1.
Kingdom of France
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The Kingdom of France was a medieval and early modern monarchy in Western Europe. It was one of the most powerful states in Europe and a great power since the Late Middle Ages and it was also an early colonial power, with possessions around the world. France originated as West Francia, the half of the Carolingian Empire. A branch of the Carolingian dynasty continued to rule until 987, the territory remained known as Francia and its ruler as rex Francorum well into the High Middle Ages. The first king calling himself Roi de France was Philip II, France continued to be ruled by the Capetians and their cadet lines—the Valois and Bourbon—until the monarchy was overthrown in 1792 during the French Revolution. France in the Middle Ages was a de-centralised, feudal monarchy, in Brittany and Catalonia the authority of the French king was barely felt. Lorraine and Provence were states of the Holy Roman Empire and not yet a part of France, during the Late Middle Ages, the Kings of England laid claim to the French throne, resulting in a series of conflicts known as the Hundred Years War. Subsequently, France sought to extend its influence into Italy, but was defeated by Spain in the ensuing Italian Wars, religiously France became divided between the Catholic majority and a Protestant minority, the Huguenots, which led to a series of civil wars, the Wars of Religion. France laid claim to large stretches of North America, known collectively as New France, Wars with Great Britain led to the loss of much of this territory by 1763. French intervention in the American Revolutionary War helped secure the independence of the new United States of America, the Kingdom of France adopted a written constitution in 1791, but the Kingdom was abolished a year later and replaced with the First French Republic. The monarchy was restored by the great powers in 1814. During the later years of the elderly Charlemagnes rule, the Vikings made advances along the northern and western perimeters of the Kingdom of the Franks, after Charlemagnes death in 814 his heirs were incapable of maintaining political unity and the empire began to crumble. The Treaty of Verdun of 843 divided the Carolingian Empire into three parts, with Charles the Bald ruling over West Francia, the nucleus of what would develop into the kingdom of France. Viking advances were allowed to increase, and their dreaded longboats were sailing up the Loire and Seine rivers and other waterways, wreaking havoc. During the reign of Charles the Simple, Normans under Rollo from Norway, were settled in an area on either side of the River Seine, downstream from Paris, that was to become Normandy. With its offshoots, the houses of Valois and Bourbon, it was to rule France for more than 800 years. Henry II inherited the Duchy of Normandy and the County of Anjou, and married Frances newly divorced ex-queen, Eleanor of Aquitaine, after the French victory at the Battle of Bouvines in 1214, the English monarchs maintained power only in southwestern Duchy of Guyenne. The death of Charles IV of France in 1328 without male heirs ended the main Capetian line, under Salic law the crown could not pass through a woman, so the throne passed to Philip VI, son of Charles of Valois
2.
Austrian Empire
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The Austrian Empire was an empire in Central Europe created out of the realms of the Habsburgs by proclamation in 1804. It was an empire and one of Europes great powers. Geographically it was the second largest country in Europe after the Russian Empire and it was also the third most populous after Russia and France, as well as the largest and strongest country in the German Confederation. Proclaimed in response to the First French Empire, it overlapped with the Holy Roman Empire until the dissolution in 1806. The Ausgleich of 1867 elevated Hungarys status and it became a separate entity from the Empire entirely, joining with it in the dual monarchy of Austria-Hungary. Changes shaping the nature of the Holy Roman Empire took place during conferences in Rastatt, on 24 March 1803, the Imperial Recess was declared, which reduced the number of ecclesiastical states from 81 to only 3 and the free imperial cities from 51 to 6. This measure was aimed at replacing the old constitution of the Holy Roman Empire, taking this significant change into consideration, the German Emperor Francis II created the title Emperor of Austria, for himself and his successors. In 1804 the Holy Roman Emperor Francis II, who was ruler of the lands of the Habsburg Monarchy, founded the Empire of Austria. In doing so he created a formal overarching structure for the Habsburg Monarchy, to safeguard his dynastys imperial status he adopted the additional hereditary title of Emperor of Austria. Hungarys affairs remained administered by its own institutions as they had been beforehand, thus under the new arrangements no Imperial institutions were involved in its internal government. The fall and dissolution of the Holy Roman Empire was accelerated by French intervention in the Empire in September 1805, on 20 October 1805, an Austrian army led by general Karl Mack von Leiberich was defeated by French armies near the town of Ulm. The French victory resulted in the capture of 20,000 Austrian soldiers, Napoleons army won another victory at Austerlitz on 2 December 1805. Francis was forced into negotiations with the French from 4 to 6 December 1805, the French victories encouraged rulers of certain imperial territories to assert their formal independence from the Empire. On 10 December 1805, the prince-elector Duke of Bavaria proclaimed himself King, finally, on 12 December, the Margrave of Baden was given the title of Grand Duke. In addition, each of these new countries signed a treaty with France, the Treaty of Pressburg between France and Austria, signed in Pressburg on 26 December, enlarged the territory of Napoleons German allies at the expense of defeated Austria. Certain Austrian holdings in Germany were passed to French allies—the King of Bavaria, the King of Württemberg, Austrian claims on those German states were renounced without exception. On 12 July 1806, the Confederation of the Rhine was established, comprising 16 sovereigns and this confederation, under French influence, put an end to the Holy Roman Empire. On 6 August 1806, even Francis recognized the new state of things and proclaimed the dissolution of the Holy Roman Empire, as he did not want Napoleon to succeed him
3.
First French Empire
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The First French Empire, Note 1 was the empire of Napoleon Bonaparte of France and the dominant power in much of continental Europe at the beginning of the 19th century. Its name was a misnomer, as France already had colonies overseas and was short lived compared to the Colonial Empire, a series of wars, known collectively as the Napoleonic Wars, extended French influence over much of Western Europe and into Poland. The plot included Bonapartes brother Lucien, then serving as speaker of the Council of Five Hundred, Roger Ducos, another Director, on 9 November 1799 and the following day, troops led by Bonaparte seized control. They dispersed the legislative councils, leaving a rump legislature to name Bonaparte, Sieyès, although Sieyès expected to dominate the new regime, the Consulate, he was outmaneuvered by Bonaparte, who drafted the Constitution of the Year VIII and secured his own election as First Consul. He thus became the most powerful person in France, a power that was increased by the Constitution of the Year X, the Battle of Marengo inaugurated the political idea that was to continue its development until Napoleons Moscow campaign. Napoleon planned only to keep the Duchy of Milan for France, setting aside Austria, the Peace of Amiens, which cost him control of Egypt, was a temporary truce. He gradually extended his authority in Italy by annexing the Piedmont and by acquiring Genoa, Parma, Tuscany and Naples, then he laid siege to the Roman state and initiated the Concordat of 1801 to control the material claims of the pope. Napoleon would have ruling elites from a fusion of the new bourgeoisie, on 12 May 1802, the French Tribunat voted unanimously, with exception of Carnot, in favour of the Life Consulship for the leader of France. This action was confirmed by the Corps Législatif, a general plebiscite followed thereafter resulting in 3,653,600 votes aye and 8,272 votes nay. On 2 August 1802, Napoleon Bonaparte was proclaimed Consul for life, pro-revolutionary sentiment swept through Germany aided by the Recess of 1803, which brought Bavaria, Württemberg and Baden to Frances side. The memories of imperial Rome were for a time, after Julius Caesar and Charlemagne. The Treaty of Pressburg, signed on 26 December 1805, did little other than create a more unified Germany to threaten France. On the other hand, Napoleons creation of the Kingdom of Italy, the occupation of Ancona, to create satellite states, Napoleon installed his relatives as rulers of many European states. The Bonapartes began to marry into old European monarchies, gaining sovereignty over many nations, in addition to the vassal titles, Napoleons closest relatives were also granted the title of French Prince and formed the Imperial House of France. Met with opposition, Napoleon would not tolerate any neutral power, Prussia had been offered the territory of Hanover to stay out of the Third Coalition. With the diplomatic situation changing, Napoleon offered Great Britain the province as part of a peace proposal and this, combined with growing tensions in Germany over French hegemony, Prussia responded by forming an alliance with Russia and sending troops into Bavaria on 1 October 1806. In this War of the Fourth Coalition, Napoleon destroyed the armies of Frederick William at Jena-Auerstedt, the Eylau and the Friedland against the Russians finally ruined Frederick the Greats formerly mighty kingdom, obliging Russia and Prussia to make peace with France at Tilsit. The Treaties of Tilsit ended the war between Russia and the French Empire and began an alliance between the two empires that held power of much of the rest of Europe, the two empires secretly agreed to aid each other in disputes
4.
French Revolutionary Wars
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The French Revolutionary Wars were a series of sweeping military conflicts, lasting from 1792 until 1802, resulting from the French Revolution. They pitted the French First Republic against Britain, Austria and several other monarchies and they are divided in two periods, the War of the First Coalition and the War of the Second Coalition. Initially confined to Europe, the fighting gradually assumed a global dimension as the political ambitions of the Revolution expanded, French success in these conflicts ensured the spread of revolutionary principles over much of Europe. The Revolutionary Wars began from increasing political pressure on King Louis XVI of France to prove his loyalty to the new direction France was taking. In the spring of 1792, France declared war on Prussia and Austria, the victory rejuvenated the French nation and emboldened the National Convention to abolish the monarchy. A series of victories by the new French armies abruptly ended with defeat at Neerwinden in the spring of 1793, by 1795, the French had captured the Austrian Netherlands and knocked Spain and Prussia out of the war with the Peace of Basel. A hitherto unknown general called Napoleon Bonaparte began his first campaign in Italy in April 1796, in less than a year, French armies under Napoleon decimated the Habsburg forces and evicted them from the Italian peninsula, winning almost every battle and capturing 150,000 prisoners. With French forces marching towards Vienna, the Austrians sued for peace and agreed to the Treaty of Campo Formio, the War of the Second Coalition began with the French invasion of Egypt, headed by Napoleon, in 1798. The Allies took the opportunity presented by the French strategic effort in the Middle East to regain territories lost from the First Coalition. The war began well for the Allies in Europe, where they pushed the French out of Italy and invaded Switzerland—racking up victories at Magnano, Cassano. However, their efforts largely unraveled with the French victory at Zurich in September 1799, meanwhile, Napoleons forces annihilated a series of Egyptian and Ottoman armies at the battles of the Pyramids, Mount Tabor, and Abukir. These victories and the conquest of Egypt further enhanced Napoleons popularity back in France, however, the Royal Navy had managed to inflict a humiliating defeat on the French fleet at the Battle of the Nile in 1798, further strengthening British control of the Mediterranean. Napoleons arrival from Egypt led to the fall of the Directory in the Coup of 18 Brumaire, Napoleon then reorganized the French army and launched a new assault against the Austrians in Italy during the spring of 1800. This latest effort culminated in a decisive French victory at the Battle of Marengo in June 1800, another crushing French triumph at Hohenlinden in Bavaria forced the Austrians to seek peace for a second time, leading to the Treaty of Lunéville in 1801. With Austria and Russia out of the war, the United Kingdom found itself increasingly isolated and agreed to the Treaty of Amiens with Napoleons government in 1802, concluding the Revolutionary Wars. The lingering tensions proved too difficult to contain, however, in 1789–1792, the entire governmental structure of France was transformed to fall into line with the Revolutionary principles of Liberty, Equality and Fraternity. As a result, one of the first major elements of the French state to be restructured was the army, the transformation of the army was best seen in the officer corps. Before the revolution 90% had been nobility, compared to only 3% in 1794, Revolutionary fervour was high, and was closely monitored by the Committee of Public Safety, which assigned Representatives on Mission to keep watch on generals
5.
Battle of Tudela
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The Battle of Tudela saw an Imperial French army led by Marshal Jean Lannes attack a Spanish army under General Castaños. The battle resulted in the victory of the Imperial forces over their adversaries. The combat occurred near Tudela in Navarre, Spain during the Peninsular War, Spanish casualties were estimated to be about 4,000 dead and 3,000 prisoners out of a total force of 33,000. The French and Poles lost no more than 600 dead and wounded out of a total of 30,000 and this is one of the battles whose name was engraved on the Arc de Triomphe in Paris. The Dos de Mayo Uprising of 2 May 1808, followed by extensive uprisings throughout Spain, Blake was active in attacking the French but his offensive near Bilbao was defeated at Pancorbo on 31 October 1808. Napoleon’s strategy was to make an attack towards Burgos splitting off the army of Blake from the others. It was in his interest that the Spanish maintain their exposed advanced positions, the French armies facing them were therefore ordered not to attack. So from October to 21 November 1808, Marshal Bon-Adrien Jeannot de Moncey’s III Corps remained static in front of Castaños’s army, the Spanish armies were however in a constant state of movement to no effect. For much of the time Castaños was ill leaving Palafox to direct operations, Palafox seems to have been indecisive on what course of action to take. The battlefield was the area between Tudela and the hills on the left. The Spanish front was deployed on the hills of Santa Barbara, Tudela, Torre Monreal, Santa Quiteria the top of Cabezoe Maya, and the villages of Urzante, Murchante, separating the Spanish and the French was the Queiles River, a tributary of the Ebro. The French advanced from the Cierzo hills that were in front of the Spanish lines towards the Spanish troops, on 21 November 1808 Castaños was around Calahorra on the Ebro between Logrono and Tudela. These movements threatened Castaños with entrapment between these two armies, to avoid this Castaños withdrew to Tudela. He decided to defend a line 17 kilometres long stretching west from Tudela along the Ebro, then along the Queiles River to Cascante and finally to Tarazona at the foot of the Moncayo Massif. Castaños had insufficient men to hold a line of this length so he asked General Juan ONeylle, as O’Neylle was under the command of Palafox he refused to move without an order from Palafox. This did not arrive until noon on 22 November 1808, O’Neylle moved promptly to the east bank of the Ebro opposite Tudela but decided not to cross the river until the next day. By nightfall on 22 November 1808 Castaños had almost 45,000 soldiers in the vicinity of Tudela, General Roca’s division was on the east bank of the Ebro plus the two divisions from Aragon of O’Neylle and Felipe Augusto de Saint-Marcq. Most of the fighting in the battle of Tudela would involve only the three divisions of Roca, O’Neylle, and Saint-Marcq – totaling about 23,000 infantry, for the French only the III Corps was involved in the Battle of Tudela
6.
Second Siege of Zaragoza
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The Second Siege of Zaragoza was the French capture of the Spanish city of Zaragoza during the Peninsular War. It was particularly noted for its brutality, as a part of the Dos de Mayo uprising the city had already successfully resisted a first siege from 15 June 1808 to 14 August 1808. This was one of the first times in history that an army was defeated by irregulars in street fighting. The Spanish at this point missed their best chance to defeat the French and they did not appoint a Supreme Commander, so all the armies continued to operate independently. The main armies consisted of those of General Blake on the north coast, General Castaños around Tudela, Blake was the most active, but he was defeated at Zornoza on 31 October 1808. Napoleons plan was to attack in strength towards Burgos in between the armies of Blake and Castaños, once they broke through they were to swing both north and south to envelope the remaining armies. In order to achieve this, Napoleon wanted the exposed Spanish armies to remain in their current advanced positions, to achieve this Marshal Monceys 3rd Corps opposite General Castaños remained inactive from late October to 21 November. The Spanish armies, however, moved constantly to no discernible effect, castanos was ill much of the time, leaving Palafox in command. He seemed reluctant to adopt a course of action. On 21 November 1808 the French 3rd Corps crossed the Ebro River at Logrono, Marshal Neys column reached the Upper Douro valley and headed for Tudela. These movements developed into the Battle of Tudela and this battle was a major victory for the French, but the armies of the Spanish generals were able to flee to Saragossa, escaping with the large majority of their war chests and cannons. The stage was now set for a second siege, considerable changes occurred in the defences of Saragossa after the first siege in June–August. In that siege, the city had few fortifications, except for the walls that could not withstand the French artillery bombardment. The defenders consisted of only a handful of troops and gunners. They had, however, been able to inflict casualties on the French at the barricades in the narrow winding streets. Since September 1808, Colonel San Genis had been working on a number of modern fortifications and these were overlooked by the city walls. To the west, a solid rampart had been built outside the city walls and this provided a central gun battery, as well as a ditch that was 14-metres deep. San Lazaro was fortified with a protected by waterways and the two convents on the north side of the Ebro River had been made into fortresses
7.
Battle of Aspern-Essling
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In the Battle of Aspern-Essling, Napoleon attempted a forced crossing of the Danube near Vienna, but the French and their allies were driven back by the Austrians under Archduke Charles. The battle was the first time Napoleon had been defeated in over a decade. However, Archduke Charles failed to secure a victory as Napoleon was able to successfully withdraw most of his forces. The French wanted to cross the Danube, a first crossing attempt on the Schwarze Lackenau on 13 May was repulsed with some 700 French losses. Lobau, one of the islands that divided the river into minor channels, was selected as the next point of crossing. Careful preparations were made, and on the night of 19–20 May the French bridged all the channels on the bank to Lobau. By the evening of the 20th many men had collected there. Massénas corps at once crossed to the bank and dislodged the Austrian outposts. The Archduke did not resist the passage and it was his intention, as soon as a large enough force had crossed, to attack it before the rest of the French army could come to its assistance. Napoleon had accepted the risk of such an attack, but he sought at the time to minimize it by summoning every available battalion to the scene. His forces on the Marchfeld were drawn up in front of the bridges facing north, with their left in the village of Aspern and their right in Essling. Both places lay close to the Danube and could not therefore be turned, Aspern, the French had to fill the gap between the villages, and also move forward to give room for the supporting units to form up. Prince Johann of Liechtensteins Austrian reserve cavalry was in the center, during the 21st the bridges became more and more unsafe, owing to the violence of the current, but the French crossed without intermission all day and during the night. Kaiserlich-Königliche Hauptarmee, under the command of Charles of Austria, 3rd Column, Hiller, Vanguard, notitz 3rd Column, Hohenzollern-Hechingen, Advance Guard Div. Brady Div. Dedovich 5th Column, Rosenberg/Hohenlohe, Vanguard, Rohan Div,3, Arrighi II Corps, Lannes †, Div. Saint-Hilaire † Div. of reserve, Demont IV Corps, Masséna, lasalle Cavalry Reserve Corps, Bessières, Div. The French infantry fought with the old stubborn bravery which it had failed to show in the battles of the year. The three Austrian columns were unable to more than half the village
8.
Names inscribed under the Arc de Triomphe
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The following is the list of the names of the 660 persons inscribed on the Arc de Triomphe, in Paris. Most of them are generals who served during the First French Empire with additional figures from the French Revolution, underlined names signify those killed in action. DU MIDI ARMEES DES PYRENEES ORALES, GRANDE ARMEE Jensen, Nathan D. Appendix, Names on the Arc de Triomphe. Unfortunately, some names inscribed on the Arc de Triomphe are ambiguous due to individuals sharing the same last name. While most names are clearly honoring a particular officer, a few remain which are unclear
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Kingdom of France
French First Republic
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This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Lannes, Jean". Encyclopædia Britannica. 16 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press.
This article incorporates text from a publication now in the 
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