Napoleonic Leadership

To Napoleon, power was everything, and he defined it by the number of citizens and soldiers obeying him, the number of guns and the military hardware at his disposal, the extent of his conquered territories, the battles he won, and the changes he made in society, education, the church, the law. He took France from post-revolutionary chaos to law, order and greatness – “la Gloire”. He raised armies of hundreds of thousands. He alternately filled and emptied the national treasury of one of the largest countries in the Western world. His career trajectory was dramatic, from trainee gunner to emperor in two decades. He was loved or hated by millions – and even now his iconic bicorn hat is immediately recognized, two hundred years later.   

To achieve these levels of power, we have considered eight power modes which Napoleon typically employed. Napoleon’s career has a lot to teach us about 
·        the importance of patronage to create a network of dependency and how it should be dispensed; 
·        the strengths and weaknesses of creating a meritocracy, and the challenge of sustaining this; 
·        the appeal and dangers of using charismatic leadership; 
·        the precariousness of the act of seizing power in a coup d’etat;
·        the manipulative playing off of enemies and allies in a form of divide and rule; 
·        the use and abuse of fear as a default way of dominating decision-making; 
·        the mechanism of popular election to confirm a power-base;
·        and the obsessive concern with the creation of a dynasty of inherited power to keep the power chain going for descendants.  

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Napoleon Bonaparte – a young artillery officer from Corsica, of Italian descent – rose rapidly through the ranks to become a General at 26. His story is that of a continuous pact with power – and different forms of power, which changed with his own changing needs to gain and maintain power. With his family working its way up the small aristocratic community of Corsica, and their ability to win patronage, he was able as a young man to gain a head start in winning a place at a prestigious military academy, using the highest levels of contacts at their disposal. This form of power – patronage and reward – was to characterize Napoleon’s future leadership style and became one of his methods for attracting and retaining support and building his power-base – including through his family members.

Opportunistically throwing-in his lot with France and the Revolution, the lack of competition from exiled and guillotined aristocratic officers enabled him to quickly shine in a series of stunning victories. But this was not just the absence of competition – his promotion from captain to brigadier general in just four months after the Battle of Toulon in 1793 was obviously gained through his own merit. His brilliance in battle was to increase his credibility in his subsequent bid for political power in France. But although an outstanding general, he was never seen as a military dictator. Military ability and excellence in the field was a tool, rather than an end in itself.

Napoleon continued to lead from the front, his undoubted charisma giving him the edge over other up-and-coming military leaders in the Italian Wars – especially shown by acts of inspirational bravado at the battles for bridges at Arcola and Lodi. His legend was beginning to spread, encouraged by his own efforts at self-aggrandizement and publicity through constant memoranda, essay-writing and lobbying the press. 

The Italian wars were followed by adventures further afield – in Egypt, following a dream to march onto India and attack England in her colonies. But Napoleon’s Egyptian campaign began to run out of steam when his army was trapped by Nelson’s fleet, sinking his ships at the mouth of the Nile. He abandoned his army, returned to France, overthrew the government and rapidly became First Consul – by a seizure of power. The coup known as Brumaire, bringing to an end the much-criticized Directory, followed the traditions already set in the Revolution with the seizing of power with the fall of the Bastille, bread riots, the Girondins and the Jacobins, the execution of the king and queen, and the rise and fall of Robespierre. 

This period in Napoleon’s life was characterized by disillusionment with the lack of competence and commitment of some of his family members, and especially with early disappointments with his marriage to Josephine, which resulted in an obsession with political ambition and what might now be recognized as workaholism. 

The rapidly-growing legend of Napoleon as statesman as well as general soon outshone his apparent opportunism, although Napoleon’s power-base increasingly depended on manipulation.  Napoleon needed to negotiate with internal and external parties to get his way, especially as he lacked the legitimacy of the monarchy overthrown by the Revolution, and faced continual opposition from the crowned heads of Europe. At best they became hesitant and temporary allies, at worst outright enemies. He found it very difficult to work in partnership with anyone, becoming increasingly individualistic and less and less of a team-player. An example of his manipulative approach to power at this time may be seen in his relationship with the Papacy. The Concordat with Pius VII was negotiated by Napoleon against internal advice – but he wanted to separate Catholicism from Royalism given that the majority of Frenchmen were Catholics, and he wanted to reassure the purchasers of former church lands that these would not be repossessed. He was later to imprison the Pope in Savoy, even though he had needed him at his Coronation as Emperor. 

As First Consul, Napoleon was supreme leader in France – but he was concerned with the vulnerability of his hold on power, and needed to manage his power base and increase his level of control of any opposition – within his group of advisers, among his generals and especially coming from the disenfranchised former aristocracy of France. He managed the media and sources of information, and kept those around him in check by an elaborate system of patronage and reward – and the use of spies. When this was not enough, he began to exercise power through fear, especially after a series of assassination attempts. To show who was in charge, potential opponents were dealt with harshly – especially in the case of the Duc d’Enghien, a would-be pretender to the throne whom Napoleon executed pour encourager les autres.  

Napoleon always believed that his leadership needed to become strengthened and institutionalized to build his legitimacy amongst his peers in Europe. He always felt vulnerable as a parvenu. The act of crowning himself Emperor was the result, he maintained, of popular election, by more than three million Frenchmen. Ironically, he wanted to become the monarch which his espoused Revolution had aimed to destroy.

 The Napoleonic legend ultimately lost its shine with his military defeats – including the spectacular retreat from Moscow – and frustrating exile. But he never lost his appeal for the French, who still admire  - and the cult of Napoleon as his legacy continues… although his hope to create a dynasty based on inheritance was short-lived. On his defeat and exile in 1814, his greatest disappointment was not the loss of his throne, but the failure of his advisers and family to support his queen Marie Louise as Regent and the King of Rome as his Heir, and the rapid re-installation of the Bourbons – as if the Napoleonic era had counted for nothing.