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Napoleon's Downfall Analysis

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Napoleon's Downfall Analysis
“The consistent opposition of Britain was the main cause of Napoleon’s downfall.” How far do you agree?
INTRO
PARA 1: Britain’s consistent and continuing opposition towards Napoleon was certainly a major cause, in the long-term, for his downfall. Britain had been an enemy of France since the brief period of peace caused by the Treaty of Amiens collapsed, in 1803, and continued to oppose Napoleon until 1814, the end of his reign. The British Navy was far superior to that of the French, as while Napoleon was a brilliant leader of the army, he knew little of ships or the sea, and so was rather incompetent as the head of the French navy.
The Battle of Trafalgar – shows British naval supremacy
Continental Blockade – brought about the wars with Spain etc. and was put in place in order to limit British power, Napoleon’s obsession with beating/conquering/being better than Britain
Defeat at Waterloo – marked the end of the Napoleonic era (short-term cause, so Britain was major influence long-term and short-term)
Napoleon’s lack of naval power meant that Britain never felt
…show more content…
He found it difficult to be innovative and inventive in warfare, and was not receptive to new ideas or strategies. Over his tenure as leader of the army, he also failed to introduce new training methods, and often made judgement errors, including underestimating the amount of supplies that would be needed. Napoleon also found it difficult to accept advice from others who knew better, and often failed to inform his senior officers of what he was planning to do on campaign, and insisted on maintaining all of the power, so they weren’t able to make any of the decisions. In his earlier campaigns, this had been less of an issue, as his armies were often small, but when leading armies of hundreds of thousands of men it was almost impossible for him to maintain control over the entirety of the decisions that needed to be

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