Napoleonic Wars as a global conflict (on the new book by V. M. Bezotosny)
Zemtzov Vladimir
A characteristic feature of the study of the Napoleonic Wars in recent years has been the turn to discussing the role and place of these wars in the global history of mankind. This can be exemplified by the publication of a number of fundamental works, including the three-volume Cambridge History of the Napoleonic Wars. A notable place in the series of such publications is occupied by V. M. Bezotosny's monograph The Historical Landscape of the Napoleonic Wars. World Conflict and the Clash of Empires. The author, first, declares the necessity to abandon Eurocentrism and approach the textbook event for domestic historiography – the War of 1812 – in the light of asynchrony of socio-economic and political processes in the world. Pointing out the typological similarity of the Napoleonic Wars era with the First and Second World Wars, the author considers the epoch of the turn of the 18th – 19th centuries as a kind of “zero”, i.e. “World War I”. Describing the general historical landscape of the Napoleonic era, he suggests that along with the main “geopolitical triangle” – Great Britain, Russia and France – to focus on the struggle outside Europe. As for Napoleonic France, which tried to achieve its expansion to all-European borders, the author believes that its demise was historically predetermined. The Napoleonic Empire was systematically subjected to destruction from outside and inside. And the decisive role in this undermining of the Napoleonic Empire belonged to Russia and largely to England. Important consequences of the Napoleonic Wars were the process of consolidation of the German lands around Prussia, the entry of the Austrian Empire into a state of protracted crisis, and the emergence of the prospect of deep discord in Russian society, which in the long term resulted in the events of 1917. While debunking Napoleon as a great historical figure and state strategist, the author nevertheless concludes that the wars of 1792–1815 gave a noticeable acceleration to the process of modernization, contributed to the emergence of new ideological trends and intensified the rivalry of leading countries in the colonial sphere.
The study is sponsored by the Russian Science Foundation, grant 20–18–00113.
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