Napoleons Farwell Address Speech Analysis -- essays research papers

Napoleons Farewell Address To The Old cautionA truly dramatic moment in history occurred on April 20, 1814, as Napoleon Bonaparte, Emperor of France and would-be ruler of Europe verbalize goodbye to the Old Guard after his failed invasion of Russia and defeat by the Allies.By that time, Napoleon had ruled France and surrounding countries for twenty years. Originally an officeholder in the French Army, he had risen to become Emperor among the political chaos following the French Revolution in which the old reigning French kings and nobility had been destroyed.Napoleon built a 500,000 strong Army, which utilize modern tactics and improvisation in battle to sweep across Europe and acquire an Empire for France.But in 1812, the seemingly unbeatable Napoleon made the fateful decision to invade Russia. He march on deep into that vast country, eventually reaching Moscow in September. He found Moscow had been burned by the Russians and could not support the peckish French Army over the long winter. Thus Napoleon was hale to begin a long retreat, and saw his army decimated to a continent 20,000 men by the severe Russian winter and chaos in the ranks.England, Austria, and Prussia then formed an alliance with Russia against Napoleon, who rebuilt his armies and won several minor victories over the Allies, but was soundly defeated in a three-day battle at Leipzig. On March 30, 1814, Paris was captured by the Allies. Napoleon then broken the support of most of his generals and was forced to abdicate on Apr...