How did Napoleon's success contain the seeds of his defeat?

Answer 1

The Napoleonic army model was all about elitism. But Napoleon needed the support, willingly or otherwise, of many nations of central Europe. He uses the armies of Bavaria;Saxony;Wurttemburg;The Confederation of the Rhine;the Grand Duchy of Warsaw & others to sustain his military dominance. Eventually it is all going to end. In time commanders such as Barclay de Tolly, the Archduke Charles & Blucher become wise to his tactics & strategic goals. They avoid him in person and attack lesser commanders of separate corps, before the defeat at Leipzig in 1813 for example. In the peninsula Napoleon never, Suchet apart, ever deals with the Spanish fully, never mind Wellington, who defeats Marshal after Marshal, none more so than at Vitoria (Marshal Jourdan & Prince Joseph, Napoleons brother) Napoleons' decline begins in 1809 at Aspern-Essling & finally ends in 1815 at Waterloo. It is a matter of conjecture quite what Wellington would have done against Napoleons mighty war machine in the high days of 1805/06: But the forces which march into Belgium in 1815 were not the same men as then, many, many were cold in their graves. Nonetheless it was a close run thing & the British lose (Probably) had Blucher not intervened. Despite the quality of the 1815 campaign, yes, it was a viable force, the French army was missing the likes of Prince Berthier, (Soult was no Chief of Staff) Murat or Lasalle, Marshal Ney was a bold Hussar, but Russia must have taken it toll, & quite why Davout is left in Paris ? The judgment of the Emperor must be called into question in many instances of his corps commanders. But he could only use what & who were available at any given time & it is said that time was the one thing the great man could never replace. Vive l'Empreur.

Answer 2

In the late 18th and early 19th centuries, Napoleon's remarkable successes contained the seeds of his defeat insofar as they led him to become overly confident. Seeming to believe that he was either incapable of defeat or incapable of overcoming any defeat that he might suffer, he began to take greater risks while also failing to plan and to organize as carefully as he had earlier.