The Big Picture
France and England have a long history of conflict and rivalry, with clashes spanning centuries. England’s naval prowess and status as a powerful colonial empire made it impossible for Napoleon to conquer the country. Napoleon attempted to defeat England through economic warfare, but the Continental Blockade ultimately failed and England weathered out the Napoleonic era.
Napoleon may not get everything right about history, but it makes one thing very clear: the French conqueror was one hell of a strategist and military leader. Throughout the whole movie, we see Napoleon Bonaparte (Joaquin Phoenix) bend Europe to his will using war and diplomacy and even plant the seeds of European integration while he’s at it. But we’re talking about continental Europe, of course, because there’s one country he couldn’t subdue: England. That was the biggest thorn in Napoleon’s side, the one he couldn’t get rid of, and that ultimately sealed his fate not only at the Battle of Waterloo but in previous battles as well. What was behind this animosity between him and the English, though? And why couldn’t Napoleon, one of history’s greatest conquerors, never come close to conquering England?
Napoleon
An epic that details the checkered rise and fall of French Emperor Napoleon Bonaparte and his relentless journey to power through the prism of his addictive, volatile relationship with his wife, Josephine.
Release Date November 22, 2023
Director Ridley Scott
Cast Joaquin Phoenix, Vanessa Kirby, Ben Miles, Ludivine Sagnier
Rating R
Runtime 157
Main Genre Biopic
Genres Biopic, Drama
France’s Rivalry With England Began Centuries Before Napoleon Showed Up
Nowadays, England and France are both political allies and have been such for well over a century, but this hasn’t always been the case, as they have a history of conflict that goes many centuries back. In many countries around the world (especially those that were once European colonies), the formation of those two nations is taught at school as the genesis of the concept of a nation-state, because they’re two of the oldest of the sort in Europe. With only the English Channel separating them, their ambitions eventually became too big, leading to centuries of clashes.
In the second half of the 18th century, France did aid the fledgling American Revolution, but, overall, their relations with England could’ve been more tense. They were both monarchies who saw the benefit of trade, and wars weren’t good for business, at least not if they happened in Europe. That changed when the French Revolution began, leading to almost a decade of domestic turmoil in France, but, most importantly, it completely changed the political and social structures of the country. They now claimed to be a Republic and were beheading their royals and nobles, and changing the way of life with the liberal values of “liberty, equality, and fraternity” between people. Citizens who came from the lower classes could now climb the social ladder – as Napoleon did himself.
For England and most of Europe, this couldn’t be allowed to continue, as it posed a threat to those countries’ monarchies and stability. So England, Austria, and Russia – the three most powerful countries in Europe at the time – formed a coalition against France. Fueled by their own liberal and revolutionary ideals and the seeds of nationalism, France won the War of the First Coalition and the Second Coalition, which took place amid the ongoing turmoil of their revolutionary process. When Napoleon rose to power, those European nations became even more worried, because now France had proper military leadership, one that was opposed to everything they stood for.
England’s Domain of the Seas Was Napoleon’s Greatest Weakness
In Ridley Scott’s movie, Napoleon angrily confronts the English ambassador to France after his coronation and says: “You think you’re so great because you have boats!” As childish as this point of view may seem when put like that, it’s still true about what made England his worst nightmare. The one thing England was unbeatable at was naval prowess. Also, the fact that the country is an island prevented Napoleon from simply marching over it and seizing control – the French navy would have to cross the English Channel, heavily monitored by the English navy.
In 1805, the War of the Third Coalition broke out, and Napoleon had already consolidated his Grande Armée (the French army) as Europe’s greatest military force, but France’s naval capabilities were nowhere near England’s. His plan, then, was to try and secure the English Channel to allow for a ground invasion of Britain. By October, the French navy amassed a large fleet in the Mediterranean Sea with that goal in mind. On the English side, Lord Horatio Nelson, who led the English fleet in the Mediterranean, found this French fleet (strengthened also by the Spanish fleet) close to the Gibraltar Strait, in a region called Cape Trafalgar, and battle immediately followed. Even outnumbered, Nelson’s fleet won the Battle of Trafalgar at the cost of his life. It was a crucial win for England, who even named one of London’s most famous and important landmarks after it, and Nelson became a national hero.
The French defeat at Trafalgar finally made Napoleon realize that France would never be able to overcome England’s supremacy in the seas. They could fight battles and invade other nations rather easily on land, but never on the water. As a colonial empire, France did have a powerful navy, but not powerful enough. England, on the other hand, had its status as the most powerful navy in the world confirmed once again, which they’d hold until Germany introduced submarines in World War I. So Napoleon was right: they did think they were great because of their boats.
After Trafalgar, Napoleon Tried To Beat England Through Economic Warfare
Image via Apple TV+
Studying Napoleon’s history, it’s easy to conclude he must have been a highly ambitious man. So much so, that he didn’t let the defeat at Trafalgar bring him down and, a few years later, he devised another plan to strike England. If their navy was the key to their global colonial empire, if no one could trade with them, this would lead to the collapse of their economy. That’s the reasoning behind the Continental Blockade (or Continental System), a plan that sought to isolate England both politically and economically: France forbade any European country to trade and maintain alliances with England under penalty of invasion. France couldn’t have the world’s finest navy, but it still had the Grande Armée and a genius tactician as its leader.
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This sort of plan is difficult to enforce, as it requires being able to fight on multiple fronts at once in case more than one country defied the Blockade. In the long run, it was bound to wear out France’s military might. Most notably, three countries defied Napoleon’s decree. First, in the Iberic Peninsula, both Portugal and Spain did it. Portugal had a treaty of mutual assistance with England and, to avoid a French invasion and maintain its sovereignty, transferred the court to Rio de Janeiro in 1808 with the help of Arthur Wellesley before he became Duke of Wellington (Rupert Everett) and defeated Napoleon at the Battle of Waterloo – those events would eventually culminate with Brazilian independence from Portugal in 1822. Also in 1808, Napoleon deposed the king of Spain and replaced him with his brother Joseph for the same reason.
Eventually, though, not having such a rich trade partner as England started to economically choke most European countries. In 1810, Russia withdrew from the Continental Blockade because of this. As promised, Napoleon invaded the country in 1812 as depicted in Ridley Scott’s movie, but, for all its might, the Grande Armée wasn’t ready to spend winter in Russia after being drawn inland by the Russians’ scorched earth tactics.
England Weathered Out the Napoleonic Era and Eventually Sealed Napoleon’s Fate
Napoleon reigned for just short of a decade, and all of this time he had England in his sights. Being the strategic thinker he was, he knew that was his most dangerous enemy, but the way he dealt with this issue proved that, for all his military genius, he was actually a rather poor diplomat and political strategist. In military terms, isolating an enemy eventually brings them to their knees because of a lack of supplies, but, when dealing with an international political system, this logic doesn’t necessarily apply.
In England’s case, the logic was the opposite, really, as they provided a lot to their European partners thanks to their navy’s worldwide trade. When England found itself forbidden to trade with European countries, it merely shifted its focus to the Americas, mostly, and to Asia. It did feel the effects of the Continental Blockade, of course, but it was much worse for the European countries who couldn’t trade with England, rather than the other way around. The country also led multiple coalitions against France and failed in every one of them, and eventually succeeded by defending itself when necessary and weathering out the Napoleonic storm rather than facing it head-on. Napoleon, on the other hand, burned out and ended up having to spend his final years under English surveillance in St. Helena.
Napoleon is now playing in theaters.
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