The slogans of ‘liberte, eqalite et fraternite’ were replaced with ‘la gloire.’ In the end Napoleon provoked the rest of Europe, exhausted his resources on a continuous treadmill of war and increasingly resorted to full frontal assaults with inferior recruits which ultimately failed at Waterloo. Even though he was the head of state as well as the commander in chief he didn’t know when or how to stop. There was no exit strategy as his ‘war nourished war’. Perhaps ‘La gloire’ had taken over or maybe Berthier's death undermined the Imperial Headquarters.. However, the ‘God of War’ had done enough to inspire
He knew that the number of soldiers he had were greatly outnumbered by all the country’s armies that wanted to end his rule, so he had to act fast. Napoleon’s grand strategy was to destroy the existing coalition forces just south of Brussels, then pushing the British back to the ocean and hopefully knock the Prussians out of the war completely. At this time, this was a far-fetched idea, however everyone actually considered Napoleon pulling it off. Napoleon cut off communication between Wellington and his country through false intelligence and this avoided an envelopment plan that Wellington at originally planned to use on Napoleon after they traveled through Mons. When Napoleon moved towards the army of Prussians, he defeated them at the Battle of Ligny, basically baffling the troops.
The army leaders’ harsh treatment of the Allies at the end of the war created an even greater hatred between the Allied countries and Germany. This influenced the Treaty of Versailles as the Allies aimed to ensure that Germany would never be a threat to French or Britain again. Thus, a harsh treatment through serious reparations was created. These large reparations, influenced by the harsh German army, seriously depleted the chance of success for the Weimar Republic as the economy would struggle to prosper whilst paying reparations. Ludendorff’s ‘Black Day’ speech and the army’s refusal to sign the Armistice influenced the failure of the Weimar Republic as they wiped their hands clean of the defeat of war.
The broad viewpoint of this source suggests that the Peninsular War was definitely the reason for Napoleons downfall. It showed the world that France was no longer invincible ‘it punctured the image of French invincibility’. Most importantly, the decision to leave Spain early in 1809 was a huge mistake. He was fighting on two fronts and as a result Spain was left without any inspirational leadership, leaving hostile generals in charge. Source 1 agrees with this ‘The need to maintain forces in Spain meant that there were fewer operations elsewhere [...] Napoleon was fighting on two fronts’.
It also severely restricted Germany’s military power. The treaty, to Germany, was something that was not only unfair, but also humiliating. This caused Germany to bear resentment against the winning powers and caused some to thirst for revenge. America’s policy of isolationism also played a major part in starting World War II. Their refusal to join the League of Nations severely weakened it, and effectively destroyed the League of Nation’s ability to follow through with its threats and stop wars.
Many criticised him for his personality, saying it overpowered his ability to think critically as a leader should, and lacked the education in subjects like economy. This was because he was raised as a soldier. Alexander had always disagreed about the way his father ruled the country, about Russian nationalities, and how he wanted more severe actions taken against political groups like The Peoples Will. He wanted the country to have an aggressive military, which could be accounted to his military background. He made it clear that when he became Tsar he would undo all the reform his father had set about bringing.
Not only did the people of Germany feel betrayed by a man of their own country but consequently, had no faith in the new democratic system. The ‘November Criminals’ including Matthias Erzberger, Phillipp Scheidemann and Friedrich Ebert were regarded as unnationalistic. The reaction of the German people was further intensified by the signing of the Versailles Treaty in June 1919. Historian Richard Hunt argues that ‘it was the shame of weakness that seized Germany’s national psychology and served as a solvent of the Weimar democracy’. Whether compliant with this view or not, the fact was that the German population was not backing the leaders of this new constitution, which was damaging to its effectiveness.
When the first world war ended in 1918 there was a German revolution due to there failure and the Weimar republic was created. Due to the failure of the war Germany received harsh reparations from the treaty of Versailles and many people though that it was cruel to give Germany such a hard punishment. The government (Weimar republic) signed this order and many German people resented them for signing it and agreeing to the conditions. They were known as the November criminals. The violent uprising caused chaos across germany with many groups ready to take on the government.
Tsar Nicholas II, who came into power in 1894, was one of the main reasons revolution occurred. He was a harsh and weak ruler. He did not keep promises made to increase personal freedoms and paid no attention to the Duma. The Russian Economy was bankrupt because of the Russo-Japanese War in 1904. This war with Japan shook national confidence in their progress and the rule of the Tsar.
Rome's army was separated by legions. The military collapsed Rome because it was corrupted a lot of times. Rome was destructed by the army because the army had too much influence on being its own “Private Army”. It was like the army wanted to be under its own control. Also the military wasn't strong enough to defend Rome so that let a lot of invaders attack and almost conquer Rome.