AP® European History · Unit 5 · Topic 5.6
The Fall: Spain, Russia, and 1815
Spain's guerrilla war and the disastrous 1812 invasion of Russia bled Napoleon's empire of men and supplies, and those losses made his final defeat at Waterloo in 1815 possible.
Napoleon's empire depended on winning fast, decisive battles that forced enemies to surrender on his terms. Spain and Russia both denied him that fight. After Napoleon installed his brother Joseph on the Spanish throne in 1808, Spanish guerrillas waged years of ambushes and raids that never risked a conventional battle but never stopped bleeding French manpower either. Historians call this drain the Spanish ulcer: a wound that would not heal, tying down hundreds of thousands of French troops who were desperately needed elsewhere.
Russia delivered the bigger blow. In June 1812 Napoleon crossed the Niemen River with roughly 600,000 soldiers, the largest army Europe had ever seen. Russian forces refused to fight a major battle, retreating eastward while burning crops, destroying supplies, and emptying towns ahead of the French advance. This scorched-earth strategy meant Napoleon's army could not live off the land the way it usually did. By the time it reached a half-abandoned, burning Moscow in September, there was nothing left to occupy. The retreat that followed, through an early and brutal winter, killed far more soldiers than combat did. Charles Minard's famous graphic shows the army's width shrinking with each mile and each falling degree. Only about 100,000 men made it back.
These losses in Spain and Russia broke the aura of invincibility that had held Napoleon's empire together, encouraging other powers to join against him. After his first exile, Napoleon's return during the Hundred Days in 1815 could not outrun that reckoning. At Waterloo, arriving Prussian reinforcements tipped a close fight against him, ending his rule for good and opening the way for the Congress of Vienna to redraw Europe.
Key terms
- Spanish ulcer
- Napoleon's own term for the draining, unwinnable guerrilla war in Spain that steadily consumed French troops and resources.
- Scorched-earth strategy
- A retreating army's tactic of destroying crops, supplies, and shelter so the advancing enemy finds nothing to sustain itself.
- Grande Armee
- Napoleon's multinational invasion force of roughly 600,000 soldiers that crossed into Russia in 1812.
- Hundred Days
- Napoleon's brief return to power in 1815 after escaping exile, ended by his defeat at Waterloo.
- Congress of Vienna
- The 1814-1815 meeting of European powers that redrew national borders after Napoleon's final defeat.
Watch it explained
- How it worksDraw Minard's map of the 1812 campaign with the army's width shrinking against the temperature line.
- How it worksHow does a scorched-earth retreat beat an army that has never lost a set-piece battle?
- How it worksShow me the Spanish ulcer as a guerrilla war draining French troops year after year.
- Worked exampleTrace the size of the Grande Armee from the Niemen crossing to the return, month by month.
- Going furtherWhat finally ended the Hundred Days at Waterloo and why did the timing matter so much?
Check yourself
End of topic.