Key revision notes for unit 1.1, 'generalship and its impact', from the OCR History course 'The Changing Nature of Warfare '. These notes helped me achieve an A* in A level History.
Generals factfile
Key elements of generalship/roles of a general (these changed in importance as war evolved)
Inspiration of troops
Strategy
Tactics
Management + application of resources
Developing and correctly applying new technology
Planning operations
Organising and reforming structure of armies
1. Napoleon Bonaparte
War(s): French Revolutionary Wars, Napoleonic Wars
Key aspects: Inspirational, tactician, reformer
Inspirational
‘Napoleonic myth’
o cultivated an image of invincibility + trust in the leader
o Major motivating element for French troops
o Personal impact on morale
Developed the style of knowing his men
o ‘Le petit caporal’
o Encouraged them to fight harder for their general – go the extra mile
Commanded loyalty among his troops
Personal involvement in battle
o Siege of Toulon 1793: horse shot out from beneath him, bayoneted
in the thigh by a British soldier
o Battle of Lodi 1796: personally directs the guns. Inspired senior
commanders to cross the bridge under fire
o Battle of Arcola 1796: Bonaparte grabs a flag and stands in open fire
to inspire his men at the assault over the Arcola bridge
Tactician
‘Eye for the battlefield’
Expert use of manoeuvre to defeat his enemies
o Battle of Ulm 1805: defeated Austrians more by manoeuvre than large-scale fighting
Use of surprise and deception
o 1800: crossed the Alps to face the Austrians in Italy – achieved total surprise by coming from an
unexpected direction
‘Central position’ tactics
o Split the enemy, prevent them from joining forces – concentrate on the centre of widely deployed enemy
forces
o Battle of Rivoli 1797: Austrians converging on Napoleon from several different directions. Did not allow
them to join together into one army – kept them separate and picked them off (23,000 French vs. 28,000
Austrians)
o Battle of Austerlitz 1805: Napoleon defeats a numerically superior Allied force (Austrians and Russians).
Withdrew from the high ground, feigning disorder and retreat. By keeping his right flank weak, tricked
the Allies into attacking it. As they advanced, they weakened their centre – Napoleon attacked the centre
and it collapsed
, Manoeuvre-sur-les-derrieres
o Outflank the enemy, move into its rear, and sever its lines of communication
o Facilitated by foraging, light logistical requirements, & relying on speed
o Battle of Marengo 1800: Napoleon nearly caught out; face to face with an Austrian army he
thought was retreating. Pleads for reinforcements – these come from a direction which
threatens Austrian lines of communication
Reformer
Italian campaign: inherited a dispirited, neglected, poorly equipped army & turned it into a victorious
fighting force
o Stiffened discipline
o Better administration
o Raised morale
Implemented Corps system (1805)
o Broke the army down into self-sustaining corps of roughly: 30,000 men, 1 cavalry brigade, 46
canon
o Each corps had the ability to fight on its own – but was designed to combine with other corps &
attack the enemy from a variety of directions
o Each corps could live off the land (forage) by being dispersed across a wide area = entire large
army could be easily sustained. Light logistical requirements enabled French army to move with
speed and outmanoeuvre the enemy
Battle of Jena-Auerstedt 1806
o Twin battles of Jena and Auerstedt prove success of corps system
o Napoleon achieves decisive victory at Jena but miscalculates and engages with only half the
Prussian army
o Corps system enabled Davout’s corps to defeat a larger but less flexible Prussian force at
Auerstedt
Battle of Ulm (+ Austerlitz), Oct-Dec 1805
o Battle of Ulm highlighted importance of speed and mobility brought by corps system
o Ulm Campaign: 200,000 men marched 500 miles in 40 days
o Dispersed corps came together to outmanoeuvre and encircle General Mack’s Austrians,
capturing 27,000 – “I have destroyed the Austrian army by simply marching”.
o Corps separated and then reassembled at Austerlitz in December, defeating Russian-Austrian
alliance
Evaluating Napoleon’s generalship
Napoleon’s success often depended on the weakness of his opposition
o The coalitions were weak and internally divided
o Enemy armies had not been modernised like the French – no system of meritocracy (= older and less skilled
commanders)
o The enemies he fought were slow and less flexible
o The coalitions were poorly co-ordinated (e.g Prussia declared war against Napoleon independently in
1806), while his unified command gave him an advantage
Napoleon was less successful when the Coalition powers improved
o It became harder for him to win so decisively when enemy generals were able to reorganise and
restructure their forces
o He was less successful when his own tactics were copied and used against him
o When Coalition powers began to work together rather than facing the French in isolation, they were able to
defeat him – Battle of Leipzig 1813
Napoleon’s generalship = limited later on in the Napoleonic Wars
o Later campaigns saw improved enemy forces, larger numbers, heavier casualties, greater understanding of
his tactics
o 1812 Russian campaign depended on logistics and supply more than outflanking + tactical skills
o By 1812 he headed a multinational force – meant intimacy and ‘personal touch’ was lost compared to
previous armies of largely French origin
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