How Is Napoleon Bonaparte A Tyrant

Napoleon continued in the Revolutionary tradition of liberating and introducing revolutionary ideals to the territories he claimed for France. In the areas he conquered Napoleon granted constitutions, introduced law codes, abolished feudalism, created efficient governments and fostered education, science, literature and the arts. However these reforms always failed as Napoleon was always attempting the politically impossible. This did not stop Napoleon from continuing his conquests. Napoleons battles were fought in order to consolidate his dictatorship. His Military success initially consolidated the revolution, but once he turned France into a military dictatorship he betrayed the revolution.

The actions that took place during Bonaparte's rule is something that would not have happened provided he was an enlightened despot. He threw out many of the enlightened ideas founded during the French Revolution. Napoleon Bonaparte wanted to do things his way and only his way. He wanted to expand his empire as far as he could and he would not have stopped. After he got a little taste of power he wanted more.

Napoleon Bonaparte was inarguably an important figure in the history of France and Europe. However, there has been much controversy over the subject in the past. Would history perceive him as a hero or an enemy of France and the world? Many twentieth-century dictators would later model themselves on Napoleon, more than a hundred years after his death. Napoleon was not the first dictator, so why was he such an important figurehead for future dictators? Some historians may consider that Napoleon was a savior of France, and a brilliant military genius. Others would believe that he was a corrupted tyrant and had betrayed key ideals that had been established in the French Revolution. His rise to and consolidation of power made him a full

Napoleons’ rise to emperor in France was indisputable mostly because of his overthrow of the Directory. His success’s as commander of the French army in Italy, only led to his aspiring status change to “Emperor” of France after overthrowing the Directory in November of 1799. His undying ambition for expansion of the empire he was creating however would be his undoing. Napoleons rule as emperor of France was quit spectacular actually and many admired and adored him as ruler. His ways were very appealing, and as a speaker he was very persuasive and admired by most of his people until his later years in his fall and demise. However, Napoleon did not seriously adhere to the ideals of the French Revolution, he did that of the Enlightenment but his undying ambition and character as “Emperor” undermined the true need of the French Revolution.

During the Napoleonic Era, from 1799 to 1815, France became a military power gaining and controlling land throughout Europe. While some historians believe Napoleon Bonaparte was a ruthless dictator, his military accomplishments far outweigh any atrocities he committed. He helped France gain stability after the French Revolution and he also abolished the Feudal contract. Napoleon was a brilliant strategist using military tactics to cause fear and to defeat whatever enemies stood in his way. Throughout his rule, Napoleon continually gained ground, and by the end of his reign, his empire encompassed all of Spain, Italy, and a small portion of land by Russia and Austria. (see map) He is one of

He was able to lead British forces out of the French port of Toulon. He then drove his troops to win several brilliant victories against Austria. He captured most of northern Italy and obliged the Hapsburg to make peace. In a short amount of time he was capable of moving from being a victorious general to a political leader. He wanted to bring reform and change into the French corrupted government. The same year, he overthrew the Directory and set up a three-man governing board called the Consulate. He took the title of First Consul. A couple years later, he named himself consul for life. In 1804, Napoleon decided to crown himself Emperor of the French. During his ceremony, he invited the pope, however, he took the crown from the pope’s hands and settled it on his own head to prove that he due the throne to himself. At every step of his rise to power, he held a vote by ballot called a plebiscite. The French always strongly supported him. Although he kept absolute power, he still gave a say to the people. He wanted the people to be satisfied with his policies. Napoleon reformed France in several ways. Among his reforms was a new set of codes and laws called the Napoleonic Code. The code banned privileges based on birth, it granted freedom of religion, and described that government jobs should go to the most qualified (to avoid it going to the person in inheritance of the previous job). The

Napoleon loved power. He clearly states throughout multiple documents that he loves power. In document 1, he actually exclaims that, “I love power” (doc 1). In that statement, Napoleon makes a very blunt fact and doesn’t sugar coat it. Another example of him showing his love for power is “Napoleon held absolute power” (pg.598) . Also “Two years later, he crowned himself Emperor Napoleon I” (pg.589). In that support, Napoleon takes all the power from everyone else and does something not even allowed to make himself superior.

Napoleon's strategy was to control the bishops and if he controlled them he could control the church, he did pick the bishops and had them approved by the pope. This may not seem like a major change but it was important. This is one of the examples that shows how much control Napoleon had over France. The French freedoms of society was one of the great changes that Napoleon was known for.

On the other hand, Napoleon provided the people of France with the Napoleonic Code and therefore freedom and justice; as he wasn’t particularly religious people could not confuse this act for selfishness it was obviously to make the people of France truly happy.

Napoleon Bonaparte was an undeniably strong leader of France, however he was not truthful to his inferiors who gave him his power. Napoleon believed he was the master of France and that he had complete power of the country. He looked down upon his peers and the other citizens of France. Bonaparte gained his popularity by standing with the common people during the revolutionary period of France but did not continue with the views he expressed during this period when he became Emperor. Napoleon Bonaparte had many views and beliefs that made him an absolute dictator of France including, making every decision himself, being above everyone in the class systems, and manipulating the citizens of France.

In France in 1789, A revolution began. The people of France were fighting for their inalienable rights such as freedom from serfdom , equality between the classes. Within this chaos in France, Napoleon, a new thinker, came about and changed France in many ways. Napoleon's policies can be seen as preserving the legacy of the French Revolution by giving equality to the lower classes and creating a governmental system that helped to put the people in charge of their sovereignty, however it can be seen as hurting the legacy by protecting the ideas of absolutism.

Consequently, as most people of such a high status, Napoleon was expected to do immense things for his country. Such things include bringing peace to France and stopping the political disorder within the country. Most importantly, people wanted him to completely encompass the things that they fought for during the French Revolution. Napoleon himself had said that he had kept the best policies and ideas from the Revolution. With all of these things that Napoleon needed to do, many people looked up to him, making him an even higher figure than before. This let him use his power to generate funds for a more nationalist and patriotic country. He had solved many of the problems people were talking about after rising to power, such as making peace between the government and the church.

Napoleon also claimed there was ‘freedom of speech’: this was not true. Napoleon made sure that all newspapers wrote news he approved of: he censored all press and made sure that everything delivered was official propaganda. He reduced the amount of political journals published from 73 to 9 and made it clear there were to be no new ones. All articles were written by Napoleon himself or one of his ministers. On top of that, more than half of the printing-presses were shut down and remaining publishers were forced to take an oath declaring loyalty to the government. This again points to the fact that Napoleon centralised his reign and made sure that the legislature had little to no power.

Napoleon Bonaparte was a powerful leader who established the foundations of modern Europe through an administration riddled with controversy. Napoleon came to power in 1799 by overthrowing The Directory in France and appointing himself as the emperor, thus having complete control over the country. Napoleon's most lasting achievements include instituting the Napoleonic code, taking control of nearly all of Europe, and engaging in numerous battles with European nations. After years of serving in Europe, Napoleon had many foreign interactions and made himself a reputation split between a hero and a tyrant. To be a tyrant means to be a cruel and oppressive leader, something Europe was familiar with from the absolutist monarchs in their history

There were many things Napoleon considered a great triumph but there is one that is the greatest and this is called the Napoleonic Code. The Napoleonic Code did a lot of good for the French, the first good thing this code did for the French was it gave the country a set in stone, set of laws and it also eliminated any injustices. But this actually promoted order and authority over individual rights. An example of this is the freedom of speech, and press which was established during the revolution. This made it restricted under the code. Another good but bad thing was that the Napoleonic Code brought back slavery into the French colonies that were part of the Caribbean. There are many reasons Napoleon decided to change the current feudal system of laws and royal laws. Before the Napoleonic Code, there was no “Law” for the French to follow, and the royal and rich were very much treated better and had more privileges so during the revolution Napoleon decided that it would be the best to do away with the feudal laws. This was the set of laws he would use, and some of these laws are still in place, in france today.