What factors defeated Napoleon Bonaparte?

Answer 1

Starvation and exposure, some to battlefield injuries.

Rather than face Napoleon's troops in battle, the Russians kept pulling back deeper into the country. As they retreated, the burned crops and took all the food they could carry. The French troops eventually out ran their supply lines.

The Russians finally stood their ground after Tzar Alexander I fired his commander Field Marshall Barclay de Tolly and appointed Prince Mikhail Kutuzov as the Commander-in-Chief. Kutzov met Napoleon's troops near Moscow at the Battle of Borodino. Over 250,000 troops fought resulting in over 70,000 deaths. Because the French had no resupply, but the took Moscow anyway.

Kutuzov evacuated the city, set it afire, and emptied the prisons. Napoleon tried to initiate peace talks with the Tzar, but Alexander refused to reach compromise. Napoleon pulled his troops out of Moscow and began the long retreat back to France, only to be overtaken by the harsh Russian winter.

Of Napoleon's 685,000 troops, 380,000 died in battle and over starvation and exposure to the winter. Only 120,000 troops returned to France with Napoleon, roughly 80,000 troops deserted.

Answer 2

1. The pluck and tenacity of the British Soldier.
2. The seamanship and gunnery skills of the British Sailor.
3. The failure of the Continental System to weaken the UK.
4. The failure to gain allies in Egypt and the Near East.
5. The lack of a competitive Navy.
6. Reliance on musketry over the more lethal rifle.
7. The Spanish Guerrilla Warfare.
8. Yellow Fever and fierce resistance by Haitian slaves.
9. The Bubonic Plague in Egypt.
10. The vast size of Russia coupled with the Russian Winter.

Answer 3

Wellington's troops held their ground with grim determination and refused to bend or break.