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1st January 1809 – Napoleon I receives
a telegram sent by Jean-Jacques Régis de Cambacérès informing him that Austria is preparing to war. – 4
January 1809 – From Napoleon to General Clarke, Minister of
War: I wish the erection of a monument in Erfurt, to consecrate the
union of the two Emperors, I'll do the costs.
– 6
January 1809 – To his brother Joseph, King of Spain: I
thank you for what you say regarding the New Year. I do not hope that Europe
can yet be pacified this year. I hope so little that I signed a decree yesterday
to levy 100,000 people
. – 7 January 1809 –
To Admiral Denis Decrès, Minister of Marine: Now that the
Russian ships are at Toulon, their officers and crews will be maintained,
paid and treated as French vessels and crews
. – 11
January 1809 – To Joseph, from Valladolid, Spain: You
can make your entrance into Madrid when you think it's advisable.
– 16 January 1809 – Battle of
La Coruna. Sir John Moore, commanding general of the British army, is killed
on the battlefield. His army (what remains of it) must leave Spain. – 17
January 1809 – Napoleon leaves Spain. – 22
January 1809 – Joseph enters again Madrid. – 23
January 1809 – Arrival of the Emperor in Paris. – 28
January 1809 – Declaration of Napoleon to Charles-Maurice de Talleyrand-Perigord, in a cabinet at the Tuileries Palace: You are a thief,
a coward, a man without faith, you do not believe in God, you've missed
all your life at all your homework, you have deceived and betrayed everybody,
there's nothing sacred about you, you would sell your father ... What do
you want? What do you expect? Dare to say! You deserve that I will break
you like a glass, I have power, but I despise you too much to bother.
Talleyrand sighs: What a pity that such a great man is so rude!
6 February 1809 – From Napoleon to Joseph:
I am sorry that the system changes in Madrid for becoming too indulgent
... I think it is necessary that you show a little severe, and you do not
let anyone engaging in false and premature hopes
. – 7
February 1809 – To his brother Jerome Bonaparte, King of Westphalia,
havink asked for money: The demand for money is untimely and tactless,
at a moment when I do not know how to deal with huge expenses that I have,
since my armies of Spain don't yield anything and cost a lot, and my other
armies are in my care.
– 21 February 1809 –
Surrender of Zaragoza; its siege lasted sixty days.
7 March 1809 – The sovereign members of
the Confederation of the Rhine are requested to gather their troops before
March 1809 20. – 9 March 1809 – Minister
of Marine is ordered to send one thousand two hundred sailors to the Rhine
Army. – 11 March 1809 – French
troops receive order to concentrate on the river Danube. – 20
March 1809 – The Emperor Napoleon 1 orders to prepare
a travel library. He calls for something very distinguished, by the
choice of books and editions and by the beauty and elegance of bindings
.
– 21 March 1809 – From Napoleon
to his brother Louis, King of Holland: The war seems imminent.
What you better do is to gather as many troops as possible in order to defend
your country and be of some use to the common cause.
– 24
March 1809 – To Nicolas-François Mollien, Minister of
the Treasury: The affairs are becoming serious with Austria. Give
orders for gathering in Strasbourg four millions Francs in gold and silver,
in the shortest possible time. Two millions will be earmarked for expenditure
of various departments of the war; the other two will be at my disposal
... If you have bills to Augsburg, and that you can make money with them,
I would like to have one million Francs in that place.
– 27
March 1809 – Austria issues a manifesto against France. – 30
March 1809 – Napoleon writes detailed instructions for the
campaign ahead; they are intended for his chief of staff,
Louis-Alexandre Berthier.
1st April 1809 – From Napoleon 1
to Jean-Baptiste
de Nompère de Champagny, Minister of Foreign Relations: Please insert in newspapers articles about everything that is provocative
and offensive against the French nation in all that occurs in Vienna ...
The purpose of these articles is to establish that they want to make war
to us.
– 7 April 1809 –
The Austrian troops are massed on the borders of Bavaria. – 8
April 1809 – The Austrian army crosses the river Inn near Braunau.
– 9 April 1809 – An aide of the
Archduke Charles officialy notifies the declaration to Marshal Lefebvre.
– 12 April 1809 – At eight o'clock
PM in Paris, Napoleon receives a telegram from Marshal Berthier informing
him of the Austrian declaration. The Emperor announces: I shall set
out within two hours
. – 13 April 1809 –
Napoleon leaves Paris at four o'clock AM. – 16
April 1809 – He arrives in Stuttgart. – 17
April 1809 – Proclamation of Napoleon to his troops: I
come among you at the speed of the eagle ... Our past success are for us
a sure guarantee of victory.
– 19
April 1809 – Battle of Thann. – 20
April 1809 – Battle of Abensberg. From Napoleon to Marshal
André Masséna: The enemy is retreating at full speed.
The battlefield is covered with the dead ... I'll ride and recognize the
situation of things at the forefront.
– 21
April 1809 – The Austrian army escapes. Landshut is taken.
– 22 April 1809 – Battle of Eckmühl.
– 23 April 1809 – Regensburg
is stormed. The shock of a bullet bruises the Emperor's right foot. – 24
April 1809 – Battle of Neumarkt. In a proclamation to his army,
Napoleon promises: Within a month we shall be in Vienna
.
– 26 April 1809 – The French
army March 1809es on Vienna. – 30 April 1809 –
Entry of the troops of marshal Lefebvre in Salzburg.
3rd May 1809 – Fight of Ebelsberg. – 5
May 1809 – From Napoleon 1 to marshal Davout, Duke of
Auerstaedt: I suppose you're arriving today in Linz ... Please destroy
all coat of arms of the House of Austria. Leave the town guard if it is
small. Order a general disarmament. Sequester funds and shops
.
– 10 May 1809 – General Oudinot's
division enters the suburbs of Vienna. – 11
May 1809 – Installation of Napoleon at Schoenbrunn Palace.
– 12 May 1809 – Napoleon gives
order to bomb Vienna. The Archduke Maximilian abandons his troops. – 13
May 1809 – The capitulation is signed in Vienna at 2 AM. The
gates of the city are occupied by Oudinot at 6 AM. New proclamation of Napoleon
to his army: The princes of the House of Lorraine gave up their capital
towm, not as soldiers who give honor to the circumstances and setbacks of
the war, but as perjuries pursued by their own remorse ... Soldiers! Be
kind to the poor peasants and the good people who both claim to our esteem.
Do not keep any pride in our success, but it shows evidence of this justice
that punishes the ungrateful and perjury.
– 14
May 1809 – The supplies of food owed by the Austrian population
are precisely determined. Mobile columns are formed and put in charge
to travel the country. – 15 May 1809 –
Proclamation of Napoleon to the Hungarians: The time has come to
regain your independence. I offer you peace, the integrity of your country,
your freedom and your constitution ... I want nothing from you, I only want
to see you as a free and independent nation.
– 16
May 1809 – Cities of Altmarkt and Mariazell attempt to resist.
– 17 May 1809 – In his Imperial
camp of Vienna
Napoleon decides to unite Papal States to the French Empire.
Rome becomes an imperial and free city. – 20
May 1809 – General Molitor's division, having crossed the river
Danube, is positioned at Gross-Aspern and Essling. – 21
May 1809 – First day of the battle of Aspern-Essling. – 22
May 1809 – Second day of the battle of Aspern-Essling. Marshal
Jean Lannes is mortally wounded. – 23 May 1809 –
Napoleon escapes an assassination attempt during his stay in Regensburg.
– 25 May 1809 – The Danube bridges
destroyed during the second day of the battle of Aspern-Essling are restored.
– 26 May 1809 – French armies
of Italy and Germany join up in Semmering. – 27
May 1809 – Proclamation of Napoleon to the Army of Italy: Welcome.
I'm pleased with you ... The Austrian army of Italy, who one moment sullied
by his presence my provinces, who pretended to break my Iron crown, dispersed,
beaten, destroyed... thanks to you, is an example of the truth of this motto:
« Dio me la diede, guai a chi la tocca !»
.
– 29 May 1809 – Napoleon to Marshal
Alexander Berthier, Prince of Neuchâtel: Cousin, order to demolish
the village which forms the bridgehead from Linz, and to establish at its
place a reduced at the bridgehead.
5 June 1809 – Battle of Klagenfurt. – 10
June 1809 – In Rome, the French flag takes over from the papal
flag at Sant'Angelo Castle. Pope Pius VII makes public the bull of excommunication
of Napoleon. – 19 June 1809 –
From Napoleon to Joachim Murat, King of Naples and the Two Sicilies: If
the Pope preaches revolt, we must place him under arrest.
– 26
June 1809 – Several neighborhoods in the city of Pressburg
(today Bratislava) are destroyed by the bombing ordered by Marshal Davout.
1st July 1809 – Napoleon leaves Schoenbrunn
Palace. – 5 July 1809 – The battle
of Wagram begins at Enzersdorf. – 6 July 1809 –
Continuation and end of the battle of Wagram. In Rome, Pope Pius VII is
arrested and led to Savona. – 11 July 1809 –
French victory at Znaim. Napoleon receives an envoy from the Emperor
of Austria Francis I carrying a request for an armistice. – 12
July 1809 – Signing of the Armistice of Znaim. Austria agrees
to pay a contribution of 196 million Francs. – 13
July 1809 – Napoleon returns to Schoenbrunn. – 18
July 1809 – Letter to Joseph Fouché: I am sorry
that we have arrested the Pope; it's a great folly ... But there is no remedy,
what is done is done.
– 21 July 1809 –
Other areas of Hanover are distributed by Napoleon to generals and high
officials of the Empire. Revenues are estimated at 2,323,000 Francs. – 30
July 1809 – The British land near Antwerp.
3rd August 1809 – Declaration of Napoleon
to notables of Galicia (central Europe): The restoration of Poland
at this moment is impossible for France ... I do not want war with Russia.
– 9 August 1809 – The
fortified town of Antwerp prepares for a siege. – 13
August 1809 – Bombing of Flushing by the English. – 14
August 1809 – Flushing surrenders. – 15
August 1809 – Fortieth birthday of the Emperor. On this occasion,
the castles of Chambord, Bruha and Thouars, are erected principalities of
Wagram, Eckmühl and Essling and given respectively to marshals Berthier,
Davout and Massena.
4 September 1809 – The English abandon the
siege of Antwerp. – 10 September 1809 –
80,000 conscripts are levied. Napoleon to the surveyor-general Pierre Daru: It seems to me that it was agreed that at 10 September 1809 Lower Austria
have paid twelve million Francs in contributions... I see in your previous
statements it has only paid eight million, please let me know why. Upper
Austria has yet only paid 200,000 Francs: it's too ridiculous!
– 25
September 1809 – Friedrich Staps, a young Austrian, announces
to his parents his departure and his intention to kill Napoleon, as God
commands him.
13 October 1809 – Staps attempts to assassinate Napoleon at Schoenbrunn Palace. – 14 October 1809 – End of the 1809 campaign, with the Peace Treaty of Vienna. – 17 October 1809 – Staps is executed. – 26 October 1809 – Napoleon returns to Fontainebleau.
15 November 1809 – Installation of Napoleon 1 at the Tuileries. – 16 November 1809 – Cardinal Fesch is appointed to head a committee of bishops. – 19 November 1809 – Appointments: Joseph Fouché becomes Duke of Otranto, Claude-Ambroise Régnier: Duke of Massa, Jean-Baptiste de Nompère de Champagny: Duke of Cadore; Michel-Martin Gaudin: Duke of Gaeta, Henri-Jacques-Guillaume Clarke: Duke of Feltre; Hugues-Bernard Maret: Duke of Bassano. – 30 November 1809 – Napoleon informs Empress Josephine they must divorce.
15 December 1809 – Napoleon and Josephine
declare to the imperial family assembled they surrender their marriage.
– 16 December 1809 – The marriage
between the Emperor Napoleon and Empress Josephine is dissolved
by an act
of the Senate. – 17 December 1809 –
From Napoleon to Josephine: You have shown courage, you must find
to sustain you, it must not allow yourself a fatal melancholy, we must find
you happy and especially your health care, which is so valuable
.
– 19 December 1809 – ... again
to Josephine: Savary said that you always crying, this is not good
... I'll come and see you when you tell me that you are reasonable and that
your spirit takes over.
– 21 December 1809 –
Appointment of thirty-seven chamberlains. – 24
December 1809 – From Napoleon to the Minister of Foreign Affairs
Nompère de Champagny, Duke of Cadore: It is time to conclude
the affairs of Germany ... I will give to the Bavarian the country of Salzburg
and all the country ceded by Austria on the right bank of the river Inn,
and the principality of Bayreuth too, on condition that I reserve areas
in the country of Salzburg for a capital of 10 million, and the principality
of Bayreuth for 20 million ... Give me a plan for negotiations, after which
you'll begin by asking for more, then releasing, but not beyond the terms
contained in this letter, which is the minimum of what I can make.
– 29 December 1809 – The Illyrian
provinces (Dalmatia) are attached to the French Empire.