Why was Napoleon so lenient to Austria?
Upvote:3
As listed in the Wikipedia link on the War of the Fifth Coalition: Austria lost ~20% of its population through ceded territory and had to pay heavy fines while not yet totally defeated in 6 months of warfare, which is by no means leniency.
A complete breakup of Austria by military means would have likely required further resources from an already strained French economy after decades of postrevolutionary struggles and an ongoing continental blockade. Ongoing war or too harsh a punishment for Austria would have also opened up the possibility of intervention by the other Great Powers, all of which favored a reverse to a balance of power in Europe and the restoration of the pre-revolutionary Monarchy in France.
Likewise, a complete humiliation,defeat and breakup of Austria would have only further stoked nascent German nationalism, which, contrary to its revolutionary rhetoric, was not in the interest of France given its recent acquisitions of German territories. The Holy Roman Empire, for the longest time under Austrian leadership was only dissolved 3 years before the end of the war.
edit: Sources:
Losses of Austria in the Treaty of Schönbrunn: https://www.britannica.com/event/Treaty-of-Schonbrunn
General overview of the war: http://www.historyofwar.org/articles/wars_franco_austria_1809.html based on the books 1809: Thunder on the Danube: Napoleon's defeat of the Habsburgs, Vol 1-3, John H. Gill
Sources on nascent German Nationalism (examples):
Tyrolean nationalist rebellion during the war: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tyrolean_Rebellion
Assassination-attempt on Napoleon based on German nationalism at the signing of the peace treaty of the war: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Treaty_of_Sch%C3%B6nbrunn#Assassination_attempt
Dörnberg-uprising in Hessen during the war: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wilhelm_von_D%C3%B6rnberg#D%C3%B6rnberg's_Uprising_(22%E2%80%9324_April_1809)
German Source: Archduke Charles, stating that Austria took up arms not only for Austrian independence, but for German independence and German national honor («Nicht bloß für seine Selbständigkeit, sondern für Deutschlands Unabhängigkeit und Nationalehre» habe Österreich das Schwert ergriffen.): Napoleon I. by August Fournier, p. 289 https://books.google.de/books?id=fWV9yHRNjW0C&pg=RA1-PA289&lpg=RA1-PA289
More post
- 📝 Were there any pro-Native American groups during the Indian Wars?
- 📝 Did Japanese officers refuse to engage in kamikaze attacks?
- 📝 What were the founding fathers' views on Native Americans?
- 📝 Can oral tradition be used as a source in scholarly papers?
- 📝 Can you help identify this European military uniform?
- 📝 In the context of Ancient Egypt, what could "Priest of On" mean?
- 📝 Alexander's seizure of "Brahmin" towns
- 📝 Who is the "celebrated author" of this quote?
- 📝 Was the US's pre-emptive bombardment of Iwo Jima insufficient?
- 📝 Was Russo-Polish of 1919-1920 a war of independence?
- 📝 When was the concept of Europe as a singular political unit conceived?
- 📝 Is there any footage and/or photos of Germans surrendering towns and cities in the Western Front?
- 📝 Are there any battles that have been extensively studied across the world?
- 📝 How did Roman armies survive in the desert?
- 📝 What kind of heavy horses did the Manchu use?
- 📝 What led to the creation of Belgium?
- 📝 What was the process to join the army in WW2 England?
- 📝 Which forts did the British keep in the Northwest Territory after the American Revolution?
- 📝 What was Income Disparity like in the Middle Ages of Europe?
- 📝 What flag has a blue-grey background and an orange-outlined green cross?
- 📝 Did Democritus of Abdera, Thrace accuse the Jews of sacrificing Greeks in their religious rituals?
- 📝 Were people really as haphazardly *burned at the stake* back in the day in Europe as they make it out to have been?
- 📝 How to attack Fort Ross
- 📝 Why did the maize-based society that Spain found in the Central Valley of Mexico not dominate over Europe?
- 📝 Did germophobia exist in classical antiquity?
- 📝 Did the early Christian community on Iceland require the import of wine for liturgy?
- 📝 Where is or was the place called Apapis?
- 📝 Was Alexander the Great ever an emperor?
- 📝 Is there any short summary of John Rowe's theory of horizons about the Incas?
- 📝 Light cavalry in medieval western Europe?
Source: stackoverflow.com
Search Posts
Related post
- 📝 Why was France given such a lenient peace after Napoleon was defeated?
- 📝 Why was Napoleon so lenient to Austria?
- 📝 Why was Napoleon not executed or imprisoned?
- 📝 Why was Austria given the best chunk in the First Partition of Poland, even while protesting it?
- 📝 Why was Anne of Austria so called?
- 📝 Why was Napoleon Bonaparte appointed to lead the French campaign in northern Italy?
- 📝 Why did Hitler attack the Soviet Union when he was still busy fighting the United Kingdom?
- 📝 Why was France granted an equal status among victors of World War II?
- 📝 Why did archery not make a comeback when armor was phased out in the 18th century?
- 📝 Why was Poland spared from the Black Death?
- 📝 Why China was able to unify and not Europe?
- 📝 Why was Africa colonized last of the continents in the Age of Discovery?
- 📝 Why was Britain willing to return Hong Kong but not Gibraltar?
- 📝 Why was Spanish Fascist dictatorship left in power after World War II?
- 📝 Why was the Scout movement so successful?
- 📝 Why was the Council of Nicea held in Nicea rather than Rome or Constantinople?
- 📝 Why was it "acceptable" for Prince Charles to marry a divorced woman, when Edward VIII had to abdicate for marrying divorcee Wallis Simpson?
- 📝 Why was World War I ended on Nov 11 11:00, rather than immediately upon signing the armistice?
- 📝 Was Napoleon as short as "common knowledge" states?
- 📝 In the Soviet Union, why was the Cheka renamed so many times?
- 📝 Why was "leaping into the river" a valid trial outcome to prove one's innocence?
- 📝 Why was the Japanese Army's fatalities inflicted:suffered ratio so low in the Pacific theatre?
- 📝 Why was capturing the south of Okinawa necessary?
- 📝 Why were the drawings of Colossus burnt after WW2 and why was its very existence "of course" kept secret?
- 📝 Why was there a surge in the US incarceration rate during the 1990s?
- 📝 Why was the Treaty of Versailles so harsh?
- 📝 Why was no Nobel Prize for Literature awarded in 1935?
- 📝 If the Ch’in dynasty was so short-lived, why was China named for it?
- 📝 Why was Switzerland not attacked during the two World Wars?
- 📝 Why was sugar cultivation more profitable in the Caribbean/Brazil than West Africa?