What was Napoleon's motivations to wage war for nearly a decade and cause millions of deaths?
Jesus, talk about a loaded question.
I'm going to be lazy and just copy & paste this from a post I made on Taleworlds, but I feel it's relevant here.
France didn't start a single war unprovoked during Napoleon's reign. He certainly held some responsibility for the breakdown of the Treaty of Amiens, but no more than the British.
The wars of the Third, Fourth and Fifth Coalitions were all declared on France by her enemies. The Third and Fifth formed at the behest of the British and the Fourth started mainly as result of Napoleon's creation of the Confederation of the Rhine, which the Prussians regarded as a threat to their power in central Europe. The people within the Confederation were all for it, though, at least until things started to go badly for the French. The fact that Napoleon had attempted to give Hanover to the British was also a sore point for the Prussians.
Entire books have been written about the causes of the French invasion of Spain, but suffice it to say that Spain had been a very poor ally and had long been planning to turn on the French.
Napoleon's 1812 invasion of Russia was inevitable as Russia had been planning since 1810 to turn on France and and launch an invasion of Poland. The Russians were very much afraid of a Polish state which they exerted no control over and wanted the Duchy of Warsaw out of the picture. Napoleon's forcing of Russia to adhere to the continental system certainly provoked them further, but I doubt it had as much an effect as some historians would suggest; Russian had no great need of trade with Britain and the two had never been close allies (the greatest extent of the collaboration between Alexander and the British was when they had Paul assassinated).
Napoleon found himself in a situation where he had no choice but to invade Russia or fight a defensive war in Poland. Looking back, the latter may have been the better idea, but Napoleon was never one to sit on his ass and wait for the enemy.
All of the participants of the War of the Sixth Coalition declared war on France, save (obviously) for Russia.
The war of the Seventh Coalition (as in the Waterloo campaign) was declared against Napoleon, who had attempted to sue for peace when he returned to power.
I'm no great supporter of Napoleon, nor am I attempting to absolve him of any responsibility for the wars he fought, but I believe the suggestion that he was a warmonger to be largely baseless.
Im probably wrong, so dont rage at me if I am. But probably revenge for his country, and all the other nations trying to control France, for personal greed and ambition, and power.
See above. Also, Napoleon wasn't exactly what I'd call a greedy man, or even a particularly ambitious one.
Anyway, if anyone is interested in actually learning about the man and not simply spreading old falsehoods (of which there are many, created by both his supporters and detractors), I recommend you read a couple of good biographies on him. I'd say the best, most accurate and unbiased ones are by J.C. Herold (not exactly a fan of Napoleon's) and Vincent Cronin (something of an admirer of Napoleon's, but still accurate and unbiased). Jacques Bainville's also comes highly recommended, but I've never been able to find it in English and my French isn't good enough to be able to fully appreciate it.
