Napoleonic Timeline of 1809

January 1809

1st January 1809 – While in Spain, Napoleon I received a telegram sent by Jean-Jacques Régis de Cambacérès informing him that Austria was preparing to war.

4 January 1809 – Napoleon wrote 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 Coruña. Sir John Moore , commanding general of the British army, was killed on the battlefield. His army (what remained of it) had to leave Spain, despite the efforts of Marshal Soult to try to capture or destroy it.

17 January 1809 – Napoleon left Spain.

22 January 1809 – Joseph entered 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 sighed: What a pity that such a great man is so rude!

February 1809

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, having 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.

March 1809

7 March 1809 – The sovereign members of the Confederation of the Rhine were requested to gather their troops before March 1809.

9 March 1809 – Minister of Marine was ordered to send one thousand two hundred sailors to the Rhine Army.

11 March 1809 – French troops received order to concentrate on the river Danube.

20 March 1809 – The Emperor Napoleon 1 ordered to prepare a travel library. He called 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 issued a manifesto against France.

28 March 1809 – Victories over the Spaniards, from Victor in Medellin and Horace Sebastiani  in Ciudad Real.

30 March 1809 – Napoleon wrote detailed instructions for the campaign ahead; they were intended for his chief of staff, Louis-Alexandre Berthier.

April 1809

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 were massed on the borders of Bavaria.

8 April 1809 – The Austrian army crossed the river Inn near Braunau.

9 April 1809 – An aide of the Archduke Charles officialy notified the declaration to Marshal Lefebvre.

12 April 1809 – At eight o'clock p.m. in Paris, Napoleon received a telegram from Marshal Berthier informing him of the Austrian declaration. The Emperor announced: I shall set out within two hours.

13 April 1809 – Napoleon left Paris at four o'clock a.m.

16 April 1809 – He arrived 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 – Louis-Nicolas Davout defeated Archduke Charles at Tengen (also known as the Battle of Teugen-Hausen or Battle of Thann), between Teugn and Hausen.

The village of Hausen, seen from the battlefield

20 April 1809 – Napoleon harangued the Bavarian and Württemburg troops at Abensberg , and defeated Archduke Charles. 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 escaped. Landshut was taken.

22 April 1809 – Battle of Eckmühl.

23 April 1809 – Regensburg was stormed. The shock of a bullet bruised the Emperor's right foot .

24 April 1809 – Battle of Neumarkt-Sankt Veit, which saw Jean-Baptiste Bessières defeated by Johann von Hiller . In a proclamation to his army, Napoleon promised: Within a month we shall be in Vienna.

26 April 1809 – The French army marched on Vienna [Wien].

30 April 1809 – Entry of the troops of marshal Lefebvre in Salzburg.

May 1809

3rd May 1809 – Fight of Ebelsberg . Joseph-Antoine Poniatowski defeated the Austrians at Gora.

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.

8 May 1809 – Victory of Prince Eugene and Etienne Macdonald on the river Piave .

10 May 1809 – General Oudinot's division entered the suburbs of Vienna.

11 May 1809 – Installation of Napoleon at Schönbrunn Palace .

12 May 1809 – Napoleon gave order to bomb Vienna. Archduke Maximilian abandoned his troops.

13 May 1809 – The capitulation was signed in Vienna at 2 AM. The gates of the city were 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 were precisely determined. Mobile columns were 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 attempted to resist.

17 May 1809 – In his Imperial camp of Vienna Napoleon decided to unite Papal States to the French Empire. Rome became an imperial and free city.

19 May 1809 – Napoleon ordered a bridge to be built across the Danube at Ebersdorf . Marshal Lefebvre entered Innsbruck.

20 May 1809 – General Gabriel Jean Joseph Molitor 's division, having crossed the river Danube, positioned itself 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 was mortally wounded.

25 May 1809 – The Danube bridges destroyed during the second day of the battle of Aspern-Essling were restored.

26 May 1809 – French armies of Italy and Germany joined 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 Alexandre 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.

June 1809

5 June 1809 – Battle of Klagenfurt.

10 June 1809 – In Rome, the French flag took over from the papal flag at Sant'Angelo Castle. Pope Pius VII made 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] were destroyed by the bombing ordered by Marshal Davout.

July 1809

1st July 1809 – Napoleon left Schoenbrunn Palace.

5 July 1809 – The battle of Wagram began at Enzersdorf. The Emperor bivouacked on the battlefield 

6 July 1809 – Continuation and end of the battle of Wagram. In Rome, Pope Pius VII was arrested and led to Savona.

11 July 1809 – French victory at Znaim [today Znojmo]. Napoleon received 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 agreed to pay a contribution of 196 million Francs.

13 July 1809 – Napoleon returned 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 were distributed by Napoleon to generals and high officials of the Empire. Revenues were estimated at 2,323,000 Francs.

30 July 1809 – The British landed near Antwerp.

August 1809

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 prepared for a siege.

13 August 1809 – Bombing of Flushing [Vlissingen], in Zeeland, by the English.

14 August 1809 – Flushing surrendered.

15 August 1809 – Fortieth birthday of the Emperor. On this occasion, the castles of Chambord, Bruha and Thouars, were erected principalities of Wagram, Eckmühl and Essling and given respectively to marshals Berthier, Davout and Massena.

September 1809

4 September 1809 – The English abandoned the siege of Antwerp.

10 September 1809 – 80,000 conscripts were 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 German apprentice merchant, son of a Lutheran pastor, announced to his parents his departure and his intention to kill Napoleon, as God was commanding him.

October 1809

13 October 1809 – Staps attempted to assassinate Napoleon at Schönbrunn Palace.

14 October 1809 – End of the 1809 campaign, with the Peace Treaty of Vienna.

17 October 1809 – Staps was executed.

26 October 1809 – Napoleon returned to Fontainebleau.

November 1809

15 November 1809 – Installation of Napoleon 1 at the Tuileries Palace , in Paris.

16 November 1809 – Cardinal Joseph Fesch was appointed to head a committee of bishops.

19 November 1809 – Appointments: Joseph Fouché became 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 informed Empress Josephine they must divorce.

December 1809

15 December 1809 – Napoleon and Josephine declared to the imperial family assembled that they surrendered their marriage.

16 December 1809 – The marriage between Emperor Napoleon and Empress Josephine was 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) were attached to the French Empire.