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To assist with command and control of the infantry, each soldier would wear a colourful military uniform visible from a distance, even through the black-powder clouds hovering over the Napoleonic battlefields. Napoleon himself did not underestimate the importance of morale and said once that, "Moral force rather than numbers decides victory." [5]
Napoleon could win battles by concealing troop deployments and concentrating his forces on the "hinge" of an enemy's weakened front. If he could not use his favourite envelopment strategy, he would take up the central position and attack two cooperating forces at their hinge, swing round to fight one until it fled, then turn to face the other. [4]
Napoleon seized power in 1799, establishing a military dictatorship. [34] There are numerous opinions on the date to use as the formal beginning of the Napoleonic Wars; 18 May 1803 is often used, when Britain and France ended the only short period of peace between 1792 and 1814. [35]
Napoleon Bonaparte [b] (born Napoleone Buonaparte; [1] [c] 15 August 1769 – 5 May 1821), later known by his regnal name Napoleon I, was a French general and statesman who rose to prominence during the French Revolution and led a series of military campaigns across Europe during the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars from 1796 to 1815.
However, Napoleon was able to use such a risky plan because Davout—the commander of III Corps—was one of Napoleon's best marshals, because the right flank's position was protected by a complicated system of streams and lakes, [58] and because the French had already settled upon a secondary line of retreat through Brunn. [74]
Napoleon's army arrived in a virtually-abandoned Moscow, which was a tattered starving shell of its former self, largely because of scorched-earth tactics by the retreating Russians. Having conquered essentially nothing, Napoleon's troops retreated, but the scorched-earth policy came into effect again because even though some large supply dumps ...
The strategy of the central position (French: stratégie de la position centrale) [1] was a key tactical doctrine followed by Napoleon in the Napoleonic Wars. [2] It involved attacking two cooperating armies at their hinge, swinging around to fight one until it fled, then turning to face the other. The strategy allowed the use of a smaller ...
The military career of Napoleon spanned over 20 years. He led French armies in the French Revolutionary Wars and later, as emperor , in the Napoleonic Wars . Despite his rich war-winning record, Napoleon 's military career ended in defeat.