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Napoleon During The French Revolution

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Napoleon Bonaparte was born in Corsica, his family were the minor nobles but they had little money.When he was young, Napoleon wasn't to France to be trained for a military career, and when the revolution began he was an ambitious 20-year old lieutenant, ready to make a name for himself. Napoleon found the conflicting ideas of the French Revolution confusing, but found it easier to just pick the winning side. During the revolution, Napoleon rose quickly in the army, success fueled his ambition and by 1799 he moved from victorious general to political leader. During his time as a political leader, Napoleon made many changes and reforms that affected many people throughout Europe. Some people described Napoleon as a hero, while others saw him as an evil force, either way Napoleon had a large impact on life in Europe. Napoleon consolidated his power by strengthening the central government with reforms and changes, many of which improved the way of life for the citizens of France. Napoleon …show more content…

For example, even though Napoleon enforced taxes to help pay the national debt, he still spent to much money on the military. Another example is his public school system, it was really there to create perfect soldiers for his army. The schools weren’t open for women or the poor, so it didn't really benefit all of his citizens, just a small portion. Napoleon took liberties away from the people, he banned labor unions and issued passbooks that limited movement. In conclusion, I think Napoleon did both good and bad things for France, but the bad things overweigh what he actually did to help France. Napoleon was a conqueror who's focus was mostly on his military conquests. He turned most of Europe against France, took many basic liberties away from his people, and used many of France’s resources to improve the

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