quality of soldiers (NW)

• How did the skill of Napoleons Grand Armee affect the nature of warfare at Austerlitz?


  They were highly skilled so they could perform complex battlefield manoeuvres. Without this skill, Napoleon, like his predecessors, would've been forced to employ less ambitious tactics and therefore it must be argued his tactics were only possible due to the skilled army at his disposal.
• How can it be argued that Napoleons success was due to QS?


  Napoleon didn't adapt his tactics in later years despite them being reliant on his quality of soldier. As a result although he won Austerlitz he was beaten in his 1812 Russia campaign, Leipzig in 1813 and Waterloo in 1815. This was because at the time of these battles his professional soldiers had died and the new conscripts and volunteers were inexperienced and couldn't replicate the tactics Napoleon continued to use with their skill level
• What did Napoleon do that won him battles such as Ulm and Austerlitz?

  He reduced the number of conscripts in 1800 and his army went through a professionalisation programme
• What happened to Napoleons quality by the end of the war?

  His number of skilled soldiers fell and quality was replaced with quantity and more inexperienced teenagers fought
• What does the disaster of the Russia campaign 1812 show?

  600,000 men were reduced to just 30,000 showing how low quality of soldiers couldn’t perform the tactics that Napoleon hadn‘t changed