During the existence of the Napoleon's French Empire there emerged a couple of revolutionary war against the regime. These wars were perpetuated by organized coalitions that had the common ain of disbanding this French Empire. One of the reasons as to why these series of opposition wars became significant is because European nations at the time had began to develop their weapons using modern technology therefore resulting in massive and large scale destruction of the affected areas. After a long struggle between the Napoleon Empire and the opposing coalitions, there was growth of a nationalistic feeling between nations as they felt the urge to protect their identities and territorial integrity. This accounts for the nationalistic waves that were evident in nations like Germany and Italy between the late 18th Century and the early 19th Century. These wars, during the Post-Napoleonic period also helped countries strengthen their militarism thereby resulting in the creation of regional hegemony. For instance, as an influence of the series of wars during the Post-Napoleonic period, Great Britain embarked on increasing its military capabilities thereby becoming one of the strongest nations in the world. This paper intends to explore the wars during the Post Napoleonic period by explaining the cost of these war operations, the gains that arose from these wars, how time and money were controlled during the war, the percentage of budgetary finances that went to the wars, the outcomes of the series of wars during this period, the immediate causes of these wars, the political views of the people during these wars, the army sizes that went into the wars, the purpose of these wars, the forces that were behind these wars especially mercantilism and realist ideals, and the resources that were consumed by these wars, and the exemplification of moral actions and human nature, based on the concepts of Lockean liberalism, from the war. This paper also intends to explain the overall outcome of these wars as well as determine whether the actions of violence that resulted from these wars were worthwhile. In addition, this paper intends to support its facts using data, statistics and numbers in order to give detailed and thorough answers to these puzzling questions about the wars during the Post-Napoleonic period.
Franco- Austrian War
Focusing on cost of operation of the wars during the Post-Napoleonic period, the series of wars during the Post-Napoleonic period had an adverse effect to the economy of many European nations. For example in France itself, they were involved in a series of wars like the Franco-Austrian war and the Crimean war. During the Franco-Austrian war of 1858 the kingdom of Sardinia and the French empire were in coalition to fight against Austria. The French army had 130,000 soldiers, 2,000 horsemen and 312 guns they divided in five corps, Sardinia had 70,000 soldiers, 4,000 horsemen, and 90 guns and they also in five corps.
Contributory factors to France’s success in the Franco-Austrian War
The soldiers were transported by train with an average of 8421 men and 512 horses being transported daily. After a victory from France and Sardinia they had 4,444 casualties and another 18,000, on the other hand Austria lost 4,000 and another 20,000 men. The second war was the Crimean war of 1853 was between Russia and France which was a contest on the control of the territories. After the war 250,000 men lost their lives from each side.
FRANCE
SARDINIA
130,000 Soldiers
70,000 Soldiers
2,000 Horsemen
4,000 Horsemen
312 Guns
90 Guns
5 Corps
5 Corps
The French government created a strategy whereby the government would earn extra money to be able to fund the wars. This extra money accounted for about 60 percent of the total funds that went into the war. The most unappealing thing at this time is that their money had to come out of the pockets of taxpayers (Barnes 23). Conventionally, we do not expect that the general public to be very excited with government policies that aim at increasing the level of taxes that they pay. Therefore this was received with a lot of opposition. Since the French government did not borrow any money from its allies or other monetary organizations at the time, the greater strain was on the domestic industry in that their cost of operations increased due to the fact the government used these industries as a source of their revenue through high taxes. This resulted in a scenario whereby the level of innovation in the country and the opening of new industries within France decreased remarkably in that people would not agree to operate in an environment that did not create favourable conditions for profit. This constrains on the operations of the domestic industry also account for the reason as to why many private companies in France fell during the series wars that took place during the Post-Napoleonic period. In fact, between 17888-1792, the national spending of the private industry in France at the time fell from 83 percent to about 72 percent. The situation continued to be worse in the subsequent years in that between 1793 and 1812 the spending of the private sector fell in the same proportion to about 63 percent. This is an indication that the patterns of wars during the Post-Napoleonic period greatly affected the private sector thereby discouraging innovation and entrepreneurship within France at the time.
In addition, the government began to have more control of the economy by dominating the stock market exchange and creating more regulations for the operation of industries. This means that the French government at the time was determined to make sure that every dime that was made out of the economy was put in hands of the government so that the Napoleon Empire would have enough money to be able to buy weapons as well as pay for the man power provided by the soldiers that fought fiercely to defend the empire from opposing coalitions. Fig 1.1 shows the amount of taxes that was generated by the French government in its efforts to increase its funds for the series of wars during the Post-Napoleonic period. While Fig 1.2 shows the structure of the tax system and how it increase over the years.
Several wars took place in Europe during the 100 years of peace between 1814 and 1914 and alot of man power was used by the different empires. The battlefields were however not as bloody as those in the Napoleonic era. One of the wars was the Italian independence of 1848 between Austria and Sardinia. Where the Sardinian force had 120,000 troops after their defeat they paid an indemnity of 65 million francs to Austria. In 1866 there was the Austro-Prussian war (seven weeks war), Prussia had 250,000 men in the army who were transported by 5 railway lines in comparison to Austria which had 200,000 soldiers and they were transported by 1 railway line. The Schleswig war of 1864 was between the Germans and the Danish over the state of Schleswig. The Danish army had 38,000 men and they were divided into four while the German army had men from both Prussia and Austria. The Prussian army had 38,400 men, 110 guns, 29 squadrons and 37 battalions and the Austrian army had 23000men, 64 guns, 20 squadrons and 10 battalions
Looking at how money and time were spent during the wars that took place during the war, most of the money was used in the purchase of weapons for the war. At the time, European nations were experiencing a dire need for the advancement of their weapons in that most of the wars that they engaged in required large scale coverage. This means that the countries that were participating in the napoleon wars had to begin to incorporate modern technology into their fighting tactics as well as the weapons that they use. Therefore most the time during the war was used in the developing of new kind of weapons that were capable of fighting at wider range so that the countries would be able to handle large scale battles and at the same time create more injury and battles to their enemies so as to instil more deterrence. This is because when their opponent experienced large damages in given war, it was expensive to them in that they needed allot of resources and time to reconstruct.
This means that they would be more fearful of attacking again in the future in that they are assured of destruction in case they provoke their opponents. Most of the money went into weapon development programs. In addition, the money generated from the taxation of their domestic populations as well as the domestic industries through taxation was also used in the expansion of the armies in that larger armies assured the fighting nations that they could be able to persevere more in the war in that even though they lost a couple of soldiers they still had an adequate number of men who would still go to the battlefield to fight for the interests of the opposing parties during the war. In addition time and money was also spent in increasing security within the territorial boundaries of the warring parties. This is because it was worthwhile to make sure that the civilian population was protected so that the economy of the countries at war would remain vibrant at growing. In order to be assured of security within their borders, warring parties engaged in programs of training their military meaning that a wave a of militarism dominated Europe during the Napoleon wars in that every player with the series of wars had to make sure that they were strong enough not to be destroyed by their opponents. This meant that every country that participated in this war had to respond to a strategy employed by their opponents even though the strategy was indirect. This accounted for the arms race in Europe at this time as well as the growth of suspicion between various nations.
Focusing on the gains those nations obtained from the series of wars during the post-Napoleonic period, it is clear that nations were able to gain a sense of unity. Initially, most nations were controlled by the upper class that owned property and dominated the political structure within their respective territories. However, after the series of wars during the post-Napoleonic period arose, the upper class men within different territories felt that there was a great need to co-apt the middle class and the poor into the social and political sphere. This is because they needed everybody in the respective countries to have one identity and fight for the common interest of their nations. To be able to accomplish this, the middleclass and the poor had to be incorporated in the system so that they could feel as being part of the society. One of the ways that the poor and the middle class were allowed to participate in matters facing the society is by being allowed to vote access education as well as obtain military training. In fact military training helped the poor to be able to improve their standards of living in that they received pay for being combatants in the army. Education on the other hand allowed the poor to be able to compete favourably with the rich in the job market as well as occupy political offices. This meant that the needs of the poor and the middle class were met and addressed therefore bonding nations as one people.
Secondly, different governments were able to gain both domestic and international legitimacy. This is because the unification of populations within different territories allowed them to exercise their democratic rights like voting. This meant that the governments that came to power during the Post-Napoleonic period were governments that had the assent of the people and exhibited popular sovereignty. This meant that there were increased incidences of democratic accountability in that the government officials that came to power at this time had to make decision both about the war and on development issues based on the preference of their voters. Failure to adhere to these conventions meant that they would not be elected to power in subsequent elections.
The third important thing that was gained in the war was that nations were able to acquire resources. This is because the nations that had military might were able to forcefully amass wealth from weaker nations that lack sound security measures or nations that lacked stable authorities to both protect their populations and the resources that were within their territories.
The fourth important thing that was gained from the series of wars during the post-Napoleonic period was military expertise and experience. Nations like Austria and Great Britain that participated in many of these wars were able to acquire a lot of experience within their armies. This is the reason as why Great Britain became one of the strongest powers within Europe after these wars in that their military was experienced and also due to the fact that Great Britain had engaged in the construction of better weapons that would put them in a better place in case they went into war with other nations.
The fifth important thing that was gained from the series of wars during the post-Napoleonic period is that there was formation of alliances. Most of these alliances remained even after the wars were over. Members of these alliances continued to interact in other ways. Some of the ways that they interacted included trade. Having economic ties meant that poor nations that went into alliances with nations that had a stronger economic base were able to benefit from the nations in that the nations had foreign investments in their countries thereby providing employment opportunities to their domestic populations. Trading also meant that there was also an increased availability of goods and services that were initially not available within poor nations.
Shifting gears to the causes of the series of wars during the Post-Napoleonic period, nations in Europe at the time were not appeased by the strength of the French Napoleon Empire. Nations began to feel threatened by the military might and ability of this empire. Therefore, they had to devise ways in which they would dissolve the influence of the Napoleon Empire. One of the ways that they could accomplish this was through making coalition with other ally nations so that they could form one mighty force that could be able to insert a great pressure on the empire leading to its disintegration. This was a sound strategy in that even the efforts of nations within Europe that had weak economic basis would be appreciated and acknowledged within these coalitions thereby making these weaker nations to rest under the shadows of their allies who enjoyed a stronger economic and military base. Secondly, there was the growth of a nationalistic wave within Europe. Individual countries felt that it was time that they began to gain their identities. In order to accomplish this, nations began to strengthen their economies by making sure that they held as much resources as possible within their territories and immersed as much as possible from the external world (Daly 371).This created a very hostile relationship between different nations in Europe in that nations were driven by their own selfish economic needs at the expense of each other. As the economic power struggle continued some nations began to infringe the rights of other territories by using any means possible to acquire resources from other territories. Among the ways that were used to gain wealth was militarism. Nations driven by their nationalistic interests and the hunger for more wealth began to use force to get into territories that did not belong to them. Clearly there is no single state, as a unitary actor, would agree to the idea of the interference of external actors in domestic affairs. Nations that experienced attacks responded by strengthening their militaries and fighting back. The French Napoleon Empire was one of the territories that used any possible strategy to acquire more wealth. Since the empire was strong, individual territories within Europe were not able to attack the Empire on their own. This is the reasons to why they invited their allies to fight the Napoleon Empire as a common enemy. The third major cause of the wars during the Post-Napoleonic period was that some nations within Europe felt that they needed to become regional hegemony within the region so that they would control commerce within the region, politics, as well as have a lot of influence in the European society.
Moving to the political views of the people during the series of wars during the Post-Napoleonic period, many people were driven by a realist view of wanting to keep competing with other nations so that the stronger nations would continue to gain. The general public played a great role in pressuring their governments to continue fighting in that to most of the people within nations that enjoyed stronger military and economy, it was a prestige to them to exercise their capabilities and show the external world that they had the ability to fight back in case they were attacked. The general public was also motivated by the fact that that he series of wars during the post-Napoleonic period helped some of their nations generate more wealth in that they were able to gain access to resources from other nations either through allying themselves to nations that has some specific resources or conquering weaker nations and obtaining resources from those nations using force. On the other politics in weaker nations in terms of the economy and military took a totally different stand. The general public highly opposed the move by their governments to participate in war in that it meant that the little money that they had left within their budgets was directed towards war operations. This meant that other sectors of the economy did not grow due to the fact that the money that would have gone to these areas was all used for military purposes. In addition, political views and support of the series of wars during the post-Napoleonic period was not supportive of the idea of participating in the war in that when the economies of the poorer countries begin to decline both due to the damages inflicted on them by the war and by the fact that funds were being pumped into the war, the public were responsible for bringing the money that was spent in the way back to the economy through the payment of high levels of taxes.
Bearing in mind that the general public was already straining due to the poor standards of living in the countries at the time, charging more taxes on the public meant that the public would suffer more for the mere reason that their countries wanted to participate in the war. Therefore, there were mixed political views depending on the nations' economic standards. Countries that had stronger economies had a public that exhibited political views that were supportive of the napoleon wars while countries that had ailing economies did not receive back up from the political views of their own populations.
Focussing on the army sizes that were used in the series of wars during the post-Napoleonic period, the Napoleon French Empire had about 800,000 men soldiers in late 18th century. This army size was more than five times bigger compared to about 171,000 men that formed the opposing coalition that was against the Napoleon Empire at about 1790 (McNab 32). This meant that the Napoleon French Empire already had a strong military that could not be handled by any of the opposing powers on their own. This army size was the reason as to why nations continued to ally themselves with other nations so as to increase their infantry in that it was clear that if they faced the Napoleon French Empire on their own they would be assured of a total loss. In addition, the big army size of the napoleon French Empire was a motivator for this empire to continue conquering other nations in that the empire felt that due to its military strengthen it would control all the other nations. In addition, it is important to note that the Napoleon French Empire also had allies. This mean that their military strength continued to increase compared to other nations that were against the existence of the empire.
Moving to the purpose of the series of wars during the post-Napoleonic period, the main purpose of the war was to create national identities within Europe. This because countries felt that it was the high time that they began to become influential with the Europe society. Among the ways that nationalism is manifested is by making sure that every single member of a given nation is politically and economically empowered so that they can all participate for the common good of the nation as a whole. The support of the Napoleon wars by the members of the public was a clear indication that the general public was prepared to work as one people for the pride and benefit of their national territories. The second main purpose of the series of wars during the post-Napoleonic wars was that some nations felt that they were already stronger compared to other nations within Europe. Their purpose in participation of the napoleon wars was to make sure that the shape their position and reputation in Europe. The more contribution that they offered in the war means that they would become more influential within Europe as well as feared by smaller nation. These nations also wanted to control the flow of goods and services with other territories (Case 451). Their purpose was therefore to be in a position to control resources that were initially in the control of other territories. This would mean that they would be able to shape activities like trade in a way that it worked for their own benefit as well as manipulate the trade system so that the territories that they conquer earn as little as possible from the whole control process. In addition, the control of trade within other territories meant that stronger nations would be able to get raw material easily and also obtain a ready market for their goods in that the consumers within the territories that the conquered would be forced to consume foreign goods in that domestic industries were in the control of foreigners who made sure they either did not work or they were not as competitive as the goods that were produced from foreigners.
The fourth purpose of the napoleon wars was to dissolve the monopoly of economic strength from individual nations. This is because many European nations felt that the presence of a centralized power that controlled much of the activity was not healthy for the development of other nations. They therefore felt that it was necessary for nations to make sure that this power was devolved across the continent by uniting together to break down the power that was harnessed within the French Napoleon Empire.
Focusing on the forces that shaped the napoleon wars, both mercantilism and realism played a great role in encouraging the continuity of the war. First of all, it was due to mercantilism that nations felt that they had to get their own identity so that they could make sure that they retained as much wealth within their territories as possible. According to Mercantilism the nation was supposed to be the key player to the economic success of any particular nation and not an individual. This is the reason as to why nations fought fiercely to make sure that they amassed as much wealth as possible from the external world (Grab 23). However, nations cannot stand and watch as their own resources are taken from them by other territories. This is the reason as to why they had to fight back thereby causing a series of wars to continue breaking among nations.
On the other hand, nations were also driven by their own selfish interest. This is where realism comes in that nations felt that there was need to compete for resources in that every nation had the aim of outshining their counterparts. When nations begin to compete instead of corporate, there is a threat to security. Nations started to become suspicious of each other and in the long-run battles between nations began to emerge (Fisher 69). Therefore, both realism and mercantilism played a great role in causing the series of wars during the post-Napoleonic period.
Shifting gears to the resources that were consumed during the war, oil is one of the major resources that were used in running war weapons in that cars had to consume petroleum during the war operations. In addition, some explosives also required oil for them to successively work during the war. This means that oil as a resource was consumed in large quantities at the time. Another resource that was consumed was metals especially steel (Rothenberg 46). This is because many of the firearms that were used during the war were made of metal and therefore more metal minerals were mined in order to make more weapons.
The series of wars during the post-Napoleonic period also exemplified ideas about human nature the concepts of Lockean Liberalism. John Locke pointed out that individuals have the capability of instituting change through their ability to reason. The series of wars during the post-Napoleonic period shows that humans in different territories fought for the interests of their nations in order change the system in a way that their freedom was respected. These series of war were aimed at disbanding the presence of a single central authority that controlled the prosperity and freedom of the individual and putting into place a system that respected not only the sovereignty of nations but also provided satisfaction at the Individual level.
In conclusion, the overall outcome of the war was that the economy of many nations declined since many nations had directly their money towards the wars thereby depleting their economic reserves. Secondly, there was massive loss of property and lives in that the nations at war hurt their opponents by making sure that they inflicted as much destruction and pain as possible. There was the formation of new alliances between nations as a result of the war. Finally, the series of wars made some nations within Europe to be declared more powerful than others for example Great Britain become one of the powerful powers. Due to these effects, it would be important to say that the series of wars during the post-Napoleonic period was not worthwhile in that many nations lost instead of gaining and it affected the political and economic stability of many nations in Europe.
The main objective of fighting in both wars was to rule over the other countries a state known as imperialism. The life expectancy of the people during this period was different. In Britain the population was blooming during this period although a number of the people migrated to other countries like America and Australia due to poor living conditions. Generally in Europe in the 19th century a person lived for an average of 40 years. During the hundred years of peace an industrial revolution broke and the cities grew popular, with an average person working for 70% of the time. There were different cities those with textile industries, those with heavy industries and administrative cities.
During the different wars several factors led to the victory like during the Crimean war as much as it was poorly planned there was development seen as they used telegraphs, railway lines and improved medical facilities. During this period there was the emergence of nurses like Florence nightingale who took care of the wounded soldiers. The Crimean war was the first modernised war to take place. The rest that took place after 1856 took lead from this one. The number of weapons used varied from war to war. In the franco-austrian war there were 312 guns from France and 90 guns from Sardinia. The Schleswig war there was 110 guns, 37 battalions from Denmark and 64 guns, 20 battalions from Austria. As the war went down the years a lot of notable changes were seen in the war systems as technology improved. There was the use of guns and the railways and the telegraph (Kyun 105).
The battles ended differently some due to defeat others as a result of signing of peace treaties. The Franco-Austrian war of 1858 ended after heavy fighting but the French army secured a victory after the Austrian army withdrew. The austro-prussian war ended with victory for Prussia as the Prussian army was more modernized compared to the Austrian army. The Crimean war at the end of it all the Russians lost after Austria threatened to join the alliance. They accepted defeat and signed a peace treaty on February 1st 1856. The Schleswig war in 1864 ended after Denmark lost and Prussia and Austria took over the administration of Schleswig and Holstein respectively. The Italian independence of 1848 was between Austria and the Sardinian empire ended after a peace treaty was signed in 1849 august and the Piedmont-Sardinia paid an indemnity of 65 million francs to Austria.
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