Kings, Clients and Satellites in the Napoleonic Imperium

Abstract

Napoleon shaped his Empire with the expansion of dynastic possessions, the cultivation of princely clientele and the establishment of satellite and allied states. He built his imperium on the foundation of historic French relationships. This expansion began with the Revolutionary Republic and achieved its fullest extent under the Empire. Expansion was not pursued as a universal principle, but instead, each state became a part of a grand strategic objective related to respective enemies. In some cases, states served as buffers between France and their immediate enemies, but shortly thereafter served a dual role as offensive and defensive components of the Republic, and later Napoleonic Empire.

The client net state: Trajectories of state control over cyberspace

“…This led the Roman historian Tacitus (2013) to label Roman client states as ‘instruments of servitude’. Later examples such as the Napoleonic client Confederation of the Rhine in modern Germany were created from previous states defeated in war by France as a means to build an empire by ‘fostering satellites’ (Schneid, 2008, pp. 571–572).…”

“…9–10). The cultivation of client states as a means for a larger state to secure its frontier dates back as far as the Roman Empire, which used client kingdoms on its fringes such as the Bosporan Kingdom in modern Crimea (Haensch, 2009; Schneid, 2008). This led the Roman historian Tacitus (2013) to label Roman client states as ‘instruments of servitude’.…”