Lost Worlds: Life Under Napoleon

Napoleon's rise to power had lasting consequences for the people of the fast dying Holy Roman Empire.

The French occupation of the Rhineland provinces led to an economic boom. Weavers, in particular, benefited from having new markets for their wares. Newspapers also sprang up, but their owners had to adhere to strict rules of censorship. Napoleon saw his new provinces as a source of soldiers, and had young Rhinelanders called up. Draft-dodging became a lucrative business as unscrupulous men took commissions for bribing officials on the recruitment board. After a pompous coronation in Paris, Napoleon aimed for total supremacy in Europe, and at Austerlitz dealt the death blow to the Holy Roman Empire. In its place he set up the Confederation of the Rhine, a loose association of German states.

After the defeat of the Prussian army at Jena and Auerstadt, King Friedrich Wilhelm III fled in exile to Koenigsberg. In 1806 Napoleon entered Berlin in triumph. He only stayed in the old Prussian capital for a short while but remained well-informed about events due to the installation of the earliest form of telegraphy, a series of towers with moving signals. In Berlin, Napoleon's art expert, Dominique Vivant Denon, set about sending Prussia's best art treasures back to Paris. Denon even dismantled the Quadriga, the massive sculpture that adorns the top of the Brandenburg Gate. In 1807 Napoleon made a pact with Russia which greatly reduced Prussia's power and, confident that affairs in Prussia were under his control, he withdrew French troops.

Napoleon's Russian campaign ended in bitter defeat. Although Napoleon himself blamed it on the Russian winter, it was also largely due to the Russian tactics of luring the French deeper and deeper into Russian territory, where they had difficulty in getting supplies and reinforcements. Foerster Fleck recounts the despair of the men in retracing their steps, and the hardships they faced. Albrecht Adam, an official war painter, recalls how Napoleon had to flee Moscow after a massive fire destroyed the city. Napoleon was now forced to replenish his forces, and sent his administrators on a massive recruitment drive.