Napoleon
What do the campaigns, beginning with the invasion of Russia and ending with the Battle of Leipzig indicate about the strengths and weaknesses of Napoleon as a military commander?The assessments made on Napoleons career have been varied, but few historians would deny that he raised the art of warfare to new heights. That he was able to do so depended on the fact that he could draw upon the progress made in the French royal army of the ancien regime. Napoleon had many strengths as a military commander but seems to have had just as many weaknesses.A great strength of Napoleons was to use new advancements in technology; he realized the potential of new weaponry and was quick to apply these new innovations and gain considerable superiority over his enemies such as on the 7th of September 1812 near he village of Borodino just west of Moscow where after a day long battle Napoleon won victory after a prolonged artillery duel. His strength in using new artillery in significant numbers enabled him to gain such a victory.Napoleon also employed heavy cavalry in shock formations, while the light cavalry was designed to engage in reconnaissance and pursuit of a fleeing enemy. Although Napoleon often used thes
Although some historians take this view of Napoleons inability to further develop his army, there is the opposing argument that one man can only move forward he development of warfare so much. Napoleons ability to move rapidly was catching up with him and his desire for domination meant that the quality of troops was deteriorating as the constant campaigning meant that very little time could be devoted to training them in marching and rapid manoeuvring. Napoleon's enemies learned to imitate his methods, as they too developed mobile tactics and mixed columns, kept their supply trains closer behind closer behind their armies, and introduced massed artillery batteries and flexible cavalry tactics. e tactics to great effect, Napoleon had a weakness in decisive action, this is shown best at the Battle of Leipzig 1813, there was a fatal period of hesitation in deploying his tactics before the French army set out to destroy Schwarzenberg's forces prior to the arrival of the other two armies. Even so, above all Napoleons enemies learned to pin him down in battles, where their combined superior manpower would eventually prove too much for the French. It was Napoleons ability to use these infantry tactics at appropriate times, which gave him a strength and advantage over opposition commanders, such as his early successes in Russia. This also restricted his marshals in decision making as on the spot decisions could not be made as Napoleons approval was necessary, this often led to indecisive action and the delay of important tactical decisions needing to be made at the appropriate time. Line formation, however, was never abandoned, and Napoleon became adept at the use of 'mixed order' a combination of line and column as circumstances dictated. But as argued by historians it contained many weaknesses. Firstly, it depended upon a high degree of personal control by Napoleon himself. Napoleon developed further the new French infantry tactics that dated back to the ancien regime. Napoleonic warfare depended upon a constant flow of trained conscripts, but this flow began to dry up. Rather than the traditional line formation, two or three ranks of musketeers firing continuous volleys, there was increasing use by the revolutionary armies of massed columns, relying on he bayonet rather than the musket, to charge the enemy. Although Napoleon often seemed to have cases of indecisive action his strengths could often aid him in avoiding defeat. Davout under Napoleon prevented the junction taking place at Vitebsk and the two Russian commanders were only able to unite their forces at Smolensk, a mere 450 kilometers west of Moscow.
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