is widely seen as the beginning of his downfall.
4. The Invasion of Russia
In 1812, Napoleon invaded Russia to punish them for ignoring his financial blockade of Britain. The Grande Armée at this time was titanic – numbering between 650,000 and 700,000 men. But those figures would dwindle rapidly. Knowing they couldn’t beat him in open battle, the Russians retreated across the endless steppe and employed scorched earth tactics to deny natural resources to the French.
By the time they did get their long-sought after open battle, the French numbered fewer than 150,000 men. They won the Battle of Borodino at great cost and captured Moscow shortly afterwards, but found the city empty and burning. Napoleon spent weeks awaiting a Russian surrender that never materialized. With winter rapidly approaching, he realized he had no choice but to run back the way he came. French casualties during this retreat skyrocketed due to freezing temperatures, starvation, disease, and endless Cossack raids. By the time the Grande Armée limped back into the Duchy of Warsaw, well under 100,000 men – half of them stragglers with no fight left in them – lived to tell the tale. The disaster shattered the myth of Napoleon’s invincibility.
3. Battle of Leipzig
Quagmire in Spain and a spectacular failure in Russia resulted in Napoleon’s grip on Europe weakening by 1813. Soon, with British financial backing, a Sixth Coalition arose to put France down for good. Napoleon had done expert damage control in Paris after the debacle in Russia, but was still only able to muster up 150,000 soldiers, many of which were inexperienced recruits. The Coalition, meanwhile, consisting of Austrian, Prussian, Russian, and Swedish troops, could call upon some 320,000 men.
After Napoleon failed to seize Berlin, he retreated across the Elbe to the west and was soon met with the allied force at Leipzig. The resulting Battle of the Nations was the largest ever fought in Europe before World War I. Napoleon’s men fought desperately, but with overwhelming enemy forces closing in from north, west, and south, he was forced to retreat through Leipzig itself. It was a catastrophic blow to Napoleon that forced him to realize he was no longer up against the buffoons he’d bested at Austerlitz 8 years earlier. His enemies had studied and implemented his tactics in the years since and were now able to go toe to toe with the greatest general in history – and win. But the French emperor wasn’t finished just yet.
2. Battle of Brienne
After Leipzig, armies of the Sixth Coalition descended on France itself. Napoleon had only 60,000 men to defend the whole country against this titanic force. But he was about to prove why he’s considered by many to be the greatest military mind in history. Since he was frequently up against alliances of enemies, one of Napoleon’s signature strategies was attacking his enemies one at a time, before they could unite against him.
On January 29, 1814, he did exactly that, one final time, at the battle of Brienne. Here, Napoleon’s forces faced a Russian army commanded by Prince Karl Schwarzenberg. Against huge odds, heavily outnumbered French forces prevailed. But it wasn’t enough – French defeats at the battles of La Rothière and Champaubert, among others, allowed coalition forces to continue their advance. Soon, Paris was besieged and Napoleon was forced to abdicate. Still, his ability to perform even as well as he did, while heavily outnumbered and commanding largely green troops, is nothing short of remarkable. It’s no wonder it took all of Europe multiple tries to bring him down.
1. Battle of Waterloo
Napoleon was exiled in 1814. But he returned in 1815 and, after convincing the soldiers sent to arrest him tondefect to their beloved former emperor, soon retook control of the country. A Seventh Coalition was formed to stop him. For the first time, it would be not just financed, but led, by the British. Specifically, Napoleon’s nemesis from the Peninsular War in Spain, Arthur Wellesley, the Duke of Wellington.
Napoleon sought to seize Brussels and planned to prevent Wellington’s international, British-led force from linking up with General Blucher’s Prussians. He was able to win some impressive but indecisive victories before clashing with Wellington near Waterloo, in modern day Belgium. In one of history’s most famous battles, the French tried multiple times to route British troops on the high ground before the Prussians could arrive. But after the failure of French cavalry to overcome infantry squares, and the defeat of the elite French Imperial guard, Blucher finally arrived on Napoleon’s right flank. Exhausted and outnumbered, the French fled the field. It was Napoleon’s last battle. He was forced to abdicate a second time and exiled permanently, 1,000 miles off the coast of Africa. The Napoleonic Wars were over. Pax Britannica – a near-century of British global hegemony, had begun.