10 Ways the Napoleon Movie is Historically Accurate
The Following contains spoilers for Napoleon, now playing in theatres.
Director Ridley Scott revisited epic history in his 2023 movie Napoleon, a bold and lengthy movie that charted the rise and fall of France’s most famous military general. The movie was a biopic as well as a war movie, exploring Napoleon Bonaparte’s turbulent personal life as well as his groundbreaking military campaigns. The movie certainly played fast and loose with some historical details, but in broad strokes, Napoleon aligned with history.
The lengthy Napoleon movie played like a highlight reel of the French emperor’s life, focusing on his best-known political stunts, battles, and personal relationships. Even if the movie tweaked some details for the sake of cinema, Napoleon covered enough real-life history to keep history buffs satisfied from beginning to end. In ten particular moments, Napoleon definitely had an eye on the history books as it recreated Napoleon’s and France’s most impactful historical events.
Napoleon Crowned Himself the Emperor of the French
Joaquin Phoenix plays Napoleon in a new film epic by Ridley Scott.
Napoleon Bonaparte’s career was launched just as the French Revolution took off, with the people of France rising up against King Louis XVI and his queen, Marie Antoinette. The opportunistic Napoleon Bonaparte fought hard to aid the revolution and fight foreign monarchs, but then Napoleon went full circle in Dec. 1804.
As the Napoleon movie showed, Napoleon went from the First Consul to Emperor of the French, making him Napoleon I. Symbolically, Napoleon took the crown and crowned himself emperor without letting the Pope do it, suggesting self-sufficiency and confidence bordering on scandalous arrogance. Napoleon also became the very thing he was fighting, but evidently, the irony was lost on him.
Many French People & Soldiers Welcomed Napoleon’s Return From Elba
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Napoleon Bonaparte actually had two rises to power, as the Napoleon movie showed. After Napoleon’s defeat in the War of the Sixth Coalition, he was exiled to the tiny island of Elba near Italy, but he didn’t stay there for long. In 1815, Napoleon escaped Elba, returning to the French mainland to retake his throne at any cost.
Napoleon had become such an inspiring leader for France, that countless soldiers disobeyed the new king and cheered Napoleon’s arrival, rather than capture or shoot him. The Napoleon movie briefly touched on that, showing hundreds of soldiers defying orders to shoot, and instead welcoming back Napoleon Bonaparte as an old friend.
Napoleon Bonaparte Briefly Befriended Tsar Alexander I
A painting of Tsar Alexander I of Russia
A variety of historical figures appeared in the Napoleon movie, including foreign monarchs like Tsar Alexander I, ruler of the Russian Empire. The Napoleon movie showed Napoleon and Alexander meeting after the War of the Fourth Coalition, where Alexander softened the blow of his defeat by forging an alliance with the French emperor.
Although that scene was brief, it did flatter Napoleon somewhat by showing how he could make friends as well as enemies. Once Alexander I became Napoleon’s ally, the French emperor had few remaining enemies in continental Europe, but by 1812, that alliance famously broke down, hence Napoleon’s invasion of Russia.
Max Robespierre Got Carried Away With the French Revolution & Was Betrayed
max robespierre in a painting
Some historical figures merely got cameos in the Napoleon movie, which included the radical revolutionary Max Robespierre. He was largely responsible for the Terror, a phase of the French Revolution when constant beheadings, paranoia, and tension swept across Paris. Even compared to other anti-monarchy activists, Robespierre was an aggressive and sometimes feared person.
In Napoleon’s earlier scenes, Mr. Robespierre appeared in a meeting where his fellow revolutionaries turned on him. This is historically accurate, as Robespierre had pushed people over the edge with rapid beheadings and increasingly bizarre policies. As the movie showed, Mr. Robespierre’s fellow revolutionaries turned on him, which just provided more room for Napoleon to rise to power instead.
Napoleon Went From General to Consul to Emperor to Consolidate Power
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During the French Revolution, the Jacobins and other revolutionaries knew they wanted the Bourbon dynasty overthrown, but they could not agree on how to fill the power vacuum that the king’s death left behind. A variety of governments formed, but none of them could maintain total control, creating constant instability.
Napoleon Bonaparte started off as a skilled general aiding the revolution, as the Napoleon movie showed, but then he craved more power. He used his alliances, intelligence, and influence to first become one of three consuls in a new political system all the way to the First Consul, then finally, emperor. Even if it was hypocritical of Napoleon and his revolutionary allies, consolidating all that power in Napoleon alone gave France some much-needed stability.
The Russian Military Campaign Was a War of Attrition That Napoleon Lost
Napoleon Bonaparte riding his horse in a city
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A variety of historical campaigns and battles unfolded in the bloody Napoleon movie, from the one-sided Battle of Austerlitz in 1805 to the infamous invasion of Russia in 1812. Napoleon excelled in conventional battles, but when he invaded the Russian Empire, the defenders used scorched earth policies to create a grim war of attrition.
As the movie showed, Napoleon’s enormous army struggled to maintain its supplies and keep fighting an enemy that refused to fight an all-or-nothing battle. By the time Napoleon’s men began their march back to France, they were hungry and low on ammo, all while the Russian defenders harassed them to thin out their numbers even further.
Napoleon Sought a New Wife to Get an Heir
Joaquin Phoenix in Napoleon
By the time Napoleon Bonaparte became Emperor of the French, he knew that he didn’t just want a family — he needed one. He required an heir to continue what he started in future years, but to his dismay, he and his wife Josephine could not conceive any children together. That prompted Napoleon to divorce Josephine, as the Napoleon movie showed.
Napoleon moved on to a new wife, Marie-Louise, a princess from the powerful Austrian Empire. That subplot was only a brief one in the Napoleon movie, but it did remind fans that Napoleon was trying to build a bonafide dynasty for himself, not just win battlefield victories or overthrow foreign monarchs.
British Forces Formed Squares to Counter Napoleon’s Cavalry
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In the early 1800s, militaries across Europe used a handful of tactics to counter each other, using the likes of cavalry, artillery, infantry, and square formations to get the edge. It was a rock-paper-scissors situation, and in the Battle of Waterloo in 1815, the defending British military used a powerful rock to counter Napoleon’s scissors.
In the Napoleon movie, the French army tried using cannons and all-out cavalry attacks to overwhelm the British army’s defenses, but it didn’t work. Napoleon commanded his troops as best he could, but his enemies were ready for it. The British defenders formed squares to prevent cavalry troops from sweeping through their ranks, negating the cavalry force’s advantages. That helped ensure Napoleon’s final defeat by the time the Prussian army arrived to support the British.
Napoleon & Josephine Remained Friends After Their Divorce
Vanessa Kirby in Napoleon
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The Napoleon movie explored Napoleon Bonaparte’s relationship with his wife, Josephine, who was the empress of France for a time. That turbulent relationship came to life thanks to actor Joaquin Phoenix’s stellar acting alongside Vanessa Kirby’s own stellar performance, all with some historical accuracy to back it up.
In the movie, Josephine was distraught about getting a divorce, but eventually, she and her ex-husband forged a meaningful friendship, exchanging letters and generally getting along. Napoleon even trusted Josephine to hold his newborn child, the one he had conceived with Marie-Louise.
The Russians Burned Down Moscow to Deny It to Napoleon
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The defending imperial army of the Russian Empire resorted to brutal tactics to survive Napoleon’s massive invasion in 1812. Not only did the Russians use scorched-earth tactics with farms and villages, they even used such tactics with important cities like Moscow itself. The Russians fought the Battle of Borodino to try and defend Moscow, but after Napoleon narrowly won that battle, the Russians decided to burn Moscow down.
As the Napoleon movie showed, Moscow was largely abandoned by the time Napoleon got there, and then Russian agents set the city ablaze to deny it to the conquering French emperor. It was a heavy price for the Tsar to pay, but that desperate move worked, proving the Russian Empire’s incredible commitment to seeing Napoleon vanquished.
Napoleon
An epic that details the checkered rise and fall of French Emperor Napoleon Bonaparte and his relentless journey to power through the prism of his addictive, volatile relationship with his wife, Josephine.
Release Date 2023-11-22 Director Ridley Scott Cast Joaquin Phoenix, Ludivine Sagnier, Ben Miles, Vanessa Kirby Rating R Main Genre Biopic Genres Drama, Biopic